Statistics show that during uncertain times like the present, people are increasingly vulnerable to the charms of comfort food. All over the mainland, for example, sales of instant mashed potatoes are on the rise, while the television sitcom "Friends" (the cultural equivalent of instant mashed potatoes) has become even more popular than before. But comfort food can also prove more substantial, as we were reminded during a perusal of a recent Hawaii Chamber Orchestra press release. Hawaii Chamber Orchestra
raises the comfort levelBy Scott Vogel
svogel@starbulletin.com"What better way to give each other positive reinforcement in these troubled times," wrote HCO President Jackie Ward, "than through good music shared in the intimate setting of the beautiful Church of the Crossroads?" Or, more specifically, the music of old friends, the Hawaii Chamber Orchestra now returning for its first full season of concerts in years. To what does Honolulu owe this resurrection?
"We found the right person for a music director," said Ward during an interview, speaking of Gabriel Villasurda, who is also the orchestra director of the Punahou School. Villasurda now takes the helm of an orchestra that dates back to 1967, albeit with a completely different roster of musicians. "I liked his attitude, and he knows the musicians who love the music. For them, that's the main concern, rather than how much they'd get paid per concert."
The 45-member ensemble includes alumni from the New Zealand Orchestra, the Royal School of Music in London and other far-flung classical abodes, all "great musicians, but they don't make their living as musicians, for one reason or another," said Ward. "Many make a living teaching music."
The season of 11 concerts, which begins tonight with the music of Mozart, Grieg, Bach and Howard Hanson, is frequently a feast of the familiar, which is not a criticism. Anyway, it isn't programming that marks the HCO as comfort food of a high order. It's the uncommon intimacy of the church of the venue.
"In this environment (at Church of the Crossroads), the musicians and audience are close together; the audience feeds energy to the musicians, and vice versa," said HCO's president. "It can be a great symbiotic relationship, and symphony musicians are deprived of that for the most part."
Ah, the great impersonality of the concert hall. It's a frequent lament of accomplished performers everywhere, and something the HCO takes as its main target. It's what turns off a great many potential audience members who are otherwise fans of the music. If, that is, they're not already turned off by the extracurricular -- shall we say -- concerns of many symphony patrons.
"Music isn't some obscure academic pursuit; it should be humanly enjoyed," said Ward. "But the symphony can become a snobbish thing -- all about being seen and what people are wearing. It's just not as personal as it was meant to be."
The Hawaii Chamber Orchestra Society first concert of the season: Chamber sounds
When: 7:30 tonight, with season continuing through August 2002
Where: Church of the Crossroads, 1212 University Ave.
Cost: $12; $8, seniors; $5, students
Call: 734-0397
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