43 1trtits,. Outdoor Overture Israeli conductor opens DSO summer season. SUZANNE CHESSLER Special to the Jewish News ii n Israeli conductor who launched his musical career with an outdoor perfor- mance will lift his baton at the Meadow Brook Musical Festival to open this summer's outdoor season for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Asher Fisch, who had his profes- sional conducting debut with a small orchestra performing in the Negev, Presents "Outdoor Overtures" on the campus of Oakland University on July 7. The concert, his debut appearance with the Detroit Symphony, follows close behind a fresh air festival he con- ducted along the Mediterranean, where Jessye Norman performed before tens of thousands of people. "I've never performed such an over- ture-rich program," Fisch, 42, says about his Michigan concert, which will show- case Copland's An Outdoor Overture, Mozart's overture to La clemenza di Tito and Rossini's William Tell Overture. "I think that people see value in going to outdoor concerts, and with the technical facilities that we have, we should be able to supply almost hall-like acoustics, If the music mixes well with the atmosphere and the people are happy, I think that's what it's all about." Opening night, celebrated with fireworks, also will feature violinist Yura Lee playing Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto and Wagner's prelude to Act I of Lohengrin. Fisch returns the next evening to con- duct Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 (the "Pastoral Symphony"), Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and Kodaly's Dances of Galanta. Jon Kimura Parker will be featured on piano. "I like all the fine details of the [TastOrall," says Fisch, music director of the New Israeli Opera. "I especially like the dances because the piece is one of the best examples of the use of folk music in classical form. Whenever I perform or hear it, I see that it really reaches people. It makes them tap their feet, but it's on a very high level of musical thought." Fisch's musical thoughts began with piano lessons in Jerusalem, where he soon realized that he wanted to move beyond one instrument. "I didn't want to dedicate my whole life only to piano because I was interest- ed in too many other aspects of music making — chamber music, vocal music, opera, symphonies," he explains. "When I went to music school in Jerusalem, I realized that conducting was the only profession in music that encompasses all of these aspects." While Fisch served in the Israeli army for four years, he was able to con- tinue music classes. After completing military service, he went on to study in the United States for two summers and then signed on with the New Israeli Opera when it opened in 1985. After meeting and replacing Daniel Barenboim in a 1990 concert with the Israel Philharmonic, Fisch became Barenboim's assistant with the Berlin Opera. Three years later, he became music director of the Vienna Volksoper. Guest appearances have taken him to the Royal Danish Opera, Opera Tokyo, Los Angeles Opera and the Chicago Lyric Opera, as well as sym- phonies throughout Europe and Asia. "Conducting an opera is more of a technical job than conducting an orchestra," Fisch says. The maestro explains that opera demands a process that starts with the singers, moves on to the stage directors with the singers, then brings in the orchestra and finally combines all of the elements. He finds that today's orches- tras need conductors to interpret and inspire, not keep them playing together. "With an opera, if a conductor stops for one second, it will fall apart," Fisch says. "On the concert stage, a conductor can stop for huge phases, and still get results." Fisch recently decided to give up his work in Vienna to spend more time with concert appearances. He hopes to live in the United States with his wife, opera singer Linda Pavelka, and their 10-year-old daughter, Aniko, to build North American experiences. "I am happy I made the decision to leave Vienna before the (antisemitism there) became such an [open] issue," the conductor says. "I was living in Vienna for five years and would have a big prob- lem with the situation there right now "When it first happened with • Bring in this ad to get ONE FREE MOVIE TICKET Good Sunday thru Thursday with purchase of $8.99 or more entree, Not good with any other offer. fi 1 1 DURI 7. 7 7, ,2 . ,: , . . , 1 . •AL. Cremk{aralne ,. : Pudding ' .: . ,,L BRATION i L BILL' • DIN • CARRY-OUT`. HOUR! 7 DAYS ,with any other coupons or specials %Frs 7/13/N .sstta al 29295 SOUTHFIELD ROAD E SOUTHFIELD COMMONS, 1 Block North of 12 Mile Rood r SLAB FOR 2 BBQ CHICKEN FOR 2 Includes: 2 Potatoes, 2 Slaws and 2 Garlic Breads Includes: 2 Potatoes, 2 Slaws and 2 Garlic Breads $2 OFF 1 Coupon Per Order • Dine In or Carry-Out • Expires 7-13-2000 JN $2 OFF wirdL _J L • 1 Coupon Per Order • Dine in or Cany-Out • Expires 7-13-2000 JN ALSO GOOD AT OUR LIVONIA ORCHARD LAKE RD. SOUTH OF 14 • Farm. H ills • 851 -7000 LOCATION ON PLYMOUTH RD. 6/30 2000 69