Honolulu Symphony serves up a multicultural season

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor

The Honolulu Symphony Orchestra's 2002-03 season is all about change, with a ripple of new developments in program content, guest artists and audience anticipation.

Samuel Wong, music director and maestro, has extended his contract through June 2005 as he enters his seventh conducting season this weekend.

"We're financially stable," said Stephen Bloom, president of the Honolulu Symphony Society, who said the orchestra has reduced its debt despite the challenges of post-9/11 cutbacks in corporate financing. He hopes the black ink, not red, will dominate, when the $6.5 million season gets under way this weekend.

The Halekulani MasterWorks Series has a new timetable. Friday night, Sunday matinee. No more Tuesday-night shows.

"There has been a small growth in subscriptions, so our season-ticket buyers haven't dropped," Bloom said, encouraged by the seal of approval from the public.

The organization already has unveiled a new logo to coincide with the vigorous changes in the wind.

Musically, the palate also reflects new flavors, Wong said.

"We are really trying to make it multicultural, fusion and colorful," said Wong, reached in New York (where he teaches) last week. "It's all part of my East-and-West project, developing ties between one and the other.

"Our taiko drum concert (featuring Kenny Endo) will be history-making," he said. "We're also incorporating hula. Then we have a Korean-inspired concert. And a Chinese-inspired one, with film."

Wong's "Busoni" recording with a Hong Kong orchestra, featuring the composer's "Turandot," was a Top 10 Gramophone Disc triumph in July on the British charts; he hopes, some time soon, to generate money so the Honolulu orchestra also can delve into the recording realm as part of its growth.

Bloom said some traditionalists have balked at the unconventional repertoire and program in the months ahead.

"We are definitely not traditional," Bloom said. "I tell callers to give us the benefit of the doubt, and come see. We assure one and all that what we're doing is of the highest quality. We are on the cutting edge."

Wong concurs.

"I think the cultural cross-pollination will be good for me and good for the orchestra," he said. "Imagine, we're experimenting with a Malaysian Chinese artist, Charles Teo, from the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts, to bring his tap dance choreography to our season, and marry him with the orchestra. Isn't that exotic?"

TICKET DETAILS

• Season subscription (14 concerts): $224 to $686
• Great Composer Series and MasterWorks Platinum Series (seven concerts), $112 to $350
• Make Your Own 6 Series, $99 to $336
• Make Your Own 8 Series, $128 to $440
• Make Your Own 10 Series, $160 to $520
• Single tickets: $15, $27, $32, $42 and $57; at the symphony ticket office at the Dole Cannery, the Blaisdell box office and Ticket Plus outlets
• Box office: phone 792-2000; at Dole Cannery, 650 Iwilei Road, Suite 202, open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays; group sales, 524-0815, ext. 245; Ticket Plus phone 526-4400; Blaisdell box office, open 9 a.m.-5 p.m., phone 591-2211

SEASON AT A GLANCE

• New logo: The Honolulu Symphony Orchestra has unveiled a new corporate logo this year.
• New night: Fridays replace Tuesdays, New curtain time: 8 p.m. instead of 7:30 p.m. (Sunday shows remain the same, at 4 p.m.)
• New prices: Single tickets will go up $2 in all but the cheapest category.
• New technology: Visual enhancements for some concerts
• New voices: Narrators for some programs
• New goals: Cross-cultural and multi-ethnic programming
• New turf: Opera, tap dance and hula join the repertoire.

BY THE NUMBERS

• 63 — Number of core musicians in the orchestra
• $6 million — Operating budget for the orchestra this year
• $15 — Cost of the cheapest ticket
• 6 — Number of seasons Samuel Wong has been maestro; this is his seventh