Catching up with Mischa

   The Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra has been on a roll with music director Mischa Santora for the past five years.
   Back in town for the CCO’s final concerts of the season, the arrestingly tall Hungarian (6 ft. 5 inches) believes the ball is at the top of the hill and must not be allowed to roll backward.
   Like all arts organizations, the CCO is having to deal with tough economic times. That, plus venue issues – a key concern for the CCO, as for the Cincinnati Symphony in over-sized Music Hall - will keep him busy here for the next month.
   He’s also been "auctioned off," he said – at the CCO’s 30th-anniversary gala last fall, where bids were taken on a recital by Santora, who is also a violinist. The concert will take place later this spring, he said.
   Santora’s first and chief order of business is the CCO’s next subscription concert, at 3 p.m. Sunday in Memorial Hall, 7:30 p.m. Monday in Northern Kentucky University’s Greaves Hall. CCO principal oboist Christopher Philpotts will solo in Richard Strauss’ Oboe Concerto in D Major. Also on the program are the Sextet from Strauss’ "Capriccio" and the Symphony No. 39 and Overture to "Cosi fan tutte" by Mozart.
   Coming April 3 and 5 is Haydn’s oratorio "The Creation," a collaboration with the Vocal Arts Ensemble (at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music’s Corbett Auditorium and NKU’s Greaves Hall, respectively) and the final concert of the CSO's popular new "20th Century Classics" series May 4 in Fifth Third Bank Theatre at the Aronoff Center.

Santora, 33, is a rising star on the international concert scene, having become associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra last fall. His subscription debut in Minneapolis in January earned glowing reviews, and he has been guest conducting some of the nation’s other major orchestras, including the Houston Symphony and Washington’s National Symphony.
   Santora is one of seven finalists for music director of the Louisville Orchestra and is involved in several other music director searches, here and abroad. He stepped down as music director of Hungary’s Miskolc opera festival last summer to devote more time to his burgeoning career (his CCO contract expires the end of next season).
   Santora is still very much committed to the CCO.
   "Now that I’m getting out there and starting to work with different groups, there are a lot of orchestras much more famous than this, that have much more money than this, and don’t play nearly as well."
   Santora wants to keep the momentum going. "I believe in the old-fashioned idea of music director, where you don’t jet around and try to get the next better-paying gig in two or three years, but stick around for as long as you feel you should to really build something. I am convinced that this orchestra has tremendous potential that we haven’t even started to realize."
   One of Santora’s chief concerns during his CCO tenure has been finding the right hall.
   His "first impression," – confirmed by the CCO players on his arrival, he said – was that Memorial Hall (seating capacity 612) was not it.
   Santora identifies "three problems" with the 1908 Over-the-Rhine landmark, erected by Hamilton County to commemorate war veterans.
   Backstage facilities are "non-existent." There are a couple of rooms, he said, but they are cluttered and "dirty," an "embarrassment" for guest artists and conductors.
   Acoustics (hard-edged and loud) also pose problems – worse for rehearsals, but "not that great when it’s filled with people." Things could be done to soften the sound, such as installing carpets (the floor is marble) that "wouldn’t take a lot of dollars."
   "The biggest problem is the size of the stage, which is OK for most of our concerts but to do a piano concerto is a nightmare."
   Santora has spent "hours and hours and days and days and weeks and weeks" searching for the right place, he said. Early on, he explored Emery Theatre, the CSO’s former home on Walnut Street near Central Parkway.
   "It’s a fantastic hall. I went there my very first year. It may have been a bit too big for us (1800 seats). Anyway, it’s in disrepair."
   He tried Corbett Auditorium and Greaves Hall and found that the CCO audience didn’t follow. "They are used to a particular thing and it’s very hard to argue with that."
   (People have been following to "20th Century Classics," with its up-close, informative format, but the cost-benefit ratio in the tiny theater is necessarily limited.)
   "We may not have tried everything, but we’ve tried a lot," he said. "Maybe there is no perfect place, but there is a place, Memorial Hall, which is identified with the Chamber Orchestra. It has a tradition and certain advantages. If we can make that a home and get the visibility and support, and also support the downtown area, there are opportunities and possibilities."
   The CCO is "in a way, already my pet project. I feel very attached to the musicians. I feel very strongly about the organization. I’d like to make a difference.
   "It might be easier if I just thought, ‘Let’s relax here and do the status quo like we have for 30 years and just keep churning out concerts and let whatever happens, happens,’ but that would not be fulfilling my duties as music director."
   Tickets for CCO concerts are $25 and $20 for Sunday, $25 for Monday, $10 for students at (513) 723-1182, or at the door. Information: www.cincychamberorch.com.
(first published in The Cincinnati Post March 18, 2005