Guardian Industries Attends Florida Tour Preview

During a special pre-concert ceremony on January 4 at Orchestra Hall, William Davidson (left), President of Guardian Industries, presented Maestro Neeme Järvi with sunglasses and a t-shirt in preparation for the DSO's upcoming Florida Tour. The tour is made possible by the Guardian Touring Fund, established by Davidson.

Davidson was also joined on stage by Detroit Mayor Dennis W. Archer and DSO Board Chairman Peter Cummings to celebrate the World Premiere of MotorCity Triptych. The work, written by DSO Composer-in-Residence Michael Daugherty, was commissioned to honor the 300th birthday of the City of Detroit. The Orchestra will perform MotorCity Triptych for audiences in Florida during the tour.

L to R Clockwise: Toasting the tour are Ralph 
Gerson of Guardian Industries, Liilia Järvi, Peter 
Cummings, DSO President & Executive Director Emil J. 
Kang, tour soloist Joshua Bell and Julie Cummings.

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra tour party arrived in West Palm Beach on Tuesday afternoon after a routine flight and short bus ride. 80 degree weather and a cloudless sky greeted the sun-starved Michiganians, as did palm trees waving in the breeze and an array of colorful flowers in full bloom. Small lizards with curly tails scampered poolside, and the musicians celebrated their arrival and the commencement of the Orchestra’s Florida Sunshine Tour, sponsored by Guardian Industries.

A major treat was in store for the evening, as the first concert of the tour was still 24 hours away. The DSO’s Chairman of the Board, Peter Cummings, and his wife, Julie, hosted a glamorous evening of cocktails aboard a restored 1923 teak-trimmed yacht, followed by a four-course meal at the Palm Beach Yacht Club. Maestro Järvi led a toast to the Cummings, thanking them for the gracious party, and to Ralph Gerson, Executive Vice President of Guardian Industries, and his wife, Erica. Around the tables, musicians told tales of past tours and the glory these occasions bring.

L to R Clockwise: The setting was almost like a cruise 
down the Nile River in an Agatha Christie novel. Pictured 
in the stateroom of a restored 1923 yacht are Bryan 
Kennedy (french horn), Kim Kalyonides Kennedy (violin), 
Mario DiFiore (cello) and his wife, Ted Oien (clarinet), Debra Fayroian (cello), Elias Friedenzohn (violin) and his wife, Cecilia. 

Upon arrival in the Sunshine State, some musicians 
found rest, others took to various forms of recreation, 
while others filled the hotel hallways with the sounds of instruments at practice.  L to R: Enjoying the Florida flora and fauna are DSO Bassist Rick Robinson and friend, Suzanne Diment; stagehand Frank Bonucci; and an extra cellist on the tour, Sarah Cleveland. 

Trombonist Randy Hawes (left) arrived extra early at the Kravis Center in order to get in his practice licks. 
The Kravis Center boasts a multi-storied glass lobby, surrounded outdoors by palm trees and water fountains.

Principal Tuba Wesley Jacobs always finds a 
ready place to practice on top of the case that is 
used to transport his instrument.

Assistant Principal Bass Stephen Molina is the first 
onstage to test the acoustics of the new hall.

Neeme Järvi (left), the DSO and Joshua Bell (right) 
gave a thrilling performance of Jan Sibelius’ Violin Concerto.

A packed house awaited the Detroit Symphony Orchestra on opening night of its Sunshine Tour, which took place at the striking and modern Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach. A mere nine years old, the venue seemed vast compared to the intimate confines of Detroit’s Orchestra Hall.

With décor reminiscent of Art Deco -- but with a dash of Hollywood, and a color scheme of white with gold trim and red plush seats, the band from Detroit met its first challenge of the tour head on. Later, a Florida audience member was overheard to say - “I’ve never seen this audience so enthusiastic.” 

The occasion also marked the first performance outside Michigan of Michael Daugherty’s MotorCity Triptych. It would be off to Miami for the Detroiters in the morning, and an evening concert at the Dade County Auditorium. 

Excerpt from the Miami Herald

"Detroit Symphony Polished Under Virtuoso Conductor"

. . . Neeme Järvi is a virtuoso conductor with a formidable technique, who establishes an unbroken line of communication with audiences and orchestras, and has a consistent point of view.  The Detroit Symphony Orchestra . . . has been a good group since the early 1950s under Paul Paray.  But I doubt it sounded more polished then, or poised and responsive than it did under Järvi at the Kravis Center Wednesday night.

[Järvi] opened with Carl Nielsen's Maskarade Overture.  The feathery accuracy of the string playing in this curtain-raiser for a comedy was as deft as Järvi's projection of its frothy aura.

Then came Sibelius' Violin Concerto, with Joshua Bell dashing off the solo to make the ghost of Heifetz sit up and take notice . . .

. . . Michael Daugherty's imaginative new MotorCity Triptych was another plus -- not just some predictable piece d'occasion, but rather a genuinely riveting 20-minute orchestral essay using Motown as a springboard for bluesy excursions, flecked with guttural wind sounds, tangy trombones, and a sassy solo trumpet . . .

James Roos
Music Critic

Michael Daugherty (right), who is accompanying the 
DSO on the tour, took his bow with Neeme Järvi before 
an audience who heard the sounds of Motown, 
in MotorCity Triptych.