On April 9, at Symphony Space, the Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps Symphonic Band gave a spirited concert, billed as “Carnival of the Animals,” mostly under the baton of director Henco Espag. Recent gay ancestor Camille Saint-Saëns’ work of the same name of course had pride of place here, but leading up to it were half a dozen other pieces also inspired by the animal kingdom, some of them whimsical, many of them surprising.
Before the formal program, Espag led the Ukrainian national anthem, played in solidarity with the people of that embattled country, and we all stood.
In keeping with the concert’s theme, LGBAC members sported animal and bird headdresses, masks, and costumes, horns and feathers. A short anthem by John Powell, arranged for band by Sean O’Loughlin, from the soundtrack for “How to Train Your Dragon,” opened the concert proper, and hope and bonding between man and beast were its themes. Espag showed off blue wings and a dragon’s tail for this number. Assistant conductor Royden Ringer presided over a dulcet “Berceuse,” from Igor Stravinsky’s “Firebird” ballet score, with the lullaby introducing motifs that would turn up again in the ringing finale. Espag returned to the podium, a vision in black and white feathers and, of course, glitz, for Brad Ciechomski’s rollicking “Unexpected Journey (The Traveling Insect),” and a musician garbed as a ladybug provided an additional visual. Next came a world premiere, BIPOC Composition Competition winner Salvador Alan Jacobo’s furiously resounding “The Hourglass,” limning the infinite past, the present, and the infinite future.
New LGBAC Executive Director Jason Cannon was on hand for acknowledgments and announcements, including that the band’s October concert would honor John Williams’ 90th birthday, with the Holiday concert to follow in December.
Ringer guided the Corps in Naohiro Iwai’s exotic and rapid-fire “Jungle Fantasy,” punctuated by animal sounds and jungle drums. Espag took the podium for the remainder of the evening, beginning with Harry Gregson-Williams’ fiery and tempestuous music, arranged by Paul Murtha, for “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” after C.S. Lewis. Cat ears, leopard skin, and a tail were the Maestro’s accoutrements.
Nine of the 14 sections of Saint-Saëns’ “Carnival of the Animals,” in Yo Goto’s edition for band, were the evening’s climax and were enhanced by poetry, delivered by band membrs, and with puppetry by Mike Thomas-Faria, working puppets from Puppetworks. The selections began with the Introduction and entrance of the Lion in a truly regal march, complete with roars and growls. “Hens and Roosters” were busy and cackling. “The Elephant” danced a heavy-footed waltz to music borrowed from Felix Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Hector Berlioz’s “Dance of the Sylphs” from “La Damnation de Faust.” “Kangaroos” proved a hopping good piece, while “The Aquarium” was a moody one. Then the mysteries of “The Cuckoo in the Depths of the Woods” were explored. The lively “Fossils,” in the museum, cavorted to bits of Saint-Saëns’ own “Danse Macabre,” as well as to “Ah, vous dirais-je, Maman,” “Au clair de la lune,” and Gioachino Rossini’s “Una voce poco fa,” from “Il Barbiere di Siviglia.” “The Swan,” perhaps the most popular movement, was perhaps best-known as an elegiac Michael Fokine ballet, “The Dying Swan,” for Anna Pavlova. “The Carnival” culminated in a merry finale, as its earlier sections were revisited.