On Tuesday, Nov. 12, the Stony Brook University Orchestra performed on the Main Stage at the Staller Center For the Arts. The ensemble of both undergraduate and graduate students was conducted by artist-in-residence Susan Deaver and accompanied by pianist Michael Ho, the first-place winner of the 2024 Undergraduate Concerto Competition. The orchestra performed pieces such as George Gerswhin’s “Cuban Overture,” Edvard Grieg’s “Piano Concerto A Minor, Op.16”, Béla Bartók’s “Romanian Folk Dances” and Antonín Dvořák’s “Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95, ‘From the New World.’”
When violinist and first chair Shiqi Yang played the first A chord, the excitement of the eager audience members was palpable from their facial expressions. Afterward, Deaver came out, and the audience burst with feverous applause.
The concert opened with Gershwin’s “Cuban Overture,” which is dominated by colorful rhythms. The music was reminiscent of being ushered into a dream-like sequence of dancing in a Disney movie. All the instruments worked in tandem; the percussion took the lead while the brass, strings and woodwinds swirled around it, creating a lively sound timbre.
The overture started with a fast allegro tempo, filled with bright, syncopated rhythms; at the midpoint, the tempo slowed to an andante pace, creating a hauntingly beautiful contrast. In this section, the strings evoke a lush, almost dreamy quality. It was as if the orchestra was luring us into a hypnotic reverie before picking up speed and heading toward a thrilling finish. Deaver’s conducting was impeccable — her command of the baton was captivating and allowed for substantial audience enjoyment. The University Orchestra finished strong with a fortissimo sound and was met with unanimous praise from attendees.
After playing “Cuban Overture,” Deaver gave a brief introduction to the history of the piece. She explained how Gerswhin requires a large symphony orchestra to play the piece, as well as that the next two pieces would be split into two chamber orchestras—subsets of the symphony orchestra. She then gave brief synopses of Bartók and the second piece. “You probably know something about Bartók, he actually lived in New York State, up by Lake Saranac … this is a work in his career that we are going to do and it is based on folk songs from Romania because Bartók got really interested in folk music and he actually went around with a recorder and recorded people playing on folk instruments,” she said.
The next piece, “Romanian Folk Dances,” was conducted by Yang, the concertmistress.
The piece explores the folk traditions of Bartók’s homeland through six brief but evocative dances (movements). Those dances, which were translated into English on the program, are “Jocul cu bâta” (“Dance with Sticks”), “Braul” (“Sash Dance”), “Pe loc” (“In One Spot”), “Buciumeana” (“Horn Dance”), “Poarga Romaneasca” (“Romanian Polka”) and “Maruntel” (“Fast Dance”).
The violas started first, and their lower pitches set the harmonic tone for the first movement. Next, the violins came in with their higher-pitched sounds and led the rest of the way. The strings also excelled at capturing the lively, rustic character of Romanian folk music. “Dance with Sticks” features a moderate tempo followed by the allegro tempo of “Sash Dance.” The andante tempo of the third dance, “In One Spot,” created a gothic mood; the woodwinds were at the forefront of the piece helping to create this timbre. The fifth and sixth dances were where the tempo started to pick up and all the instruments created a lively atmosphere that was admired by the audience. Yang’s conductorial style was very melodic and her hands flowed gracefully, swaying with poise back and forth from each section. It was as if she was having a conversation with the performers and it was reflected in the music.
Conducted by Deaver, the third piece, “Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op.16,” was by far the piece that stood out the most that evening. Ho was a virtuoso performer of the piano. His hands seemed instinctively drawn to each key, pressing them with a fluidity that appeared effortless. Much like the way people perform routine tasks without thought — such as flipping the page of a book or typing on a keyboard — Ho’s playing exuded a natural, almost instinctive grace. His performance captivated the audience for the entire 15-minute duration. Even more remarkable was the fact that he performed the entire piece without sheet music in front of him. Despite how powerful Ho’s performance was, he never overshadowed the orchestra and created a balance between the two — both shining in their own right. Grieg’s piece was met with a roaring applause that lasted two minutes, and right when the applause seemed to be dying down, it immediately picked right back up again.
The final piece of the night, “Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95, ‘From the New World,’” was one of the more iconic works of the orchestral repertoire. All four of its movements, including I. “Adagio – Allegro molto”, II. “Largo”, III. “Scherzo” and IV. “Allegro con fuoco,” embody its magnificence. This symphony, regarded as Dvořák’s magnum opus, is infused with the sounds of European classical and American folk music and is heavily influenced by African-American spirituals.
Inspired by the Italian translation of the movement’s name allegro, the first part of the piece was fast yet dramatic. The orchestra conveyed the sweeping grandeur of the symphony’s first theme, with the brass section offering bold sounds while the strings and woodwinds intertwined in lush harmonies. At around the first three minutes of the piece, a gradual change happens where the melody sounds like a folk tune with a flute solo following behind. The first movement pulled me into the soundscape that the orchestra created, introducing the piece’s main theme which is about an outsider’s perspective of America being a “New World” — new, big and fast-paced.
Something to point out about the performance was that during each break between movements, applause erupted when it was supposed to be silent. While appreciation is always a nice gesture, the silence between each movement is intentional because pieces are cohesive despite being broken up into several different sections.
The second movement of Dvořák’s symphony began, with the first theme played by a solo English horn and accompaniment from the strings section. The next part of this movement was filled with a contrasting angst that was interrupted by a joyful melody played on the oboe. This movement was truly the beating heart of the piece. It was slow but deep, and the University Orchestra translated Dvořák’s vision seamlessly and perfectly.
The fourth and final movement was grand and triumphant, showcasing the true optimism of the American spirit — a fitting performance given the polarized outcome of the 2024 presidential election. The melodies of this piece are so recognizable — eerily similar to the theme from “Star Wars: A New Hope” (1977) — that I spent half the time trying to figure out where I knew it from. The timbre the University Orchestra created with this last movement was nothing short of powerful, wistful and crackled with musical fireworks.
When the concert came to a close, there were cheers, whistles, claps and standing ovations across the audience — a deserving way to end the evening.
The Stony Brook University Orchestra was the most exciting orchestra I have ever seen perform. From Beaver and Ho to Yang and the rest of the orchestra, each performance was joyful to listen to with no one skipping a beat. The choices in the repertoire were very unique and would initially seem like they would clash musically. And yet, they were able to bring out emotional responses from the audience and keep them on the edges of their seats. The orchestra’s ability to beautifully communicate the nuances of each composition, whether they were dramatic crescendos or soft melodies, brought the music to life and made the experience unforgettable.
