Grand opening of FVSO new season was grand indeed
The opening concert of the Fox Valley Symphony’s 2026-27 season was a lovely, and the audience enjoyed it enthusiastically.
It was also an interesting concert. Maestro Sütterlin’s programs are always very enjoyable because they combine fresh performances of well-known pieces with pieces that most of the people in the audience – including me – have never heard before. This program was one of his best.
The concert was divided into two parts that were quite different. The part before the intermission included three modern pieces. Many people think that modern classical music is difficult to listen to, but the pieces that were played last night were a pleasure to hear. The first, called “Rosabelle Believe” was commissioned for this performance in honor of the 100th anniversary of the death of Houdini. It was a multimedia piece, and both the music and the accompanying visuals were beautiful and moving. The composer was Alexander Drossart. He and the artists who created the visuals were all residents of Appleton.
The second piece was a movement from a string quartet by Florence Price that had been arranged for a chamber orchestra. Price was an important American composer and the first black woman to have one of her symphonies performed by a major symphony orchestra. “Andante Moderato” was sweet and charming, and the orchestra performed it beautifully.
“Andante Moderato” was followed by Maurice Ravel’s “Mother Goose Suite.” Ravel was one of the most important 20th century composers, and his music displays his talent for charming and unusual orchestration. “Mother Goose Suite” is based on a set of French fairy tales. It is fun to listen to, and again, the orchestra played it beautifully. All of the pieces in the first half of the program were sweet, small-scale and very personal pieces. They showed a side of 20th- and 21st-century music that many of us did not know about.
The second half of the program was completely different. It was Beethoven’s “Emperor” Piano Concerto. The soloist was Michael Mizrahi, who teaches piano at Lawrence University’s conservatory. Both he and the orchestra did more than justice to the concerto.
The Emperor Concerto is a big-scale, optimistic and celebratory piece. It is not sweet. Instead, it is proud. The piece was first performed in 1811. The Europeans of that time were very proud of their civilization, and they believed that they were seeing the beginning of a new era of progress and improvement in their society. The bitter class struggles and devastating wars of the 19th and 20th centuries were in the future, and to the people of the time, the future looked very bright.
The composers of the period reflected that optimism, and the “Emperor” Concerto is a prime example of the optimistic and celebratory music that they produced. It is stirring. It is proud. It is celebratory. One cannot listen to it without imagining cavalry parading by in shining armor while prosperous and happy people cheer their passing. The piece foretells Progress with a capital “P” and the growth of a new and rational society in which we will all be better off.
Of course, we who live in 2026 cannot entirely share the optimism of Beethoven’s audiences, but it is still a pleasure to feel the optimism so movingly expressed by the music. Many thanks to Maestro Sütterlin, to Michael Mizrahi and to the Fox Valley Symphony Orchestra for giving us the opportunity to hear it so beautifully performed.
I expect that the rest of this season's concerts will be just as good. So, don't miss them. Get your tickets now.
