Forsen

Band kids and music majors, rejoice! Pro athletes no longer have a monopoly on the all-star designation.

In 2012, maestro Gerard Schwarz assembled America’s best orchestral musicians for a classical music summit. The result was “The All-Star Orchestra,” an eight-episode public television classical music concert series that aired in fall 2013.

On Saturday at the Oxford Hotel in Bend, series director John Forsen will be on hand to present two episodes he spliced together specifically for the evening (see “If you go”). The screening is part of the High Desert Chamber Music’s Spotlight Series, which benefits HDCM’s educational outreach program.

Those who pony up for the VIP tickets will enjoy a reception with Forsen prior to the screening, which will followed by a Q-and-A session with the director.

Readers and HDCM fans may recall Forsen’s previous visit. Three years ago, he was on hand for a screening of his “Violin Masters: Two Gentlemen of Cremona,” which sought to suss out the ongoing fame of Antonio Stradivari versus that of his fellow violin maker, Bartolomeo Giuseppe Antonio Guarneri. “Violin Masters” went on to win a 2012 Emmy for Best Historical Documentary.

High Desert Chamber Music’s mission dovetails nicely with that of the “All-Star Orchestra” TV series: exposing a large audience to the charms of classical music while educating them on topics such as the role of a soloist, the intersection of art and politics and what goes into creating a masterpiece, to name topics from a few of the episodes.

Schwarz’s All-Star Orchestra included ace players from orchestras based in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Florida, Houston, Minnesota, New York (that would be the New York Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), Oregon, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and other organizations.

Under the musical direction of Schwarz, the musicians assembled to play contemporary works and masterpieces by Brahms, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Dvorak and other composers. Filming took part over four days in late August 2012 — that was the sweet spot when Forsen and Schwarz were able to corral the musicians in one place.

“All orchestras around the world get the summer off, typically,” Forsen said. Most (players) will travel and teach during the summer, “but there’s this week right before Sept. 1 that’s this little hole that they come home for a week.”

Forsen, of Seattle, had previously worked with Schwarz, who served as music director of the Seattle Symphony for 26 seasons.

“He and I had done two TV shows that both won Emmys, and so I was his go-to guy, and he knows music and I know video and film, so I was on the team early on when they were trying to raise money,” Forsen said. “I acted as executive director for all eight shows.”

Saturday’s screening runs about 68 minutes, Forsen said, and is a hybrid of the episodes “Relationships in Music” and “Music’s Emotional Impact.”

The episode “Relationships in Music” explores the relationships between Robert Schumann’s wife, Clara, a gifted pianist and composer who became both a friend and source of inspiration to Johannes Brahms, Schumann’s protege.

“Schumann ended up going into a mental asylum and dying, but there was a lot of rhetoric around thinking Brahms was having an affair with Schumann’s wife,” Forsen said. “The three of them were super-close.”

As for the music, the episode includes Brahms’ “Academic Festival Overture” and Schumann’s Symphony No. 3.

“Music’s Emotional Impact” is a study of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and the patroness he never met, Nadezhda von Meck. It explores the story of his Symphony No. 4 and includes the All-Star Orchestra playing its fourth and fifth movements, Forsen said.

There was no audience as the musicians played, which allow the 19 cameras to get up plenty close and personal to the players, he added.

“We were able to put cameras everywhere, so it’s a super-dynamic show, I think, unlike any other symphonic television show that’s ever been produced,” he said. The program also featured a web component aimed at educating young students.

“We’re trying to get people excited about symphonic music again,” Forsen said. “And that’s one way we produced this. It’s quick-cutting … (for) the younger audience who has that 2-second attention span. We’ve heard already from a lot of younger people going, ‘Wow, I didn’t know symphonic music could be this cool.’ That’s kind of a fun aspect of this.”

Speaking of kids, a cello duo and string quartet from HDCM’s Spotlight Chamber Players will perform during the evening.

— Reporter: 541-383-0349, djasper@bendbulletin.com