SWF Symphony hits all the right notes

If you are able to climb the century old steps at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center without a handrail to help you balance (scary), and were oblivious to the intermittent intrusive roaring of the new air conditioning system throughout Saturday evening's concert by the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra and its chamber chorus, (hard to ignore) I would suspect you found the evening's intriguing program to be thoroughly enjoyable.

Although I have heard its very credible concertmaster, Reiko Niiya, before on several occasions when she joined forces with the Philadelphia Piano Quartet in Naples, it's been several years since I have heard the orchestra itself perform. I was more than pleasantly surprised by the quality of its performance.

In presenting this program, titled "Musical Triumph," their young conductor, Michael Hall, put together a truly tasty program: Elgar's haunting "Serenade for Strings in E minor," Handel's over the top "Royal Fireworks Music," and Haydn's beautifully performed "Mass Number 11," commonly referred to as the "Lord Nelson Mass." The program, part of an apparently enthusiastically received outreach program, was held in the heart of old downtown Fort Myers.

The Davis Art Center, formerly a U.S. Post Office, is in the midst of a lengthy major renovation.

Handel"s "Royal Fireworks Music," originally scheduled by King George II to be a massive celebration following the signing of the Treaty of Aix-a-Chapelle, proved to be just that at its unveiling: only the opposite of what had been planned. At the inaugural event, the huge assemblage of musicians, including 24 oboes and 12 bassoons, drew a crowd of thousands. Intending to let out all the stops, a special stand had been built to house the fireworks display. Only it poured rain and one of the fireworks backfired, setting the stand on fire. Truly, a memorable "bad hair day" premier performance.

Saturday evening's program, thankfully, had to compete with no such nightmarish problems — only the periodic wind tunnel effect of the air conditioning system. In the meanwhile, the musicians were once again giving a quite credible performance of the number, much of which has an almost formal, militaristic air to it, replete with well executed trumpet trills. I was, I must admit, disappointed to hear such an otherwise good contribution from the horns diminished slightly by a few breaks emanating from their instruments during the performance.

The piece, for those of you not familiar, is all over the map structurally, at moments reminiscent of "Trumpet Voluntary," at others, the haunting "Gallipoli." There were excellent contributions from the oboes and bassoons, as the piece transfigured itself from almost frisky to delicate to formal once again in its posture.

Much as I liked the Elgar, it was the selection following the intermission, Hayden's glorious "Mass No. ll," which was so exquisitely performed it nearly took my breath away. Adding the 23-person Chamber Chorus to the symphony, along with four finely voiced soloists, this Mass is, to say the least, an ambitious undertaking for any orchestra and choral group. Even the air conditioning system seemed to realize how special a performance was unveiling itself on stage, and continued to behave perfectly.

Like many of the orchestral musicians, this is a young choral group, whose average age is, I suspect, at least 20 years younger than the Naples Philharmonic Chorus (of which I am inordinately fond). Several of the women looked to be still in their 20s. Regardless, the chorus itself proceeded to give a beautifully balanced, sensitive performance, the joy of which was heightened by the four featured soloists: Mary Wilson, (soprano), Misty Bermudez (mezzo-soprano), Brad Diamond (tenor) and Gerard Sunberg (baritone).

Voices and performance aside, I must admit I smiled to myself in recognition of Mr. Sunberg's attempt to visually diminish his height/body type from the other three soloists by standing apart from them. As someone who also has towered over other performers all my life, it was hard not to notice that he was clearly at least 14 to 15 inches taller than any of the others. But that was utterly immaterial to the quality of his voice, and the voices of the others.

The Mass opened with an excellent, ambitious performance of the "Kyria," and the quality of this lengthy selection continued unabated, with excellent balance and wonderful contributions from the soloists. If I were to pick a favorite of the 12 sections, it would be a tossup between the Kyrie and the later Sanctus, which was hauntingly beautiful.

Everyone who is in any way involved in the arts knows full well what disastrous financial problems are occurring all around us. This group of talented performers and vocalists deserves all the support and encouragement Fort Myers can muster. Compared to how they sounded when last I heard the symphony, and now the chorus, they are very much in the (re)formative stages of something of which the community can be very proud.

Peg Goldberg Longstreth was trained as a classical musician. She owns Long-