Orchestra’s soaring goals

By Kristen Peterson

Friday, Sept. 5, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Ten years is a long time for anything in Las Vegas, particularly a symphony orchestra that was assembled for a Fourth of July holiday concert.

Yet here it is, a decade later, and the Las Vegas Philharmonic is thriving.

Second-year music director David Itkin has led the orchestra to a higher performance level and is launching the symphony’s first pops series. A special concert for Israel’s independence anniversary was added and there is talk about collaborations with Nevada Ballet Theatre.

Champagne toasts, back-patting and excitement about the season ahead will likely dominate Saturday’s preconcert anniversary celebration, followed by a performance of works by Ravel, Dvorak and Grieg.

But behind all the revelry is the persistent discussion of the future of the young orchestra: doubling the budget in the next three years, expanding programs, building an endowment, making it a full-time orchestra and, most important, preparing to move into the Smith Center for the Performing Arts after it’s completed in 2011.

“The growing demands are becoming more apparent,” says Philip Koslow, the former executive director who serves as director of development. “We know it will be a world-class performance hall. We want to be able to enter into the facility and use it effectively. To do so, the Philharmonic has set some ambitious goals for itself.”

Peter Aaronson, former director of the Henderson Symphony, arrived this week as the new executive director. He fills the position vacated by Koslow. (Elizabeth Herridge was appointed in June as interim director and departed three weeks later.)

There are also board changes and rumors of infighting, all of which are being handled while the music director lives in Texas and leads three other orchestras — the Arkansas Symphony, the Abilene Philharmonic and the University of North Texas Symphony.

When David Itkin was hired last season, he said he planned to make Las Vegas his home. But he was appointed director of orchestral studies for the prestigious music program at North Texas. He now lives in Dallas.

Koslow says the arrangement with the out-of-state music director is working out.

“David is flexible,” he says. “There is no issue with continuing to build the musicians’ skill and the artistic product. In the ideal world we would like to have the presence of a music director on a daily basis. When we get to the Smith Center, that dynamic might change. But the concerts are a marked improvement.”

One way Itkin juggles his many gigs is to create similar programs and to overlap some guest artists during the season.

Eugene Rousseau will perform Henri Tomasi’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone with Abilene next weekend and in Las Vegas in November, and cellist Zuill Bailey opens Arkansas’ season and performs with Las Vegas in November.

Ravel’s “Bolero” opens three of his concerts. Abilene, North Texas and the Las Vegas Philharmonic are all performing Dvorak’s Seventh Symphony in the first concert, and Abilene, Arkansas and Las Vegas all end the season with Beethoven’s Ninth.

Additionally, all three professional orchestras will perform Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony and Mozart’s Overture to “Don Giovanni.”

“It’s not just a timesaver,” Itkin says. “The main reason is to have the opportunity to present Dvorak several times in five weeks. The piece just becomes richer.

“But I can only have repertoire overlap when it’s appropriate. Dvorak hadn’t been done in Las Vegas or Abilene, but we did it in Arkansas.”

By the time Beethoven’s Ninth is performed by the Las Vegas Philharmonic, Itkin will have worked on it for more than two months and conducted the piece with two orchestras.

It helps that Dvorak’s Seventh is one of Itkin’s favorite pieces — more passionate and fiery than the composer’s two later symphonies. “By far his most exciting, most daring, authentic Czech piece,” Itkin says.

“Bolero,” an audience favorite, will have an “unusual presentation,” but Itkin won’t say what that will be — hinting only that the presentation is directly linked with the Spanish-Arabian dance piece’s famous crescendo.

When Saturday’s concert is over, Itkin will return to Dallas and the Philharmonic musicians will prepare for the next concert — the Oct. 11 pops show featuring noted trumpeter Byron Stripling and the music of Louis Armstrong.

It will be a busy season for the part-time orchestra, which has a concert once a month from now through May.

Tickets for pops have been selling well, despite the forming of Dick McGee’s Nevada Pops Series that kicked off last weekend to an eager crowd and a near full house at Artemus Ham Hall. Koslow says there is usually a 10 percent crossover of patrons from classical to pops series. The Philharmonic is seeing a 60 percent crossover.

All of this is a good sign for staff and board members. The orchestra’s growth and the big move into the Smith Center have the Philharmonic talking about gradually changing the orchestra from a part-time, pay-per-service arrangement for musicians to a full-time core of musicians. Koslow says the change won’t happen until the orchestra has moved into the Smith Center and boosts its budget to about $4 million. The current budget is $1.7 million.

Use fees will be higher at the new center than at Artemus Ham Hall, but Koslow says the Smith Center has an endowment and is “making the transition comfortable for us.”

But the talk is enough for the Philharmonic to see stars in its second decade.