It’s not easy to write a 3-minute fanfare
THE FLORIDA OR CHESTRA | 2017-2018 41
Alexander Kerr’s
expressive and
charismatic style
has made him
one of the most
accomplished and
versatile violinists
on the international
music scene today.
At the age of 26, Kerr
was appointed to the
prestigious position
of concertmaster
of the Royal
C o n ce r t gebouw
Orchestra in
Amsterdam. After nine successful years at that post,
he left to assume the endowed Linda and Jack Gill
Chair in Music as professor of violin at the Indiana
University Jacobs School of Music. He maintains
a busy concert schedule appearing throughout
the United States, Asia and Europe. In 2008 he
began his tenure as principal guest concertmaster
of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and
in September 2011, he assumed his role as
concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
Regarded by the press as a masterful virtuoso with
an elegant, old-world sound, Kerr has appeared
as soloist with major orchestras throughout the
United States and Europe, working with such
renowned conductors as Mariss Jansons, Riccardo
Chailly, Peter Oundjian, Robert Spano, Alan Gilbert,
Jaap van Zweden and David Zinman.
His CD releases include the Dvorak Piano Quintet
with Sarah Chang and Leif Ove Andsnes on the EMI
label, music by Dutch composer Julius Röntgen
on the NM Classics label, and the Shostakovich
Romance on a series of discs including Violin
Adagios and Evening Adagios released by Decca.
Raised in Alexandria, Virginia, Kerr began his
studies at age seven with members of the National
Symphony Orchestra. He went on to study with
Sally Thomas at The Juilliard School and with
Aaron Rosand at the Curtis Institute of Music, where
he received his bachelor’s of music degree.
ALEXANDER KERR
Violin
By Kelly Smith
For Stuart Malina, Common Fanfare for an
Uncommon Orchestra was uncommonly difficult to
compose. In fact, it almost never happened at all.
The Florida Orchestra’s principal guest conductor
first tried to write the short piece in the spring when
he heard about the Florida Fanfare Project, a series
of fanfares commissioned for TFO’s 50th anniversary
season.
“I made several attempts over the course of several
months, none of which I thought were any good,”
said Malina, who has led TFO’s popular Coffee
concert series since 2013. “In August I finally came
to the conclusion that the fanfare was not going to
happen, so I stopped trying.”
Then a funny thing happened.
“A few weeks later, I had a free day, and wrote the
fanfare pretty much as it ended up. I liked it, and
there you are.”
It’s not the first piece Malina has written. “I’ve
been attempting composing for many years, since
the days when I was a theory and composition
major at Harvard in the early ‘80s,” Malina said.
“Now I have a son who is a very
gifted composer, and it has
brought the truth home to
me that I am pretty much a
pretender. This doesn’t really
bother me all that much.”
Malina decided to give the
fanfare a test run with the
Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra,
where he is in his 18th season as music
director. “Both orchestras have superb brass
and percussion sections. I wanted to see how
it sounded, and get any potential problems with it
solved in advance of its Florida premiere. It went
over great, and I’m pleased with the piece.”
The work, a take on Copland’s Fanfare for the
Common Man, is intended to be an entertaining
opener, with both majesty and drive. It’s all in over
in less than 3 minutes.
“No deep meaning or purpose, although if you play
it backwards on an LP it has a hidden message...”
Maestro Malina will conduct his Common Fanfare for
an Uncommon Orchestra during the Rachmaninoff’s
Symphony No. 2 concerts Dec. 1-3.