Black Diamond Philharmonic performs the exotic and the familiar with season opener

Sep. 21—FAIRMONT — The mythical King of the Trolls made famous in playwright Henrick Ibsen's allegorical drama "Peer Gynt" recently made a visit to Fairmont State's Colebank Hall.

However, the king wasn't searching for the unruly Peer, he was there to insert a bit of levity during the Black Diamond Philharmonic's performance of Edvard Grieg's "Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, IV, In the Hall of the Mountain King."

The Morgantown-based 60-piece philharmonic kicked off its 2023-24 season Saturday before a packed Fairmont audience. Founded in 2021, the philharmonic's goal is to "bring Appalachians together through incredible concerts that create lasting memories and lifelong friendships."

"So, a philharmonic is basically a collection of people that come together and pool their resources to say 'we want this kind of artistic thing in our community,'" Co-founder Mark L. Wallace said. "There are other organizations out there ... that may not have that core and that's what we hope to build here and, and really foster that."

Another goal of Wallace and philharmonic co-founder Robert Heath's is to meet the audience where they are by playing music that could be described as accessible or familiar. For example, the entire second half featured music from "Star Wars: The Force Awakens Suite for Orchestra" featuring "Rey's Theme" and "The Jedi Steps" and "Star Wars: Suite for Orchestra" featuring "Princess Leia's Theme," "Darth Vader's Theme" and more — both by legendary composer John Williams.

Wallace selected the music performed in the first half of Saturday's concert, "Festive Overture" by Dmitri Shostakovich, "Peer Gynt Suite No. 1" by Edvard Grieg and "Danzon No.2" by Arturo Marquez. While these names sound exotic, they have been used in multiple forms of media over the decades to a point they've become familiar and widespread in popular culture.

"I just kind of decided to pick the first half based around what I thought would work well with Star Wars, some, dare I say, more artistic pieces, but not things that are super over people's heads, if you will," Wallace said. "In the Hall of the Mountain King is a very popular one that has been used probably by Bugs Bunny, Looney Tunes and things like that. Then, of course, Morning Mood has that gorgeous melody at the beginning that is really recognizable."

Wallace said he chose "Danzon No. 2" as it has gained a lot of popularity in the orchestral world, particularly in Venezuela where conductor Gustavo Dudamel teaches it to members of his world-renown youth symphony.

"It's really shone a spotlight on El Sistema which is their big music education program down there. And it's really helped bring a lot of recognition that is absolutely fantastic," Wallace said.

Like Wallace, Heath wants to make the philharmonic sustainable so it can continue playing music in the North Central West Virginia region. Heath is driven by the belief "that music and the arts have a substantial role to play in making the world a better place."

"And so the idea was that you had a group of people who just loved music and they really wanted an orchestra in town," Heath said. "You know, and so they made it happen...for the love of sound."

Joseph Yungen was one of the first musicians to join Black Diamond Philharmonic. During Saturday's concert, he not only played piano, but also played the celeste, which is also called a bell-piano, and was integral for some of the Star Wars pieces.

He admitted he was just shy of skeptical when he learned Star Wars would be in the season opener, but he embraced the moment.

"Well to be inside of it and this way, yeah, and be a part of it and, at the same time, there's a little bit of that nostalgia," Yungen said. "And it brings back the feelings of when I first watched the original Star Wars as a kid, when you hear that music, it's so iconic, and it's so exciting to hear it and it's not even arrangement, it's the real thing that they played on the soundtrack."

Entering its third season, Wallace and Health have founded a Philharmonic Society to allow "people who love orchestras and want to see more of this sort of music," to join at different funding levels on a monthly subscriber basis.

"I think the orchestra is a great example for society more broadly," Heath said. "I mean, what better group we have all these different people from all over, coming together with one purpose in mind and then working to do something beautiful, and there's nothing better in life than that to me."

Readers can join the Philharmonic Society online at https://www.blackdiamondphil.com/society.

Reach Eric Cravey at 304-367-2523.