BSO

There were more music lovers than you could shake a baton at. But Marvin Hamlisch certainly gave it his all at the 17th annual Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Gala. The BSO's principal pops conductor led the orchestra in a swinging concert before a sold-out crowd of more than 1,000 at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.But that was only the first movement. Next, the bedecked bunch enjoyed hors d'oeuvres in the hall's foyer, then dinner on a temporary floor in the auditorium. The grand finale to the evening was dancing in the lobby.

The Baltimore Symphony won't call it an invasion.The National Symphony in Washington won't say anything at all.But Tuesday's performance at Wolf Trap Park of an all-Russian program by the BSO and music director-designate Yuri Temirkanov may be the opening skirmish in what could be called the Battle of the Bands.The BSO has played before at Wolf Trap, the performing arts center in Fairfax, Va., which is the summer home of the National Symphony Orchestra. But this will be the Baltimore orchestra's first venture into NSO country under the Russian-born Temir-kanov, one of classical music's most admired maestros and the most distinguished musician ever to occupy the BSO's podium.

Board members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra have adopted the city's minority contracting rules to expand the use of women and minorities on maintenance and renovation projects at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.In a resolution read before the Board of Estimates yesterday, BSO board members told city officials that while the orchestra had been inclusive in many areas, it failed to show the same level of diversity in its renovation contracts, which sometimes amount to millions of dollars.

The Mahler Symphony No.1 is one of the most ambitious and impressive first symphonies in music history. It employs a massive orchestra and the variety of thematic material is awesome. Unfortunately Daniel Hege and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra did not meet its challenges. There were many fine touches in all four movements but the magic of the music was always just beyond the BSO's grasp.The first movement did have a promising start. The opening high string chords were wonderfully atmospheric.

EACH of its past two music directors, Sergiu Comissiona and David Zinman, raised the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to the next level. No less is expected of Yuri Temirkanov, who has just conducted his first series of concerts here since he was named to the job.Audience expectation was high, and met. One sign of something special, for those with eagle eyes, was the distinguished soloist for the Barber violin concerto, Pamela Frank. After intermission, she sneaked into the last row of second violins to play the Beethoven Seventh Symphony.

It was an evening that made you want to dance in the grass -- and kids did.It was an evening that made you want to sing with the orchestra -- and grown-ups did.The fourth annual Star-Spangled Celebration by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Saturday was surely magic-sprinkled as well as star-spangled.The pre-July Fourth event, at Anne Arundel Community College, attracted 6,500 people. Local groups played for two delightful hours before the headliner BSO performance began.The Crabtowne Big Band, led by Bill Yakaitis, offered a groovy "In the Mood" and concluded with a knockout "Jumpin' at the Woodside."

Mission: To make music of the highest quality, to enhance Baltimore and Maryland as a cultural center of interest, vitality and importance, and to enter the 21st century as a model of institutional strength.Accomplishments: The BSO is celebrating its 83rd season -- a year that has presented the great masterpieces of Beethoven. In addition to a critically acclaimed performance at Carnegie Hall, the 1998-1999 season featured more than 150 concerts ranging from classical to pops and educational to family.

Adolphus Hailstork is understandably excited that a major American orchestra is about to devote an entire program to his music."You bet I am," says the composer by telephone from Norfolk, Va., about tonight's performance of an all-Hailstork program by the Baltimore Symphony in Meyerhoff Hall."

On the first Friday in July, the sound of trumpets and song filled the air at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Nathan Carter was conducting the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Morgan State University Choir as they performed "I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes" by composer Adolphus Hailstork. The 2,450-seat concert hall was nearly filled, and everyone from the cellists to the people in the last aisle seemed to be having a good time.The concert celebrated the 10th anniversary of the symphony's Community Outreach Committee, an organization trying to increase participation by African-Americans in orchestral events, whether as audience members, volunteers, employees, financial supporters or advisory committee members.

The arrival of Wednesday's mail will announce the details of the beginning of a new era for the Baltimore Symphony. BSO subscribers will receive a brochure containing the schedule for the 1999-2000 season, Yuri Temirkanov's first as the 11th music director in the orchestra's 83-year history.But while a few of the programs and soloists in the schedule point to what may be some significant changes in direction, anyone who expects a radical redrafting of the orchestra's activities will be disappointed.

