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Philharmonic clarinetist to play Strings fundraiser after trip

Monday, March 3, 2008

David Finlayson/Courtesy. Enlarge photo.

New York Philharmonic clarinetist Mark Nuccio will play a fundraiser for Strings Music Festival on Thursday. Nuccio went with the orchestra to North Korea in late February. The trip marked the first time an American ensemble had traveled there.

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By Margaret Hair (Contact)

Steamboat Springs — It’s not that New York Philharmonic co-principal clarinetist Mark Nuccio isn’t used to reporters and photographers.

It’s just that traveling to North Korea on a plane that’s carrying 20 tons of instruments, 106 musicians, about 40 administrative staff and close to 80 press people can be a little overwhelming.

“You felt a little bit like you were going to be in the Super Bowl,” Nuccio said of the international news companies that jumped on board to cover the Philharmonic’s recent trip to North Korea. The orchestra’s 48-hour, highly regimented stay in the country marked the first time an American ensemble performed there. The Philharmonic’s corps of musicians and press was the largest group of U.S. citizens to visit North Korea since the Korean War.

“The press people even said this is like nothing they’ve ever seen for such an event,” Nuccio said, noting the walls of cameras and voice recorders that flanked the orchestra as it rehearsed, performed and attended a traditional North Korean concert. Nuccio said the reporting pack included people taking leave from assignments in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East to cover the historic visit.

“There were a lot of people leaving very important long-term events to see that this is something that could be in the very beginning of the process of breaking down the wall” between countries with ties to the West and North Korea, Nuccio said.

Nuccio, a Yampa Valley homeowner, will encounter significantly less attention at an intimate Thursday performance. The program, which includes work by Bach, Poulenc and Yuste, is a fundraiser for Strings Music Festival’s new performance pavilion.

A veteran symphony performer with stays in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orch­estra, Denver Symphony Orchestra, Savannah Symphony and Florida Orchestra, Nuccio started performing at Strings Music Festival in 1996.

Julie Taulman, director of marketing and public relations for Strings, said the pavilion is on track for the season’s opening performance June 28 but doesn’t have much time to spare.

“It will probably be pretty close down to the wire, but we are confident that by the time we open, the pavilion will be finished,” Taulman said.

The new venue has the potential to take the festival to a higher artistic level, Nuccio said, with prime performance conditions making long-shot goals such as hosting Emanuel Ax or Yo-Yo Ma possible.

“The pavilion will offer an opportunity for each of us to perform at a much higher level and for the audience to be able to hear the incredible sensitivity that each of the musicians brings to Steamboat that before now, has not been fully realized,” Nuccio said.

Taulman said the festival is at about 90 percent of its fundraising goal for the venue, the total cost of which has increased about $500,000 from original plans. Now estimated at $4.3 million, the pavilion includes upgrades and a built-in maintenance fund that were not in the original budget, Taulman said.

“Obviously, we’d like to close that gap and make it 100 percent, so that’s part of this concert coming up Thursday,” she said.