By Lyn Bronson
Violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky & Conductor Andrew Sewell
Saturday night at Sherwood Hall was substitution night, in a manner of speaking. We heard a program selected by one conductor, yet presented by another. Originally Italian conductor Giampaolo Bisanti conceived of the program as a tribute to Italian and American music. However, an opportunity in the recording studio created a conflict, thus on this occasion we heard as a substitute, guest conductor Andrew Sewell, a native of New Zealand, and conductor of the Wichita Symphony since 2000.
It was a peculiar program. The opening work, Hermanno Wolf-Ferrari’s Overture to Il Segreto di Susanna (The Secret of Susanna) was incredibly brief. Susanna’s secret turned out to be that she was a closet smoker, a fact she managed to successfully conceal from her husband. However, the brevity of this overture suggested that she never managed to sneak more than a few brief puffs at any one time.
