Symphony, Subud Teaming Up For Concert
Every year Spokane entertains many international meetings and conventions, but it is rare that any of those conventions entertains Spokane. The 10th Subud World Congress, meeting in Spokane this week and next, is offering such public events as art shows, film, theater and concerts along with religious and inspirational meetings.
A concert Tuesday night at the Opera House will include the Spokane Symphony, three instrumental soloists, and a chorus made up of Subud members and Spokane singers. New works by Lucas Richman, Simon Lesley and Ramon Roper will be heard in their world premieres at this performance. Composer-conductor Richman will lead the performance.
Subud is an inter-denominational spiritual organization which holds a world congress every four years in a different country. Membership is open people from all the world’s religions.
More than 3,000 Subud members from 80 countries are in Spokane for the 10th Subud World Congress.
“The arts are an important part of Subud’s activities,” says Jonathan Martin, executive director of the Spokane Symphony. “We were approached about doing this concert fairly early in the planning stages, as far back as two years ago. I’d like to think one of the factors in Subud choosing Spokane for the congress was the availability of our orchestra for this kind of event.”
Martin was pleased to learn that Richman, a musician already known to members of the orchestra, would be in charge of selecting and conducting the program. “Lucas was one of the finalists who auditioned with the orchestra when we were selecting our associate conductor,” Martin says. “Even though he was not the conductor we ended up choosing, members of the orchestra and Maestro Mechetti were most impressed with Lucas’ musicianship and conducting.”
The featured work Tuesday will be Richman’s “Seven Circles of Life,” a cantata for orchestra, chorus and narrator based on the poem, “Susila Budi Dharma,” by Subud founder M.S. Sumohadiwidjoyo. The work describes the seven levels of life force as viewed by the organization’s founder.
Singers of the chorus are members of the Subud Congress joined by additional singers from the Spokane Symphony Chorale.
The chorus and orchestra will also perform excerpts from Haydn’s “Creation” and Brahms’ “German Requiem.”
Lesley’s “Fanfare Spokane” and Roper’s “Fanfare No. 2” were composed for this concert.
Richman, a composer and conductor based in Southern California, has been guest conductor of both the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. He was co-conductor with Leonard Bernstein in concerts in Moscow and London.
Tuesday’s concert will present three internationally-known soloists in Spokane for the Subud World Congress.
Solo works on the program include Ravel’s “Tzigane” with violin soloist Ian Mardon, Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme with cello soloist Hamilton Cheifetz and the first movement of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with pianist Felipe Aguirre.
Proceeds from the concert will benefit three local organizations: the Spokane Symphony’s Educational Outreach Program, the Martin Luther King Jr. Family Outreach Program and the American Indian Community Center.
, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: If you go The Spokane Symphony, with chorus and soloists, will perform Tuesday at 8:30p.m. at the Opera House. Tickets are available at the door or by calling 328-9703; the suggested donation is $15.