Thursday, Sept. 30, 2004 | 8:37 a.m.
"We had our first rehearsal last night," Weller said. "Everyone is at a high state of nervousness and anticipation."
The season opens Saturday at Artemus Ham Hall with a return guest performance by pianist Orion Weiss performing Tchaikovsky's "Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, op. 23" for piano and orchestra. In November it presents "Memoirs from Vienna," featuring Beethoven's "Leonore Overture No. 3," Mozart's "Sinfonia concertante, K. 297b, E-flat Major" and Brahms' "Symphony No. 4 in E minor, op. 98." The program features soloist Stephen Caplan on oboe, Janis McKay on bassoon and Bill Bernatis on horn.
On Nov. 13 the orchestra will perform with Andrea Bocelli (with whom the orchestra toured in 2001) at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
But consider the backing of Bocelli, which doesn't fall under the orchestra's regular concert season, an anomaly.
Weller touts the orchestra as one that brings in young talent, strong musicians and new names for its concerts (last season it was Corey Cerovsek, Steven Milenkovich and Valentina Lisitsa) rather than aiming for big names that can be costly.
"I will not go to the star system," Weller said. "It costs too much. Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, it's not worth the price with the fees when we can have a young artist and they're fresh, undiscovered talent.
"We know people are impressed by stars. What we're trying to do is to create an institution, one that is a long-lasting, secure institution. It's this nagging thing in my mind, How do we make this an institution, like the Minnesota Orchestra, and not get stale?' "
Or collapse. Weller is taking notes as major orchestras in the United States are renegotiating contracts and struggling with budget deficits, a problem the Las Vegas Philharmonic doesn't face because of its part-time staff of musicians. "Other orchestras in established cities are having big (labor) problems with benefits and time off," Weller said. "We don't face any of that. We're learning a lot from our elders.
"We can consider the option of how to grow. We can consider the best avenue." The Las Vegas Philharmonic, which Weller refers to as "the youngest orchestra in the United States of any consequence," performs roughly 25 concerts a year (including its main concert series, soirees and youth concerts), compared to roughly 200 for the Minnesota Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Its annual budget of $1.25 million is miniscule compared to the tens of millions that larger, more established orchestras require. It still has no performing hall to call its own and to house its administrative offices, which have been located at 3271 S. Highland Drive since the orchestra moved out of the Nevada Public Radio offices when the station expanded nearly one year ago.
But the group is on an upward growth curve in ticket sales the orchestra sells roughly 1,000 subscriptions out of 1,800 and the remaining individual tickets often sell out and Weller is considering doubling concerts next season depending on this season's sales.
Under the direction of associate conductor Richard McGee, the philharmonic performs youth-friendly music, including the film score for "Harry Potter," for 13,000 fourth and fifth graders each year.
The orchestra will continue its tradition of performing with Nevada Ballet Theatre for "The Nutcracker," a 10th anniversary for Weller and the ballet.
Its Connoisseur Series features Russian-born violinist Mikhail Simonyan and pianist Alexei Podkorytov, a return performance by Lisitsa, flutist Joshua Smith and trumpeters Barbara Butler and Charles Geyer.
And despite the orchestra's part-time status for musicians, Weller said most of the players have been with the orchestra since its inception.
"There's been some turnaround," he added. "But this year we've had five vacancies out of 78. I think we had four or five last year.
"We can't possibly compare with orchestras that live together. But I'm not sure that that's the ideal construct."
Anything is better than where Las Vegas musicians were several years ago.
The now-defunct, Las Vegas-based Nevada Symphony Orchestra had a call list and would form an orchestra for each concert, which Weller said "is like playing pickup basketball."
"At least we have a team," he said. "We've gotten away from the idea that the orchestra is a gig with a changing personnel."
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