It is completely true: The Philadelphia Orchestra sounds like none other.
Philadelphia is famous for many things: The birthplace of America, the Liberty Bell, Philly cheese steaks, but as I shared with the audience at The Mann Center on July 25th last, to me as a kid, Philadelphia was famous for one reason only: it's where the Philadelphia Orchestra lives!
Photo by Derek Brad
As excited as I was by the prospect of another performance at Philadelphia's incomparable Mann Center, and as exhilarating as I found last year's performances with The Pittsburgh Symphony (one of my favorite American orchestras at the moment), the chance to conduct the Philadelphia Orchestra and experience that legendary sound from the inside - one I had been listening to from childhood - was something I had been looking forward to for months.
Conducting with the Wind Waker, and a little Hyrulian
Photo by Derek Brad
The riches of musical life are such that two great orchestras can sound so different and bring equal measures of pleasure: the finest of restaurants with different flavors.
Every moment on stage was exhilarating, every turn an adventure. It was difficult not to get distracted when that Philadelphia string sound, coupled with Koji Kondo's famous melodies, came toward me like a wave. The violin solos were exquisite under the fingers of our concertmaster for the night, Juliette Kang, a true audience favorite.
Photo by Derek Brad
The atmosphere at The Mann was electric with cheers of pride from the home audience when I explained how "epic" the contribution of their very own Philadelphia Orchestra was to music history.
Before the concert I took part in a video installation project featuring some of The Mann's performers, created by photographic/video artist Derek Brad, official photographer for The Mann. The concept of the project was intriguing to me but I daren't spoil the surprise before Derek's launch.
Thanks to Juliette Kang and the musicians of The Philadelphia Orchestra (especially those who came to my dressing room afterwards and gave me a thumbs-up, it meant the world to me!); Travis Wells and the orchestra's administrative staff; Derek Brad and a big hug to my friends at the Mann: Catherine Cahill, Nancy Newman, Ed Kasses, Debbie Lobel and Tony, the worlds best driver/tour-guide/all-around-great-Philly-guy.
Here's a quote from a review of the performance by Vir Animus of The Knights of Hyrule (probably the most poetic review I've ever had...):
"Eimear Noone’s own performance was mesmerizing. Despite her delicate physical condition, Mrs. Noone commanded the prodigious orchestra with a dance of great technical skill. She ambulated every jointed point of her body, leaning forward and back to urge the musicians on and carry their instrumental voices into the heavens. At several points, she was moving with such ferocity and passion that she almost appeared to be battling the enemies on screen at her pedestal. Her love of the material was maternal and evident by the smile on her face that grew as she first stepped out on stage and did not dissipate until long after she stepped out of the spotlight."
It's definitely time for me to get blogging again, before memory rot sets in.
One of the most incredible experiences of my career to date was performing at the Sydney Opera House with the fantastic Sydney Symphony Orchestra in February.
That iconic bastion of music and architectural brilliance simply takes your breath away. It absolutely reminds you of the famous Goethe quote: "Music is liquid architecture; architecture is frozen music".
The orchestra was electrifying, the opera house magnificent and the staff of the house treated us like family.
It simply couldn't have been a better experience.
Click on the Video below for video of the Overture to Symphony of the Goddesses at The Sydney Opera House:
Evidently the Aussies have a great sense of humor... (So does The Almighty judging by some of the lizard-life I saw there) All joking aside, I've seen some serious weaponry come through the doors of many a concert hall at this point so the Opera House staff didn't know how actually appropriate their "joke" was to us.
The Australian media were there to greet us and we got to do a fun featurette from the creative geniuses at ABC's Spawn Point. It's an exciting piece that shows off the orchestra beautifully to a new young audience.
Performing at Madison Square Garden is something of which every performer dreams and although we were in The Garden's smaller 5,500 seat theater I nonetheless relished the opportunity to open the show with "Good Evening Madison Square Garden!" and told the audience how much I'd always wanted to say that.
What a dork!
Our orchestra for the night was The Orchestra of St. Luke's under expert concertmaster Krista Bennion Feeney (I much prefer the European non-gender-specific term "leader"). Krista was an absolute professional and consummate artist in light of some unforseen technical difficulties at the beginning of the show - the gods (and goddesses) of the theater were being mischievious as is their wont from time to time; I assured the audience that such were the joys of real live performance. Without skipping a beat Krista gracefully lead her section and her heart-stopping solos soared through the sparkly seventies-disco-esque rafters of the MSG Theater.
After an inauspicious start the performance with OLS was became one of the most joyful and exuberant of the tour. The musicians rose to the occasion and captivated the audience with their boundless energy and brilliance. The audience responded in turn and I found myself in the enviable position of being in the middle of this feedback loop of pure passion. Heartfelt thanks to Valerie Broderick, Jenny Kampmeier and the artists of the Orchestra and Chorus of St. Luke's.
