Lawrence Loh’s finale as The Syracuse Orchestra music director will feature Mahler’s ‘Titan’

Lawrence Loh will conclude his 10-year tenure as music director of The Syracuse Orchestra on May 17. He thanks the orchestra and audiences for friendship and support.

Maestro Lawrence Loh will conclude his 10-year tenure as music director of The Syracuse Orchestra on Saturday, May 17 by conducting a work that helped shape his career.

In the final Masterworks series concert of the season, “Liszt and Mahler,” he will lead the professional musicians in the first symphony composed by Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), often referred to as “The Titan.”

Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D-major has been on the program of Symphoria, precursor to The Syracuse Orchestra, twice, which Loh said is an indication of his many years in Syracuse. His attraction to the work goes back to his youth.

“I remember hearing (The Titan) live with my Mom playing violin in the Harrisburg Symphony in one of her final concerts before retiring from that ensemble,” said Loh. “Since then, it has been one of the most important and inspiring pieces for me. While studying at Indiana University, I witnessed Kurt Masur conduct the same Mahler symphony there, and I was again completely taken aback by the power of this music. It captures youth and freshness and, at the same time, humanity in its deepest and oldest sense.”

The first work on the May 17 program will feature pianist Sara Davis Buechner as soloist on Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major. Buechner is hailed by the New York Times as “one of the most original concert pianists of our time.” The 20-minute piece was conceived as a series of sketches in 1830, when the composer was 19, completed in 1849 and revised in 1853. Liszt performed the debut himself in 1855.

Some of Loh’s most memorable concerts were early pieces he conducted when he first arrived in Syracuse: Verdi’s Requiem, Mahler’s second symphony, Bruckner’s fourth, Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” and Nielsen’s fourth.

“Other personal high points include sharing the stage with my wife Jen, who sings in the Syracuse University Oratorio Society, and our son Charlie, who plays violin in the orchestra this season,” he said. “All three of us were on the stage for a few programs, including the all-Mozart concert in April.”

Jennifer and Larry Loh’s family were fully involved in the community during his years with the orchestra. They made their home in Manlius, where Charlie, a senior at Brown University, and his younger sister Hilary, a freshman at The University of Connecticut, attended school.

“We have loved our time living in CNY,” Jennifer said. “I not only have enjoyed attending the orchestra’s concerts, but also the performances of other local organizations, including Schola Cantorum of Syracuse, Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music, Syracuse Opera, Syracuse Stage, CNY Jazz Arts and more.”

Jennifer serves on the Syracuse Sounds of Music Association’s board of directors, and sings in the alto section of SU’s Oratorio Society.

“These experiences have been not only musically gratifying, but have made me feel connected to the wonderful people of our area,” she said.

“More than anything, I will miss the people. I have made close friends and a lifetime of special memories here that I will always treasure.”

Maestro Loh is held in esteem by his colleagues and associates who have worked with him through the years.

Peter J. Rabinowitz, who creates program notes for the orchestra, said the orchestra would not be where it is today without Loh’s vision, orchestra-building skills and the electricity of his interpretations.

“We knew, from the very first time he stood before the group, that he was something special; but even at my most optimistic, I didn’t expect that a decade later, we’d be hearing an orchestra capable of playing the Mahler Second or the Mozart Requiem as overpoweringly as this orchestra has played them in the past two years. His repertoire has been expansive, too, giving us not only the standards, but also new music by composers who have become Syracuse favorites, including Polina Nazaykinskaya and Quinn Mason, and unfamiliar music from the past. All in all, he has proven to be the ideal person for the job of rescuing the orchestra.”

Nazaykinskaya, whose “Fractures” was played by the orchestra last autumn, dedicated her composition to Loh.

“I wanted to acknowledge my appreciation of Maestro Loh’s unique interpretive artistry, which shapes how music is understood and received by the audience,” Nazaykinskaya said. “Maestro Loh inspires everyone around him.”

Principal Trumpet John Raschella looks back to the formative stages of musicians creating a successor orchestra to the bankrupt Syracuse Symphony. He was a board member and chairman of the artistic operations committee charged with bringing potential music directors to appear as guest conductors.

