the Chattanooga
Serious Fun
A tribute to the man, the career and the music behind Symphony & Opera
A superlative conductor with a sheaf of music director and guest conducting credits, Bernhardt, 59, has produced and promoted classical music, Pops and opera across the country for more than 30 years. Audiences and colleagues herald him for his sense of humor, love of sports and nurturing nature.
MaestroTourAMagical
By Kathy GilbertBeganpianolessonswith
“Bob has the gift of making the performance experience completely positive,” says violin ist Nadja Solerno-Sonnenberg. “If I see that I am going to work with Bob, my heart just smiles.”
Mary
Ann Hargrave at 8 years old Quit sportslessonspianoforand a paper route 1959 1966 TheDiscoveredBeatles 1964 Played guitar in rock bands Highlanders,TheThe Boys and The Boys-Plus 1965-1969TMusicalcareeriMeline
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32 CHATTER APRIL 2011
c hattanooga s y M phony & Bernhardt has led hundreds of concerts here — fro Bach to t he Beatles — over the past 19 years. e na M ed Music d irector M oving on — he’s M aking new arrange could tell you the one about the cannibal in the butcher shop — it’s in excellent taste, of course.” Chat tanooga Symphony & Opera Music Director Bob Bernhardt is preparing for a rehearsal at downtown’s Tivoli Theatre. A visitor has requested a joke. Several unsuitable ones blip across his mental touchscreen. “On my last concert ever, I’m going to tell all the jokes I’ve never been able to tell,” he says with a laugh, “and I’m going to say ‘what are you gonna do, fire me?’”
APRIL 2011 CHATTER 33
UnionconductorasfirstConductedorchestraassistantatCollege graduateAttends school at the School of Music at the University of Southern California
At Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., he played varsity sports while mustering musi cians from dorm rooms and cubicles as assistant conductor for the school orchestra. During his se nior year, he conducted his first piece — a J.C. Bach sinfonietta. “I discovered I was very comfortable with the physicality of conducting,”
coffeehouses 1970-1975
First fulltime job in music, UniversityProfessorAssistantattheofAlabama
Attends spring training with the Kansas City Royals in Sarasota, Florida (lasts 4 days) 1974 19741978 acoustic guitar and sang in
“The job of conducting both opera and symphony in the same place was so
1972
Played
19781987 1991 19811992
Beginning in 1921, the Tivoli Theatre reigned as queen of Chattanooga’s movie and variety scene, with its glittering chandeliers, gilded walls and red plush seats. Today, the grande dame is overdue for a makeover. A new band shell would sharpen the hall’s symphonic acoustics. Yet the theatre — with its intimate size and exquisite balance of sound between pit and stage — is beloved by young opera singers and seasoned musicians alike. “The Tivoli is one of the best opera houses in America,” says Maestro Bob Bernhardt. “I love it.”
