Russian Romance

By Jennifer LeClaire

Romel Joseph was born blind, but he had an ear for music and a love for Tchaikovsky that birthed in him a vision to start his own orchestra. Forty years later, the native Haitian’s dream is coming true in the Olympia Theater at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts.

In September, Joseph will direct “A Romantic Evening with Tchaikovsky.” A production of Joseph’s Walenstein Symphony Orchestra, this wistful evening is themed on the music of the great Russian composer Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky.

“Tchaikovsky’s music is special, it’s romantic,” Joseph says. “We want to feature a wedding during this concert. We are looking for a couple that is willing to get married on stage. It will be like Romeo and Juliet,” he smiles.

The Walenstein Symphony Orchestra performance includes some of Tchaikovsky’s greatest works, such as Capriccio Italien, Variations on a Rococo Theme for solo cello and orchestra, featuring the talented 14-year-old cellist, Anna Litvinenko, and the beloved Symphony No. 6 “Pathetique” in B Minor, Joseph’s personal favorite.

“Tchaikovsky was a manic depressive, so his music ranges from super ecstatic to melancholy because he was emotionally unstable. That’s one reason people find it so accommodating,” Joseph says. “The last movement of Pathetique used to make me cry so lamentably.”

Laced with entertainment history, the Gusman Center’s Olympia Theater offers a premier backdrop for “A Romantic Evening with Tchaikovsky.” The theater opened in 1926 as a silent movie palace set in Moorish architecture. The Olympia has welcomed some of the world’s most exciting performers, including Elvis Presley, B.B. King, Luciano Pavarotti, as well as hosted MTV concerts. Today the theater is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Gusman is still undergoing renovations to bring it to its original glory. But tremendous progress has been made. Wood-and-brass seats, custom-loomed carpeting that matches the 1926 original, and vibrant paint scheme reminds concert goers of Downtown Miami’s rich history even as modern high-rise luxury condos spring up all around it to let the next generation live, work and play in style. Gusman is at the center of it all.

Over the next 10 years, the Walenstein Symphony Orchestra will perform the complete repertoire of the ingenious composer. The orchestra is also raising up the next generation of musicians and featuring them in a production called “Concert of the Future Stars” featuring the most talented students in Miami to perform as soloists.

“I have been performing in orchestras since I was 13 years old and my daughter started playing the violin at the age of three,” Romel says. “Part of my dream now is to see other young musicians have the opportunity to discover and perform classical music.”

A Romantic Evening with Tchaikovsky
Friday, September 19, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
Olympia Theater at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts
174 E. Flagler Street
Miami, FL 33131
305-374-2444
www.gusmancenter.org