<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4eqdgK_1FPDWS7100" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4eqdgK_1FPDWS7100" width="451" height="676" ></figure>Twenty years is a long time to build a relationship between a conductor, an orchestra and a community. For Newport Symphony Orchestra Music Director Adam Flatt, some of the most memorable moments have come from just how close those three can be.“Our [performing arts center] is intimate,” he said, “and it is touching to hear the emotional impact of the music on our listeners who are all sitting so close to us.”The Newport Symphony Orchestra will celebrate Flatt’s 20th season at the podium with “Siren Song,” at the Newport Performing Arts Center this Saturday, Sept. 26 and Sunday, Sept. 27.Flatt arrived in Newport during the 2006-07 season after the orchestra narrowed a national pool of 150 candidates to four finalists. His previous experience included an apprenticeship with James DePreist and Murry Sidlin at the Oregon Symphony and five years as associate conductor of the Colorado Symphony, where he was recruited by Marin Alsop.But his fascination with orchestral music began much earlier. Flatt started violin lessons at the age of five and still remembers his first day playing in his public school orchestra in seventh grade.“We read through Schubert’s ‘Rosamunde Overture,’ and I almost swooned at the power of being inside that ensemble,” he said. “I trace my love for orchestral music back to that moment.”In Newport, Flatt also developed a close friendship with actor and conductor David Ogden Stiers, one of the founders of the orchestra.“David had no ego – he was explicitly clear that he was 100 percent for the success of the orchestra, no promotion of himself at all,” Flatt said. “We made each other laugh a lot. He was such a supporter, so generous with words of encouragement.”The orchestra itself dates to 1989, when Anthony Armore and Stiers helped establish the Yaquina Chamber Orchestra alongside the Ernest Bloch Music Festival. It became the Yaquina Orchestra in 1996 and was renamed the Newport Symphony Orchestra in 2004.Flatt said part of what has kept him in Newport for two decades is the community surrounding the orchestra.“It is not just about tourism, or just about fishing, or just about ocean science, or just about its wonderful retirees; it is all of those and much more,” he said. “It is a good community for arts and artists of all kinds. The scenic beauty nurtures us.”And despite the highly visible nature of conducting, Flatt said much of the job happens far from an audience.“One misconception about conductors is that our work is very public and very physical,” he said. “The opposite is true. For all the rehearsing and performing, we spend countless more hours alone and sedentary, learning the scores and preparing.”That preparation will be put to work in “Siren Song,” featuring Debussy’s “Nocturnes,” Robert Lowry’s “How Can I Keep From Singing?,” Jessie Montgomery’s “Coincident Dances” and Stravinsky’s 1945 suite from “The Firebird.” Sopranos and altos from the Willamette Master Chorus will join the symphony for the Debussy.Tickets start at $46.25 for regular seating, $28 for guests younger than 30 and $10 for students with ID.Saturday’s concert begins at 7:30 pm, with a pre-concert talk at 6:45 pm, and Sunday’s concert begins at 2 pm at the Newport Performing Arts Center, located at 777 W. Olive Street.For more information or tickets, go to coastarts.org/nso or call 541-265-2787.</div></body>

Block Source: oregoncoasttoday.com

Misinformation

Clickbait

Old or repetitive news

Explicit content

Location not relevant

Twenty years is a long time to build a relationship between a conductor, an orchestra and a community. For Newport Symphony Orchestra Music Director Adam Flatt, some of the most memorable moments have come from just how close those three can be. “Our [performing arts center] is intimate,” he said,...

Notes from 20 years on the podium

NewsBreak

Twenty years is a long time to build a relationship between a conductor, an orchestra and a community. For Newport Symphony Orchestra Music Director Adam F

Notes from 20 years on the podium

Comments