Appointed principal guest conductor at Kentucky Opera in Louisville, Kentucky Boston Pops debut at the invitation of JohnAward-winningAcademycomposerWilliams First non-academic job, ConductorAssistantof the Louisville Orchestra
Appointed Music Director and Conductor of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra (until 1995)
PlayhousePerFecT
HallCarnegiedebut
APRIL 2011 CHATTER 35 recalls Bernhardt. “In that moment, the ‘musical me’ and the ‘athletic me’ met.” After graduating Phi Beta Kappa, he arrived at Kansas City Royals spring training. Four days later, he struck out. “They told me ‘we think you might have other strengths,’” says Bernhardt. “It was hard to hear, but it was important that I did it. I would have always had questions.”Returning to his hometown, he covered sports, weddings and con certs for the local newspaper. One day, Rochester Philharmonic Associate Conductor Isaiah Jackson proposed a trade: Brahms symphonies instruction for racquet sports lessons. “He’d never done anything athletic in his life,” says Bernhardt, laughing. “So I bartered Brahms for squash.” Soon afterward, he enrolled in the University of Southern California School of Music. By 1992, he had de buted at Carnegie Hall, served as music director in Birmingham, Texas and Tuc son and guest-conducted at orchestras around the country. He was holding key positions at the Louisville Orchestra and Kentucky Opera and had just been invited by Academy Award-winning composer John Williams (Jaws, Star Wars, the Indiana Jones’ series, Close Encounters of the Third Kind) to debut with the BostonMeanwhile,Pops. the CSO was courting a
Appointed
19921993 1997 (untilPhilharmonicofArtisticAppointedDirectortheRochester1998) 1993
CSOatDirectorMusicBecametheHired as Music Director Designate at the OperaSymphonyChattanooga& Principal Pops Conductor of the (toOrchestraLouisvillepresent)
— Joe “Dixie” Fuller, entertainment director for the Riverbend Festival
On the brochure cover he pictured himself juggling colorful balls in his conductor’s tuxedo. “An old vaudeville adage says ‘never be upset with ap plause,’” notes Bernhardt. “I wanted everybody to know the CSO’s music belongs to everybody — that it is as far away from ‘the elite’ as possible.” He also coached his musical team into fighting form. “Bob had the effect of coalescing the spirit of the orches tra,” says Monte Coulter, principal percussionist. Eventually, he pressed to double the CSO’s concert nights. “You grow as artists when you play the same music more than once,” says Bernhardt.
“The job of conducting both opera and symphony in the same place was so attractive,” he says, “and it’s been the luckiest, the happiest thing.” s erious
“Bob’s always in, he’s always in, he’s both feet.”
The new Maestro didn’t wait a beat. He titled his first season “Serious Fun.”
him for the Music Director’s position. Something in the way the Chattanoo gans wooed him, Bernhardt remem bers, made him never want to leave.
— Bob Bernhardt
Music
“The second time, you take more risks.” A radio show, elementary classroom pearances — Bernhardt sung music’s record crowds. “These events are always sold out because Bob makes everything so interesting,” says Rich. “At times it’s In Louisville, he had given landmark pre-concert talks (“it was rare at that time,” says Bernhardt). The speeches drew as much on Ziegfeld Follies gag light for me is listening to the audience groan when Bob tells his jokes,” says Tim King, former executive director of the Louisville Orchestra. “You’d be amazed at the number of people who say they buy season tickets because Bob Bernhardt had once conducted Judy Collins with the Louisville Orchestra in the middle of Bernheim Forest. Now, ball fields, churches, private lawns. “I wanted to debunk the reasons that keep people from coming to a symphony. I wanted to perform concerts in places you wouldn’t expect us to show up.” He propelled players into a crowd of swing dancers in “Big Band Fever” and into Coolidge Park for the “Pops on the River” on the third of July. Beginning in 2000, a sparkling Pops series also exploded. Over the past 11 years, the CSO has paired up with such popular celebrities at Riverbend as Wynonna Judd, Randy Newman, Ricky Skaggs and The Waybacks. “At Coolidge Park and Riverbend, we play for the largest number of first-time listeners in our lives,” says Bernhardt. “These concerts are essential to us.” Behind the scenes, Bernhardt helps select the bands and reviews parts and “More than anything else, I wanted to make the CSO inviting and tonon-threatening.completelyIwanteddebunkthereasonsthatkeeppeoplefromcomingtosymphonyconcerts.”
