Season Opener: Symphony of the Mountains Playing with Fire

KINGSPORT, TENN. – Summer’s gone yet September sizzles.
Symphony of the Mountains opens its 62nd year with a gala at the Eastman Employee Center in Kingsport entitled Sizzling September Night. Scheduled for Sept. 27, the show features pianist Dr. Chih-Long Hu with the symphony. Armed with such compositions as George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero,” the evening offers heat overload.
Experience the symphony live, said Symphony of the Mountains executive director M. Zane Myers. There’s nothing like it.
“It’s like riding in a 747 with the windows down,” Myers said. “You have to sit in a concert hall and let the sound go through your body. The sound goes literally through your body.”
When the tantalizing 70-or-so-member strong Symphony of the Mountains swells amid the power of brass and strings words such as overwhelming may come to mind. Look to conductor Cornelia Kodkani-Laemmli as the symphony’s igniter.
“Cornelia has a lot of fire,” said Dr. Chih-Long Hu, East Tennessee State University professor of music and featured pianist for the concert.
Heat propels such pieces as Gershwin’s Latin incendiary “Cuban Overture” and his American masterpiece “Rhapsody in Blue.” Perhaps not by design, the show’s multi-cultured style of music carries over onto the stage.
“Cornelia is from Switzerland. I’m from Taiwan and we’re doing the music of America,” Hu said. “That’s cool. It’s like with Beethoven or Mozart, at some point it’s not nationality. It belongs to the whole world.”
Imagine that. Smack in the middle of music of Appalachia – Ralph Stanley and bluegrass, Carter Family and country music – symphonic music carries on quite well. Zane thinks he knows why.
“I grew up here,” Zane said. “I think music is in the soul of the people from this region. Just look at the number of music festivals around here. It’s phenomenal. I’m a hardcore classical guy, but I also just went to Rhythm and Roots.”
Hu’s roots lead to classical, too. So much so that certain challenges await his take on Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” which is a jazz concerto and a decided departure from classics a la Mozart or Brahms.
“I played “Rhapsody in Blue” when I was younger in Taiwan,” Hu said. “It’s a lot of fun. It’s virtuoso.”
Gershwin, also a pianist, composed “Rhapsody in Blue” with improvisations written into the piece. Therefore it offers piano soloists such as Hu a chance to stretch out on the keys and inject something of their own style, too.
“Note-wise, it’s written out but it’s very free. The structure is very free,” Hu said. “It’s for a pianist to show off their musicality.”
Premiered in 1924, “Rhapsody in Blue” navigates the passage of time seamlessly. Like the sweet scent of love forever young, heart and soul beat tirelessly within Gershwin’s immortal classic.
“It is the American concerto that is played,” Zane said. “It endures.”
Pure excitement awaits those who attend the opening of the 63rd season of Symphony of the Mountains, Zane said. Music that bites with teeth of substance, listen in as Gershwin reaches into the here and now to touch yet another audience.
“I’m sure the audience will enjoy it,” Hu said. “It’s an exciting piece.”

IF YOU GO
Who: Symphony of the Mountains’ Sizzling September Night featuring pianist Dr. Chih-Long Hu
When: Sept. 27, 8 p.m.
Where: Toy F. Reid Eastman Employee Center, Kingsport, Tenn.
Admission: $21-$25, adults, $10 students
Info: (423) 392-8423
Web: http://www.symphonyofthemountains.org

TOM NETHERLAND is a freelance writer. He can be reached at