Orchestra Iowa concertmaster embraces new role in Corridor music scene

CEDAR RAPIDS — Julia Sakharova is equally at home with the music of Billy Joel and Beethoven.

Which is a good thing, since Orchestra Iowa’s new concertmaster blazed through the music of Elton John and Billy Joel in the ensemble’s Feb. 17 pops concert in Cedar Rapids, and will return for a Masterworks program April 20 and 21, which includes Beethoven’s “Pastoral” Symphony No. 6, and a guest artist playing a bandoneon, an accordion-like instrument used in Argentine tango.

Staying flexible is key to the evolution of symphony orchestras, keeping them relevant to changing audiences and musical tastes. It’s also fun for the musicians.

Sakharova “felt like a rock star” when she was invited to step out of the orchestra and join the Jeans ’n’ Classics band in front for the violin solo on Joel’s hit, “Piano Man.”

“That was so much fun,” she said.

At a glance

To read more of Julia Sakharova’s musical journey, go to juliasakharova.com/biography.html

At the other end of the spectrum are her classical favorites: Beethoven, Bach and Tchaikovsky.

“Beethoven always has something that you come back to when you play or listen, that you discover. There's something new or unexpected. There's just that energy,” she said.

“Bach is definitely one of my greatest inspirations,” she added. “Whenever I start practicing in the morning, or whenever I open up the violin, I try and play a little bit of Bach every day, because he wrote solo pieces for violin and sonatas, so you can always play them. You don’t need an accompanist, you don’t need anybody to play these pieces with you, so they’re just like a sea, like an ocean that is just endless possibilities.”

Tchaikovsky reminds her of her childhood in Russia, when her mother, a professional pianist, would take her to see the “Swan Lake” ballet in her hometown of Moldova. Her youth was filled with music, classical concerts and recordings. One of her first records featured Jascha Heifetz playing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, which remains one of her favorite concertos to perform with an orchestra.

A member of the music faculty at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, Sakharova also performs with the internationally known Arianna String Quartet, which also plays across genres, from classical to modern works.

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Orchestra Iowa Maestro Tim Hankewich touched on that during a Feb. 16 Facebook Live “Happy Hour with Maestro Tim” conversation with Sakharova at the Opus Concert Cafe in downtown Cedar Rapids.

“So much has changed during my time here, in terms of philosophy of programming,” Hankewich said. “If you were to compare Orchestra Iowa programs five years ago, or even Cedar Rapids Symphony programs from 20 years ago, there has been a marked change more towards variety and more towards new music and world music. You've been doing a lot of working with your string quartet. How has your product programming changed over the years?”

“I think you're right,” Sakharova replied. “We have to adapt, because there's first of all, so much great repertoire over the past few years.”

Case in point: The day after performing in the pops concert in Cedar Rapids, she joined her string quartet in St. Louis for a program that included “Juba,” a recent piece by Trevor Weston, on the music faculty at Juilliard.

“It's really fun,” she said of doing new works, “and it lets us explore and also lets us meet other people when we do that, so I think that we absolutely try incorporating that. And I'm so glad we're doing that in Orchestra Iowa.”

Concertmaster role

Sakharova was assistant concertmaster with the Alabama Symphony from 2008 to 2012, so she’s familiar with the role she’s stepping into with Orchestra Iowa.

To viewers, she will occupy the first chair in the violin section, which she said means “constantly being in that chair” unless she’s ill or otherwise unable to be there. It’s also a role where leadership, nuances and body language come into play.

“That means also being responsible for solos and being responsible for doing the bowings, and that means the direction of which bows go down or up, and coordinating that with the entire string section,” she said.

“And just overall, the concertmaster position is a liaison between the conductor and the orchestra,” she said. “Body language plays a big role, and there's a lot of unspoken things by the facial expressions and being able to (communicate) Tim's intentions into the entire string section. So that is a big role.”

Orchestra Iowa has been without a concertmaster for seven years, Hankewich told Happy Hour listeners. The pandemic bogged down an already lengthy process to fill that position. But by September, the wheels were turning to a contract with Sakharova, said Linda Barnes, the orchestra’s interim chief executive officer.

Since the search included blind auditions, Orchestra Iowa staff didn’t realize someone they already knew was winning them over.

