Jay Harvey Upstage

An intermission video presented a relaxed Jun Märkl introducing himself to Indianapolis, and that was Jun Märkl is a native of Munich, Germany, son of musician parents. capped by a short speech of gratitude at the start of the second half. The occasion Friday night was the historic launch of his five-year term as the eighth music director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra . It had all the hallmarks of a special occasion from the moment Märkl  entered the stage at the concert's start, looking immaculately elegant in traditional white tie and tails.  The conventional garb has rarely been seen in recent years here, but there can be no doubt that Märkl  will live up to that dressy standard in the likely polish and careful preparation of the ISO concerts he conducts. The energy of the overall narrative in "Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks" was palpable from the opening atmosphere setting of a "once-upon-a-time" mood. The ISO performed with a full measure o...

It's not often that a trigger warning given by a play's director in advance comes close to being a spoiler. But that's just the start of specifics I need to avoid in writing about "The Minutes," the Tracy Letts play in one long act exploring city-council machinations in a prairie town with lots to hide. This review's title, borrowing a famous movie line , comes about as close as I dare. My main business must be to praise the strong ensemble performance Chris Saunders generated from his cast on opening night Thursday at Phoenix Theatre 's Russell Stage. "The Minutes" extends the impressive run of American Lives Theatre, of which Saunders is the founding artistic director. Dentist and new councilor Peel works hard to extract the truth. In its heyday in its old church home under the guidance of Bryan Fonseca, the Phoenix mounted an excellent production of Letts' most famous play, "August: Osage County." Two of his other plays, both p...

The annual collaboration between two well-run musical organizations that focus on individuality came off splendidly again Wednesday night at Indiana Landmarks Center . The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center , with two previous local engagements, both in 2016, was the marquee attraction as Ensemble Music Society and the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis  continued their partnership and combined their large loyal audiences for a program of Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Dvorak. Pianist Wu Han and cellist David Finckel were at the center of the concert. A married couple who also direct CMS and often perform together, they were in the spotlight for Dmitri Shostakovich's Cello Sonata in D minor. Their vivid performance of a composition from the Russian composer's middle period, during which the difficulty of creative freedom in the Soviet Union became severe, had the requisite sparkle and flashes of intensity. Wu Han and David Finckel: classical music's power ...

Jun Märkl: Master of detail as well as the big arc Between now and September 1, Jun Märkl will be deepening his already extensive connection with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra .  Newly signed to a five-year contract as the orchestra's eighth music director, the native of Munich, Germany, draws upon deep experience here and abroad to move from artistic advisor to a more complete and powerful status as director of the ISO's core musical mission, starting with the 2024-25 season. Speaking by phone late Tuesday afternoon after having got to work immediately, Märkl had just come from auditions at Hilbert Circle Theatre, the orchestra's home. For several years, the list of ISO musicians in every program book has included "Acting" in front of several principal and associate or assistant principal positions. "When you do not have a music director, many positions are on hold," the new music director explained, including section positions. "We schedule...

After an unprecedented break between music directors, the eighth man to hold the leading artistic position Jun Märkl cements his ISO association with a five-year contract. with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra was announced Tuesday morning at the orchestra's home, Hilbert Circle Theatre . Jun Märkl , a Japanese-German musician whose guest ISO appearances on the Hilbert Circle Theatre podium go back into the 1990s, takes the logical step upward from several years as "artistic advisor" following the pandemic-shortened tenure of Krzysztof Urbanski (2011-2021). As music director designate, Märkl will conduct the orchestra next weekend in two concerts of music by Richard Strauss . His five-year contract, to take effect at the start of the 2024-25 season, calls for him to  conduct nine weeks of concerts in Indianapolis each season, starting with six weeks the first season, in addition to other duties. Currently, he serves as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra...

His announced program shortened by a bout with flu, Kenny Broberg still left a sterling impression on a Kenny Broberg found a place for a favorite, Nikolai Medtner. near-capacity audience at the Indiana History Center Sunday afternoon, presented by the American Pianists Association. The 2021 winner of the Indianapolis-based American Pianist Awards Classical Fellowship, Broberg now anchors his professional activity with a teaching position at a conservatory in Madrid.  Transatlantic air travel from Spain may have triggered the pianist's having caught the bug, moving him to discard Sunday's intermission and lop off two of the three movements of Robert Schumann's Fantasy in C major, op. 17. It seemed a prudent choice. The Schumann Fantasy is a complex piece; in simplistic terms, you could label the second movement  technically challenging and the third movement spiritually so. The finale has two of those "goosebump city" moments for me – great buildups of tension ...

In 1936, about two years before the ghastly portent of Kristallnacht, a Nazi gang pulled down a statue of 2022 IVCI silver medalist solos in Mendelssohn. Felix Mendelssohn in Leipzig. So, even though he lived and died long  before Germany's accelerating descent into anti-semitic madness, the North German composer from a distinguished Jewish family counts as one of the "Silenced Voices" saluted in the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra 's concert Saturday night at Schrott Center. Taken as a significant harbinger of the Holocaust, widespread vandalism that flared up when Jewish shops and synagogues were torched and smashed left shards of glass on pavements, inspiring the designation of "crystal night." Destroying the Mendelssohn monument had given notice that even assimilated Jews of great contributions to German culture would be destined for elimination if they didn't manage to escape. Two other Jewish composers of historic importances in "Silenced Vo...