Copious Notes

Some people may have looked at today’s Opinions | Ideas section of the Herald-Leader and thought it was a bad morning for the arts, and the Lexington Philharmonic in particular. The Sunday letters to the editor devoted a section to six letters about Fourth of July activities, three complaining that the Lexington Philharmonic’s patriotic concert on July 3rd was not patriotic enough.

Scott Terrell's Philharmonic debut got mixed reviews, but it was good to see passionate debate about the arts. Photo by Mark Cornelision | Herald-Leader.

The concert also happened to be Scott Terrell’s debut conducting the orchestra since being named its music director in April.

“Abandoning old favorites like Battle Hymn of the Republic, 1812 Overture and God Bless America, Terrell chose to include selections like Mission Impossible,” Lindy Karns of Lexington wrote. “There are an insufficient number of opportunities to listen to the performance of songs that make us proud to be Americans.”

Listening to the concert, I wondered if there would be people that found it lacking in patriotic anthems that we so commonly associate with the Fourth of July, and even thought some Broadway tunes such as, say, America from West Side Story — which I saw performed by the Broadway revival cast on NBC’s Fourth celebration — or selections from The Music Man might have gone over better than My Fair Lady and Chicago.

But I also saw the point that we as Americans should be proud that our country has produced original art forms such as musical theater and movie music and given the world classic composers such as Lerner and Loewe and Henry Mancini.

We often cede classical music to Europeans, ignoring great American composers such as Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein and others. I liked that Terrell included John Williams’ Olympic music, highlighting another great American talent too often written off as just a film composer, and his inclusion of Leroy Anderson, an American composer championed by Terrell’s predecessor, George Zack.

But the broader point is that I loved seeing four letters to the editor — one from Kevin C. Brown of Lexington praised the program saying Terrell, “managed to breathe new life into the traditional program”  — about a concert, from relatively informed people debating the merits of the program with obvious passion.

It’s also something we’ve seen lately in comments and some letters to the editor about LexArts’ decision not to fund Actors Guild of Lexington for the next fiscal year.

I think I sometimes surprise people who call or write to complain about a story I’ve written when I invite them to write a letter to the editor. No, it is never fun to read someone complaining about you. But I love it when people take time to sit down and write about the arts. It says this is important stuff, and it is worth the time to express an opinion, even if it happens to be critical. Hey, by taking the time to criticize, you are saying, I think this can be better, and it is important to me to weigh in on it.

It can’t all be politics and UK sports, people.

And really, in this increasingly interactive world, it is more important than ever that people pipe up and show the arts are something we consider worthy of debate and comment.

So, keep those cards and letters and emails and comments coming. It’s all good.

Scott Terrell leads a rehearsal of the Lexington Philharmoinic Orchestra before the October 2008 audition concert that ultimately won him the job. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.

After Scott Terrell was named the new music director of the Lexington Philharmonic, most people, even the orchestra staff, figured the next time we’d see him would be in September for a gala season opener.

But Terrell had different ideas.

The conductor will be on the podium next weekend as the Philharmonic plays its annual Fourth of July concerts in Lexington Friday Night at Transylvania University and Versailles Saturday night at Woodford County Park.

“I was here, I was available, and it’s a big community event,” Terrell said from his Lexington home. “I thought it was an appropriate way to introduce myself.”

It’s also going to be a chance for Terrell to introduce a bit of his musical sensibility.

“There are going to be the traditional things that have always been there,” Terrell says. “But we’re also going to look at the breadth of American music, and what that means.”

What that means in this concert is we will hear some classic American tunes such as the Shaker melody, Simple Gifts; we’ll hear classic movie themes such as Henry Mancini’s for The Pink Panther and Lalo Schifrin’s Mission: Impossible theme; we’ll hear classic show tunes from Lerner and Lowe and standards from Cole Porter.

“While it is patriotic in parts, the broader scope is Americana,” Terrell says.

There will be numerous patriotic concert standbys, including the Star-Spangled Banner, My Old Kentucky Home and Stars and Stripes Forever.

But Terrell said he saw the concerts as chances to, “reshape that program, and usher in a new era.”

Thus far, Terrell says he’s received a good reaction from people in the orchestra and concert presenters who have seen the program.

Terrell has been putting the program together at the same time he has been moving to Lexington from Charleston, S.C., where he lived as resident conductor of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra.

He has also been solidifying the program for the Philharmonic’s upcoming 2009-10 season. Some noteworthy additions include:

■ Irish tenor Ronan Tynan in an Oct. 10 concert that will be part of the Alltech Fortnight Festival.

■ Acclaimed violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg in an April 17 concert to benefit UK HealthCare.

Information on those concerts and all upcoming Philharmonic events will be available at the Fourth concerts, which are some of the Philharmonic’s biggest events of the year.

“I wanted to do it, and that’s the bottom line,” Terrell said of the concerts. “It’s too much fun and too much of a community event not to take part.”