Violinist Tessa Lark solos with the Greenville Symphony Orchestra in Wynton Marsalis' "Violin Concerto." (credit: Jeremy Fleming)

Classical getaway: Orchestral music thrives in Greenville, South Carolina

CONCERT REVIEW:
Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra
January 30, 2024
Brooks Theatre, Clemson University
Clemson, SC – USA

Nayden Todorov, conductor; Ivaylo Vassilev, piano.
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN: Coriolan Overture, Op. 62
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37
Ludwig van BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92
Greenville Symphony Orchestra
February 17 & 18, 2024
Peace Concert Hall, Peace Center
Greenville, SC – USA

Wesley Schulz, conductor; Tessa Lark, violin.
Anna CLYNE: Masquerade
Wynton MARSALIS: Violin Concerto
Hector BERLIOZ: Symphonie fantastique

Paul Hyde | 4 MAR 2024

Greenville, South Carolina, is a gem of a city with a thriving, world-class arts scene, including a fine regional orchestra.

Atlantans seeking a weekend getaway would find an abundance of cultural attractions, enticing restaurants and comfortable hotels in this city that often finds itself high atop lists of the most appealing places in the nation.

It has been rated the No. 1 Friendliest City in the U.S. and the No. 4 Best Small City in the U.S. by Conde Nast Traveler. Meanwhile, Southern Living magazine ranked Greenville at No. 5 on its list of the South’s best cities, calling it a “foodie paradise.”


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Greenville’s downtown is charmingly walkable. The city’s tree-lined Main Street beckons visitors to quaint shops like Mast General, where folks can enjoy barrels of the sort of candy their parents loved as children. A delicious pre-concert meal at the Southern-influenced Soby’s or the Mediterranean-spiced Lazy Goat might be followed by coffee at Spill the Beans and a stroll across the Liberty Bridge to enjoy the splendid views of the Reedy River.

From there, it’s a short walk to the Peace Center, Greenville’s cornerstone performing arts complex, offering an array of Broadway shows, classical music, plays, dance, pop music, and comedy. For classical music fans, recent performances included a recital by violinist Itzhak Perlman, while the near future brings soprano Renée Fleming to town.

The Peace Center is also the primary home of the Greenville Symphony Orchestra, offering a season of large masterworks and smaller-scale chamber concerts. It’s a particularly exciting season for the orchestra as it continues to spotlight six guest conductors vying for the title of music director.

Dynamic program

Wesley Schulz, the music director of the Auburn (WA) Symphony Orchestra and a finalist for the Greenville Symphony music directorship, recently led the orchestra in a dynamic program of works by Anna Clyne, Wynton Marsalis, and Hector Berlioz.

Masquerade, written by the British composer Clyne in 2013, was a short, bracing concert-opener, with its energetic clash of melodies and colors that draw inspiration from the mid-18th century promenade concerts in London’s pleasure gardens.

Violinist Tessa Lark was the soloist in Marsalis’ Violin Concerto, which the jazz trumpeter wrote for Nicola Benedetti in 2015. It is a complex work, combining an array of moods and elements of jazz, blues, folk music, and contemporary concert music in a concerto that toggles between boisterous jubilation and intimate meditation.


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The first movement, “Rhapsody,” was bluesy with a haunting violin melody. The second movement, “Rondo Burlesque,” was a wild ride, a sardonic section almost in the spirit of Shostakovich’s scherzos with some crisp frenzied fiddling by Lark.

The third movement was a slow-burning blues. The fourth, “Hootenanny,” was a pleasingly raucous barnyard throw-down, with Lark and the orchestra trading quick riffs back and forth.

Among the engaging surprises in the concerto were the foot stomping and clapping by the musicians in some episodes and the use of a sousaphone (associated with a marching jazz band) in lieu of a tuba.
Lark was brilliant throughout the 40-minute concerto, handling everything with self-assured mastery. Granted, it was a long concerto (as long as Beethoven’s or Brahms’), but this listener would have loved to have heard an encore from Lark. Schulz drew precise and passionate playing from the orchestra.

Conductor Wesley Schulz (credit: Jeremy Fleming)

Conductor Wesley Schulz (credit: Jeremy Fleming)

To balance the two very contemporary works by Clyne and Marsalis, Schulz concluded the concert with Berlioz’s familiar Symphonie fantastique.

Schulz conducted a fine performance, memorable for the burnished playing of the strings in the first and second movements and the brassy fire of the fourth and final movements. A listener might have only wished that Schulz had drawn even more attention to the forceful exclamations and grotesqueries of this once-shocking symphony.

Breakneck Beethoven

Another appealing venue for the performing arts in the South Carolina Upstate is Clemson University’s Brooks Center, located about 45 minutes from Greenville and recently named one of the 20 best college theaters in the U.S.

Of particular interest is the admission-free (yes, free) Utsey Series of classical music concerts, which often hosts world-class musicians, such as the recent appearance of Cliburn Gold Medalist Nobuyuki Tsujii with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

Meanwhile, the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra’s recent tour of the U.S., its first in 40 years, included a stop (not part of the Utsey Series) at the Brooks Center, where it offered some of the speediest Beethoven one is ever likely to hear.

Nayden Todorov conducts the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra. (credit: Vasilka Balevska)

Nayden Todorov conducts the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra. (credit: Vasilka Balevska)

That’s not to belittle the performance by Bulgaria’s national orchestra, which was polished, but one of the most memorable characteristics of the concert was the breakneck speed of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.

With fewer than 40 musicians on stage, this was a streamlined, sinewy all-Beethoven program.

Under the commanding leadership of principal conductor Nayden Todorov, the first movement surged forward, bolstered by thunderous timpani. The second offered some pleasing dynamic contrast and gleaming string playing, but it was off to the races again for the third movement.


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It was an often thrilling, risk-taking performance of the symphony, though some detail was lost in the fourth movement’s dash to the finish line.

Earlier in the concert, the 16-year-old pianist Ivaylo Vassilev performed Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto with assertive, chiseled clarity.

Surprisingly, there was no encore by either pianist or guest orchestra. A final plea: Bring back the tradition of the encore!

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About the author:
Paul Hyde, a longtime journalist, teaches English at a college in South Carolina. He writes regularly for Classical Voice North America, ArtsATL, the Greenville Journal and the South Carolina Daily Gazette. Readers may find him on X at @paulhyde7 or write to him at paulhydeus@yahoo.com.

Read more by Paul Hyde.
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