Guest conductor Roderick Cox rehearses with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra
To say things are different for the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra (FWSO) this year would be quite the understatement. Certainly there are musicians in masks, six-foot spacing between chairs, and a large transparent barrier between the wind instruments and the strings.
There's also the venue. The glittering opulence of Bass Performance Hall, which has opted to remain closed through December due to COVID-19, has been temporarily replaced by the Will Rogers Memorial Auditorium — an impressive venue in its own right, but with a bit more Western flair.
Still, amid the changes, FWSO president and CEO Keith Cerny says it's good to be playing again.
"We're incredibly grateful to be able to perform," he says. "Our musicians and a lot of our guest artists hadn't performed in six or seven months ... A lot of American orchestras have had complete furloughs of the orchestra or pay cuts up to 80%. We're incredibly grateful that we've been able to keep all this going."
The orchestra is currently preparing for its performance of Beethoven’s "Symphony No. 6" with guest conductor Roderick Cox, which plays Friday through Sunday. This is the orchestra's third set of performances since returning from lockdown. Cerny says the past two concerts have attracted between 250 – 575 patrons per show, socially distanced in a 2,800-person auditorium.
On stage, the FWSO has been experimenting with configuration. The plexiglass used during the first weekend of shows, for example, wasn't quite conducive for sound; so this weekend, the orchestra is trying a vinyl-like material that will hopefully control air flow and not interfere with the music. The orchestra's also tried zippered masks and has provided bell covers for horns — all in an effort to keep musicians safe.
What hasn’t changed, however, is the music. During a Thursday morning rehearsal, a mask-clad Roderick Cox took to the podium to conduct the weekend's program — Beethoven’s "Symphony No. 6," also known as the "Pastoral Symphony" for its references to nature.
The soft-spoken Cox, a Berlin-based conductor on his first visit to Fort Worth and third performance since the start of the pandemic, leads the rehearsal with a natural grace — but also a commanding authority. His baton movements are swift and passionate. He slams his foot to the floor as he directs musicians to play the storm sequence with more power.
“We have to capture that muscle [Beethoven] was going for," he tells the performers.
Then, after the storm comes the rainbow. The music calms, and Cox says he hopes audiences will feel the same.
"It's a very happy program, I think," he says. "Perhaps during this time, people have had a chance to leave the city and go into nature, go camping, and go hiking and wandering ... and have had time to just think and reflect. This music certainly connects with those activities. I think this is certainly a perfect program to hear at a time like this."
Watch a clip from the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra's virtual Fourth of July concert below.