the SymphonyEdmonton Will
First Symphony The Show”Bernhardt“Bobdebuts on WSMC radio (to present) First Pops on the River Independence Day ParkconcertcelebrationinCoolidge First season as conductorguest with transition to Director Emeritus 2000 2000 2001 2006 2011
and Pops FestivalatperformancesstarRiverbend
Bob and his wife Nora
APRIL 2011 CHATTER 37
Just soMe of the Many superstars Bernhardt has perforMed with over the years TOP TO BOTTOM: pd Q Bach = p eter s chickele a lexandre d a c osta c het a tkins e dgar Meyer TOP TO BOTTOM: n ad J a s alerno- s onnen B erg, Bernhardt and a nne Marie M c d er M ott a rt g arfunkel d onnie and Marie o s M ond i tzhak p erl M an Jerry Butler with Bernhardt TOP TO BOTTOM: John w illia M s n ao M i Judd | Mary w ilson M idori Bernhardt with randy newMan r ay c harles TOP TO BOTTOM: r icky s kaggs Bernhardt with aM y g rant c harlie d aniels Bernhardt with ca B calloway Gallery
PoPs
“ i t is … love!” Maestro Bob Bernhardt has con ducted scores of grand operas — “The Marriage of Figaro,” “The Magic Flute,” “Carmen” — for the CSO as well as Gilbert & Sullivan operettas and modern musicals. His accom plishments also include: Conductor of the Birmingham Opera (1979) Conductor of the Kentucky Opera for 18 seasons including six as Principal Guest(1991-1996)Conductor Regular Guest Conductor for the Nashville(present)Opera
Here are a few of the many operatic singers whom Bernhardt has conducted: Christina AndrewCynthiaMarilynKathleenBourasBrettHorneMunzerTimothyNobleWentzelStellaZambalis
“ o de to Joy”
Maestro Bob Bernhardt has conducted symphonies in auditoriums, concert halls and amphitheaters and on boats, barges, fields and lawns. A long list of guest-conductor credits attests to his virtuoso credentials. Here are some of his accomplishments:
Principal Pops Conductor of the Louisville Orchestra (1997 to present) Returned the CSO to the Riverbend Festival by combining the classical corps with top pop and rock stars (2000 to present) Helped create Chattanooga’s first Pops on the River Independence Day concerts (2001 to present) Debut with the Cincinnati Pops (2010) Here are a few of the pop artists with whom Bernhardt has performed: Chet Atkins The Beach Boys Jim CharlieRayBrickmanCharlesDanielsBandBenFoldsArtGarfunkel
Here are a few of the many classical and groups with whom Bernhardt hasSoloistsworked:
Artistic Director of the Sewanee Music Festival (1999)
Maestro Bob Bernhardt has a near-leg endary love of most musical forms. From Beethoven to The Beatles, his signature is his ability to blend. Besides conducting hundreds of Pops concerts with the CSO, his accomplishments include: Carnegie Hall debut with PDQ (1978)Bach Guest conductor for the Boston Pops (1978 to present)
APRIL 2011 CHATTER 39
oPera
“ t wist and s hout”
classical
Emanuel Ax Leon Bates LynnMidoriHarrell Symphonies Colorado Symphony Orchestra Detroit Symphony Orchestra Iceland Symphony Orchestra Nashville Symphony Orchestra Pacific Symphony Orchestra Phoenix Symphony Orchestra Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra St. Louis Symphony Orchestra Seattle SymphonyChristopherOrchestraParkeningItzhakPerlmanIsaacStern M arilyn horne B en folds with B ernhardtB ernhardt and i saac s tern at carnegie hall
Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra (1995–1998)
superstars
The Impressions with Jerry Butler Wynona Judd The Osmonds PDQ Bach = Peter Schickele Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder Mary Wilson and the Supremes
Artistic Director of the Lake Placid Sinfonietta (1993–1997) Music Director and Conductor of the Tucson Symphony AmarilloMusic(1987–1995)OrchestraDirectoroftheSymphonyOrchestra(1985–1987)
BernhardT, BriGhT and BlueGrass
Bernhardt with Fletcher Bright t he s trings of the c hattanooga s y M phony & o pera and the B luegrass B and f letcher Bright & the d is M e MB ered t ennesseans recently M ade B eautiful M usic together.
