PeoriaStory

Vienna Light Orchestra Show -- Pretty Good

PEORIA, IL -- The Vienna Light Orchestra played in Peoria on Nov. 12, with two concerts at the Scottish Rite Theatre. I saw the 4 pm concert which was pleasant and fun though not brilliant. 

The show at first consisted of Broadway songs and one from an opera arranged in classical music style for an orchestra of about two dozen, mostly strings. Then it morphed into rock numbers with a great percussion performance, also in classical style.

All this was fun but as a classical fan I noted that these numbers lack the interesting complexity of authentic classical music.  These pieces are not the  new Beethoven. 

The stage was lovely with  hundreds of candles at the foot and exciting lighting throughout the show. The orchestra's women, beautifully dressed in sparkling gowns, faced the audience and not the conductor. Two women soloists were very talented. There was a stage set of a house, somewhat inexplicable.

However -- the two hour show was weakened by the lack of paper programs. Who were these talented people? What were the rock numbers? What shows were the pieces from?

When will producers realize they can email programs if they can't afford to print them, and advise audiences to print them along with the e-tickets?

The theatre,  recently remodeled, is nice but its side seats left me with a crick in my neck. I will avoid those seats in the future.  At least it has free parking and no heavy security like the horrors that plague the Civic Center.

 -- Elaine Hopkins 

Cher Show is terrific

PEORIA, IL -- The Cher Show opened on June 4 at the Peoria Civic Center Theater, and plays again on June 5.  Don't miss it!

This show embodies everything a fine Broadway production should have.  The huge cast is terrific, all fine singers and dancers. The costumes are incredible and very sexy. The settings are brilliant, flashy, imaginative. The script is very clever. Even the musical numbers are just right, not too long.

The show is an  A-plus,  It cleverly follows the life of Cher, as a person, as a performer, as a feminist.

Only one thing  is missing -- no printed programs, so we don't know whether this is an Actor's Equity company.  Given their skill levels, I suspect they are.

Of course they got a standing ovation, well deserved.

  -- Elaine Hopkins

Incredible Gershwin

WASHINGTON, IL -- The Heartland Festival Orchestra's final concert of the season on May 25 at Three Points Auditorium, was an incredible event, with three works by George Gershwin, and his Rhapsody in Blue performed by a brilliant pianist, Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner.

Winner of the 2022 Concert Artists Guild Competition and other awards, he was a compelling soloist and performer on the Rhapsody concerto, backed by the large orchestra. The audience leaped to its feet, and he played a brief solo for an encore.

The other Gershwin works, An American in Paris and Lullaby were also engaging. In addition the orchestra played a Duke Ellington Medley of classic pieces, with artistic director/conductor David Commanday explaining that Ellington and Gershwin were friends and equally interested in jazz.

This was one of the most exciting of the Heartland Festival Orchestra's many concerts. The sound was terrific and the fast pace of the jazz/classical works left only one reaction: Wow!

  -- Elaine Hopkins

 

Beethoven the Magnificent

PEORIA, IL -- The Heartland Festival Orchestra's all Beethoven concert on April 6 occurred at an unusual place, Venue Chisca, a converted warehouse with crystal chandeliers in Peoria's Warehouse District.

There was no stage, so the audience was seated next to the orchestra while it played an all Beethoven program, Symphony No. 1, the Coriolan Overture, and to top it off, Symphony No. 5.  The sound in the venue was fabulous, and the Beethoven pieces were wonderful. 

Artistic director/composer David Commanday enlivened the event even more with commentary on Beethoven's music before and after the pieces, and between each movement of the symphonies. He also gave the audience permission to applaud between the movements, and it did.

"My purpose is to 'break the mold' of the classical concert -- to create an un-concert...setting up a new scene for a performance adventure. This is a first in Central Illinois," Commanday wrote in the program. He succeeded.

The only problem -- the chairs were somewhat uncomfortable, with straight backs. Still, the music made up for that.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

Heartland Orchestra and the animals

EAST PEORIA, IL -- The Heartland Festival Orchestra's 'Musical Fables' program on March 2 included two famous and beloved pieces, with narration and animals, and a brilliant modern Concerto for Two Pianos in D Minor by Francis Poulenc.

Two pianists, Victor Cayres and Paul Johnston, played the exciting Poulec piece and Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint Saens, in which 13 animals are portrayed in sound and in poetry narrated by radio personality Greg Batton. It was brilliant.

The other selection was Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, also expertly narrated with melodies for each creature in the story.

Hearing these familiar animal pieces played by expert musicians was a joy.  The audience at the Illinois Central College auditorium was filled with children as well as adults for this  lovely event.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

UKRAINIAN TRIBUTE

PEORIA, IL. -- An unusual classical music concert, Ukrainian Tribute, on Feb. 25 at the Moss Avenue Presbyterian Church, drew a large audience and a standing ovation.

The concert program asked "No culture of its own?" and proved that Ukrainian music and composers have much to offer, despite what Russia has claimed.

The eight pieces, from 20th and 21st century composers, were beautiful, strong, and exciting, though most were full of huge chords in minor keys, reflecting the wars and oppression that Ukraine has experienced.

Pianist John Orfe led four other musicians performing the pieces. The concert program provided helpful information on the composers and their music. Hearing this music made for a unique experience, never to be forgotten.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

The Sound of Simon and Garfunkel

PEORIA, IL -- The  musical show "The Simon & Garfunkel Story" played at the Peoria Civic Center Theater on Feb. 4, and left the standing ovation audience begging for more.

The show was a time trip back to the 1950s through the 1970s, with The Sound of Silence, Mrs Robinson, Bridge Over Troubled Waters and many more of the songs that sold millions and received numerous awards.  It was a fun experience.

The two singers who played the famous duo and narrated their careers did a fine job. Too bad we don't know their names, as there were no printed programs, a continuing black mark on the Broadway series at the Civic Center.

The setting was well done, with a screen behind the singers and band, depicting videos of the times.  They should have used that screen for supertitles of the song lyrics, but oh well, that's a small matter in a show featuring strong musicians and classic music.

-- Elaine Hopkins

Heartland Festival Orchestra's Tribute to Aretha

PEORIA, IL -- The Heartland Festival Orchestra's tribute to Aretha wowed the audience with jazz, gospel, soul and rock, and two singers with great voices suitable for opera.

The Feb. 3 event, at the St. Paul Baptist Church, brought the audience to its feet several times, and included clapping for the musicians, jazz style.The venue has wonderful acoustics, too.

The program was all pop music, no classical. But the pop songs were all classics.  The orchestra's conductor/artistic director David Commanday told the audience to notice the "sound of a big band embedded in the orchestra." The trumpets, especially, provided that sound.

The singers were Capathia Jenkins and Ryan Shaw, both with much experience with symphony orchestras and on stage as performers.  They are both jazz singers who can improvise as  well as sell a song.

The Heritage Ensemble and the Illinois Central College Concert Choir provided nice backup for the singers.

In short, this was a fabulous show, worthy of Chicago or New York. 

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

Million Dollar Quartet Christmas

PEORIA, IL -- The Million Dollar Quartet Christmas show boogied onto the Peoria Civic Center Theater stage on Nov. 28 and plays again there on Nov. 29. It's an OK show but not great.

The show is based on the historic meeting of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins. This show has them complaining about the music business, which is to say there's no plot, just a lot of cone pone comments and dozens of 'aint's in weak dialogue.

The music they play is much better.  The performers are skilled musicians rather than skilled actors. They turn traditional Christmas songs into rock numbers that are lively and well performed.

The set and especially the lighting are cleverly done. But there's that old fatal flaw for this series of shows in Peoria, no printed programs so it's impossible to know who the performers are, especially the strongest one, a woman who can act as well as sing.

There's no intermission for this 90 minute show, and a surprise ending.

-- Elaine Hopkins

Grand Kyiv Ballet is Grand

PEORIA, IL --The Grand Kyiv Ballet danced its way into the Peoria Civic Center Theater on October 16, performing the beautiful classic Swan Lake. 

The dancers were wonderful, the sets and costumes were elegant, and the recorded music was fine, though a live orchestra would have been nice to have.

The only flaw in the evening was the lack of a printed program.  Who were these wonderful young dancers from Ukraine? Did we see a future Rudolph Nureyev?   The wizard character Rothbart was brilliant. In fact all the male dancers were terrific. The famous scene with the pas de deux was especially well done.

The Civic Center Theater remains its shabby self, but a staff member said it's soon going to be renovated. Now if they will just require printed programs for any presentation in the theater, and ditch the 'no-purses' rule....

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

 

Bach is back in Peoria

PEORIA, IL -- Hard core classical music is alive and well in Peoria. 

The annual J. S. Bach festival has been taking place this week with the festival climax on June 9, a fine concert at Westminister Presbyterian Church on historic Moss Avenue. The audience filled the auditorium.

Local musicians made up the festival orchestra and choir, demonstrating once again the primacy of music as the top artform in Peoria, way ahead of theater or other artistic efforts.

The program included Bach's Brandenburg Concert No. 1 in F major; his Concerto for Two Violins in D minor; his Cantata for the "24" Sunday after Trinity; and his Cantata for the First Sunday after Trinity, all difficult, complex but beautiful works. The cantatas were sung in German (!).

A helpful printed program was filled with information on the music and musicians. (If a locally produced event can include a printed program why can't the Broadway series include them? And there were no guards or metal detectors at the entrance, unlike the Peoria Civic Center.)

This is a great, top quality series, comparable to Chicago quality at a minimal ticket cost. Thanks to the musicians and their directors for this lovely event.

 -- Elaine Hopkins