The Zelda audience was as exuberent as ever and showed their love for the orchestra in no uncertain terms.
When I took out the Wind Waker baton above the roar of the crowd I could hear one guy yell "OH MY GAAAAAAWWD!!!".
I also spotted a stunning replica of Majora's Mask from the stage - it was unmissably enormous actually.
Performing for this audience never gets old...
Jeron took this photo of the audience from the wings.
Here we are on stage at MSG - a bit blurry. Thanks to Z.fan Laura Kimpel Moncada for the photo
Before our Toronto performance we flew down to New York for a short promotional teaser for the MSG show at Nintendo World in Rockefeller Plaza. With reduced versions of the score and some new arrangements, we gave Nintendo fans a taste of the Zelda Symphony via live Septet at the Nintendo World store.
It blew my mind to see hundreds of Z.fans sitting on their hunkers in anticipation of hearing a string quintet flute and harp play chamber versions of their favorite themes. It was absolutely magical.
This is actual "chamber music" guys (perhaps I shouldn't tell them...).
Our friends from IMGMR flew down from Montreal to be with us and the photos used in this entry are theirs.
However, big eye-opener for me: The night before the performance we were still on West Coast time so we decided to drop by 30 Rock and see what was going on. It was about 1am NYC time when we got there and we experienced firsthand the passion and tenacity of dyed-in-the-wool Zelda fans: there were about 20-30 people sleeping outside the store to make sure they got in to see the performance!!!
I couldn't believe it. Actually in hind-sight, they were right; security was so tight the next day that I couldn't get past the black-clad giant pillars of man at the door to get in and conduct the ensemble.
Our favorite Zelda Symphony veteran, Triforce was there in all his Hyrulian glory. Yes, Triforce is his real middle name - he had it legally changed... of course...
I'm intensely excited to deliver the full power of the symphony to these guys tomorrow night; they deserve the very best we've got.
Thanks to Mark Robertson in LA and Ralph Farris in NYC for putting together an excellent septet for us.Thanks to all at IMGMR for being a constant support and taking some great shots.
It has been a touring whirlwind from Toronto to NYC, Dallas, Philly, Pittsburgh, Washington DC, Minneapolis, Boston, Chicago, San Antonio, Calgary... and at this very moment I'm on a plane to NYC for our performance at the Madison Square Garden Theater (very excited!). I haven't had a moment to keep up with the blog but I'm going to give some of the highlight so far including some very funny moments.
THE LEANING BASSOON OF PITTSBURGH
(All of the photography in this entry is by brilliant photographic artist, Derek Brad; You can check out his work here: http://www.derekbrad.com)
Working with Pittsburgh Symphony was a magnificent experience that I would love to repeat as often as possible over this lifetime and the next few. We gave two performances of The Symphony of the Goddesses together - at The Mann Centre in Philadelphia and the orchestra's home of Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh.
Performing at The Mann and meeting the team there was unforgettable and ended in a bucket of champagne and a beautiful card in my dressing room after the performance - never a bad thing! Thanks to all at The Mann for making us feel so welcome and comfortable - you guys really are a class act.
Thank you so much in particular to Catherine Cahill, Nancy Newman and Ed Kasses.
On stage at The Mann Center with the Pittsburgh Symphony
Most Memorable Moment (besides the brilliance of the brass - for God's sakes don't tell them...):
Photo of the Mann Center by Photographer extraordinaire, Derek Brad
One of the movements of the symphony has "drunken solo" written in the bassoon part for a particularly showy solo and the consensus - between bassoonist David Soggs and I - after the first performance was that although slurred and stumbling, the level of bassoonic innebriation hadn't quite reached the depths I had observed on a wet St. Paddy's Day in Dublin.
When that over-21s moment came in our second performance - this time at the PSO's home in the opulent Heinz Hall - Mr. Soggs dug into the depths of something like musical method acting and brought the druken solo to a whole new level of intoxication.
I looked up from the podium to give David his cue to find a cross-eyed "bowsie" (a Dublin term - you can probably guess...), his spectacles askew on his face and the bassoon held at an angle that made the clarinets extremely nervous.
I hardly think it proper concert etiquette for the conductor to get a "fit of giggles" on the podium (very manly and maestro-like you know), but the bold Mr. Soggs set me up you see...
What is it about bassoonists? It must be all of those brain-chemistry-altering ostinatos...
Ok, perhaps I am a little partial - the bassoon being one of my favorite instruments; "Le Sacre" being no.1 on my desert island discs (I know there are lots of great recordings but Markevich's are my favorites).
Thanks to David Soggs for bringing his brilliance to our performance and not being afraid to "go there", foregoing convention for the theatre in the performance and - making me laugh!
Thanks to that kind and enthusiastic usher at Heinz Hall who took care of me when I was exhausted and wanted me to come back and perform again - very sweet...
