I hadn’t seen anything like it. Musicians mixed with benefactors. Old Austin mixed with New Austin. And everyone at the Four Seasons Hotel appeared upbeat about the Austin Symphony Orchestra’s evolving leadership and energy.
Thomas and Kerri Neville
After decades of strong, steady if sometimes conservative leadership from Jane Sibley and, later, Joe Long, too, the orchestra installed a new president.
Earlier in the evening, Thomas Neville, joined by orchestra executive director Anthony Corroa, welcomed guests to the Long Center for the season’s first concert. Then the PlainsCapital Bank executive warmly greeted guests to the socially remarkable season launch party.
Courtney Johnson and Amber Gunst
Back at the Long Center, conductor Peter Bay had presented a short Dvorak piece, a muscular Brahms concerto with returning guest artist Midori and an excitable Shostakovich symphony. The hall was nearly full. While the violinist won the standing ovation, it was gratifying to see that almost nobody left before the less familiar and closely attended Soviet-era piece.
Stephen Mills, Meria Carstarphen and Brent Hasty
What struck me most about the Four Seasons affair was how easily all the parties played together. Austin’s oldest performing arts group is weighed down by layers of social strata, including at least six divisions of backers, some split by gender or age.
Now, it does take a lot of money to keep an orchestra going. So the hundreds of devoted folks you never see onstage are crucial to the group’s health and, in some years, even its survival. Glad to find them all in the same setting.