All orchestras need to get back to their roots periodically, putting aside the big-gun Tchaikovsky and Mahler works and exploring the more intimately scaled world of Haydn. He was, after all, the "father of the symphony," the composer who created the mold and filled it more than 100 times. Haydn's symphonic works aren't played as regularly as they should be around here, which is one reason why the latest Baltimore Symphony Orchestra program is well worth catching. Another reason is that French conductor Louis Langr?

It was both heartwarming and heart-rending to watch the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's musicians voluntarily give back $1 million in pay raises and other previously negotiated benefits last year in order to keep the institution afloat through the current economic downturn. The players' sacrifice was an expression of the fierce loyalty they felt toward the orchestra and its management, and their generosity was unprecedented. Of the 17 major symphony orchestras in the country, the BSO players were the only ones to give back previously negotiated salaries and benefits on their own, rather than in response to management demands.

It has not been the happiest of music seasons in Baltimore, not with the death of a once-proud opera company and cutbacks or postponements by other organizations struggling with the economic downturn. So the news late last week from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra - Marin Alsop has signed a new contract that will keep her in the job of music director until 2015 - seems doubly encouraging. Here, at last, is a solid vote for the future of the city's musical life. And with Alsop agreeing to extend her tenure, a year before her initial three-year contract was due to expire, the orchestra can anticipate a welcome artistic continuity, which should translate into increased financial solidity.

A night at the symphony is the most sought-after concert ticket in town this week. But while conductor Marin Alsop and her Baltimore orchestra will be on stage, they're not exactly the main draw. That would be Trey Anastasio, the guitarist and vocalist best known as the frontman of Phish, which enjoys a devoted fan base not seen since the Grateful Dead. On Thursday, Anastasio will perform the East Coast premiere of Time Turns Elastic, a 30-minute piece that blends electric guitar and vocal solos into a rich orchestral fabric.

It's a wonder the fire alarms didn't go off at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on Thursday night. The incendiary matchup of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, guest conductor Vasily Petrenko and piano soloist Stephen Hough produced one of the most memorable concerts of the season. Tonight's repeat should be just as gripping. The Russian-born Petrenko, who became principal conductor of England's Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in 2005 at age 29, put together a hefty program: Shostakovich's daunting Symphony No. 8; Tchaikovsky's sweeping Piano Concerto No. 1; and a rarity (on these shores)

Mihaly "Misi" Virizlay, former principal cellist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra who also was a composer and an international performer, died Monday of complications from a stroke at Merwick Nursing Home in Princeton, N.J., where he had lived since 2007. The former Guilford resident was 76. "I must say that for many generations he was the heart and soul of the BSO's cello section, and all of the music directors loved him," said Calman J. "Buddy" Zamoiski Jr., former BSO board chairman and symphony fundraiser.

Baltimore's fall party season got a grand kick-off with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Gala. Hundreds of people in formalwear descended upon a tent outside the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall for cocktails and dinner that preceded a BSO concert featuring guest artist Yo-Yo Ma. There were lots of old friends to greet, including: event chairs Jon and Susan Levinson, Buddy and Ellen Zamoiski, Frank and Elizabeth Burch, Tom Brady, Shale Stiller and Ellen Heller,...

Leon Fleisher will celebrate his 80th birthday this week doing two of his favorite things - playing the piano and conducting. Joining him onstage for an all-Mozart program will be the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, which shares with Fleisher a long, strong history. "It's quite fitting that on the very day of my birthday [Wednesday], I have two rehearsals with the orchestra," he says. "It's a kind of homecoming." Such an occasion makes a perfect time for reminiscing and taking stock. Settling into a leather couch opposite two grand pianos in a high-ceilinged salon of his handsome Roland Park home on a recent Sunday morning, Fleisher faces the inevitable question of how he feels about approaching his octogenarian milestone.

It seems like an odd marriage: Mario, with his plumber's hat, goomba-stomping shoes and delightfully clunky theme music, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, with their suit tails, bow ties and classical repertoire. But the two will come together Friday when the BSO performs a night of music from popular video games. Called PLAY! A Video Game Symphony, the concert features theme songs from games such as Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Sonic the Hedgehog, Final Fantasy and others.

Classical Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: 8 p.m. Thursday at Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda; 8 p.m. Friday at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St. $25-$60. Call 410-783-8000 or go to bsomusic.org. A slightly off-beat program that turned into a hit of the 2006-2007 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra season gets a summer rerun this week. At the heart of the program, led by BSO concertmaster Jonathan Carney, is T he Four Seasons, Vivaldi's matched set of violin concertos doubling as highly descriptive nature walks.