Conductor returns to Tucson podium for Scottish concert

Taiwanese-American conductor Mei-Ann Chen will make her fourth guest conducting appearance with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra this weekend, leading the orchestra in a Scottish-themed program featuring guest violinist Stefan Jackiw.

We couldn’t reach Maestro Chen last week; she was in Europe conducting Austria’s recreation – Grosses Orchester Graz at Styriarte, an ensemble she has led since being named principal conductor in 2021.

But she did take time to answer a few questions by email about the program she is leading and what she likes about Tucson.

First things first: Chen, the longtime music director of the MacArthur Award-winning Chicago Sinfonietta, made her TSO debut in 2012 and returned twice in the 2016 calendar year — in April 2016 to close out the TSO’s 2015-16 season with Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade” and at the beginning of the 2016-17 season in October to conduct the multimedia concert “The Planets Live” centered around Gustav Holst’s “The Planets.”

About the guest artist: Jackiw — pronounced Jack-eev — made his TSO debut in 2012, performing Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2. The virtuoso violinist returned three years later in 2015 for a recital with the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music.

Here’s what Chen had to say about Tucson, what the orchestra will be performing and her love for the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum:

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What about Tucson makes it a place where you want to return? “Tucson is an amazing community with a love of culture, food and nature. There is so much to do — from (the) Desert Museum, antique and book stores, to a great dining scene. It truly is as it is referred to — ‘a desert oasis of culture and nature.’ The symphony is made up of incredible and versatile musicians plus passionate supporters and audiences. The energy in the hall is just fantastic. It’s truly a joy and a highlight of my season to perform in Tucson.”

You’re conducting Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony. Tell me about that piece? What is your relationship to it, and what should we expect from your take on it? “It is an unusual symphony with the movements all connected as one long work, yet the various characters presented by each moment makes you forget about the length. I have treasured how much Mendelssohn wrote about the history and the specific musical influences he had composing the symphony — and the fact that he wrote the theme of the first movement on a postcard to his sister while visiting Scotland as a young 20-year-old discovering the world outside his native Germany made it so personal and real to me, even if such journey took place in 1829. It is a symphony that I performed a few times, each time with very fond memories, so I am very eager to share this masterwork of memorable melodies, infectious rhythms and constructed with ingenuity and overarching structure with the wonderful Tucson community.”

How does Bruch’s “Scottish Fantasy” fit with the Mendelssohn? “Mendelssohn’s work conjures the wild Scottish landscapes to the north while Bruch’s work pays tribute to Scottish folk melodies. That said, they both offer something special, something that remains with you long after the last note has been played. Both four-movement works paint a picture clearly tinged with Scottish influences that transport one. Personally, it was a dream program designed by a wonderful colleague and dear friend, Pat Joslyn, the senior VP of operations and artistic planning of the Tucson Symphony. I am grateful to be on the podium to make it a reality in Tucson.”

Have you worked with violinist Stefan Jackiw? What can you tell us about him? “This will be my first time working with Stefan Jackiw, although I knew of him when he was a young prodigy studying with the legendary French soloist/pedagogue at the New England Conservatory, Michele Auclair. Stefan was very young and I had just come from Taiwan with very limited English. Over the past few decades I have followed Stefan’s blossoming career and I am so much looking forward to making music together for the first time.”

What are some of your favorite things about Tucson from your past experiences? “I am always in awe every time I visit the Desert Museum. I can’t help to mistake the field of cacti with vast welcoming hands! The wonderful friends and supporters of the Tucson Symphony, I remember meeting such lovely members of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra League — and they have always prepared the most impressive gift baskets for guest artists. Discovering Mercado San Agustin and its surrounding area gave me such a nice day off from work while I got so much work done having a relaxed yet productive afternoon tea/dessert time at Woops (in Main Gate).”

About this weekend’s concert: The TSO will perform “Scottish Fantasy” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 3, at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, 260 S. Church Ave. The program: Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3 “Scottish;” Bruch’s “Scottish Fantasy” with Jackiw soloing; Peter Maxwell Davies’ “An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise.” Tickets are $14-$90 through tucsonsymphony.org.

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