New York Phil March 8

[richardfinegold]

We attended New York Philharmonic concert last week. Guest conductor was Elim Cham, Cellist Sol Gabeta
. The latter is a known quantity, the conductor is a diminutive woman of Singaporean descent. The program was :
1) Pisachi, by J.I. Tate a work for strings
2) Martinu Cello Concerto #2
3) Scheherazade, by Rimsky
The Tate piece was meant to evoke the plains of Tate’s Indigenous American ancestry and was extremely effect with many open sixths. The Martinuis an extremely effective piece that I hadn’t encountered before. Given the relative paucity of Cello Concertos one wonders why. Gabeta encored with a solo piece by Petra’s Vasks that requires the player to vocalize and reveals that Sol has a very attractive voice.
Cham is a very diminutive woman who uses extensive gestures. She reportedly was well received by the Orchestra and the Rimsky didn’t dissapoint

[Pulcinella]

Surprisingly few recordings of Martinu VCl concerto 2 compared with those of number 1, but this CD of both is well worth exploring, Richard:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7980786--martinu-cello-concertos-nos-1-2#reviews

[HighlandDougie]

We attended New York Philharmonic concert last week. Guest conductor was Elim Cham, Cellist Sol Gabeta
. The latter is a known quantity, the conductor is a diminutive woman of Singaporean descent. The program was :
1) Pisachi, by J.I. Tate a work for strings
2) Martinu Cello Concerto #2
3) Scheherazade, by Rimsky
The Tate piece was meant to evoke the plains of Tate’s Indigenous American ancestry and was extremely effect with many open sixths. The Martinuis an extremely effective piece that I hadn’t encountered before. Given the relative paucity of Cello Concertos one wonders why. Gabeta encored with a solo piece by Petra’s Vasks that requires the player to vocalize and reveals that Sol has a very attractive voice.
Cham is a very diminutive woman who uses extensive gestures. She reportedly was well received by the Orchestra and the Rimsky didn’t dissapoint

Not to nit-pick but the elfin-like (or diminutive if you prefer) Elim Chan was born and raised in Hong Kong, not in its great rival, Singapore. I saw her conduct the HK Philharmonic Orchestra just before Covid made its malign presence felt in 2020. I thought that her 'Petrouchka' was about as good as it can get - and the orchestra clearly enjoyed playing for her. She was also the Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Scottish NO until last year - and can be heard with them in Benjamin Grosvenor's fine CD of the Chopin PCs. Very glad that she went down well with the NYPO - and with Richard!

[richardfinegold]

Not to nit-pick but the elfin-like (or diminutive if you prefer) Elim Chan was born and raised in Hong Kong, not in its great rival, Singapore. I saw her conduct the HK Philharmonic Orchestra just before Covid made its malign presence felt in 2020. I thought that her 'Petrouchka' was about as good as it can get - and the orchestra clearly enjoyed playing for her. She was also the Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Scottish NO until last year - and can be heard with them in Benjamin Grosvenor's fine CD of the Chopin PCs. Very glad that she went down well with the NYPO - and with Richard!

Correct that she is fromHong Kong. She worked in Singapore, apparently first conducted Scherazade there. She also has a Doctorate from my alma mater, the University of Michigan. I suspect that she may have studied there with Bright Sheng, but he was Canceled a few years back and there is no mention of him in her bio.
As for the diminutive part…I found myself standing a few feet away from her in the lobby post concert. I am six foot three, and I stand by my ‘elfin’ remark. Good things come in small packages