The two groups laid down tracks for their first collabor ative CD, “Black Tie & Blue grass” in a one-day session at a local church. The 15 tunes include “Fisher’s Hornpipe,” “Tennessee Waltz” and such classics as “Jerusalem Ridge” and “Northern White Clouds.” Bernhardt dreamed up the duet; Bright wrote all but one of the arrangements. Bernhardt also “improvised and embellished” the second half of “Summer of my Dreams.”“It’sthe kind of music that makes the hair raise on the back of your neck,” says Bright. “If you listen care fully and hear something real good, odds are pretty good — he did Purchaseit.” CDs for $20 at the CSO office, 701 Broad St., or call 267-8583. scores. When Michael McDonald’s sheet music arrived in a shambles, Bernhardt plucked the French horn from the piccolo parts himself. “Bob’s always in, he’s always in,” says Joe “Dixie” Fuller, the Riverbend Festival’s entertainment director. “He’s both feet.” y ou say good B ye, i say hello
As a boy, Bernhardt listened to his mother’s favorite crooners. He learned about classical music from a Funk & Wagnall’s greatest hits album, received as a prize for buying groceries at the local store. When he heard The Beatles as a teen, “they were a lightning strike — there was an unbelievable energy. They took significant risks.” Bernhardt’s knowledge of cowbells, calliopes, axes (electric guitars) and zithers, his eclectic experiences and enthusiasm for all musical forms — long ago secured him a reputation as a mas ter of the musical collage. “To conduct a Pops concert, you need to know and feel comfortable with many different genres of music,” says Dennis Alves, director of artistic programming for the Boston Pops. “Bob is one of those people.” Back in his dressing room, Bernhardt struggles to answer the “19-year legacy” question. With so many enthusiasms, influences and memories, how can he choose? Bringing people to live music, he decides, may be his gift. “If you sit in Row 5 and feel the energy coming at you, I swear, you will gain something from that experience,” he says. “There’s nothing like being in the same room with people who live and work in your town, all giving you their best effort with the greatest music ever written.” Finally, he suggests a parting tale — and this one’s no joke: “When I talk to kids, I ask: ‘How many of you listen to: R&B — rap — rock ‘n’ roll — jazz — classical?’ Only a few raise their hands for each one. Then I say: ‘The only thing that would make me happier is if all of you raised your hands to everything on that list — why aren’t you listening to everything?’”
Three years, Three Faces (2001-2004)
“Conducting the complete Beethoven Symphonies, Piano Concertos, ‘Violin Concerto’ and ‘Triple Concerto’ and the opera ‘Fidelio,’ all within three seasons.”
Maestro BoB Bernhardt shares his favorite Musical MeMories froM his tenure as Music director and conductor of the chattanooga syMphony & opera.
iver (2000-PresenT)
“The chance to play for and celebrate with 25,000 of our friends and neighbors every July 3rd at Coolidge Park is an honor and privilege.” in & Piazzolla (2010) “Sharing the stage with Nadja SalernoSonnenberg and Anne-Marie McDermott last season. Their encores will forever thrill me.”
— by Bob Bernhardt
GreaTs FroM The GaGBook
Mahler’sd’amoursyMPhonyno.2(1998)
“Conducting the opening night of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 on the same day as the death of my closest high school friend was a potent personal reminder of music’s power to move, inspire and heal.”
