Monday, January 2, 2006

Conductor Murry Sidlin led members of the National Symphony Orchestra in a fun-filled New Year's Eve celebration at the Kennedy Center, showering Concert Hall listeners with a confetti of great music and humorous commentary.

Sidlin's energetic conducting inspired spirited playing in selected movements from Rimsky-Korsakov's "Capriccio Espaol" and Copland's "Rodeo" and yielded colorful textures in Enesco's "Romanian Rhapsody" No. 1. During a Stephen Sondheim medley, the musicians produced a tender and moving rendition of "Send In the Clowns." Soprano Kishna Davis connected emotionally with the audience through a trio of works that displayed her vocal versatility. She sang a sultry "Habaera" from Bizet's "Carmen," poured her heart into George Gershwin's "The Man I Love" and delivered a soaring rendition of "Vilia" from Franz Lehar's "The Merry Widow."

So that patrons wouldn't miss any of the Grand Foyer party, the concert had to adhere to strict time limits. Unfortunately, such constraints marred the program's second half. NSO Associate Concertmaster Elisabeth Adkins's elegant performance of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto finale competed with distractions of latecomers returning from intermission. The ticking clock also meant Sidlin had to cut the popular "audience choice" selections from the program.

But those sacrifices benefited members of Catholic University's Musical Theater Ensemble -- Virginia Cavaliere, Lisa Ferris, Sarah Beth Pfeifer, Tarina Szemzo -- who cheerfully performed "America" from Leonard Bernstein's "West Side Story" not once but, oddly enough, twice. Several Strauss Jr. waltzes and a march medley rounded out the program, which of course concluded with the "Auld Lang Syne" singalong.

-- Grace Jean