New director Mei-Ann Chen a perfect fit for Sinfonietta
By Andrew Patner
August 15, 2011
Chicago Sun-Times
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In taking the reins of any group, it’s rarely easy to follow a founder.
You might think things would be even more difficult for a young Asian woman in becoming only the second music director in the 25-year history of the Chicago Sinfonietta, a group started in part to advance African Americans in classical music.
But Sunday evening at the Pritzker Pavilion, Taiwanese-born Mei-Ann Chen made the transition seem as natural as a beautiful summer day in Millennium Park.
Chen, 38, has led the Sinfonietta before to strong positive responses, two years ago as a part of her audition, and last season as a part of the baton passing from founder Paul Freeman, whom Chen calls “my wonderful musical hero.” But this was the her first real chance to say hello to Chicago from the podium.
After seeing and hearing her talk to an audience, vamp, crack wise and move about the stage to greet soloists with genuine enthusiasm, it’s clear that, along with her strong musical abilities, Chen has real people skills, non-threatening self-confidence and a serious understanding of the Sinfonietta’s mission as “a national model for inclusiveness and innovation.”
She seems to be just the conductor the orchestra needs, too. In a 90-minute free program before a focused and cheering audience, Chen led movements of works by Afro-British and African-American composers; a collaborative work with the Sones de Mexico folk ensemble; a suite of excerpts from the Chinese “Butterfly Lovers” Violin Concerto, transcribed for the stringed erhu ; the latter half of Dvorak’s Ninth Symphony, “From the New World,” and in an unusual but effective spot as a program closer, Leonard Bernstein’s jaunty overture to his “Candide.”
In all of these works — from Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s 1899 “Dance negre” through the rondo of the 1953 Sinfonietta No. 1 for strings by his namesake, the much-missed Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, to the Mexican, Chinese and Euro-American classical staples — Chen displayed both a crispness and a sense of shading and nuance that allowed these fine musicians to be heard at their best. That she showed keen understanding of these varied styles and true finesse in an outdoor venue new to her should mean great things for this new partnership.
The six members of Sones played seductively in Gustavo Leone’s orchestration of leader Victor Pichardo’s “Encuentro: Poema Sinfonica,” a suite of Yucatecan dances inspired by the early 16th century encounter of a Spanish sailor with Mayan culture. Betty Xiang has been Chicago’s erhu star for 20 years, and she again was in her East meets West element in Chen Gang and He Zhanhao’s concerto.
“I never planned to make a career so linked to a mission,” Chen told the audience. “I became a conductor actually to express myself, as I was a very shy child. But this group and its connections to the communities of Chicago is such an inspiration, my goal is to make this the mightiest and most impactful boutique orchestra in America.”
The cheering crowd at the Pritzker seemed convinced that she’ll do just that.
The Sinfonietta’s six-program 2011-2012 season begins Sept. 24 at its new suburban home, Wentz Concert Hall at North Central College in Naperville, and Sept. 26 downtown at Orchestra Hall. Info: (312) 236-3681 or chicagosinfonietta.org.Andrew Patner is critic at large for WFMT-FM (98.7).