Reno Chamber Orchestra

Great performance last night. We purchased tickets at the last moment and I’m glad we did. Everyone was in the zone. Thanks, we will purchase season tickets. I loved your passion for music

This is specifically for the No. 24^th 2015 concert, but I expect a general observation on the RCO can be extrapolated from there.
The star of the evening was the piano, which appeared to be a Hamburg Steinway. Rich mellow tone, perfect for the space. Followed by a very good pianist — Dr. Winn, playing his own Concerto for Piano and Strings, and Strauss’ Burleske.
The orchestra, which appears to be an amalgam of Reno area classical musicians, did an excellent job on the Prokofiev Symphony, and on the accompaniment of the two piano works.
Unfortunately, the opening piece — a Mozart symphony — sounded like a student rehearsal, and rendered parts of the work almost unrecognizable.
Which brings us to the conductor. Very animated on the podium, and quite literally leaning into the faces/​personal spaces of the performers. It may have been a style developed in larger spaces with full orchestra where the distance from the podium to the members is greater, or it may have been a reflection of his animation in trying to rescue the Mozart, but I found that I had to focus away from his gyrations and concentrate on the music.
The acoustics of Nightingale Hall are excellent, but the setting — tucked into the aging and worn Church Fine Arts Building — detracts from the experience.
Another observation: major blocs of seats at the front of the hall were unoccupied. The impression was that they had been sold to subscribers who simply were not there. Something for the staff to deal with.
Bottom line: go for the music, which is of sufficiently high quality, and cope with the rest.

Tonight’s program included Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No.3 with Noah Bendix-​Balgley on the violin and Ya-​Fei Chuang on the piano. The Sonata was expertly presented by the musicians, and I truly enjoyed listening to them. The second piece of the program was Leo’s Janacek’s Violin Sonata, again with Noah Bendix-​Balgley on the violin but with Orion Weiss on the piano. This composition is fairly modern (1915) and contains sections that are quite dissonant and aggressive. I am a Romantic and prefer the music of the 1700s and 1800s, but this piece was interesting and expertly presented. It sounded like it was quite challenging to play. After the intermission the audience was presented with Josef Suk’s Fantasy in G minor, with Martin Chalifour on violin and James Winn on piano. Though this piece was also quite modern (1903) it was more traditional for chamber music and it was quite delightful. It was masterfully presented by the performers and was a pleasure to listen to. The final piece was the Duo in D Major by Louis Spohr and showcased the talents of Noah Bendix-​Balgley and Martin Chalifour both on Violin. It was a fitting ending to an evening of excellent music and great artistry. Can’t wait for our next performance on December 31 when we’ll attend the Romantic Piano: Chopin and Friends.

My husband and I just went to the RCO for the first time over the weekend, and WOW! I’m a fan! I am a student at UNR, and I saw something about Beethoven on the marquee outside Lawlor Events Center, went home and googled it, and bought tickets that night! Student tickets are only $ 5 (WOOHOO!), and my husband’s ticket was $ 22. What a bargain! The event was at the Nightengale Hall on the UNR campus. Free parking at the Whalen parking garage just south of Lawlor. A short walk to the building, and up to our front row seats! The first two rows and the back row are bargains — the front two probably because we were a little below the stage, but it didn’t matter to us… we had a great view of the first couple of rows of musicians and the conductor.
The performance was two short pieces by Beethoven, then a lengthy one (around 30 minutes). Any classical musician can tell you that Beethoven can be brutal, and these musicians put everything they had into these pieces! After a brief intermission (we made a donation at the cookie/​bottled water table), we were back in it for another 30 minute piece by Beethoven. The musicians are really amazing. It was so much fun to see it all come together.
The whole experience was wonderful! It was so fun to get dressed up (although as with most Reno events, anything goes when it comes to wardrobe!), and have a night out doing something other than the restaurant/​bar scene on a Saturday night (well, okay, we went to a bar after the concert!).
As I said, I’m a fan. We are looking forward to attending more performances by the RCO in the near future!

I cannot believe no one has written a review yet for the RCO. So now I get to claim First to Review!
We have attended about five of their concerts over the last few years, both regular season performances and Chamber Music Festival performances. We have enjoyed their performances so much that we purchased season tickets for this year.
This is an outstanding professional orchestra. The sound is well balanced and they play with focus and precision. The programs have been a nice mix of traditional and more contemporary pieces as well as very familiar and more obscure composers.
The organization has done an exemplary job of making chamber music accessible to the community and have worked very hard to get away from the snobbish stereotype that most people attribute to «classical» music.
Their regular season concerts are at Nightingale Concert Hall at UNR. This is a fantastic venue for musical performances. There is not a bad seat in the house. Parking is free in the garage and there is an RTC stop directly in front of the Fine Arts building.
Tickets range in price from about $ 20 to $ 45. They also have some special low cost or even free events.
Considering the caliber of artists and the quality of music, this is an opportunity that should not be missed.