Georgia Philharmonic blends multicultural flair, concerto premiere, and Firebird firepower for 40th season finale | EarRelevant

CONCERT REVIEW:

Georgia Philharmonic
May 17, 2025
Atlanta Symphony Hall
Atlanta, Georgia – USA
Georgia Philharmonic; Tamara Dworetz, conductor; Helen Hwaya Kim, violin; Buford Highway Orchestra Project, Juana Algaza, conductor.
Michael KURTH: Suspectivish
Silvestre REVUELTAS: Sensemayá
Michael KURTH: “Origin Story” Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
Igor STRAVINSKY: The Firebird (1919 version)

Mark Gresham | 21 MAY 2025

The Georgia Philharmonic presented a colorful and wide-ranging program Saturday afternoon at Atlanta Symphony Hall, showcasing its commitment to new music, multicultural repertoire, and orchestral classics in the final concert of its 40th season. Under the baton of artistic director Tamara Dworetz, the orchestra performed works by Michael Kurth, Silvestre Revueltas, and Igor Stravinsky, with violinist Helen Hwaya Kim featured in the world premiere of Kurth’s “Origin Story” Violin Concerto.

But first came a guest ensemble: The concert opened with a performance by the Buford Highway Orchestra Project (BHOP), a youth music initiative launched by the nonprofit We Love Buford Highway. Led by longtime music educator Juana Alzaga, the program serves third- to fifth-grade students in DeKalb County’s public school District I, an area predominantly composed of Title I schools. Each participant receives a donated string instrument, music stand, and instructional book, with the ensemble performing two community concerts annually. BHOP aims to foster educational and social development through music, reflecting the multicultural identity of the Buford Highway corridor.

BHOP performed Kurth’s Suspectivish, a brief and whimsical work inspired by the composer’s late dog, Lulu, whose chronically skeptical disposition prompted Kurth to invent a word: “suspectivish.” As he explained in the program notes, “Much like detectives detect things, suspective-ish creatures suspect things.” The piece was affectionate and sly, capturing the furtive spirit of its canine muse’s side-eyed glance as the music unfolded. Kurth, a section contrabassist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, participated by playing in the young ensemble’s bass section.

The Georgia Philharmonic, led by Tamara Dworetz, then took the stage for the rest of the program, beginning with Sensemayá by Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas. Based on a poem by Afro-Cuban writer Nicolás Guillén about a ritual snake sacrifice, the work started with a sinuous, rhythmic incantation, gradually building to a visceral climax. The orchestra leaned into the intensity and ritualistic repetition, the instruments layering a fierce, almost psychedelic swirl of complex cultural and musical density. The Georgia Philharmonic rose admirably to the challenge.

The program’s centerpiece was the world premiere of Kurth’s Violin Concerto (“Origin Story”), composed in 2023 and written for soloist Helen Hwaya Kim. In his notes, Kurth described the work not as a traditional heroic narrative but rather the imagined backstory of a villain—one who “is not born evil, but rather made evil by cruel circumstance.”

The movement titles (“Where my heart beats,” “We have Nothing to fear,” and “What we are wrongest about”), according to the composer’s notes, “might relate to some imagined aspects of the Villain’s character, or the narrative in which he finds himself. Or perhaps not.” The concept added a psychological twist to the usual concerto arc, and Kim embodied the role with fervent engagement.

Kim’s playing is anything but timid—unapologetically bold, extroverted, and, at times, steely in tone, recalling the style of Robert McDuffie. It doesn’t melt away into the background during expressive moments. This character shone in the first and last movements, though extensive percussion challenged the balance of solo and orchestral forces. Nevertheless, Kim demonstrated a dramatic instinct for the music and played forthrightly. The contrasting second movement had an attractive, ethereal quality, though occasional lapses in the orchestra’s internal coordination made the ensemble feel slightly unstable at times.

Composer Michael Kurth and violinist Helen Hwaya Kim take a bow after the premiere of Kurth’s “Violin Concerto” with the Georgia Philharmonic. (credit: Eric Burkard)

After intermission, the orchestra took on Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite (1919 version), a showpiece for any ensemble. The performance conjured the mythical and enchanted atmosphere of the ballet’s opening. The “Infernal Dance” was brisk and energetic, if a bit cautious in execution, and the “Lullaby” was played with tenderness and restraint. In the “Finale,” the ensemble rallied behind the swelling crescendo to its heroic close.

Although some limitations of the pro-am orchestra occasionally surfaced, the performance demonstrated Dworetz’s growing ambition for the Georgia Philharmonic, which continues to raise its profile in Atlanta’s symphonic landscape. The program’s mix of accessible new music, folkloric modernism, and early 20th-century ballet repertoire reflects both the conductor’s broad musical vision and the suburban ensemble’s continually evolving capabilities. ■

Tamara Dworetz leads the Georgia Philharmonic in Igor Stravinsky’s “The Firebird” at Atlanta Symphony Hall, May 17, 2025. (credit: Mark Rainey)

EXTERNAL LINKS:

Georgia Philharmonic: georgiaphilharmonic.org
Tamara Dworetz: tamaradworetz.com
Helen Hwaya Kim: facultyweb.kennesaw.edu/hkim14
Michael Kurth: kurthmusic.com
Buford Highway Orchestra Project: welovebuhi.org/buford-highway-orchestra-project

About the author:

Mark Gresham is publisher and principal writer of EarRelevant. He began writing as a music journalist over 30 years ago, but has been a composer of music much longer than that. He was the winner of an ASCAP/Deems Taylor Award for music journalism in 2003.

Read more by Mark Gresham.