ArtsFest Day 8: The Detroit Symphony Orchestra

It would not be an entirely unwarranted accusation to say that one of the deciding factors in my going to see Festival of Orchestras present The Detroit Symphony Orchestra was the fact that it originated in Michigan. Because I am a Michigan native myself, I naturally have an unfathomable pride for anything and everything that has to do with my state… except the Lions. But I think my lack of support for the Detroit Lions is justified.
At any rate, when I discovered that the Detroit Symphony Orchestra would be playing as part of the Festival of Orchestras at the Northland Performing Arts Center, I knew I couldn’t miss it for the world.
In all the years I’d lived in Michigan, I had never actually seen the orchestra perform. Next to the automobile, seafoam candy and the Red Wings, the DSO is probably the Mitten’s greatest export.
What’s interesting about the DSO is the fact that it was founded in 1914 by ten society women. To get things running, the women entreated subscribers to donate $10 apiece in order to fund what was, at that time, ‘a little project‘. Little did they know that by the 1920’s the DSO would be one of the most prominent orchestras in the country, attracting guests such as Sergei Rachmaninoff, Igor Stravinsky and Richard Strauss, just to name a few.
So put that at the top of the list of “Reasons Why Women are Awesome”.
I arrived at the Northland Performing Arts Center worrying that I might be slightly underdressed in my Orlando Magic’s Jersey, but when I entered I noticed that many of the guests that evening were dressed casually as well. There were children in the crowd, too. In all, it was a very comfortable atmosphere.
I took my seat in the auditorium and joined in the tumultuous applause as the musical director Leonard Slatkin traversed the stage and took his rightful place on the podium. The orchestra played a long, harmonic chord for the purpose of tuning, and then the room fell silent.
With a bouncing flicker of his wand, Slatkin pulled the first perfect note from the players onstage, and from there, the room was filled with an array of grand, delicate and beautiful tones and trills.
Between pieces, I hurried out to the lobby with the intention of grabbing a pamphlet, but as soon as the door closed behind me I was trapped.
“You’ll have to go up and watch it from the balcony until intermission,” the woman rigidly explained, pointing at a staircase.
She acted like it was a punishment. Watch it from the balcony? As in, take one of the best seats in the entire house and enjoy amazing music?
Well if I absolutely have to...
I hurried up the staircase and was ushered into the upper level of the auditorium, where I spent the rest of the performance enjoying the fantastic view of the stage below.
It’s not easy to describe music with words, but as I closed my eyes and basked in the wonderful acoustics of the auditorium, I had a thought. I came to the conclusion that music is, perhaps, the finest art in world because it is the only medium of art that is untouched by human hands. Artists play the instruments that produce the music, yes, but really, we are only the channel through which music passes.
So in a sense, music is the ‘perfect’ art.
I spent the entire concert thinking deep thoughts like this; I couldn’t help myself. There was something profound about the music that incited ‘big thinking’. That’s probably why parents play Mozart for their babies. Hm. It’s all adding up now.
Eventually the time for intermission arrived, and as I was walking down the stairs I heard the sound of music. It sounded like someone was playing a marimba in the lobby.
Sure enough, as I rounded the corner there was a marimba parked right in the center of the lobby, and a girl with two mallets in each hand was deftly tapping away on the instrument.
The last time I witnessed anyone play that many notes in succession that ungodly fast, it was when a world-renowned percussionist played Flight of the Bumblebee. This girl, and her successor, were amazing!
The lights in the room flickered as a notice that the intermission was coming to an end, so I left the girls to their marimbas and settled down in my seat for the rest of the concert. The lights dimmed down, the instruments went up, and I was thoroughly dazzled for the remainder of the evening.

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra was definitely a good decision; I would see them again in a heartbeat! They definitely made day eight of ArtsFest a success in my book!

There are only two days of The Central Florida ArtsFest remaining, so go out and have a happy ArtsFest!