2 minute read
Backstage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
projected during Appalachian Spring in 2009. He prepares mock-ups of the stage and hall to plot the best use of the stage and figure out exactly how the concert will flow.
The week prior to a concert, Mike works with the local stage union (IATSE Local 278) and the Asheville Civic Center crew to prepare Thomas Wolfe Auditorium for rehearsals and the performance. That means building out the front stage area, bringing all the Symphony’s chairs up from its rehearsal hall and setting them out on stage, along with music stands and large instruments. He puts risers in place, sets up a concert shell and ceiling shell over the players for acoustics and places lights to make everything look its best.
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During rehearsals, Mike says, “I tweak the stage set-up and choreograph the stage changes, whether it involves moving a piano to solo position, or clearing parts of the stage for special instruments or soloists. We try to get everything done as quickly as possible so the audience doesn’t have to wait too long between pieces during the concerts.”
Concert day
On concert day, Mike prepares the rest of the Civic Center for the performance. “That includes preparing the lobbies with proper signage, “ he says, “setting up our various contact tables and getting the banquet hall ready for pre-concert lectures and post concert parties and setting the backstage.” And if he didn’t have enough heavy lifting during concert week, Mike also helps Sally, Elisabeth and Steve sell tickets right up to concert time.
Like Sally and Elisabeth, Mike is too busy during a concert to hear the Symphony as the audience hears it. He’s backstage with Sally, directing musicians to the stage, assisting guest artists and keeping the concert as close to on-time as possible. When the magic moment for showtime arrives, he calls for the auditorium lights to go out and he and Sally direct the concertmaster and conductor to the stage. Then, he says, “we let the musicians take over. But we’re also waiting in the wings in case anything ever goes wrong.”
Mike began working for the Symphony in May 2007, after graduating from Appalachian State University and an internship with the Asheville Area Arts Council. A musician himself who plays percussion and keyboard instruments, Mike especially enjoyed the concert when he was asked to play accordion for Shostakovich’s Waltz No. 2. “That was a lot of fun,” he says. “How many people can say they’ve played accordion in an orchestra?”
Mike remembers another occasion when he almost played but didn’t. “One of our percussionists was stuck in Biltmore Village before a concert at the train tracks behind a long freight train,” he says. As the performance time got nearer, Mike was asked to step out and sight read the part if he did not make it in time. “Luckily for all of us,” Mike says, “he showed up just before the downbeat.”
