Nicholas McGegan Returns to Detroit

The Max M. Fisher Music Center, home of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (photograph by Andrew Jameson, from Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license)

Some readers may recall that one of the major assets that got me through the pandemic was on-line access to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) through the DSO Replay Web site. Of particular interest was a performance that had taken place on April 27, 2019, which was conducted by Nicholas McGegan, who, as Music Director of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (PBO), was one of San Francisco’s greatest assets. He “passed the torch” in 2020, becoming Music Director Laureate.

Late yesterday afternoon, my wife and I settled in for a live video performance of DSO, conducted again by McGegan. The program he prepared would have been familiar to any PBO subscriber. The first half was devoted entirely to Johann Sebastian Bach, beginning with the BWV 1068 orchestral suite in D major (highlighted by three trumpets). This was followed by the BWV 1060R concerto for oboe and violin in C minor. The soloists were both DSO members, Principal Oboe Alexander Kinmonth and Associate Concertmaster Kimberly Kaloyanides-Kennedy.

This was performed by the usual instruments played by DSO members (along with an obligato harpsichord), meaning that the instrumentation was not “historically informed.” Nevertheless, McGegan brought to Detroit the same engaging interpretation of the music that we used to expect from him during his PBO tenure. (Personally, both my wife and I were more delighted with these interpretations than we have been with more recent PBO performances.) As usual, the video crew seemed to have been as engaged in the score as conductor and musicians were.

The second half of the program was “post-Bach,” moving into the Classical era. The program concluded with Joseph Haydn’s Hoboken I/82 symphony, given the title “The Bear.” This was preceded by a symphony by a composer whose music Haydn conducted during his time in Paris. That composer was Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges; and the selection was the first of his two Opus 11 symphonies, composed in the key of G major. McGegan’s interpretations were as expressive as his approaches to Bach, and his interpretations of Haydn’s wit could not have been more engaging.

Perhaps it is about time for DSO to plan a tour that will take them to San Francisco, where Principal Conductor Jader Bignamini can share the podium with McGegan.