A glorious glimpse into Jonathon Heyward’s tenure with the BSO

I don’t remember when last I had such a thrilling experience at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall! Even before Music Director Designate, Jonathon Heyward, came onto the stage, the feeling in the hall was different.

The audience was plentiful (not such a common thing since the pandemic), the orchestra was on risers (yay!), there were gray curtains hung at the back of the stage and behind the stage balconies (acoustics?), there was in informative movie screen hanging over the stage (retracted for the concert), and there was an electricity of anticipation.

First, Lura Johnson, Resident Keyboardist with the orchestra for sixteen years, came on stage to give a seamless introduction. While I kept waiting for the “ask,” it never came. She was just there to be engaging and welcoming. Then, when Jonathon came on stage—slight and energetic—he received resounding applause even before he conducted a note.

I may have heard a recording of Jennifer Higdon’s moving tribute to her late brother, blue cathedral, but I’d certainly never heard it live. It is tonal, not surprisingly poignant, but also joyous and hopeful. So often contemporary pieces come and go (as they have throughout time), but Higdon’s piece is evidently a keeper, for good reason.

Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto featured 32 year old Uzbeki soloist, Behzod Abduraimov. Well! Where has he been for the last 32 years of my life? A superlatively virtuosic player, yes (in some of the fast passages I couldn’t even make out the blur of his hands), but so musical! He’s one of those musicians who can turn on a dime—virtuosic and forceful in one phrase, pianissimo and poignant in the repeat. He did things in this old warhorse that I’ve never heard before, and they make beautiful musical sense. As an encore, he played one of Tchaikovsky’s 24 pieces from Album for the Young, to more ecstatic applause. Jonathon was a sensitively responsive accompanist and the cello solo by newly appointed Associate Principal, Lachezar Kostov (playing principal while poor Dariusz Skoraczewski recovers from rotator cuff surgery) was a standout.

Of course, it is always in the main orchestral piece on a program that all eyes and ears are on the conductor. Listening to Jonathon conduct Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, I was reminded of the time I first heard Gustavo Dudamel conduct live. Would he live up to the hype? Baltimore, we are in for a fantastic ride with Jonathon Heyward! He is an intelligent, flexible, intuitive musician. These Dances are dense, complex, and rhythmically challenging. Jonathon knew exactly what he wanted to get out of them, and the orchestra responded in kind. Much has been made of the fact that Jonathon is the first person of color to be appointed as the Music Director of the BSO and, yes, that is certainly exciting. But really the question is: is s/he the right person for the job? The answer in Jonathon’s case is a resounding Yes! I’m looking forward to this new chapter for our orchestra. Added bonus: he has beautiful stage manners.