Thanks to the musicians and staff of the PSO and chorus for a memorable and ahem... intoxicating experience.
With the PSO
Members of the PSO Chorus
Making shadow puppets on the screen... ok maybe not...
Our loyal and beloved Z.fans on the lawn at The Mann
I may not have gone through the gates of Ellis Island but I am still an old fashioned Irish emigrant at heart, so it was a poignant experience for me to conduct The National Symphony of my adopted country in rehearsals at The Kennedy Center and in performance at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.
The Hall of Nations at Kennedy Center reminded me that Washington DC was designed by the Forefathers with the express intention of intimidating foreign dignitaries. As I looked at the flags of the world's nations above me in this cavernous hall I naturally had to find my own green, white and gold.
The SOTG team outside The Hall of Nations at The Kenndy Center, Washington DC
Just after finding the tri-color on the ceiling I opened the backstage door to be confronted by a black and white photo of the Belfast tornado himself, the bold Jimmy Galway. I thought, maybe I'm not such a foreigner here afterall...
I was shown to the conductor's dressing room which was like a private gallery of photographs of some of music history's greatest maestros (maestri?). My favorite being one of Leonard Bernstein in full flight:
"Lenny"
Maestros Galore
Rehearsals with the NSO went extremely well and I got a chance to talk with principal harpist, the fabulous Dotian Levalier, whose extraordinarily sonorous playing was quite the musical and sonic experience.
We both agreed that comfortable trousers are a crucial pre-requisite for both of our jobs (thanks to composer Julia Newman my dear friend for those same trousers!) but aside from sartorial concerns, there was the worry of the inevitable heat and humidity at Wolf Trap breaking harp strings...
And I thought that only happens when I get near a harp; it's the musical equivalent of the smell of brimstone.
Rehearsals for the concert happend on the semi-outdoor stage at Wolf Trap and wow, Dotian was correct - someone had just thrown a few coals on Dante's Inferno and we were dripping in perspiration during rehearsals. The kindly and excellent staff at Wolf Trap did everything they could for us but the Virginian weather had other ideas.
Any, extreme of temperature is problematic for orchestral musicians. Wood, brass, nickel etc. react to heat and cold in ways that are difficult to control. I always see it as part of my responsibility as a conductor to help create a physical and emotional environment conducive to my colleagues doing their best work in comfort. It was clear to me that a lengthy rehearsal was not a good idea especially since the orchestra had worked so hard and performed exceptionally at The Kennedy Center rehearsal. The orchestra were absolute troopers at this, their summer home.
The performance at Wolf Trap was a great success. We had an audience just shy of 7,000 souls and as per usual Zelda fans treated the orchestra like rock-stars. Our concertmaster for the evening, Ricardo Cyncynates lent his stunning musicianship to the violin solos in the score. We've met some incredible concertmasters on our travels and I have to say, Ricardo was definitely one of my personal favorites.
Rehearsals with the NSO at Wolf Trap
This is why I referred to Wolf Trap as semi-outdoor:
My Heels on the podium at Wolf Trap!
You can read a review of the Wolf Trap show by Erica Laxson here.
Thanks to Emily Cary of the Washington Examiner for the article below.
Ireland's eclectic conductor tackles 'Zelda' at Wolf Trap
Eimear Noone grew up in the tiny village of Kilconnell, Galway, loving every musical genre. When she was not practicing classical passages on her flute, she was listening to pop, rock or the symphonic concert music of popular video games. It's no wonder the accomplished Irish conductor-composer has captured hearts of Nintendo fans as she conducts symphony orchestras performing "The Legend of Zelda" while graphics from the videos play on giant screens.
"It's a fun show," she promised. "Being an Irish immigrant, I'm very excited to conduct the National Symphony Orchestra that I've known about and admired for years. Like everyone in my generation, I've loved the music in this program since my childhood and am crazy about the arrangements. My background is in classical music, so I knew from the start that this is a symphonic score."
The music for "The Legend of Zelda" was created by Japanese composer Koji Kondo, who has contributed many Nintendo soundtracks. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the video that has sold nearly 70 million copies. Its primary character, Link, is a courageous lad, whose many adventures include saving Princess Zelda, named for F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife. He carries a baton called a Wind Waker to invoke powers of nature. To help him achieve his goals, the players must solve games and musical puzzles. The various instruments featured are important components that the players never forget.
"Video games became the soundtrack of young people's lives, but wherever I conduct this music, it's still amazing to me that some in the audience burst into tears," Noone said. "When the concertmaster comes out, he gets a huge round of applause, and this phenomenon happens each time a principal player takes a bow. It's like a rock concert filled with respect for the players. We made a special Wind Waker like the one Link uses, and every time we hold it up, there's a great roar from the audience."
