San Antonio Symphony News and Archive

Carr brings talent to symphony's aid




By Deborah Martin

from the San Antonio Express News 5/23/99



For fans who didn't follow her into the world of Latin pop, public television helped rescue Vikki Carr from the "Where Are They Now?" file.

Carr never stopped performing to enthusiastic audiences in Latin America, and her accolades include a 1991 Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album. But it's been a while sine she made a splash among English speakers who wore out their vinyl copies of "With Pen in Hand" and "It Must Be Him" long ago. Then she taped "Memories, Memorias," a TV special, which showcased Mexican and Latin American music from the 1940s and 1950s. It became a hit on PBS stations across the country this year, and opened a lot of doors to her.

Now, when she isn't fronting a mariachi ensemble somewhere in the world or working as head of the Vikki Carr Scholarship Foundation, she often can be found helping symphonies subsidize their classical seasons by giving benefit concerts.

Her next gig in that realm is tonight, when she joins the San Antonio Symphony for am evening of Latin and American standards. The program includes "Perfidia," "Solamente Una Vez," "Sentimental Journey" and "It Must Be Him."

Linking pop artists with classical-music groups has been a big trend in the past 10 years or so as orchestras try to broaden their audience appeal. That's why San Francisco Symphony Orchestra subscribers found a gig with Metallica listed on the current season brochure, and why country singer Larry Gatlin will sing with the Fort Worth Symphony next year.

The performances do what they're supposed to, at least for the evening. But they usually don't translate into a more diverse audience for a symphony's primary repertoire.

"What we've found in the data the league gathers is that you're talking about two different audiences," said Grace Chang, public-relations manager for the American Symphony Orchestra League. "Although there is some crossover, the pops audience tends to stick with the pops concerts and pops subscriptions."

That doesn't make much sense to Carr.

"I would imagine they would (come back)," she said, a symphony cheerleader to the core. "How could they not after hearing the symphony?"

The San Antonio Symphony is especially dear to her, since she lives here. She sees the orchestra as an important part of the cultural landscape.

Her performance this evening is her gift to the symphony.When she read about its desperate financial state last year, she was troubled by the notion that San Antonio could have been left without an orchestra: "To me, a city without a symphony is a city that really doesn't exist; ther is no soul," she said. "My husband said, 'You are such a proponent of music - let's see what we can do.' "

"I called (music director) Christopher Wilkins and we had a kitchen cabinet meeting at my house. I said, 'I want to do something, but I don't know what I could do other than sing.' And that is what we're going to be doing. I'm going to be presenting some of the musicin person that we did on the 'Memories, Memorias' special, because everywhere I have been lately - to NIOSA, to the market, the mall - everybody's coming up and saying how much they love the special."

"I'm also doing some of the material from the Carnegie Hall tribute to Judy Garland that I did. We're going to try very much to do a sentimental journey medleyof songs, including some of my Spanish things from before. It's Vicki Carr retro - it seems like everything old is new again. This is really proof that everything does come back."

She has come back with a vengence. Carr's fans turned out in force to catch her performance for the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra in January. The show sold out two weeks before she hit the stage, catching symphony members off guard. Sellouts in that market - particularly of symphony events - are fairly rare.

The audience walked away pleased, said Lee Gwozdz, executive director.

"She was more than sensational," he said. "The audience is still talking about her presentation. If they weren't in love with her before, they fell in love with her that night."

Her performance drew a larger Hispanic audience than most other symphony concerts, Gwozdz said, something Carr has noticed in other cities.

"This is introducing the symphony audience to another audience," she said. "I think it's win-win for everybody. That's been the biggest compliment I've received, when they say,'We're getting so many orders for tickets, and it's an audience we never thought would come to the symphony.' Maybe they would go to the symphony, but not in the big numbers you would get when you have a Latin Artist."



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