CLASSICAL MUSIC / KENNETH HERMAN : Symphony Adviser Offers Some Tips on Playing Along

Nine years ago, San Diego Opera impresario Tito Capobianco invoked a circus atmosphere while promoting a production of “Die Fledermaus” with sopranos Beverly Sills and Joan Sutherland. “For the first time ever, together on the same stage,” went Capobianco’s breathless pitch, “the reigning divas of the opera world.” While this coloratura spectacle drew record crowds to Civic Theatre, the musical result was anything but earth-shattering.

Fortunately, the San Diego Symphony’s promotion of Saturday’s Symphony Towers grand opening concert, with cellists Mstislav Rostropovich and Lynn Harrell, is less hyperbolic--”The world’s two foremost cellists!”--and the musical fare significantly less frothy than a Strauss operetta. Rostropovich, noted Russian emigre cellist and music director of the National Symphony, will perform Dmitri Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto, a work written for him.

“I was hoping that I would be able conduct Rostropovich, and then he would conduct me,” explained Harrell, who will be a featured soloist in Richard Strauss’ “Don Quixote” on the first half of the Symphony Towers concert. “But if Rostropovich conducts, he won’t play--he will not go back and forth on the same concert.”

Harrell, who has cautiously entered the conductor’s circle in recent years, will conduct a pair of concerts on the San Diego Symphony’s subscription series this November. He is eager to lead Rostropovich in the Shostakovich concerto.

“The work literally would not exist without his prodding,” Harrell noted. “Rostropovich gave me a wonderful accompaniment in Washington recently when I played the Saint-Saens First Cello Concerto for the National Symphony. I’m eager to return the favor.”

Although Israeli conductor Yoav Talmi is San Diego Symphony’s music director designate, Harrell is still the orchestra’s music adviser, a post created for him in May, 1988, when the symphony was without musical leadership. In addition to helping program the symphony’s 1989-90 season, Harrell has participated in the orchestra’s auditions for several vacant chairs over the last year.

His evaluation of the orchestra’s musical progress over the last year is cautiously optimistic.

“I haven’t spoken about the symphony’s financial condition, but artistically I’m very impressed with what it can achieve and the direction in which they’re going.”

Harrell compared building an orchestra’s reputation with opening a new restaurant.

“You can make a great dish 15 nights in a row, and then on the 16th cut a few corners. That’s when the Holiday magazine critic comes in to review. You have to play your hats and tails off every time.”

Harrell, a former member of the Cleveland Orchestra before he embarked on his solo cello career, has definite opinions about the type of player that is best suited for an orchestra.

“Simply hiring the best player isn’t enough,” he said. “The musician has to be a good member of the orchestra’s musical community. Those ‘little Heifetzes’ who come in with a chip on their shoulder are a disease in their section. It’s important to have talent, but it’s counterproductive to brandish it and make life uncomfortable for the other players.”

As artistic director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute and holder of the Piatigorsky Chair of Cello at USC, Harrell is in a place to influence many future orchestra players. His basic advice is simple, “Learn to be a good colleague.”

Tenor of the future. Each year, Musical America magazine picks a roster of promising young artists and performing ensembles. In the September issue, local tenor Jonathan Welch was cited as a performer “poised to make major contributions in the years to come.” After Welch established his career in the obligatory European opera houses, he made his San Diego Opera debut as Pinkerton in the company’s “Madama Butterfly” production last April, for which he received critical bouquets. This fall Welch will return to Lyric Opera Chicago as the Italian tenor in Richard Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier.”

On a musical mission. San Diego’s premier woodwind quintet, the Arioso Wind Quintet, will perform Thursday in Salt Lake City’s respected Temple Square Concert Series. Quintet members, including San Diego Symphony principal bassoon Dennis Michel and principal French horn John Lorge, hope those attending the Western Alliance of Arts Administrators annual conference in Salt Lake City will drop in to hear the ensemble show off its wares.

SummerFest sunset. The staff of the La Jolla Chamber Music Society spent last week recovering from SummerFest ’89 and tallying the numbers. According to society executive director Neale Perl, the most cheering results came in the attendance category. Some 4,075 patrons attended eight concerts over the 10-day chamber music festival, with an average house filled to 102% of capacity. (The society usually seats people on stage when a popular program sells out.)

Perl’s account of the festival’s finances was not quite as rosy, although he predicted “a small surplus” by the time all of the underwriters’ contributions are collected. Because Andre Previn canceled at the last minute--he was a featured artist on the festival’s sole benefit concert--attendance and revenue fell short of expectations for this important festival fund-raiser.

Artistically, this fourth annual SummerFest exceeded its own high standards. Artistic director Heiichiro Ohyama’s programming was a bit bolder and stylistically more diverse than last season. Perhaps the favorable reception of challenging works such as the Shostakovich Piano Trio will encourage his growth in this area. This year’s performers were particularly stellar, especially violinist Cho-Liang Lin, oboist Gerard Reuter, violist Toby Hoffman and cellist Gary Hoffman. It will not be easy to offer a more compelling roster for SummerFest ‘90, but we can still hope.