Reviews

A rare year of music director searches continues on the Monterey Peninsula as Peter Bay joins the Monterey Symphony this weekend as the second of four maestro candidates to lead the orchestra this season. The Carmel Bach Festival just announced a trio of guest conductors who will attend the two-week July event as the organization also seeks a new artistic director.

It has been a quarter of a century since the Monterey Symphony last presented a conductor search season.  The Carmel Bach Festival has never before devoted a season to showcasing potential artistic leaders for the ensemble. These two distinguished organizations have given their patrons superb music for the better part of a century. Audience members for these 2022 programs have a pivotal opportunity to witness the future of classical music unfolding in our community.

Bay: 'The finesse of Astaire'

Maestro Bay was once described in an Austin newspaper as a conductor who leads with the finesse of Astaire. He will conduct the Monterey Symphony on Saturday and Sunday in works of Sibelius, Samuel Barber and Aaron Copland. Symphony audiences first heard Bay 10 years ago when he joined the orchestra as a guest conductor, an experience he remembers fondly.

"It's a great honor and pleasure to return to Carmel to conduct the wonderful musicians of the Monterey Symphony with whom I collaborated 10 years ago," he says. "I have kept memories with me of their musicianship, strong work ethic and their camaraderie, which made my week such a joy."

By opening his program with Sibelius' Finlandia, Bay presents a work heard by the Symphony's first patrons 75 years ago.  Simone Porter is the featured soloist for Barber's Violin Concerto which will display her skills dramatically in the fireworks of the third movement.

Copland's Third Symphony (which incorporates his famous "Fanfare for the Common Man") is a favorite of Bay's. "It is being played by the Monterey Symphony for the first time in these concerts," he says. "All three of these compositions showcase the virtuosity of the orchestra, and it will be a thrill to hear the musicians bring them to life."

This season, Bay celebrates 25 years as the music director of the Austin Symphony Orchestra.  Bay is also the primary conductor for Ballet Austin and has conducted for Austin Opera including "A Streetcar Named Desire" and classic operas "La Traviata," "Turandot"  and "The Marriage of Figaro."

He also serves as the conductor of the Big Sky Festival Orchestra and the Arizona Philharmonic.  He has appeared with no less than 75 orchestras during his career, including prestigious ensembles in the U.S.  and as far away as Lithuania.

Violinist Porter is described as an artist who possesses impassioned energy, interpretive integrity and vibrant communication. In recent years, she has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and with renowned conductors, including Gustavo Dudamel, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Nicholas McGegan, Ludovic Morlot, and Donald Runnicles. She made her professional solo debut at age 10 with the Seattle Symphony and appeared with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London at age 13.  In 2015, she was named a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant.

In July 2021, she resumed a full season of orchestral concerts to include the Aspen Festival and eight symphonies around the country.

Porter plays a 1740 Carlo Bergonzi violin made in Cremona Italy.

The Symphony performs Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. at Carmel's Sunset Center.  For tickets, information and COVID-19 health and safety protocols, see the Monterey Symphony's website at www.montereysymphony.org or call 831-646-8511.