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All culture and communication depend on the interplay between expectation and observation, the waves of fulfilment, disappointment, right guesses, and wrong moves that make up our daily life.
--E. H. Gombrich
![[Pic: Isidor Saslav]](./portrait/saslav.jpg)
Isidor Saslav, a professional violinist and concertmaster of the Longview Texas Symphony, after retiring in 2003 after 10 years as head of the string department at
Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, is pursuing his
post-retirement hobby of traveling all over the world to attend unusual
operas. He got his start in opera at age 17, when he served as a
sword-wielding extra in Verdi's Il Trovatore as produced by the
Chautauqua Opera Company.
Over the years Saslav has concertmastered about 75
different productions in various cities, but only a few of these have left
the beaten track. Some of the more unusual productions have included the
world premiere of Dominick Argento's The Voyage of Edgar Allen Poe
, Villa-Lobos's Yerma, Menotti's The Telephone
and The Medium as directed personally by the late Giancarlo
Menotti at the Kennedy Center.
In 1990, The New Zealand Festival of the Arts in
Wellington presented the very first fully staged performance of Wagner's
Die Meistersinger in New Zealand. Wolfgang Wagner, the
composer's grandson, even flew from Germany for the event. Saslav concertmastered
that historic premiere.
He likes to explore the unusual byways of the violinist's repertoire as well.
Isidor Saslav has been contributing his work to Swans since March 2007. His work can be accessed in the yearly archives, at:
A couple of examples...
• More Revivals Of Seldom Heard Operas In New York (May 2007): The author, a fine connoisseur of the world of music, reviews hidden jewels of the operatic repertoire revived by the New York Metropolitan Opera and the New York City Opera over the years.
• Concerts And An Opera In New York (March 2007): Review of American Symphony, NY Philharmonic, and Metropolitan Opera. American premieres of violin concertos.