Perfect harmony: Philharmonic conductor Harold Weller enthusiastic about holiday concert

Tuesday, July 3, 2001 | 9:22 a.m.

Harold Weller remembers a particular evening more than 50 years ago in Dayton, Ohio. He was 5 years old. It was the Fourth of July and he was at a band shell listening to a concert band blare patriotic favorites.

"And the fireworks would go off at the end. Wow! I was just dazzled," said Weller, musical director and founder of the Las Vegas Philharmonic, recalling the event.

"I couldn't imagine a city not having that to dazzle a kid."

So three years ago when it looked like there would be no "symphonic Independence Day" to dazzle the Las Vegas community, Weller, along with a couple of local arts supporters and more than 70 musicians, pieced together in 10 days time a spectacular Fourth-of-July performance that would please the holiday masses and launch a new orchestra.

Wednesday the Philharmonic will again present "A Star-Spangled Spectacular." The event, held at Hills Park in Summerlin, will include a repertoire of American favorites and movie theme songs mixed with a little humor and genuine Fourth-of-July pizazz.

"The sky will absolutely go crazy during the 'Stars and Stripes Forever,' and (the fireworks) will continue after that," Weller said.

The program will open with Aaron Coplan's "Fanfare For the Common Man," followed by the "Star-Spangled Banner" (sung by councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald), a festive selection of Leroy Anderson works, including "The Typewriter Song." The evening's musical array will end with Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" and Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever."

But for Weller and the orchestra, the most fitting song of the evening may just be "Happy Birthday."

As the Philharmonic's season opener, "A Star-Spangled Spectacular" brings the orchestra into its third year with an outstanding reputation.

The community first heard the Philharmonic on July 4, 1998, when the Nevada Symphony Orchestra canceled its summer concerts due to disputes between management and disgruntled musicians.

The Philharmonic's devoted following began in May 1999 when it performed Gustav Mahler's demanding-but-glorious "Resurrection Symphony" at UNLV's Artemus Ham Hall.

"That piece signaled a resurrection of the arts in a city that needs a musical soul," Weller said. "The audience went wild, they just went nuts. So that launched us into saying, 'This town is thirsty for this stuff, we're going to put together a season.' "

And they did, bringing in such guest artists as concert pianist Vladimir Feltsman and violinist Robert McDuffie, then concluding the season with Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana."

The Philharmonic ended its second season with a sold-out performance of Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony" at Artemus Ham Hall, which included the UNLV Master Chorale and four soloists.

Concert attendance the first season went up with each performance, Weller said. "The second season the ticket sales tripled."

This year, with a $1.1 million budget, the orchestra's classical series will feature such guest artists as cellist Nathaniel Rosen performing works by Dvorak, Creston and Britten; pianist John Browning; and violinist Stefan Milenkovich, as well as soloists from the Las Vegas Philharmonic.

Following an audience survey in February, the Philharmonic has added an extra Sunday matinee performance, to its popular holiday concert held in December and has added its first-ever pops concert, "Pops at the Rio!" in September.

Continuing with its youth programs, associate conductor Richard McGee will offer in January "The Family's Guide to the Orchestra," an offshoot of the January performances the Philharmonic presents to children in the Clark County School District.

In April musical satirist Peter Schickele will perform at a benefit for the orchestra.

The pops concert will be the first performance in a hotel theater for the Philharmonic.

While the Rio's Samba Theatre offers a larger stage and more lighting opportunities than other venues where the Philharmonic has performed, "It's also a test to see if the audience comes (to a hotel theater)," Weller said. "It will be a marriage between visitors and residents."

Weller said he'd like to see more joint ventures involving professional technical stage talent and local arts groups.

"If you put that stagecraft to something that has substance, my god, it could move the world," Weller said.

Meanwhile Weller has been keeping a close eye on a potential performing arts center in downtown Las Vegas.

Weller attended last week's City Council meeting, where developers presented ideas regarding development projects for the 61 acres of downtown real estate to the Las Vegas City Council.

Mayor Oscar Goodman envisions a cultural center as part of the downtown development. A proposal by Held Properties, Inc., included a performing arts center.

"Most cities of this population have had their own for a long time," Weller said, pointing out that local arts organizations rely heavily on UNLV for performance space.

"We need a concert hall ... where the opera can sing, the symphony can perform, the ballet can dance," he said. "It's boggled my mind, -- first, that this town doesn't have one and second, what informed people think it should be."

Weller said it was suggested that a performing arts center could also double as a television studio, which he said would limit time for performance rehearsals and stage space.)

But given that the city hasn't had a rich history of supporting a fine arts, Weller said there haven't really been any challenges (or surprises) since he founded the philharmonic.

The former Flagstaff, Ariz., resident who came to Las Vegas after a 15-year tenure with the Flagstaff Symphony, admits that when he first heard that Las Vegas had an impressive ballet company, his first response was, "Las Vegas has a ballet community?"

"I was really surprised," Weller said.

But it didn't take him long to become involved. Within two years he was serving as music director for the ballet company using musicians from the now- defunct Nevada Symphony Orchestra. He was director from 1994 to 1998.

In February 1997 he resigned from the Flagstaff Symphony and became visiting professor of music for UNLV. "I felt I had taken that orchestra (Flagstaff Symphony) as far as I could," Weller said. "So I was looking for a new challenge."

Then when the Nevada Symphony Orchestra cancelled its summer concerts, the highly personable Weller, who had already developed a relationship with local musicians, picked up the task.

Weller said he plans to stay long enough to see that the community has an established and solid "musical soul."

"My biggest challenge is doing only four concerts with serious repertoire," he said with a smile. "I would much rather have 20 concerts to a program. We can do that, eventually."

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