Two days ago, I took in one of the concerts of the Sakhalin Philharmonic. As part of Philharmonic’s celebration of the opening of its 71st season, it brought in the guest chamber orchestra of conductor Igor Lerman and multi-wind instrument soloist Arkady Shilkloper. Due to this fact, I cannot comment on the quality of their usual shows, however I would give this ensemble a solid B/B+. The group was made up of six to eight violins (the concertmaster had a wonderful solo), three violas, three cellos, a base, and a piano. Finally, Mr. Shilkloper, who has quite a musical resume to his name, joined for about half of the pieces. Most of the time, he performed on the alto horn. In my opinion, it was his strongest instrument and he was able to bring out the melancholy nature of the instrument. However, much to the enjoyment of the crowd, he also brought out his alphorn. I admit, I don’t believe I have ever witnessed someone play an alphorn. It is as massive as advertised. According to the conductor, he is one of the only, if not the only, jazz alphorn players in the world. As far as the venue, it was a nice, modern mid-sized concert hall and almost sold out. However, at times, I believe they over-amplified the musicians, particularly the bass player which led to a few moments of clashing and poor stereo quality. Song wise, they varied greatly in type of music from baroque to “Yesterday,” by the Beatles to some songs that I must assume are local Russian favorites that they had a nature video accompany. It was quite a jarring whirlwind, but in the end quite enjoyable. They managed to perform for about two and a half hours including a short intermission.
It is clear that part of their act is to be showmen and that it is a well-practiced routine. They joke with the crowd, make fun of each other, and even do call and response thing with the crowd. It is clear that some of this must be cultural, how much I cannot say as this is my first Russian philharmonic experience. No one seemed too concerned when a phone went off in the middle of a song and the crowd was rather raucous for classical music. I will admit, this made the upper Midwest boy in me rather uncomfortable. After all, back home, a polite round of applause is about the maximum crowd involvement you will see. They had about 10 encores and the crowd seemed to be enjoying this as a joke. I will admit, this act wore thin on me to the point that I thought it distracted from the excellence of their music.
Now for the funny, Andy makes a language error, part of the story. I admit that I literally discovered the Philharmonic by accident at noon on the day of this performance. I of course immediately decided I must go. Solid classical music plus an excuse to wear a suit made it an easy choice. I chose to attend alone because obviously anything worth doing is also worth doing alone (or I mass texted my friends here and none were able to attend due to my inability to ever plan social events ahead of time – one of these reasons). Regardless, I ran around, found the place to buy tickets, got dressed, and headed out to the address that was listed on both the website and ticket. Sure enough, it was the office of the Philharmonic and not the concert venue. Of course, because of this concert, no one was in the office to help guide me to the correct location. While trying to figure out how to rectify this issue, a Russian guy holding a ticket wandered up to the door. He immediately noticed it wasn’t the right location and it appears upon second inspection of the ticket, realized the actual location. He started talking quickly in a mix of Russian and English. I didn’t really understand the directions he gave, but he agreed to give me a ride to the location. Me being myself, I was totally down to get into a car with a random dude. This worked out perfectly because of course and was even a location I knew (it also hosted the film festival from a few weeks ago). I fortuitously walked in just in time to avoid missing the start.
In the end, it was absolutely wonderful to have the opportunity to spend a relaxing few hours listening to professionals play classical music. This music creates that nostalgia in me. Something about a symphony’s ability to tell a story, happy and sad, will always give me the chills like little else. That moment when a song crescendos and all of a sudden all the musicians are playing in unison bring such joy and power (I am sure there is a term for this but I am no expert). I will definitely go again.
Fast Facts:
Sakhalin Philharmonic (Сахалинская филармония)
Event:
http://sakhfilarmonia.ru/events/post/636/
Cost:
I was offered tickets for 800 and 1000 rubles (~$12/15)
Office:
693010, г. Южно‐Сахалинск, ул. Сахалинская, 25 (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Sakhalinskaya 25)
Telephone: +7 (4242) 72-84-98
E-mail: info@sakhfilarmonia.ru or administrator@sakhfilarmonia.ru
Where to Buy Tickets:
Telephone: +7 (4242) 304-104
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Lenina 182 A
Shopping center «Большая мода»
Hours: 10.00 to 19.00 (no holidays)
Concert Venue:
Октябрь (October)
Киноконцертный зал (Concert hall)
Коммунистический проспект, 45 (Communchesky Avenue)
2-й микрорайон, Южно-Сахалинск, 693000