Memories From The Haydn Orchestra Festival in Vienna
From Dan Schwartz
Performance Manager, Music Celebrations International
We estimate over 1,000 people were in attendance by the end of the concert, and many more came and went throughout the day. Local people were approaching me in the hallways after the concert asking when certain orchestras were performing next in Vienna.
It’s a bit out of sequence, but I’m just now able to write at length about the Celebrate Haydn Orchestra Festival, commemorating Haydn’s 200th Anniversary. The concerts on Saturday were GREAT. Some memories to share:
Helmut [Wondra] (MCI’s concert manager in Vienna) loved the magical moment of being on stage when the orchestra members (especially the students) ooh and aah when they look out into the Konzerthaus for the first time.
When Bay Youth Orchestra director Helen Martell stepped on to the podium for the sound check, she simply started weeping. She stepped off and told the concertmaster to “tune them up.”
Kamehameha High School Orchestra’s Hawaiian piece that they commissioned in the 1990s for their Carnegie Hall premiere may have been the biggest crowd pleaser of the entire evening. Tour Coordinator Nani Dudoit dressed in traditional Hawaiian garb, carried and played a special type of gourd, and chanted in Hawaiian as part of the piece. Right before the piece started, her son, a violinist, raced off stage, ripped his tuxedo off and put on a tiny Hawaiian skirt (no other way to describe it) before going back on stage to do some traditional Hawaiian dance. It was quite a unique experience.
Coe College Orchestra performed three world premieres, including one by conductor Joe Dangerfield. Joe, having just conducted a premiere of one of his own pieces,with famed Viennese violinist Wolfgang David, on stage at the Vienna Konzerthaus, came off stage to collect himself before returning to the podium to conduct a Haydn Symphony.
Our good friend Walt Temme (Mountain View High School Orchestra) gave a great performance of Barber’s Adagio for Strings and Haydn’s Divertimento No. 1. Walt had to take a long pause between two pieces to let in the 400 or so people that had assembled in the lobby for the 7:00pm concert.

Jerry Tedesco from Sussex County Youth Orchestra is a consummate showman. In white tuxedo jacket, he had the audience in the palm of his hand when leading the orchestra in Johann Strauss’s Overture to Die Fledermaus. Helmut commented that they sounded like a real Viennese orchestra when playing it - apparently he has been pounding that concept into the orchestra all year long - “when we go to Vienna, we better play this like we are a real Viennese orchestra!” They surely did!
The Four Seasons Orchestra had three top soloists, including the star of the evening, ASU professor Catalin Rotaru. Catalin, who has done clinics for MCI before, played Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C on his BASS! I can’t think of an analogy to compare this feat to…..it’s kind of like winning the 100m dash with 20 lb weights strapped to each ankle. Catalin simply stole the show and was a great closer to 6 hours and 20 minutes of fabulous orchestra music.





