Noone's passion for conducting and composing film scores led to an invitation to meet with the makers of World of Warcraft and record the score of "Starcraft" at Skywalker Ranch with members of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Ballet. She now makes her home in Los Angeles, where she has scored or orchestrated a variety of films, including "The Hole," "The Donner Party," "The New Daughter" and "Mirrors."
Here Lewis Lipnick discusses the Contraforte:
After our first rehearsal together, I bumped into principal contrabassoonist - or should I say, principal contraforte bassoonist - Lewis Lipnick and got to talk to him about this astonishing instrument his brass playing colleagues call "the rocket launcher" (it would be the brass, wouldn't it...). The sound of the contra-forte is much more refined that the regular old contrabassoon with an extended range and high notes that sound somthing like a soprano sax. Lewis is the only musician in a professional US orchestra playing the contraforte and he also commissioned an exhilarating concerto for the instrument by Finnish composer Kalevi Aho.
I was so excited to learn about this instrument and the Aho Concerto as coincidentally I'd studied briefly with Aho at the Ennis IMRO Composition School when I was about 17! His work is exceptional and of course Lewis gave me a copy of the recording (and score; yeaay, geek-out) he made of the concerto for BIS.
Naturally I'd love any old excuse to perform it...
For over twenty years now, Irish choir Anúna has been pushing the envelope of choral music and not for that reason but purely as a side-effect of the unique sound their visionary director Michael McGlynn has endeavored to bring forth from the recesses of his own musical mind. Quite simply, they sound unlike any other singing group on the planet and we are the richer for it.
I have been a fan of Anúna and Michael's for many years and when Blizzard Entertainment's audio director and composer Russell Brower told me that he was looking for a unique and "different" sound for Diablo III, Anúna instantly sprung to mind. Two years after that conversation we found ourselves at Windmill Lane in Dublin with not one but two legendary recording engineers, John Kurlander and Brian Masterson recording the group Russell had chosen to represent the seductive voices of hell (!) for this immense project.
More about that later - I have a whole essay to write about the unbelievable experience we had on Diablo III.
Last night at Dublin's National Concert Hall I got to experience the choir as an audience member - with the added treat of John McGlynn's singing/song-writing - as they performed Michael's stunning arrangements and two of Russell's pieces from D3. I was more than mildly entertained to see the Classical organ at the NCH adorned with flames in wonderfully lit theatrics characteristic of an Anúna show (The profanity! Love it!).
The live sound that Brian Masterson got for the choir - which he has specially designed for them over years of working with Michael - was nothing short of exquisite.
Michael has set so many beautiful ancient texts, folk songs, chants and literary gems for the choir but I have to admit, having loved everything on the program and being an avid fan of early and renaissance music it was Michael's arrangement of The Derry Air (Danny Boy) that brought a tear to my eye. The arrangement has a beauty of understanding that could only come from the heart of a true Irish man.
Danny Boy is a tough one to tackle as most Irish people can't decide whether they love it or hate it. Mostly we're sick to death of it! Suffice it to say, it has taken Michael 25 years - he says himself - to tackle that particular monster and let's just say he charmed it into submission.
When Russell, John, Joey Ray Hall and I arrived in Dublin to being working with the group they chose this arrangement as a warm up and had all of us in tears - soft eejits that we are! It was such a joy to share the arrangement with Blizzard's resident über genius, Chris Metzen, who despite the last name is actually one of "my people" and was thus affected in the appropriate manner for a true Paddy.
After experiencing the weird vibe in Dublin over the last few days and noticing how many of our young people are simply missing after hundreds of thousands having emigrated; after reading more about how our elder statesmen's unpatriotic greed has indebted us for generations; it was this world-class group of Irish artists that reminded me of my pride as an Irish woman. As usual, it is our artists that represent our true nature and replenish our flagging souls.
I will have more about all of this - photos etc - in later posts when I finally get to share some of the absolute joy we experienced on recording the D3 soundtrack.
I received an email today from choral group SACRA/PROFANA's director Krishan Oberoi, including a link to the video below.
I got the opportunity to work with this fabulous group at our SOTG Comic Con performance with the San Diego Symphony. Their energy and enthusiasm was infectious and they sang their hearts out for us.
Krishan has a great vision for the choir and when we worked together they had just shot the video for his arrangement of Marroon 5's Payphone.
Although very different musically, like Anúna, this is a group out there in the world pushing the envelope and bringing their own brand of joy to thousands. I also love the fact that they don't limit themselves to any particular genre and are at home - and fabulously happy - in whichever genre they choose to inhabit.
Of course I get a great kick out of hearing "proper" choral singers singing "THE F WORD" (as we call it in the US; In Ireland we just say it) in a terribly proper way.
Adam Levine would be so proud!
Now does sing-swearing fall into the category of sacred or profane then Krishan?
It's like Schönberg's sprech-gesang only... so much more wholesome.
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