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Feel free to move this to the events section, but it’s not every day a top 5 orchestra features a tuba soloist.

Carol Jantsch will be performing the John Williams Tuba Concerto January 16-17

https://www.ensembleartsphilly.org/tick ... n-symphony

Carol just left stage after her encore. Vulfpeck! Absolutely fantastic performance.

Will give some details after I get back to the hotel tonight. Need to walk around a bit during intermission.

What a fantastic evening of music from Carol and the Philadelphia Orchestra. It was also a great concert to have my daughter with... got for her to see some gals doing their thing in the classical world.m

Guest Conductor Dalia Stasevska. She was an absolute joy to watch. So much great energy.. It was a little funny too me that the orchestra was always a fraction of a beat ahead of her cues.

First piece was new to me. The Second Symphony by Julius Eastman. It has a world premiere in 2018 almost 20 years after the composers death. I really enjoyed it. Since heavy instrumentation on the low end 3 tubas, 3 bass trombones, 3 contrabassoons, 2 contrabass clarinets, and extra double bases and multiple sets of timpani. Over 100 musicians on stage. Low side was a lot of loud long drones. Piece bridges that gap of obviously modern but still accessible and enjoyable for the audience.

Carol was fantastic on the John Williams. She got a nice round of applause when she quoted Imperial March and Luke's Theme from Star Wars in the cadenza. She is such a musical player and this really highlighted that aspect. So much emotion. It could have been where I was sitting, center about 5 rows from the stage maybe 20 feet from Carol... but there were several parts that really didn't project well and it was hard to hear her. The quiet parts were beautiful.. but when the orchestra was loud it was very difficult to hear the fast loud stuff. I kind of feel like a heel for saying that.. but it was something everyone on my family commented on.I an sure the recording for broadcast (Monday afternoon sometime on the Philadelphia classical station) will be fantastic because there were plenty of mics near her. Very long standing ovation from the audience.

The absolute highlight of the night for me was the encore... Carol playing her transcription of the Vulfpeck song Beastly with accompaniment rom keyboard and drum kit. I loved it for reasons. The first because it is a great song and Carol did such an awesome transcription.. Secondly because it shocked and confused the pearl clutchers in the audience. The old biddy sitting next to me hated it. It sounded like something you would expect from Sergio Carolino rather than Philadelphia Orchestra.. which is a good thing. I really hope she records it out out becomes available on YouTube. She was mic'd and amplified through the house sound system for the Vulfpeck so it was plenty loud.

Odd little observation.. was that she had a BERP mounted to her leadpipe.

The Mendelssohn was fine .. no tubas or trombones.

gocsick wrote: Sat Jan 17, 2026 10:05 pm

Carol was fantastic on the John Williams. She got a nice round of applause when she quoted Imperial March and Luke's Theme from Star Wars in the cadenza. She is such a musical player and this really highlighted that aspect. So much emotion. It could have been where I was sitting, center about 5 rows from the stage maybe 20 feet from Carol... but there were several parts that really didn't project well and it was hard to hear her. The quiet parts were beautiful.. but when the orchestra was loud it was very difficult to hear the fast loud stuff. I kind of feel like a heel for saying that.. but it was something everyone on my family commented on.I an sure the recording for broadcast (Monday afternoon sometime on the Philadelphia classical station) will be fantastic because there were plenty of mics near her. Very long standing ovation from the audience.

Glad you all made it and enjoyed it.

This is a little known thing about the John Williams—there are some balance concerns with the orchestra and soloist. I know one of Jim Self’s students many years ago won the concerto competition at USC and played it with a much smaller orchestra to help the balance.

I can’t tell you in a hall like that if standing makes a difference, but from a recital I did where I played the second Rumanian Dance by Dumitru as a standing, memorized encore style of piece, the recording did not project as much—my theory is about the enveloping of the tuba’s sound, but in this situation, standing would elevate the sound over the orchestra (topic for another post, a dissertation or ITEA journal type of experiment with sound acoustics to back it up).

So we have a tuba concerto, and the viola players are too loud? Have you ever fed a sall amount of peanut butter to a dog?

gocsick wrote: Sat Jan 17, 2026 10:05 pm

Carol was fantastic on the John Williams. She got a nice round of applause when she quoted Imperial March and Luke's Theme from Star Wars in the cadenza. She is such a musical player and this really highlighted that aspect. So much emotion. It could have been where I was sitting, center about 5 rows from the stage maybe 20 feet from Carol... but there were several parts that really didn't project well and it was hard to hear her. The quiet parts were beautiful.. but when the orchestra was loud it was very difficult to hear the fast loud stuff. I kind of feel like a heel for saying that.. but it was something everyone on my family commented on.I an sure the recording for broadcast (Monday afternoon sometime on the Philadelphia classical station) will be fantastic because there were plenty of mics near her. Very long standing ovation from the audience.

The handfull of times I have heard this performed live, I did notice that there are times where it is difficult to hear the tuba in the same sections you described. Unfortunately I couldn't make it to this performance, but the times I have gone to hear the Philly Orchestra live, I prefer the nosebleed seats. It seems to me you get a better overall sound up there.

After a similar experience hearing Empire Brass with the Tucson Symphony some years ago, I concluded that a bell front tuba would be an advantage in those kinds of situations. The sound goes up with a regular tuba, and at the front of the stage, there isn't much for it to reflect off of.

What a fantastic evening and the end to a great day.

Started the morning early with a 5 hour band rehearsal, then two hours of running duets with another tuba player and then taking said Tuba player as my date for the evening. (My friend lives in walking distance so it was a very cold and quick walk over to the Kimmel Center).

Carol played wonderfully. Since her horn faces the wrong direction (LOL), we sat on the side facing her and our seats were amazing. Would have rather heard the OTHER Williams concerto, but to hear a low brass player on a world stage....well you don't pass that opportunity up.

The Eastman and Mendelssohn were spectacular in themselves. The Eastman especially.... NO FRENCH HORNS. Bliss.

Like I said..a great day and a fantastic evening.

gocsick wrote: Sat Jan 17, 2026 10:05 pm

It was a little funny too me that the orchestra was always a fraction of a beat ahead of her cues.

That was getting to me, but I thought maybe because I was on Tier 2. Not in the fancy seats like you. :)

The Second Symphony by Julius Eastman. Since heavy instrumentation on the low end 3 tubas,

There were only two basses. Some guy and a woman. Two contrabass Bassoons and 1 Contrabass Clarinet.

Secondly because it shocked and confused the pearl clutchers in the audience.

I chuckled over this.

Odd little observation.. was that she had a BERP mounted to her leadpipe.

I noticed that from where I was sitting too..

Encore:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19wgXR4oRn/