'Attending a Rehearsal' by Amy Noe

I love going behind the scenes with the RSO. I had the opportunity to sit in on their first rehearsal for the September 17 concert. The players had, of course, practiced their parts individually before coming, but this was the first time the orchestra as a whole came together to rehearse. They would read through the piece once, and then Conductor Guy Victor Bordo would lead them back through the piece from the beginning, meticulously sculpting and shaping the music to suit his interpretation. “I need to see your faces. A lot,” he said to the violin section as he pointedly directed them through a particularly difficult section of Gustav Holst's “Jupiter” from The Planets. After the first read-through of Arturo Marquez's Danzon No.2, he explained to the players that this piece was chosen to convey passion to the audience. Therefore, their “conservative” efforts would need to be amplified: “We've got to let it all hang out here.” Three or four tries into a section of Jennifer Higdon's blue cathedral that features horns, in which Guy kept wanting more, he said, “That time you were just loud enough. You could be louder still.” The focused players adjusted, penciled in notes, and carried on. Success would earn an approving nod and smile as Guy led the players on through the piece, at least for a few seconds until he arrived at the next section that needed work. Considering the attention paid to every last detail by your RSO, I cannot imagine that you would want to miss a single note of this upcoming concert.