Overture Magazine - 2014-2015 May-June 2015 | Page 6

{ IN tempo The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra NEWS OF NOTE { S ta n d I n} Trial by Firebird Nicholas Hersh will next perform with the BSO at the Oregon Ridge Star-Spangled Spectacular concerts July 3 and 4. 4 O v ertur e | When Nicholas Hersh, the BSO’s young assistant conductor, learned that he would be stepping up to conduct works by Ravel and Stravinsky, he was both thrilled and nervous. “Conducting (Stravinsky’s) Firebird Suite with a professional orchestra is a dream come true,” he says. The Ravel was more of a challenge. He would be standing in for BSO guest conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier, who had fallen ill. And the orchestra was scheduled to play Maestro Tortelier’s own arrangement of Ravel’s Piano Trio. “Technically and stylistically, it’s hard to conduct,” says Hersh. “In the couple of days advance warning I had,” before stepping up the podium, “that was where I spent the majority of my time.” Hersh got the call when he was in Indianapolis and rehearsed the music on the plane ride home. “I had headphones on and the score spread out—it was way too big to fit on the tray table,” he says. “I had a pencil in one hand writing cues, while I conducted with the other.” Hersh pulled off what The Washington Post described as “a successful trial by fire.” For his part, Hersh thought the performance went well. “There was lots of energy on stage and a good deal of positive reaction from the orchestra and audiences,” he says. { I n F or m at ion} New logo tells the BSO story The BSO’s new logo, introduced at the season launch in March, was designed by Senior Graphic Designer Erin Ouslander. Typeface helps to tell the story of the Orchestra’s mission, she explains. “The ‘b’ is a modern and bold sans-serif type to represent innovation and forward thinking,” says Ouslander, while the traditional script of the “s,” reminiscent of the BSO’s previous look, is a nod to “keeping classics and tradition alive.” Finally, the “o,” a font typically found in textbooks for its legibility, says Ouslander “represents our focus on educational programming and making music accessible to the community.” And in the logo at left, the 100 fashioned as an exclamation point captures the excitement of the BSO’s upcoming anniversary season. www. bsomusic .org