On November 23, the Gateway Chamber Orchestra presented its annual Winter Baroque Concert, this year titled WinterGlow: A Baroque Celebration, featuring the Gateway Chorale and the Clarksville Children’s Chorus at Madison Street United Methodist Church. For Nashville audiences, the evening held particular interest: it marked the first appearance of the orchestra’s new Music Director, Jacob Schnitzer. He succeeds Gregory Wolynec, whose 17-year tenure left an indelible mark, culminating—at least for me—in a transcendent performance of Oswaldo Golijov’s La Pasión según San Marcos. We wish Wolynec the very best in his new role with the Southern Miss Symphony Orchestra, and all signs point to Schnitzer being an excellent steward of the ensemble’s future.
The program opened with a luminous performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3. It was an ideal way to settle into the evening. The French Overture’s stately dotted rhythms framed a vibrant, intellectual fugue that transported me, despite Clarksville’s unseasonably warm 60-degree weather, to a wintry night in Leipzig’s St. Thomas Church. Baroque music—much like its modern cousin, heavy metal—has always struck me as inherently wintery. Though the fugue might have benefited from a touch more crispness, and the trumpets experienced a brief bout of what seemed like jitters, the performance remained poised and heartfelt. The beloved second movement, the Air, was rendered with particular elegance. I was struck by the number of children in attendance, listening with admirable focus to a full Orchestral Suite and the Vivaldi that would follow. As Schnitzer accepted his applause with a warm, easy smile, one sensed he had truly found his place on the Gateway podium.
For Vivaldi’s Gloria in D, Tim Sharp, Director of the Gateway Chorale, took the podium, joined by soloists Eliza Masewicz (soprano) and Emma Jane Sharp (mezzo-soprano). From the first ringing proclamation of “Gloria in excelsis Deo,” it was clear the Chorale was exquisitely prepared. Their balance with the orchestra was superb, and the church’s acoustics proved particularly kind to the warmth and lyricism of the Italian Baroque. The duet “Laudamus te,” with its intertwined lines and glowing blend, shimmered. Masewicz’s solo with Diana Dunn on obbligato oboe was lovely, but the moment that lingered with me was “Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris,” where the mezzo line bridges heaven and earth. Sharp’s resonant chest voice created a rich, full-bodied sound that felt almost salvific.
After the break, Schnitzer returned for a charming rendition of the Toy Symphony, complete with toy trumpet, ratchet, and bird calls—an ideal way to re-engage the younger audience members before their own appearance on stage. The toy soloists, unfortunately uncredited in the program (as was the second half’s trumpet trio), delivered a performance that was playful and genuinely endearing…