BY C.S. GILBERT

FEATURE WRITER

Imagine sitting on stage in the midst of a rehearsing orchestra, close enough to touch a young man (one of six in the section) playing stand up bass, surrounded by a literal maelstrom of sound – amazing sounds! – and feeling the vibrations of the music creep up through the soles of your feet. The result is near breathlessness.

That was Thursday morning a week ago — deadline day — when the Florida Keys Council on the Arts’ Culture Circle completed its 2014 season with an up close and personal visit with the South Florida Symphony Orchestra.

As is the custom with the special Culture Circle events gifted to major donors — not so major, really: annual memberships of $250 and above — food was involved. There was lunch at the literary panel at Smokin’ Tuna and the impressive private museum lecture and tour at the Little White House, hors d’oeuvres and adult beverages (well, sangria) before the late-afternoon panel at Waterfront Playhouse. But the SFSO visit, which offered a breakfast of fruit, juice, pastries and coffee, was extraordinary.

First came the repast, at 9:30 a.m., apparently. Suffering from a not unusual temporal dysphoria (particularly virulent in the morning hours), I arrived moments after the program began promptly at 10.

On stage in the Tennessee Williams Theatre lobby were symphony founder and Maestra Sebrina Maria Alfonso, piano soloist Jeffrey Biegel, SFSO President and Executive Director Jacqueline Lorber and arts council E.D. Elizabeth Young, who served as moderator and posed the questions.

Following a history of the orchestra (nee the Key West Symphony in 1998 and expanded up the mainland in the late 2000s when it became obvious that a two mile by four mile island really couldn’t support a world class symphony orchestra and there was a void in South Florida to fill), and the maestra’s account of the very early days, came a spectrum of questions. First was how musical programs were selected. “We hope it’s a complete palate,” Alfonso said in conclusion.

Soloist Biegel was asked what decisions go into accepting offers to play (a lot) and Lorber was asked about the expansion of KWSO (still, incidentally, its legal name) into a dba SFSO. Her background is in business; it was a business decision.

There were wonderful moments, as when Biegel told of an unknown concerto written by Peter Niro in the 1950s which was “Gershwin and Rachmaninoff in a blender” and insisted that audiences today “want a wide range of music; they thirst for it…”

But then we were led from the lobby, along the perimeter of the orchestra. Outside and up a short flight of steps into the inner sanctum: Backstage. We were invited to take a folding chair and creep quietly on stage, settling nearest our preferred section of instruments. I ended up between the stand-up bass and the timpani – the latter which was not employed during the portion of rehearsal I experienced. But the string bass were enough.

When summoned back to the lobby for the balance of the informational program, I – many of us, I think – were mesmerized, half-stunned. The immersion in so much glorious sound, the literal physical impact of the Zwillich piece being rehearsed — in maybe 70 years of hearing classical music, I’ve experienced nothing like it.

The symphony’s wildly applauded final Masterworks Concert that evening was, really, just the frosting on the cake. The sprinkles on the frosting were that some young people I dearly love, including middle-school age children, were able to attend through the largesse of the symphony.

It’s just another blessing in this little paradise called Key West. Anyone looking for a peak musical experience is invited to get their 2014-15 season tickets now. Check out SFSO.org. For the myriad Arts Council activities, visit keysarts.com.

 

 

 

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