American story - Zelman Orchestra

Zelman presented a hugely enjoyable program for their September 10th concert. What can go wrong with Copland, Gershwin, and Bernstein? The answer in this case: absolutely nothing! (Unless you count the soggy arrival.)  But it was a good night to be indoors and enjoying Zelman at their best. The playing was very good as usual, and true to the title, the showmanship made the concert a hoot. Imagine a whole orchestra donning costumes during the West Side story suite,  not to mention shouting the word rumble at regular intervals. MSO clarinetist Philip Arkinstall did a beautiful job with the Copland clarinet concerto, being backed by a trimmed down orchestra, but with the addition of piano and harp. The playing was languid and fluid, with perfect breathe control in a piece that is all about restraint and beauty early on, moving towards pyrotechnics in the second movement, finishing with a Gershwin flourish reminisicent of the opening to American Rhapsody. The encore, walking the dog, was a perfect choice and appreciated by the  enthusiastic audience.
To finish the night the orchestra provided another pitch perfect comic performance, bringing on stage a typewriter, for a quirky and joyful ending. We might just post a video of that one in the future. So keep a look out. 

The bright program and artwork meant we were able to create a really impactful CD and sleeve, trialling out the white sleeves as opposed to the recycled cardboard we began our production journey with. Thanks to the little typewriter performance which held the audience in the hall just long enough, CDs were available as the audience walked out of the auditorium. CDs were flying around in the chaos of last minute sales and production. But thats how we like it at Hofland. Also we trialled our listener survey and thank all those who filled one out. As a reward we gave out our free sampler and gave a discount on the american story CD. We do note it was a tad long and will give some thoughts to edits before we launch it again.

We also gave our new C100 HD video camera a good work out. Eldon Hogan hall has a perfect vantage spot in the sound booth at the rear audience, giving us uninterrupted access from above the audience. Our 105mm zoom almost got us really close to the action, producing some beautiful footage of the orchestra. 

Overall a super busy and productive night for the folk at Hofland. And a shout out to cousin, Sonia Glenk, who worked our second camera from the side balcony, for even more exciting shots of the action, including an orchestras eye view of the conductor which is always great to experience from the front. Mark Shiell's beautiful conducting deserves to be seen from all angles by the audience.