“Since our previous concertmaster, Dawn Gingrich, departed (in 2018), we held many unsuccessful searches,” Hankewich told The Gazette. “We finally hit pay dirt almost a year ago with Julia. During her audition, we had four candidates play at the Paramount Theatre.

“To be clear, we follow a similar audition procedure that most professional orchestras across the country embrace: A national announcement is posted through various industry media. Come the day of the audition, many rounds are held anonymously behind a curtain that separates the candidate from the musician selection committee so that no visual contact is made between the parties. Each candidate plays the exact same musical excerpts, and the committee makes a determination as to who advances.

“The benefit of this procedure is that decisions are not biased by age, familiarity, gender or race, but rather solely on the merits of one's musicianship. The downside of this procedure is that you can’t gauge a candidate's personality or their leadership capabilities. So when a unanimous choice was made, and I learned that it was Julia, I breathed a huge sigh of relief and was overjoyed,” Hankewich said.

“She served as guest concertmaster with the orchestra many times in the past, and I always loved her leadership,” he said, noting that “her playing has always been drop-dead gorgeous.”

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Corridor connections

Sakharova has deep connections with Cedar Rapids and the Corridor

She performed the Sibelius Violin Concerto and Richard Strauss’ “Death and Transfiguration” with Orchestra Iowa on Nov. 17, 2007, while a member of New York’s Albany Symphony Orchestra. In addition, she also has taught master classes at the University of Iowa as part of an Arianna Quartet residency there.

But more than 30 years ago, she forged lasting relationships with Cedar Rapidians who heard the child prodigy play in Russia, and in 1991 arranged for her to come to the UI for a medical procedure when she was 11. After three months, she and her mother, Marina, returned to Russia, where Julia resumed her studies and continued sweeping up top awards for her artistry in Russia, Europe, Japan, South American and the United States.

“Her unique origin story, and the pivotal role our community played in her upbringing and training is beyond fantastical,” Hankewich said. “It’s one of the most magical twists of fate I’ve ever been a part of, and you could not ask for a better outcome.”

It’s an outcome Sakharova embraces, as well. When asked during Happy Hour what she likes about Orchestra Iowa, she replied:

“What do I not like about Orchestra Iowa? I think it’s a package for me, really, because first of all, the orchestra itself. It has a wonderful history of music-making. And of course, when we think of Orchestra Iowa, we think of Tim Hankewich, who brings so much joy and light and expertise into the sounds — and joining that and being part of it makes me very happy.”

The other part is the community that she already knows and the community she’s looking forward to meeting through music.

“Whenever I think of Iowa, it always brings just this most positive feelings,” she told The Gazette. “It's a dear place where I feel at home, and I feel comfortable in the community with people. I know I have so many friends that I can go to. If I have something (come up), I know I have people that I can just trust in, and this is so important.”

Educational opportunities

After graduating from Moscow’s Central Music School in 1999, Sakharova enrolled in Ohio’s Oberlin College, and in 2006, earned a master’s from the Juilliard School in New York, then received a certificate for orchestral performance from the Manhattan School of Music.

She’s looking forward to exploring venues where she can share that knowledge with a new generation of string players. She loves seeing the looks on students’ faces when they’re making musical discoveries.

Educational outreach “was such a vital part of my career and sharing the enthusiasm, and seeing the kids’ spark and seeing what is possible, how the instrument can sound and seeing their eyes light up and wanting to try to making some sounds is so great,” she said.

That’s another trait moving through her own family. Her mother, who lives in Ohio, has been her biggest supporter and offers piano practicing tips to Sakharov’s two sons, ages 10 and 4, via FaceTime.

Piano, violin and chess are a big part of their lives in St. Louis, where Sakharova’s husband is a cellist and middle school orchestra teacher. Their older son takes weekly piano lessons, and is participating in festivals and competitions.

“And of course having little kids myself, I know how important that is, at a young age, to be introduced to classical music and introduced to these great composers, because that's when you really appreciate it,” she said.

“Even if you don't become a professional musician, you just have such a great appreciation. And you also make such a great service for your brain, because when you listen actively to music, or when you play music or sing music actively, something in the brain makes it where you can become smarter. That has been proven scientifically. And so just being part of that actively to share with the kids, oh my goodness, I cannot wait to do that.”

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com