North America

On Thursday, Claire led members on a walking tour that began at Jackson Square, took in Bourbon Street, and ended on the river front with beignets at Café du Monde. Claire pointed out notable sights and added personal memories along the way. We spent the afternoon at the World War II Museum: the combination of historical narrative and deeply personal stories was overwhelming. The evening’s highlight was a thrilling performance of Elgar’s Symphony No.1 by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Maestro Carlos Miguel Prieto.

Friday morning featured Ryan Czekaj who explored ‘the Elgar sound.’ A classical clarinetist brought up in American wind bands, he discovered and came to love English music, especially Holst, Vaughan Williams, and Elgar, through transcriptions of works originally written for larger ensembles. Today, Ryan is an educator writing transcriptions for his own students with the goal of recreating the characteristic sound of the original work. Easy to say, difficult to do!  In an effort to capture the essential elements of the ‘Elgar sound,’ he conducted scholarly interviews with prominent Elgarians. His results were fascinating and, at times, surprising.

Following lunch, we were treated to an extended conversation with Maestro Prieto, who was charming, candid, and filled with respect for Elgar’s music. He also relishes going outside his comfort zone and described Elgar’s Symphony No.1 as challenging. He also finds his conducting of the work gets better as he ages. By way of thanks, our chairman, Arthur Reynolds, presented the Concertos volume from the Elgar Complete Edition to the maestro, who was delighted.

On the way to dinner, we visited the Mardi Gras Museum at Arnaud’s Restaurant, where we saw richly decorated gowns, some very old, worn by Mardi Gras royalty. We dined at Galatoire’s, where entertainment was provided by the diners themselves: everyone seemed raucously happy to be there. Afterwards, a group went to hear classic Dixieland jazz at the surprisingly intimate Preservation Hall.

Saturday morning, in recognition of the Branch’s 10th Conference, Lee Kaufman gave a little history of his connection to Elgar, which began in the 1970s when he gathered groups of friends to visit England and hear Elgar’s music ‘at home.’ Eventually, the group grew larger, finally becoming the North America Branch in 2008. A brief business meeting followed, at which Arthur Reynolds was unanimously re-elected as Chairman. Plans for the next conference are in the works: watch this space!