Philip Bauman, Music Director & Conductor

FOUR SAINTS IN THREE ACTS

“Don’t try to find Meaning in Steins cunning word games or Thomson’s Missouri-flavored music, and you’ll have a wonderful time at ‘Four Saints.’ Thomson’s score, a faux-naif melange of waltzes, tangos, fox trots and ersatz Baptist hymns is the devil to perform properly. The musical prosody involves constant tempo changes to challenge the alertness of the singers and conductor; and Stein’s endless repetitions require the most precise ensemble as solo lines and choral refrains career back and forth. But Philip J. Bauman drew a clean, buoyant and lively reading from the 21-piece chamber orchestra, coordinating stage and pit very well in a performance that grew more secure as the two hours progressed. The final scenes in fact were deeply moving.” 

John Von Rhein, Chicago Tribune (1993)