The Phoenix Symphony

Visiting my friend Doug in Phoenix last week, I took him to the city's downtown Symphony Hall for his first concert there in 30 years.

The Phoenix Symphony was founded in 1947, performing at the Phoenix Union High School for the first 25 years of its existence. Symphony Hall was built in 1972 and the ensemble became full-time in 1983.

Symphony Hall is also home for the Arizona Ballet, where the Phoenix Symphony is the accompanying orchestra, and Arizona Opera, where it is not. Both the Phoenix Symphony and Arizona Ballet seasons stretch from fall to spring, with interesting looking pops concerts scattered throughout.

We were greeted outdoors by Senior Director of Community Engagement & Education, Valerie Bontrager. She was a total delight as she explained the absurd new security protocol, complete with metal detectors, that the Convention Center authority has begun to require for entry. She was passing out clear plastic purses to patrons as a way to consolidate their pocket belongings.

The theater lobby was late-60's fancy, and the seven-year-old groovy carpeting meant to evoke desert colors would not have looked out of place in an upscale casino.

The mostly wooden theater is lovely and comfortable and seemed to have decent acoustics.

The Sunday matinee crowd was delightful, and the enthusiastic woman sitting next to us had been attending Phoenix Symphony concerts since their days at Phoenix Union High School over 50 years ago.

The orchestra was conducted by Music Director Tito Muñoz, who is leaving this season after being at the helm for 10 years. The afternoon's concert began with Wagner's 1883 Siegfried Idyll, a meandering piece of music that was played well. What was most impressive was the quiet and attentive audience.

This was followed by a violin concerto by composer David Ludwig (above with Muñoz) that he had composed in 2015 for his own nuptials to violinist Bella Hristova. Ludwig comes from classical music royalty with pianist Rudolf Serkin his grandfather and violinist Irene Busch his mother. He's currently Dean and Music Director at Julliard, and if this violin concerto is any indication, he's also a good composer.

The three-movement work began with a crash of the cosmos that calmed down and became more lyrical. The slow second movement was exquisitely beautiful with snatches of music from Bella Hristova's Russian composer father, Yuri Chichkov. The lively final movement is based on a Bulgarian dance, the Krivo Horo or "Crooked Dance." and it was lots of fun. Hristova was fabulous playing her own wedding concerto. (Pictured above are Concertmaster Bonson Mo, Bella Hristova, and Tito Muñoz.)

At intermission, I was ferried through multiple levels of the theater by Valerie, whose enthusiasm for the company was infectious.

The concert ended with Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 "Pathetique". The first two movements were a little slack, but the wild march in the third movement was thrilling and the sad, plaintive adagio fourth movement made its emotional mark.