“Larry had been associate conductor with the Pittsburgh symphony and, having played with them in the ’80s, I reached out to several members I knew, and they gave Larry a big thumbs up,” Raschella said.

“Loh’s first concert with us was a Casual at St. Paul’s, where we played one of Bach’s orchestral suites. He was excellent in his command of the piece and the orchestra, and I knew then he could be a great fit. He displayed a passion for bringing out all of the emotional aspects of everything he conducted, especially the big pieces like Mahler two, which, in my opinion, is the greatest performance The Syracuse Orchestra has given to date. Loh really helped take us from a new organization to what we’ve become today.”

Executive Director Pamela Murchison said Loh is generous both on and off the podium.

“I’ve been fortunate to work with Larry as a musician, performing with the West Virginia Symphony and, locally, as a member of the S.U. Oratorio Society. Larry is fully present and responsive when working with an ensemble,” she said. “Although we’re saying goodbye to Larry as music director, I’m confident he’ll be back as a guest conductor in the future.”

Murchison said audience members consistently praise Loh’s interpretations of canonical, contemporary and underrepresented works, and people often say they are delighted by Loh’s approach to making music accessible.

George and Helene Starr have been symphony fans since the early 1970s. George, retired after 40 years in private practice as a pediatrician, is the son of a professional singer. He says his mother raised him in a home filled with music. Helene is a celebrated ceramicist who also enjoys classical music.

As a young couple, they attended Syracuse Symphony concerts in the auditorium of Central Technical High School then, when it was completed in 1975, in the Onondaga County Civic Center.

They consider Loh among the most talented conductors they have enjoyed through the years.

“Maestro Loh’s tremendous energy and musicianship are thrilling,” George Starr said. “We look forward to every concert, and we appreciate the variety in programming under his leadership. He is equally adept at interpreting the standard repertoire and introducing new music. Helene and I think he is an extraordinary conductor, and we will miss him but wish him well.”

Loh, who grew up in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and began college at the University of Rochester with the intent to study medicine, was 22 before he changed his goal. He had a background as a pianist and clarinetist and, after taking a course in music conducting as a senior, he knew that he had found his career path.

Before arriving in Central New York, Loh studied conducting at Indiana University and Yale University, and he took on conductor roles in Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Dallas and Colorado, where he worked alongside his mentor, Marin Alsop.

Loh is already engaged as the music director and conductor of the Waco Symphony Orchestra in Texas and is a much sought after guest conductor for top orchestras coast-to-coast.

Loh remembers an early glitch the first time he conducted a Masterworks concert at Crouse Hinds Theater in September 2014. Walking off stage after the overture, Loh couldn’t find the exit door stage right. He started randomly pressing on acoustic panels, hoping to find the door opening.

“I was very confused,” Loh said. “I soon discovered the door had been open and waiting for me... about 10 feet upstage. Audience members and I all had a good laugh. I think it kind of broke the ice.”

That door—and other stage doors and curtains—have opened for hundreds of Loh’s entrances and exits since that first momentous night.

On May 17, after the final notes of Mahler’s first symphony fade, after the maestro deflects the applause from himself to the musicians, as is his habit, and after a final bow to the audience, Loh will exit stage right and pass through the open door one last time in his role as music director.

“I want to say thank you to our community,” Loh said. “You have been so welcoming to me and my family, and I will always treasure the time we had in Syracuse. I hope to return as a guest conductor in the future and when I do, I hope you say hello. Thank you for friendship and for supporting professional orchestral music in Central New York.”

What: Masterworks with Lawrence Loh and pianist Sara Davis Buechner

Where: Oncenter Crouse Hinds Theater, 421 Montgomery St.

When: May 17, at 7:30 p.m.

Run time: Two hours with one intermission.

Conductor Talk: Free for ticket holders at 6:30 p.m.

Tickets: Starting at $16; Free for 18 and under; $5 with a college ID

Community Give Back Tickets: Free for anyone who needs financial assistance. Call the box office (no questions; no proof required).

Purchase: 315-299-5598 or syracuseorchestra.org

Shuttle: Information at syracuseorchestra.org/concert-shuttle for “pay-as-you-will” ride from DeWitt, Camillus, or Liverpool.