A beautiful performance of Bach’s “St. John’s Passion” by Cleveland’s Apollo’s Fire baroque ensemble & chorus conducted by Artistic Director Jeannette Sorrell. These folks bring music to life. This was the fourth appearance of Apollo’s Fire at University of Michigan during the past decade and each of their performances excels in academic interpretation & performance. A treat to have been able to attend.

I drove over from Kalamzoo for Andras’ concert and was not disappointed. Superb interpretations of Bach’s Goldberg Variations & Beethoven’s Diabelli Cariations along with the encore excerpt from Beethoven’s Sonata 111. The audience appeared enraptured throughout the recital at Hill Auditorium.

Great acoustics and a near capacity audience for another UMS event. A special treat was meeting Andras briefly after the concert, graciously signing CDs and talking with concert guests, wonderful!

This is what a world class orchestra is all about. With nearly a third of the orchestra’s musicians delayed for several hours in Toronto (reportedly due to a mechanical issue with the aircraft), they landed in Detroit and were bussed directly to Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor arriving an hour or so before their concert had been scheduled to begin. There was an absolute minimal amount of pre-concert rehearsal time.

Rumor has it some of the Mariinsky musicians who arrived on another flight earlier Saturday were able to partially rehearse under the direction of one of the orchestra’s student conductors.

Incredibly, rumor has it Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” was not rehearsed at all (due to lack of time) after the entire orchestra had arrived at Hill Auditorium. Remarkably then, what those of us in the audience were experiencing with the Stravinsky piece, may literally have been an unannounced, completely spontaneous interpretation and performance.

This is a situation where the experienced charismatic leadership of Maestro Valery Gergiev successfully combined with highly professional world class musicians. What potentially could have been a catastrophic performance situation instead became standing ovations for each composition performed.

I believe after their Ann Arbor concert the Mariinsky Orchestra was traveling to New York and New Jersey for several more events, having to contend with the possibility severe weather situation on the east coast could alter their schedule. At least for those of us in Ann Arbor it was mostly a good pre-Halloween musical treat at the University of Michigan.