Urbanski Arrives: This is Big

How apropos that the long, rudderless period at the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra finished last weekend with an exciting evening of music featuring no  conductor at all.

Or not really, anyway. Concertmaster Zach DePue, soloist for both Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante and the Vivaldi Four Seasons, led the band nimbly from centerstage. It was a brilliant weekend and you shouldn’t have missed it, if you did.

Tonight, what the ISO is calling the “Urbanski Era” really begins, even though Krzysztof Urbanski, the 28-year-old wunderkind’s contract starts in September, with a program of Mendelssohn and Sibelius. There are still some tickets available to witness this important cultural milestone.

(We won’t count his surprise appearance at last evening’s happy hour, where he ran the group through a movement of tonight’s symphony and otherwise seemed to be having a good time).

Early this week, there was a big piece in the New York Times about the scourge of “fake” orchestras touring the United States. Apparently the so-called “Dublin Philharmonic” is comprised mostly of Bulgarians. 

I’ve no idea the number of native-born Hoosiers in the ISO—but there can be no question that the players hold honorary status at the least. They’re here, performing, all year round. They are world-class good—and, with a new maestro in place, undoubtedly going to continue their ascendence. Put your hands together, folks –something very exciting is happening on the Circle.