Alfred Savia learned long ago that the stomach can play a key part in a
performance's pacing.
That's why Savia, the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra's music director,
won't eat a large meal before he conducts Friday's performance of George
Frederic Handel's "Messiah" in Trinity United Methodist Church.
The oratorio, performed with the orchestra, chorus and guest soloists, likely
will run two hours to two hours and 10 minutes, he says, "depending upon how
much I had for dinner."
Savia isn't joking about that. Early in his conducting career, he remembers
wondering why he'd conducted a concert slower than usual. "Then I thought, 'Oh,
yeah, I had a big dinner before the concert,'" says Savia.
Since then "I don't have dinner before a concert for that very reason. It can
run very long if you eat too much. Everything is just sluggish."
Savia comes to Friday's performance hungry for the opportunity to conduct his
first "Messiah" in several years. Joseph Choi, the Philharmonic's assistant
conductor and director for the Evansville Philharmonic Chorus, led last year's
show, when the orchestra's full "Messiah" returned after two years of sing-along
versions led by the previous associate conductor and chorus director, Teresa
Cheung.
Savia looks forward to incorporating some of the authentic baroque violin
stylings and techniques he's been reading over several months, he says. He's
read, "cover to cover," "A Treatise on the Fundamentals of Violin" by Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart's father, Leopold Mozart.
"He sort of bridged the gap between the baroque and classical (styles), but
he's somebody who obviously was coming out of the baroque period."
Mozart's advice has helped Savia better understand the way violinists in
Handel's day likely would have articulated some of the passages and rhythms in
the music. "I have to say, I approach baroque music differently now," says
Savia.
Friday's concert will feature all of Part I, and much of Part II and Part II,
including the pastoral symphonic section, the soprano aria "I Know That My
Redeemer Liveth," bass aria "The Trumpet Shall Sound" (with featured trumpets in
the upstairs gallery), and chorus favorites including "For Unto Us a Child is
Born," "All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray," and, of course the "Hallelujah!"
chorus and the final "Amen" that concludes "Messiah" in a cascade of voices.
Guest soloists for Friday's performance are soprano Kristen Watson, alto
Pamela Dellal, bass Jon Truitt and tenor Salvatore Champagne.
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2006/dec/07/maestro-hungers-for-philharmonics-messiah/