Operas: La Bohème, Rigoletto, The Magic Flute, Turandot p erf O rmance Venue: Symphony Hall, Boston mOV ie music: Anything by John Williams (Jaws and Star Wars composer)
BatO n: Mollard, $14, slender wood handle, $29 r i V er B end c O ncerts: The Waybacks & Friends Abbey Road Tribute, Classical Mystery Tour, Wynonna Judd B OO k: The Short History of Nearly Everything cO ffee drink: Non-fat latte, extra-hot
The New York Philharmonic is on a nine-concert tour in Europe. The most important is the eighth concert, Mahler’s 8th, the ‘Symphony of 1,000’ at the Musikverein in Vienna. It has a chorus of 800, fabulous soloists, it’s going to be recorded direct to disc. The morning of the concert, the conductor has a shrimp, mussel and oyster omelet in his dressing room. By noon he’s in the hospital with food poison ing. In a panic, the orchestra manager calls New York. The office says ‘Don’t worry about it, just ask a viola player to conduct.’ He says ‘Which one?’ He says: ‘It doesn’t matter, any of them.’ So the orchestra manager goes back to the hotel, sees the violist in the lobby, and says ‘John, the Maestro’s ill. Could you conduct the concert?’ The viola player says ‘Sure, I can do that.’ So they set it up. All the press passes are taken. The recording company is sweating bullets. At 8 p.m. the violist gets on the podium, and from downbeat to last beat it’s one of the biggest triumphs in the history of the New York Philhar monic. It’s an incredible success. The next day, there is a 2 p.m. rehearsal for the ninth tour concert, the Maestro is feeling better and comes to the rehearsal. The viola player, very hum bly, goes back and sits down next to his stand partner in the viola section. His stand partner looks at him and says: ‘So, where were you last night?’
salut
APRIL 2011 CHATTER 41
“l a BoheMe” (2009) “The performance two seasons ago was one of the happiest, most fulfilling and successful productions of my tenure.”
Jokes are essential to Bo B Bernhardt’s progra M . h ere’s a classic pre-perfor M ance B it which answers the Q uestion M ost often asked of conductors: “ w hat are you actually doing up there?”
Maestro Bo B Bernhardt wraps up his last season as Music d irector for the c hattanooga s y M phony & o pera with five spectacular perfor M ances. h as “farewell” ever B een M ore fun? TickeT Purchases: FavoriBoB’sTeThinGs When: 8 p.m., April 2 Where: Tivoli Theatre SponS orS: Steve and Susan Rich TickeTS: $19-$78 Mahler syMPhony no. 2 When: 8 p.m., April 7 and 8 Where: Tivoli Theatre SponS or: Ruth S. Holmberg TickeTS: $19-$78 When They Were younG: classical ProdiGies When: 7 p.m., April 17 Where: Read House Silver Ballroom program: “Classical Symphony,” Sergei Prokofiev; “Simple Symphony,” Benjamin Britten; “Overture: Midsummer Nights Dream,” Felix Mendelssohn TickeTS: $15 a niGhT in veGas When: 6 p.m., May 14 Where: Chattanooga Convention Center preSenTing SponS or: Barnett & Company TickeTS: $150 Coveting an “Ocean’s 11” script signed by cast members George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt? Dreaming of a chance to play an extra on crime-solving drama “NCIS?” Wishing for box seats with composer George Clinton and his wife at the Hollywood Bowl? Covet, dream and wish no more. The silent auction for the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera Guild’s “A Night in Vegas” gala on May 14 offers these items and more. The Rat Pack-themed fundraiser also features gaming tables (to kens, not cash), Broadway singers and the CSO. Among other swingin’ auction items are a violin signed by Midori and a “The Big Bounce” script in handmade Hawaiian paper autographed by Owen Wilson, Mor gan Freeman and Charlie Sheen. “It’s one of our biggest auctions in years,” says Gail Stewart, CSO Guild President. “It’s going to be fun.” performerS: The Machine: A Tribute to Pink Floyd, Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra, rock guitarist Luther Dickinson, jazz saxophonist Jeff Coffin. When: 9:30 p.m., June 12 Where: Coca-Cola stage, Riverbend Festival pin priceS and purchaSeS: (423) www.riverbendfestival.com756-2211 online: www.chattanoogasymphony.org phone: (423) 267-8583 Box office: 701 Broad Street Box Office Hours: Weekdays: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Day of performance: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. “dark side oF The Moon” Bernhardt prepared for this laser-light extravaganza as Music Director. It will be his first Riverbend performance as Music Director Emeritus.
FinaleGrandThe
