Talking about the sound the of SOI and how one can
qualify it in the global picture of orchestras, Suntook
explained saying, “You develop the unique sound of an
orchestra after a certain period when certain number
players play together a long time. You have the famous
sound of the Vienna Philharmonic, the Philadelphia
Strings, the Boston sound, but those have developed over
the years. A lot of players weren’t regular until the past
five or six seasons where we have had almost 90-95% of
the players in commonality. We have a sort of Eastern
European Romantic sound which is a lush romantic
sound with a lot of accent and a lot of resurgent sound
from the strings which is very good. Our real glory are
the Russian trained strings.”
Over the years the orchestra has developed immensely
under the baton of many leading conductors from
different schools in the world like French conductor
Charles Dutoit, British conductor Martyn Brabbins,
Italian conductor Carlo Rizzi, Russian conductor Yuri
Simonov, Lior Shambadal, Rafael Payare, Adrian Leaper,
Johannes Wildner, Evgeny Bushkov, Duncan Ward,
Karl Jenkins, Mischa Damev, Alexander Anissimov, and
Christoph Poppen, among many others who have taken
the orchestra to higher levels of artistic excellence. “We
have had totally different conductors like Yuri Simonov
who conducted the Verdi Requiem and Charles Dutoit
who did a wonderful Dvorak, New World. Now Charles,
took great care in tuning our orchestra. He spent time
with the woodwinds, the strings, and eventually got them
in tune for the concert. Conductors take hours to tune an
orchestra! One of the advantages of having a fairly good
reputation is we get better players every year because
they talk amongst themselves,” Suntook explained
with great enthusiasm. Although commoners fail to
understand the role of a conductor identifying him as the
“man waving a wand to the orchestra,” a conductor’s role
is quintessential in the success of an orchestra. Simply
put, a conductor brings together the many elements that
constitute an orchestra, train each section meticulously,
prepare for hours even before meeting the orchestra
– studying the music, trying to analyze the piece from
the composer’s viewpoint. It is the conductor’s singular
vision and interpretation of the piece that comes to life
through the execution of the orchestra that leaves such a
daunting impact on audiences.
Since its inception when Suntook first heard Bisengaliev
in London (2004), the SOI has come together greatly
under Bisengaliev’s musicianship from the recruitment
stages to building the orchestra’s repertoires, presenting
season concerts, and running the advanced music school.
Suntook explains the distinct roles a music director,
associate music director, and a resident conductor play
in keeping the orchestra together saying, “Marat is
artistic director. He’s a great violinist, full of influences
in Eastern and Central Europe. Any number of players
can be brought out by him of great quality. We have
Bushkov who is a fine conductor and teacher who is here
for about 8-9 months. And lastly, we have Zane who is here
for about 4months. Between this team, we have honed
some pretty good results. Marat was the founder and he
has an incredible fund of players and he can bring out 12
players in a shot! He has been the master, the founder,
the brains behind everything, and he runs the advanced
music school for our children. He’s very devoted to that.
Every player he brings out is also a teacher. So, they have
a double role, they are not only playing in the orchestra,
14
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Score Magazine
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