Les Miserables
This is a self-indulgent photo.
I served as the Associate Music Director and Assistant Conductor for Uptown Musical Theater’s production of Les Misérables.
This was an incredible opportunity given to us directly by Cameron Mackintosh to help support the Highland Park Shooting Fund. A portion of profits from the performance would go to help the community rebuild after the horrific event in July 2022. With this, Uptown would be one of the few non-touring/non-high school professional productions of Les Mis.
It was my first time tackling a score of this scale. Every song is legendary, and there was a lot of listening homework to do, from the Original Broadway Cast recording to the 10th Anniversary, to the 25th Anniversary, to the Complete Symphonic Recording. I’m very thankful for Aaron Kaplan for requiring a complete listen to all of these versions twice. Music rehearsal are even more key since this is an opera, so being on the same tempo and feel was utmost importance to moving through all the music so that the direction was matching the score.
The score itself has very many “smooth edges,” where tempos glide from one to another through ritards and accels. Internalizing all of these tempos was a big challenge for me, and tested my musicality. As well, I was leading a full 20 piece orchestra, and a large emphasis was placed on knowing each part better than the instrumentalist, so that I could hear the entire orchestra rather than just the piano-conductor score. This combined with the intricate entanglement of the cast made this an incredible experience. This show allowed me to learn a lot about conducting technique and what a conductor actually does to lead an ensemble.
Orchestra:
Music Director/Conductor: Aaron Kaplan
Keys 1/Assistant Conductor: Kevin Zhou
Keys 2: Danny Kapinos
Reed 1 (Flute/Alto Flute/Piccolo/Alto Recorder): Carlyn Lloyd
Reed 2 (Oboe/English Horn): Reed Cawley
Reed 3 (Bb Clarinet/Eb Clarinet/Bass Clarinet/Tenor Recorder): Kaitin Pucci
Horn 1: Liz Deitemyer
Horn 2: Emma Sepmeier
Trumpet: Mike Leavens
Trombone: Rob Hackl-Blumstein
Percussion: Debbie Katz-Knowles
Violin: Jackie Fisher, Maura Brown, Ryan Caparella, Renee Henley, Carolyn Van De Velde
Viola: Anthony Krempa, Jieyeon Schleicher, Elizabether Shepherd
Cello: Rhea Davis, Julia Wen
Bass: Eric Von Holst
Bold Denotes Concertmaster
