Conductor and student reunited for NCO season opener

The start of any performance season is an exciting time for the Naples Community Orchestra. But the launch of the nonprofit’s 2022 concert schedule will be particularly special after the disruption to normal operations caused by the COVID pandemic.

When the first notes are played on Jan. 29, at the 2022 season opener, it will be the first time the full, 45-member Naples Community Orchestra has taken the stage in 22 months – near the 2020 season’s close. It will also mark the organization’s return to its normal slate of four classical music programs, with a season-ending pops concert in the spring.

Rather than its normal slate of performances, the NCO’s 2021 season consisted of just three chamber music concerts.

“We held our organization together with that and now, for 2022, we’re coming back with the full orchestra, which is the full complement of violins, cello, bass, all the woodwinds, brass,” explained NCO board president Anne Wilson. “We’re very excited because it will be almost two years since we’ve had our orchestra back.”

The season opener will be notable for two additional reasons, one of them the return of the orchestra’s former artistic director and conductor, Max Rabinovitsj, who will conduct a performance of Beethoven’s 7th Symphony. Now the artistic director emeritus, Rabinovitsj led the orches­tra for eight years, before retiring after the 2021 season.

“For us, that is a great thing for him to do because of his connection to Naples and our audience,” said Wilson. “It’s a great way to start the season.”

Another feature adding spice to the opener will be the return perfor­mance of accomplished violinist Isabelle Durrenberger. She first played with the NCO during the 2015 season, when she was just 16 years old.

Now a doctoral student at the New England Conservatory of Music, in Boston, Durrenberger, 22, will perform composer Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No.1. She can’t wait to return to Naples and NCO, and to reunite, on stage, with Rabinovitsj, whom she’s known since she was 13, and who has been a mentor. He was responsible for inviting her for her initial NCO performance, as well as this appearance.

“He’s just been a really wonderful figure in my life, musically,” she said. “He’s very generous and he’s just the funniest man, so Max is what brings me back to Naples.”

Rabinovitsj let her choose the selection she’d play, so Durrenberger chose a composition she loves, the Bruch Violin Concerto No.1.

“I think there’s a really beautiful soul inside it,” she said. “I haven’t played it since I was 14, so I’m very much looking forward to bringing it back and discovering something new with it with the Naples Community Orchestra.”

Wilson said the organization had begun searching for a new, perma­nent conductor, going so far as to interview several candidates. Then Rabinovitsj suggested approaching Artis-Naples, the multidisciplinary arts organization that is home to the Naples Philharmonic, about forming a partnership. That would see it provide associate conductors to lead NCO performances.

“Then we would be assured we would always have a good conductor and we would not have to undergo a search,” said Wilson. “So, we pur­sued this and we were able to forge a partnership.”

However, guest conductors will be utilized for the 2022 season because the Philharmonic couldn’t provide conductors for all perfor­mances. The 2023 season will see Philharmonic conductors helming the orchestra.

The 2022 season’s second concert will feature compositions by Chopin, Mozart and oth­ers, with Artis-Naples’ Radu Paponiu serving as guest conductor. Set for March 5, the featured soloist will be Naples’ own Alexandra Carlson, a world-renowned piano soloist.

On April 9, Kyle Szabo, Florida Gulf Coast University’s director of orchestral studies, will conduct. The featured soloist will be Ryan Little, principal horn at Artis-Naples, and the performance will highlight the music of composers Mozart and Strauss.

The pops concerts are set for April 29 and April 30. The guest conductor will be Jodie DeSalvo of Naples. Broadway star tenor soloist Jonathan Zeng will perform several American favorites, including compositions by Cole Porter, George Gershwin and John Williams.

All NCO performances are held at Moorings Presbyterian Church in Naples.

For more information about the Naples Community Orchestra, visit NaplesCommunityOrchestra.org. Moorings Presbyterian Church is located at 791 Harbour Drive, Naples.