Dawn Bonker
Our German is pretty rusty, but when we glanced at an Austrian review of conductor Daniel Wachs’ performance leading the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg this month, even we could see that Chapman University’s director of instrumental studies had made quite a splash in
the land of Mozart
.
A writer for
Dreh Punkt Kultur
compared Wachs to no less than the famed
Gustavo Dudamel
.
Thanks to the translating skills of Heather Ter-Jung, a retired faculty member from Chapman’s Department of Languages, we got every word. And what a review it was. A highlight of the concert performed by the Mozarteum in combination with the Salzburger Landesjugendorchester (Salzburg’s leading youth orchestra) was the world premiere of a work by internationally renowned composer Toshio Hosokawa. The reviewer said Wachs was “an inspiring advocate, bringing out every detail of the score with precision.”
And under Wachs’ direction the closing piece in the concert apparently rocked the famed
Festspielhaus
, home of the
Salzburg Summer Festival
.
“The final work on the program was Leonard Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances” from the musical West Side Story which the composer himself arranged. Engaging, rhythmically inspired, precise in its execution, the “Mambo” was equal to a performance by Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra!” wrote reviewer Horst Reischenböck.
Now Wachs is back at Chapman and preparing for the Saturday, Nov. 20 Chapman Chamber Orchestra concert in support of
Daniel Pearl World Music Days
. The concert features guest baritone
Vladimir Chernov
and a program to include Brahms’
Tragic Overture
, Mahler’s
Kindertotenlieder
, and Beethoven’s
Symphony No. 5
.
The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in Memorial Hall. Tickets are $10 to $15. For more information, visit the
College of Performing Arts website
.
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