CSO’s Prokofiev Concert marks 30 years for Del Gobbo

It’s not often that Columbus gets to celebrate someone for 30 years of service in the arts.

This Saturday, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra will honor Maestro George Del Gobbo for just that. In addition to the ensemble’s scheduled concert, a pre-concert champagne and dessert reception will honor Del Gobbo’s numerous accomplishments over the years and give patrons a chance to celebrate his tenure with the orchestra.

Del Gobbo is beloved by the community for his humble nature, immense talent and exceptional sense of humor. His “Know the Score” concert lectures are popular for the entertaining and hilarious ways he presents historical and musical information that makes the orchestra’s repertoire accessible to their patrons. No lecture given by the Maestro throughout his 30 years at the CSO has been absent of informative dialogue served with a heaping side of witty banter.

Del Gobbo came to the CSO 30 years ago after a highly successful career in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. His engagements there included the associate conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, conductor of the Fort Worth Ballet, director of Orchestral Studies at Texas Christian University, and music director and conductor of the Youth Orchestra of Greater Fort Worth. Outside of his time with the CSO, he has been featured nationally and internationally as a guest conductor with orchestras around the country and in South America.

Del Gobbo said he is humbled and thrilled to have reached 30 years with the ensemble.

“It is truly a pleasure to mark the end of my 30th season at the CSO with a performance of the great masterpiece that is Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony,” he said. “Over the years, it has been my honor, and pleasure, to work with so many gifted musicians and dedicated volunteers. They are the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. Without them and our many generous donors the orchestra would not exist. I extend my deepest gratitude to all of them.”

Saturday night’s concert repertoire will feature “Night on Bald Mountain” by Mussorgsky, “Concerto for Violin and Orchestra” by Khachaturian and “Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major, Op. 100” by Prokofiev.

Mayuko Kamio, an internationally renown guest artist, will play the electric violin for the Khachaturian concerto. Kamio has been called “an exciting young musician” and “a radiant talent” by The New York Times.

According to a news release for the CSO, she is famous for her “luxurious silken tone, long expressive phrasing and virtuoso techniques.”

Del Gobbo is looking forward to conducting the repertoire.

“Composer Gustav Mahler is quoted as saying that a ‘symphony should be like the world.’ That is to say it’s emotional palette should be broad and all-encompassing. Prokofiev’s masterpiece, Symphony No. 5, certainly fits that description,” he said. “It is one of the great symphonies in all of music history. Khatchaturian’s Violin Concerto is lively and lyrical. This concert will be a colorful and entertaining evening of beautiful music.”

This story was originally published April 15, 2017 at 12:00 PM with the headline "CSO’s Prokofiev Concert marks 30 years for Del Gobbo."