The Las Vegas Philharmonic is in the middle of a new season, but this one comes with a twist. After a 10-year run with Donato Cabrera, the Philharmonic is welcoming a rotating lineup of guest conductors at the Smith Center’s Reynolds Hall — effectively an open audition for both the musicians and audience to enjoy. Executive Director Alice Sauro shares some insight on the process.
How difficult is it to find a new conductor? You can’t just put an ad in the paper, right?
Right now, we have two years of guest conductors, which is exciting. This is an opportunity for the musicians and the public to experience 20 different conductors. The Las Vegas Philharmonic is 26 years old, which is very young for a community of this size. So, we’re growing and hopefully, a new artistic leader will be growing with us.
What are you looking forward to most this year?
All of our programs have works that are both familiar and unfamiliar. We have a female conductor on the podium on January 18, so that’s wonderful to see for Dvořák’s New World Symphony — everyone will recognize that, but we’ll also have the Philip Glass Violin Concerto, which is considered the American Four Seasons, not the Vivaldi Four Seasons. It's a very beautiful and lyrical work, but most people are not familiar with it. The February concert will have some Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet.
Leonard Slatkin (in the current role of artistic consultant) will be back in March conducting Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. Most musicians don't get to play that very often in their career, so this is really a big deal for them. In April, we have a young man conducting Tchaikovsky and Gershwin, and then in May, we have another female conductor. This one will be unique because she's going to play one of the works from the piano while she conducts the rest of the orchestra.
The Philharmonic has played with Nas at the Wynn’s Encore Theatre and returns for three more dates in February. How did performing with a rapper come about?
We got a phone call. Someone said, ‘Would you like to play with Nas?’ We said ‘sure’ and the next day, it was in the paper (laughs). It’s been a wonderful process. Nas has a lot of crossover appeal. He has a lot of interest in classical music and quotes classical composers in his songs. His father is a professional jazz musician, so Nas is a really unique and interesting man. Some people wouldn't think that Nas and the Philharmonic would go together, but they absolutely do.
Tickets are on sale now for upcoming concerts at the Smith Center as well as the Philharmonic’s performances with Nas at the Wynn.
