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Date: 4/24/2023
HOLYOKE — The Holyoke Civic Symphony’s season finale concert and annual fundraiser will take place Sunday, May 7, at 3 p.m. and conclude the 56th season of the orchestra.
The concert title, “Let There Be Music,” comes from a composed piece from American music educator, composer and performer Gwyneth Walker, who will be in attendance at the concert. The performance is being commissioned by the orchestra in honor of Conductor David Kidwell. It also includes a performance by high school student Noah Ferris.
The annual benefit concert will take place at Holyoke Community College’s Fine and Performing Arts Building, and the Civic Symphony asks those who attend opt to wear a mask. There is a minimum payment of $10 for adults and $5 for children under 12.
Walker contributed a program note for the concert for her piece that best describes what the concert means for the Civic Symphony, and credits Kidwell for helping manage the group through COVID-19.
“During the pandemic years of 2020-2021, the Holyoke Civic Symphony, like many other orchestras, remained silent. Their performance venue at Holyoke Community College was closed. Group gatherings were avoided. Yet the orchestra, under the leadership of their music director, David Kidwell, managed to keep their shared love of music alive,” Walker writes. “This overture was inspired by that memorable concert. Let there be music!”
Kidwell told Reminder Publishing that working the coronavirus pandemic had its fair share of challenges for the organization as they had to close down for over a year. Now having come out of those challenging times, Kidwell said that the upcoming concert will serve as the finale of their first full concert season since before COVID-19.
“It’s such a wonderful feeling to finish up any season on a high note like this but this is our first full season back after the pandemic and to have had four in person concerts this year, has just been really incredible,” Kidwell said. “I’m really excited about this concert because it has three pieces by American composers, including Gwyneth, and she’s such a good friend of mine. We get to do the premiere for that, and Noah is amazing. All three of these pieces [for the show] are new to the orchestra and to me, and so we’ve just been having a great time learning them all together.”
While not being able to perform together, Kidwell and orchestra members would connect through Zoom meetings to stay connected during the time period. He eventually began teaching himself how to edit video to piece together performances from different members of the orchestra through recording for a virtual performance.
They ended up creating multiple prerecorded performances that were released on different dates to keep the spirit of the symphony alive as well as share their talents with fans of the groups who were missing their shows.
“It was kind of a way to keep the orchestra together through the pandemic and also keep our audience interested in us,” Kidwell said.
By fall 2021, it was possible to bring the orchestra back to the auditorium. According to Walker, even though the first concert only featured chamber ensembles, the audience was thrilled to experience live music once again and players were greeted with a standing ovation when walking on stage.
The upcoming finale concert, described as an all-American program, begins with Walker’s world premiere composition followed by the Holyoke Civic Symphony’s Thomas Schwab Student Concerto Competition winner Noah Ferris, who will perform Victor Herbert’s Cello Concerto No. 2. It concludes with William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 1, the first symphony composed by an African American to be performed by a major orchestra.
Ferris is a 10th grade student at Amherst-Pelham Regional High School. He won the biannual contest and will receive a financial award for his talents. Winning the contest also is leading to Ferris’ performance at the concert.
Only 16 years old, Ferris has been playing cello for more than a decade, with lessons beginning at age 5. With his talents and experience, Ferris served as principal cellist of the Julliard Pre-College Symphony in the spring of 2022. Also, a member of the Julliard High School Chorus, he performed at the October 2022 opening gala of David Geffen Hall alongside Renee Fleming, Brian Stokes Mitchell and the New York Philharmonic.
“This was an especially outstanding field of young musicians [in this year’s contest], and Noah Ferris’ selection speaks to his outstanding talent on the cello,” said Kidwell about Ferris.
Kidwell said the orchestra has long had the Student Concerto Competition for students, but more recently it was renamed after Thomas Schwab, a longtime symphony member and friend of Kidwell.
Kidwell said Schwab has always been a good supporter of the organization and was once the treasurer of the group, as well. Kidwell called him a “big believer in music education.”
Kidwell said Ferris is another great addition to the history of winners of the student award and that he and judges from the contest were all very impressed with his confidence and maturity as well as his skill.
“He’s just so incredibly musical and very easy to follow and interested in the piece in general and how we’re putting it together. He’s very excited,” Kidwell added. “Not many students get a chance to play a solo with a full symphony orchestra.”