Well-traveled conductor leads Iceland Symphony

Friday, Oct. 13, 2000 | 9:54 a.m.

What: Iceland Symphony Orchestra.

When: 8 p.m. tomorrow.

Where: Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall, UNLV.

Ticket: $29, $45, $59.

Information: Call 895-2787.

Tucson, Ariz., native Rico Saccani is a man of many batons.

The 48-year-old musical genius, a child prodigy who began playing piano at age 6, is music director of one of the oldest and one of the youngest symphony orchestras in the world -- the 150-year-old Budapest Philharmonic and the 50-year-old Iceland Symphony.

And he is a guest conductor with numerous other symphony orchestras and opera houses throughout Europe as well as in the United states, among them the Metropolitan Opera, Vienna State Opera, Arena di Verona, Houston Grand Opera, Czech Philharmonic and the Royal Danish Philharmonic.

"I would like to come back to the states (to live) some day," Saccani said during a recent telephone conversation from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. "I really don't have a real home, due to my schedule. I am waiting for the time when I can associate myself with an international level orchestra in America."

From now through Oct. 24, Saccani's baton is poised above the Iceland Symphony Orchestra (ISO), which began a 13-city tour of North America on Oct. 5 to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of Viking Leif Ericsson's voyage to North America.

Among the venues the orchestra will play are Carnegie Hall in New York City and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

It will perform at UNLV's Artemus Ham Concert Hall on Saturday.

ISO will perform "Icerap 2000," by Icelandic composer Atli Heimir Sveinsson who composed the symphony specifically for the American tour. The date in Las Vegas will give Saccani an opportunity to perform here for the first time.

"I have never been to Las Vegas for work purposes," Saccani said.

But, having been born and reared in the Southwest, he has visited the area several times.

Of all the world, Saccani prefers his native region.

"I really like the space, the climate, the mentality of the people," he said. "We take a lot for granted in America, especially in the Southwest."

Saccani began venturing out of this area when he was still a child, playing in concerts, recitals and piano competitions in hundreds of cities around the nation.

When he attended the University of Arizona he earned a degree in business, and briefly considered joining his father in the family-owned clothing store. But his love of music prevailed and he earned a degree in that subject as well.

Saccani then attended the University of Michigan, trading in his piano for a baton and studying conducting under the acclaimed Maestro Gustav Meier, who inspired his student to study opera as well.

"I didn't know anything about opera," Saccani said. "He threw me into this intensive opera course for two years."

Saccani then spent seven years as the assistant to opera conductor Giuseppe Patane, who became his mentor.

"That was a real immersion in opera," he said.

Today he divides his time between opera and symphonies.

In 1997 he was named music director and artistic adviser of the Budapest Philharmonic and in 1998 he was appointed artistic director and chief conductor of the ISO, juggling his time between those two entities as well as guest conducting assignments throughout Europe.

While Saccani would be pleased to work closer to home, he isn't eager to leave Europe.

In Budapest, he said, he is surrounded by the tradition of classical music.

"It is one of three triangle cities: Vienna, Prague and Budapest," he said. "To be surrounded by that tradition on a daily basis is wonderful. You can see the tradition, smell it and feel it on a daily basis."

He has deep respect for his associates as well as the traditions.

"It's a wonderful working environment, where (the musicians) really do share a chemical love for the job they do," Saccani said. "Also, I find the quality of the management a great luxury."

He said if he could find a situation like that in the United States, he would "jump at it."

The current ISO tour is the longest the orchestra has undertaken.

In 1994 it played in Washington, D.C. as part of the festivities celebrating the 50th anniversary of the creation Iceland. In 1996 it played Carnegie Hall.

When the ISO tour ends on Oct. 24 in Asheville, N.C., Saccani will return to Europe but his heart will remain in Tucson.

"My heart is definitely in the Southwest," Saccani said.