The 31st season of the Bellingham Festival of Music had many firsts. A new musical director, new repertoire, and sellout crowds. Marcelo Lehninger was chosen to lead the Festival after a summer of guest conductors in 2023 auditioning for the appointment.
The Brazilian-born Lehninger’s day job for the last seven years has been his own Grand Rapids Michigan Symphony, a tenure that is unusual in this age when musical directors move between contracts with the speed of professional athletes. Before Grand Rapids, Lehninger was Assistant and Associate Conductor of the Boston Symphony including its summer home at Tanglewood.
When Lehninger took on his Bellingham musical directorship he wrote: “I am humbled to build on the legacy of Michael Palmer,” who founded the Bellingham Festival 31 years ago. Palmer put together an orchestra composed of first-chair players from major orchestras around the country by enticing them with the opportunity to play with peers at the highest level of performance and a challenging repertoire. The opportunity to spend the best summer month in the temperate warmth and beauty of the Pacific Northwest didn’t hurt.
Palmer lured seven members of Atlanta Symphony, where he was associate conductor, to create a core for the Bellingham Festival Orchestra, and 80% of the orchestra carries over from its earlier incarnation.
The Brazilian/German musical director brought new repertoire and soloists to the Festival. The opening piece for the opening concert on the last day of June was Corigliano’s “Promenade Overture” a work inspired by Haydn’s “Farewell Symphony.” Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony was a standard to end the first concert. Before the intermission the Sibelius Violin Concerto brought the top violinist Sarah Chang to Bellingham for the first time.
In the middle of the summer Lehninger saluted his Brazilian roots with Villa Lobos’s “The Little Train of the Caipira” and Mozart Camargo Guarneri’s “Three Dances for Orchestra.” The music highlighted the conductor’s clear fluid style of conducting. Another concert brought Natasha Paremski, a long time musical friend and collaborator of the conductor, who tossed off Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto with ease.
Toward the end of the season Lehninger returned to a Bellingham Festival tradition of great choral works. This time, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor was the full program. It was a rich performance, and a neighbor turned to me as the applause waned and said, “That was the most beautiful thing I ever heard.”
The final concert was full-on Marcelo Lehninger in style, spirit, and vision. De Falla, Rodrigo, Gabriela Frank, Piazzolla, and Ginastera had the conductor just short of dancing, with the orchestra having as much fun as the conductor swaying and smiling as they played.
To round out the Festival, Lehninger realized a promise he made when he was hired in the spring. “I want to add education to the Festival. I intend to start a workshop to help train young conductors.” Two young conductors took part. An 80-page glossy concert magazine reflected the confident continuation and new leadership of the Bellingham Festival.
