First International Conductor Exchange, the Beginning of Something Great!

When can something be deemed a success? Certainly, when everyone who experienced it can't wait for more. That is precisely the result of our first International Conductor Exchange event. (See photo story.)

The idea and development for this event began over a year ago as two cousins, one here in the U.S. and the other in Germany conspired to see such a thing happen between conductors each knew well in their specific locales - Robert Trocina with Gwinnett Symphony Orchestra here in Gwinnett County and Gunther Stegmüller with Starkenburg Philharmonic in Mannheim respectively.

Co-conspirator, Atlantan Dalia Elkounovitch, gave the following rationale for hers and her cousin Lydia Horn’s passion in seeing their dream become a reality: “We all know that classical music is in decline, especially in the U.S., and we, being strong believers and supporters of classical music and its effect on the development of mankind, wanted to contribute to this development. It is not a secret any more that classical music boasts some amazing benefits for your mood, brain, and physical performance just to name a few! The intended outcome is to create more interest in classic music among young musicians and to encourage more people to study music, not only as music lovers, but as performing musicians.”

Gwinnett Symphony Artistic Directors / Conductors
Rick Smith (L), Symphony Chorus
Robert Trocina (R), Symphony Orchestra
with Conductor Günther Stegmüller

There are numerous other benefits from an exchange such as this, not the least of which is the sharing of ideas and the building of camaraderie between conductors and musicians from different places in the world. For us, the many benefits and delights were not limited to only the conductors and musicians themselves but extended to include those involved in planning and implementing the activities associated with the event and, of course, the audience who thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful concert experience.

On Sunday, June 25th, Gwinnett Symphony hosted our very first International Conductor Exchange Concert in the theater at Discovery High School. Our guest conductor, Günther Stegmüller, from Mannheim, Germany made an instant connection with our musicians. His energy, charisma, passion for music and skill as a conductor evoked a similar response to him from the orchestra members as they performed the beautiful music from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake Suite No. 1; Car Maria von Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in F Minor with clarinet soloist, Diane Hargreaves; and Márquez’s Danzon No. 2.

Concert Master Nancy Schecther
with Maestro Stegmüller

Clarinet Soloist Diane Hargreaves
with Maestro Stegmüller

Conductor Günther Stegmüller

Maestro Stegmüler conducting the Starkenburg Philharmoniker

Maestro Stegmüller is a world class conductor, having won the International Conducting Competition of the Netherlands TV “NOS” in addition to conducting orchestras all over Germany and abroad including London, Paris, Hilversum, Athens and Kazan. Besides conducting orchestras, Günther is an acclaimed pianist, conducting his own ensemble, Salon Orchestra Gunther Stegmüller, from the piano. He has also conducted choral groups as well as many opera productions. The repertoire of his own Starkenburg Philharmoniker, which has performed over 90 concerts in its 10-year existence, spans the Baroque period to the 20^th Century including operas and operettas.

Most assuredly, the effects of this exchange did not end at the close of the concert. As part of the conductor exchange, our own Artistic Director and Symphony Orchestra conductor, Robert Trocina, will travel to Mannheim, Germany to conduct the Starkenburg Philharmoniker in January 2018.

This first experience so far exceeded expectations that it has become the first of what will be an annual event! We are looking forward with great anticipation and excitement to our very first International Music Festival next June. That event will include our second International Conductor Exchange Concert in addition to concerts which will feature the winners of our January 2018 International Conductors Competition and our much requested Piano Concert Competition.

You will most certainly not want to miss any of these exciting events, so keep reading our newsletters for more information! If you are not on our distribution list and would like to be kept informed about all that Gwinnett Symphony is doing, you can subscribe on this blog or go to our website and sign up. Don't forget to "Like Us" on Facebook.

We’ll look forward to seeing you at our next concert, coming soon!

Article by Pam Cook with contributions from Dalia Elkounovitch

pam.gwinnettsymphony@yahoo.com