SCORED: Behind The Scenes at BMOP's Rehearsal #1

By Justine Choi, BMOP

It’s 9:15am and at Memorial Hall in Melrose a few members of the Boston Modern Orchestra Project are trickling into the first rehearsal of the season. This is my first time sitting in on a rehearsal and I am having trouble recognizing musicians out of their requisite black concert wear. As they warm up with their instruments, they also warm up their bodies, shrugging off winter parkas as they adjust from the briskness outside.

I scan the room that is filling with more bodies, each in their own preparation ritual. Violinist Amy Sims sets up a tuning app on her iPhone and tunes her violin. Lots of sound happening and I’m reminded why I love this part of a performance. I could swear I hear someone playing the Harry Potter theme song. But just as
soon as I hear it, it’s swallowed up by other horns playing around him.

Ever wonder what one does with the case of an upright bass once the instrument is removed from it? Apparently, you drop it right at your feet. After this bassist warms up for a bit, he sets his unwieldy instrument down to move the case to a less obstructive spot.

It’s now 10am and the whole orchestra is here. This is an amalgamation of Boston’s greatest musicians playing, for this season opener, the New England premiere of Michael Tippett’s opera, The Midsummer Marriage. The excitement is palpable. Led by Gil Rose, who founded BMOP in 1996, this acclaimed orchestra comes together in the unique effort of promoting, performing and recording music of the 20^th and 21^st centuries. This Saturday’s concert is especially auspicious
as it’s BMOP’s most significant undertaking to date.

Concertmaster Charles Dimmick is leading the orchestra in concert pitch when Julius Ahn, who voices the role of Mark, walks in and is introduced by Rose. A round of feet stamping welcomes him among them.

Act I, Scene II.

Well, The Midsummer Marriage isn’t classified as “English pastoral fantasy” for
nothing. The scene opens with soft horns and Robert Schulz on snare. A gradual
building of sound, including the addition of strings, culminates in a powerful
“Stop!” held long and loud by Ahn. Robert Honeysucker (He-Ancient) and Lynn
Torgove (She-Ancient) have also joined rehearsal at this point and in this
scene advise Mark against changing the traditional wedding dance. When insisted
upon, the He-Ancient trips Mark’s friend Strephon.

Torgove and Honeysucker get the same feet-stamping welcome when the orchestra stops playing to hear Rose’s notes. One in particular is an important note that should stick with them throughout the entire concert: “When
anyone’s mouth is open besides mine, play softer.” A good reminder to this
orchestra who is playing on the same stage as the singers and not below them.

David Kravitz (King Fisher) and Deborah Selig (Bella) join
rehearsal for Scene V, in which King Fisher instructs his secretary Bella to
get answers from the Ancients regarding the disappearance of his daughter
Jenifer and her fiancé Mark down a cave. Ahn, meanwhile, has busted out his
incredibly impressive camera and multiple zoom lenses and is taking 360-degree
photos. The shot above is not one of them.

Before the first break of the 2.5-hour rehearsal, Rose compliments the playing and the singing, with a particular nod to the bass section, which is met, in typical (perhaps imagined) bassist fashion, to a bunch of modest shrugs. Matthew DiBattista (Jack, the last of the soloists to arrive) breaks the ice by throwing the flattery back to Maestro Rose, rewarding the orchestra with lighthearted laughter before their well-deserved break.

The Boston Modern Orchestra Project performs for one night only a concert performance of The Midsummer Marriage (1955) by Michael Tippett. Saturday, November 10, 2012, 7:30pm. Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory, 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston. Tickets $20-50. Discounts for seniors and students.