{"id":8953,"date":"2016-09-30T17:40:27","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T17:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idsunmedia.com\/?p=8953"},"modified":"2016-09-30T17:40:27","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T17:40:27","slug":"summer-symphonys-new-head-looks-to-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2016\/09\/30\/summer-symphonys-new-head-looks-to-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Symphony\u2019s new head looks to the future"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dana DuGan<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Jenny
Jenny Krueger takes center stage at the Sun Valley Summer Symphony. Photo courtesy Sun Valley Summer Symphony by Nils Ribi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

C<\/span>oming in fresh to an established organization can initiate a few different responses. Fear might be one of those feelings or, conversely, a sense that you are in the right place at the right time. The latter is, fortunately, the response of Jenny Krueger, who took over the reins of the county\u2019s largest free summer symphony program in June, and is resolved to keep the stakes high for the coming season. The Sun Valley Summer Symphony ran from July 24 to Aug. 18 at the Holding Pavilion in Sun Valley. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you put on a season like we just did, there\u2019s tremendous pressure for next year,\u201d Krueger said in her Ketchum office last week. The nonprofit organization is in final negotiations regarding contracts. <\/span><\/p>\n

The 2016 season was filled with highlights. It was the final year in the three-year residency of the classically trained string trio, Time for Three. It marked a performance of the co-commissioned \u201cFirebird,\u201d with puppetry and dance by Handspring Puppetry Company, of Cape Town, South Africa. It had Joyce Yang as a guest star performing Prokofiev, and Mahler\u2019s gigantic Symphony No. 3 finished out the season.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI learned \u2013 my first bird\u2019s-eye view \u2013 we have an amazing music director in Alasdair Neale,\u201d Krueger said. \u201cHe\u2019s a brilliant person and he\u2019s a master at scheduling the programs. It was a ride he conducted all the way to the end. His pace was perfection.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Krueger spent time in the orchestra seating, and on the lawn, during this past season to get a feel for the experience from every angle. In fact, Krueger headed out to the \u201ccheap seats\u201d on the lawn during Joyce Yang\u2019s Prokofiev performance. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a well-known piece,\u201d she said. \u201cI worried how it was going to be received. With her last note, the lawn audience just stood up as one in applause. This audience is not typical; it\u2019s a special audience. I was out there, too, for \u2018Firebird\u2019 \u2013 you could hear a pin drop.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The symphony\u2019s biggest audience night was, as usual, Pops. This year, at 9,000, it was the largest audience the Sun Valley Summer Symphony has ever attracted. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe impact is that this audience shows up and, over the years, they\u2019ve developed an ear and acquired tastes,\u201d said Krueger. \u201cIt speaks a lot to our mission\u201d \u2013 to bring music of this quality for free to everyone \u2013 \u201cand we\u2019re cultivating the next generation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Another aspect that has amazed Krueger is how the entire community seems to get behind the work of the Summer Symphony. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI loved the friends I made,\u201d she said. \u201cThe audience, patrons, housing hosts, musicians, volunteers \u2013 just seeing people so regularly is extra special.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Many of the musicians use the term \u201ccamp\u201d for their time in Sun Valley. It\u2019s condensed quality time spent producing something remarkable. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe do in three-and-a-half weeks what part-time orchestras do in a year, which is part of the thrill,\u201d Krueger said. \u201cIt\u2019s so high caliber. It blows my mind.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Neale has an excellent term for what the symphony creates, both as an artistic organization and as a part of the community: \u201cgross domestic happiness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Krueger agrees with this concept. \u201cIt\u2019s not just coming together and listening, or what the musicians and Alasdair is putting out. It\u2019s positive and exhilarating and it comes back around. This is the responsibility we have. We owe it to our supporters. It\u2019s reciprocal and we thrive on that. It\u2019s very rewarding.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Immediately after the season was over, in August, the entire organization took a few days to recover and then, in the hopes of capturing that energy, began debriefing. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHow do we make sure the formula for next year has the special ingredients that this one had,\u201d said Krueger. \u201cFor one thing, our summer workshops will expand. We have a new initiative that\u2019s very exciting. And we\u2019ll end as big or bigger than last year. It will be a different ride, but end with a big finale.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d I said, since I\u2019d been hugely impressed with the Mahler finale. \u201cHow you can top it?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, but we will,\u201d Krueger said with the assurance of one who has a delicious secret up her sleeve. <\/span><\/p>\n

Krueger will meet in San Francisco this week with Neale, and the entire personnel and production team, to begin plotting out the next season from a production standpoint.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey are a dream team, as well,\u201d Krueger said. \u201cWe want to make sure they have all the resources they need.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

One last thought from Kruger on her first season with the Sun Valley Summer Symphony. <\/span><\/p>\n

Her musical highlight was August 11, when the orchestra performed Tchaikovsky\u2019s Symphony No. 6. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s one of my favorite composers, and I\u2019ve played it a dozen or so times,\u201d Krueger said. \u201cBut it was this interpretation, and the caliber of the musicians that were playing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an extraordinary blessing to be here right now, with all these people, doing what I\u2019m doing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dana DuGan Coming in fresh to an established organization can initiate a few different responses. Fear might be one of those feelings or, conversely, a sense that you are in the right place at the right time. The latter is, fortunately, the response of Jenny Krueger, who took over the reins of the county\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,18,36],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8953","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-art","8":"category-news","9":"category-slider"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}