As we look forward to opening a new season of the Jacksonville Symphony, I’m often asked about the planning and preparation period. People are often surprised to find, for example, that we only begin rehearsing a specific program the week of the performances, usually on the Tuesday before the first Friday concert.
Planning a symphony orchestra season is like a massive puzzle of moving pieces. On top of choosing the repertoire, our Vice President and Artistic Administrator, Tony Nickle, is responsible for managing a complex web of guest soloist and conductors’ availability. Tony and I work on each season gradually over a three-year period. At first, we discuss the big pieces we’d like to play. Once those are set, we discuss which guest artists
we’d like to bring. Then we consider new repertoire and commissions, and what will lead to good box office results. Gradually a framework begins to emerge. Then we consider if there are any omissions that need to be filled, for example, a season with no Beethoven or Mozart would be unpopular.
Once we’ve come up with a suggestion for the season, a committee of musicians from the Orchestra and members of the Board reviews it and offers advice and further suggestions. Finally, the whole season is presented to an external marketing company, who give us ticket sales projections based on the repertoire we’ve chosen. Then come further modifications before we announce the season in the spring before the fall.
Once we get to the week of a concert, an enormous amount of work has already taken place. A classical concert has four rehearsals. Musicians arrive already completely on top of the notes. The library has prepared their parts months in advance, marking in which direction all the string players’ bows will go for every phrase of every piece. The musicians pick up the sheet music several weeks before the first rehearsal to prepare. For me the preparation begins much earlier, usually as soon as Tony and I mention a piece, years before the performance. I play the music at the piano, listen to recordings of pieces and spend a lot of time thinking. Gradually an interpretation of the music begins to form.
The concert week itself is rather hectic. It’s not like a community or youth orchestra where we spend months rehearsing a single concert. Usually we have Monday off, followed by four rehearsals between Tuesday and Friday. We work at lightning speed, and the length of rehearsals is strictly monitored by clocks and union stewards. The days of tyrannical conductors keeping orchestras behind for more rehearsal are long gone!
Because the orchestra can play the music very well at the first rehearsal, we are able to spend the rehearsals working on more interesting things like the phrasing, balance of the instruments relative to each other, and the shape and style the composer intended. We might focus on particular details that I would like to emphasize. If there is a soloist, for example, a pianist playing a piano concerto, we will meet before the rehearsal to discuss their interpretation. Then we use the rehearsals to make sure we stay together as we play through the piece. In a concerto, balance is again a major concern, and one of the assistant conductors will give me notes about any places in which the orchestra is covering the soloist.
At the final Friday morning rehearsal, we play thought the whole concert with as few stops as possible so everyone gets a sense of how the music flows, the way it will in the concert. Then there’s the nervous ordeal of Friday afternoon, waiting for concert time to arrive. You know the rest!
We are delighted to be back for the 77th season of the Jacksonville Symphony in a refreshed Jacoby Symphony Hall. The season is rich in classical music, pops, movies, new works and new concert formats. We can’t wait to share it all with you.
Courtney Lewis is music director of the Jacksonville Symphony.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: How the Jacksonville Symphony plans a concert season
