The Bangor Symphony Orchestra kicked off its 119th season with a stunning musical tour of Spain on Sunday at the Collins Center for the Arts in Orono. Titled “Espana,” it featured works by Spanish, French and Russian composers that swept the audience past tiny mountain villages, through dark dance halls inhabited by flamenco dancers and into dusty bullrings.
As he has done at previous concerts, music director and conductor Lucas Richman stacked the compositions carefully on top of one another, beginning with the sweet ballet “Three-Cornered Hat, Suite No. 2,” by Manuel de Falla, and ending with a cacophony of sound, “Capriccio Espagnol,” by the master of orchestration, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
At the center of Sunday’s performance was classical guitarist Ana Vidovic performing “Concierto de Aranjuez” by Joaquin Rodrigo. Dressed in a sherbet orange chiffon gown, she resembled a fall leaf caressing her guitar.
The instrument cradled by the 33-year-old native of Croatia seemed to dance with the orchestra as the chords she played were echoed by the musicians. While concertgoers could see Vidovic’s fingers working tirelessly, she seemed to play the strings with her soul. That allowed a concert hall full of Mainers to experience the spirit of Spain as Rodrigo said he depicted it in the themes of the concierto, where “there lingers the fragrance of magnolias, the singing of birds and the gushing of fountains.”
Vidovic started playing guitar at the age of 5 and began performing two years later, according to her biography. At the age of 13, she became the youngest student to attend the prestigious National Musical Academy in Zagreb, Croatia. She graduated in 2005 from the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
Her performance was exquisite.
Vidovic seemed to inspire the orchestra. In the second half of the concert, the players enthusiastically and beautifully performed “Espana” by Emmanuel Chabrier, “Carmen Suite No. 1” by Georges Bizet, which include the well-known “Les Toreadors,” and ended with the “Capriccio Espagnol.” After the performance, the audience cheered the orchestra and its maestro for several minutes and seemed to reluctantly exit the hall.
At times, it seemed as if the music itself was celebrating the vibrant array of colors on the trees outside the concert hall as well as reflecting life in the Spanish countryside and the country’s metropolitan bullrings. The concert felt like a joyous Indian summer.
“Espana” was an auspicious beginning for Richman’s fifth season with the baton. The program was a reflection of the conductor’s infectious joie de vivre and his commitment to bringing virtuoso soloists to Maine.
The Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s next concert is “Classical Kings,” with Daniel Shapiro as piano soloist, at 3 p.m. Nov. 23 at the Collins Center for the Arts. For tickets, call 581-1755 or visit www.bangorsymphony.org.