Sound carries through the McAllen Performing Arts Center with almost supernatural precision, bouncing off walls built for music and majesty and magnificence.
The auditorium serves as a principal instrument in the sound of the Valley Symphony Orchestra. Each curved wooden panel serves a purpose — to provide impeccable acoustics for the Rio Grande Valley’s premier musicians and their adoring audience.
At the center of it all is the silver-haired Maestro Peter Dabrowski, whose sturdy frame sways as he directs his orchestra like a five-star general — commanding their attention, tracking every instrument and directing each emanating note.
He gestures emphatically, sometimes contorting his face as he waves his baton to demonstrate accents and pitch.
To the untrained ear, the orchestra sounded absolutely superb Thursday, but to Dabrowski, there were minor details that required attention with less than 24 hours until the VSO’s 70th anniversary concert.
He notices every error, no matter how slight, stopping the rehearsal and calling out specific measures of music that need minor adjustments.
The orchestra was preparing to perform three pieces of music for Friday’s concert: Capriccio Italien by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns, and Boléro by French composer Maurice Ravel.
“It is the Valley Symphony Orchestra’s 70th anniversary season this year,” VSO Executive Director Katy Coy said Thursday. “We are performing all season long, but this concert is our celebration of 70 years of music making in the Valley.”
Each song was carefully curated to capture the significance of the VSO’s seven decades.
According to the maestro, Tchaikovsky’s Capriccio was chosen for the challenge it presented to his orchestra.
“Tchaikovsky was a genius composer creating so many wonderful colors — being inspired by his visit to Italy,” Dabrowski said. “He wrote something so beautiful, so fun, and at the same time entertaining and quite complex. Nevertheless, playing this type of choice of music for the orchestra keeps the ensemble on its toes. It provides a lot of opportunity to truly rise to the occasion.”
The second piece, Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, was a full-circle moment for featured guest soloist Daniel Saenz, a 1992 graduate of McAllen Memorial High School. He recalled sitting in the audience when he was in the eighth grade and watching the Valley Symphony Orchestra perform the very same piece that he would be featured on decades later.
“It’s just so nice to kind of come back full circle and kind of play it with the Valley Symphony as well,” Saenz said. “Thanks to Maestro Dabrowski to invite me, but I just think it’s a wonderful experience. One of my first experiences with the Valley Symphony as an audience member was with this very same concerto that I’m playing (Thursday) night.”
Saenz’s passion for the piece was on full display Friday evening. Sitting atop a cello podium just left of Maestro Dabrowski, Saenz at times closed his eyes and swayed his body back and forth as the music flowed through the auditorium like waves of the sea.
“The second piece, Cello Concerto by Camille Saint-Saëns, the idea was to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the orchestra,” Dabrowski said. “What better way than to bring in a cellist who 23 years ago was a member of the orchestra as a young student studying cello in McAllen. After 20-plus years, he’s returning as an internationally recognized soloist, a professor of cello at Sam Houston University with a career of solo and chamber music performances as well as educational programs.”
“Bringing him back and showcasing in front of our community — basically displaying the testimony to the quality of the music education programs in McAllen,” Dabrowski continued. “There are no limits. If we can have more young people like him, I think that’s the idea, inspiration for new generations to continue to foster their musical education in the Valley.”
For the last piece, Maurice Ravel’s Boléro, percussionist Philip Johnson took his place at the center of the stage and played the same repetitive cadence on a snare drum that would carry the song in its entirety.
“The third piece — it’s a showpiece for the orchestra,” Dabrowski said. “It features so many different soloists from the orchestra. I’m very proud of all the musicians tonight. They delivered spectacular performances. It’s Revel, Boléro, it’s like the culmination of the 70 years. It started maybe not so loud, but today was loud. That was the plan.”
Boléro, with its rhythmic, driving beat slowly crescendoed — each section taking some form of the melody. The song progresses slowly, adding more and more like a long bus ride gaining more passengers the further it travels until the triumphant finale.
In the end, the audience erupted with applause, rewarding the orchestra with a standing ovation before exiting the auditorium to the PAC’s lobby for a champagne toast with Maestro Dabrowski.
“I’m very grateful that we are in a community that supports live performances of the symphony orchestra, and has been supporting for the last 70 years,” Dabrowski said after Friday’s performance. “I’m honored and proud for the trust of the community, of the musicians, of the members of the board of directors for allowing me to celebrate with them today. It’s testimony to the quality of this community to the artistic ambition and recognition for the arts.”
The next performance is at 8 p.m. April 29 inside the McAllen Performing Arts Center, with Hector Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust, Hungarian March; Sergei Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (Tanya Gabrielian, piano), and John Williams’ Star Wars.
Tickets can be purchased at valleyorchestra.org.
To see more, view Monitor photojournalist Delcia Lopez’s full photo gallery here:
