by Mike Telin
A challenge in programming for a young orchestra as talented as the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra is choosing repertoire that teaches them how to be a better 21st century ensemble while also being enjoyable to play.
On Sunday, November 12 at 3:00 pm at Severance Music Center, Daniel Reith will lead the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra in two well-known works, and two of Reith’s recent discoveries. Tickets are available online.
The concert will open with Johannes Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture. The work was written as a tribute to the University of Breslau, which had awarded him an honorary doctorate in philosophy. And like all good students, Reith said he was happy that the young musicians of COYO are such a curious group.
“Telling them about the origins of the piece really caught their attention,” the conductor said during a Skype conversation. “ I thought it would be fun to do a piece that contains themes of famous student songs of Brahms’ time. And explaining the background to the song about a little fox who is annoying his parents by his curiosity, really fascinated them.”
The afternoon will continue with María Huld Markan Sigfúsdóttir’s Oceans, a work Reith said he discovered through lucky coincidence. “I was searching for pieces on the topic of water for one of our educational concerts last season. Sadly it didn’t fit that program, but it was a wonderful discovery that I thought would be a great piece for COYO.”
What are the duties of an assistant conductor of a major orchestra? “Every day is an experience,” Daniel Reith said during a recent telephone conversation. Since assuming that position with The Cleveland Orchestra this season, Reith has had a lot on his plate. In addition to his involvement with numerous educational activities, he has led the Orchestra’s family concerts and the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Concert. Earlier this month he stepped in on very short notice for an ailing Klaus Mäkelä to lead three subscription concert performances.
“When I was ten or eleven, my father was going to an MLK march. He asked me if I wanted to go and I didn’t. And that has been a regret of mine for a very long time,” Peter Lawson Jones recalled during a recent telephone conversation. “But this night will celebrate all that Dr. King did and I look forward to being part of it.”