(Above: Farkhad Khudyev had his official tryout for artistic director of the Eugene Symphony at its Nov. 21, 2024 concert.)
By Daniel Buckwalter
(#CommonManAtTheSymphony)
Among the things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving week is the fact that I don’t serve on the selection committee that will pick the next artistic director of the Eugene Symphony Orchestra.
And I don’t envy the men and women who will make that call in the spring of 2025.
Farkhad Khudyev — a native of the Central Asia country of Turkmenistan and who has conducted symphonies around the world (including the London Philharmonic Orchestra) and now mostly works from Austin, Texas — officially threw his audition hat into the ring on Nov. 21 in front of a healthy-sized audience at the Hult Center’s Silva Concert Hall, and the patrons, at least, gave him rave reviews.
Khudyev was the second of five finalists, after Alexander Prior in October, to show his skills as a maestro to school-age children, the orchestra itself during rehearsals and, finally, to Eugene Symphony fans.
In brief remarks to the audience before the music played, he was soft-spoken in describing Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s “rejoicing in the joy of others” in the third and final selection of the night, the Russian composer’s Symphony No. 4 in F minor.
Yet there was little that was soft when he took the podium. He was in firm command throughout the night, notably conducting the orchestra without a score in both Tchaikovsky’s piece and in the overture to Giuseppe Verdi’s opera La forza del destino, which opened the night (think old-school conducting). From his fiery passion in the fanfare portions of each of the two pieces as well as understated grace for the softer elements, it was a pleasure to watch Khudyev work.
Khudyev and the orchestra received a standing ovation after the Tchaikovsky piece. It was deserved, and it went a little longer than usual because instead of having section leaders or entire sections stand to take a bow, Khudyev went to almost all the section leaders to shake their hands.
I had the feeling that if he had the time, Khudyev also would have shaken hands with all 80-some members of the orchestra. It was different, but he was happy with the night.
The night cannot pass without mentioning the middle piece on the program — Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major with guest pianist Chaeyoung Park at the lead. The concerto made its debut in the spring of 1795.
At Silva Concert Hall, Park was dazzling in the three-movement piece. I particularly liked her play in the sweet and elegant second movement as well as her work in the playful third movement. She, too, received a well-deserved standing ovation.
Rory Macdonald, a Scottish-born composer and conductor, is the next up in the Eugene Symphony’s quest to find a new artistic director, and if he makes the same splashy audition entrance on Dec. 12 that Prior and Khudyev have, the selection committee will have its hands full.
Again, I am grateful this Thanksgiving week just to be a spectator.
