As long as I already broke my hiatus earlier today, I might as well do it again to say how impressed I am by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra's new musical director, the 28-year-old prodigy from Poland, Krzysztof Urbanski. He has not even officially taken the reins yet, and already the orchestra is sounding better than it ever did under previous director, Mario Venzago.
Today's concert featured two pieces by Mendelssohn, surrounding an absolutely brilliant performance of Scriabin's extraordinary violin concerto by Hungarian virtuouso (and former winner of the Indianapolis International Violin Competition), Barnabas Kelemen.
At the post-concert reception, hosted by the Polish Cultural Society of Indiana, a story was told about Maestro Urbanski's ability not just to conduct without a score, but to actually rehearse complex pieces, ranging from Dvorak to Lutoslawski, completely from memory. That's impressive, but no more so than his apparent musicianship. The ISO has done brilliantly in hiring its new music director. The orchestra and its audience should benefit greatly for the next several years.
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