PRSO bassoonist’s death recalls Romanian parallel in Casals 2005.
- The San Juan Daily Star
- 9 hours ago
- 4 min read
By PEGGY ANN BLISS
Special to The STAR
The opening of the 70th annual Casals Festival on Saturday at 7 p.m. coupled with the death of a musician from the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra (PRSO), brings back an eerie echo of the final 2005 Casals concert and the sudden passing of a Romanian musical figure.
In a strong sense of deja vu, this year’s event has been plunged into mourning with the death last Friday of Ion Serbanescu, a longtime PRSO assistant principal bassoonist from Romania.
The loss, which came unexpectedly, has brought the local music community bittersweet memories of the closing concert of the same festival two decades past, when world famous conductor Sergiu Comissiona died of a heart attack in Oklahoma just three days before his scheduled appearance here. The event to honor Comissiona’s Romania as well as that of his countrywoman Elena Sherbanesco’s 50th birthday, went on exactly as planned, thanks to the intervention of superstar cellist YoYo Ma -- interpreting Czech composer Antonin Dvorak’s cello concerto, the undisputed king of all cello concertos and a great tribute to the fallen conductor -- and the quick adaptation of young Costa Rican conductor Giancarlo Herrero. George Enescu’s “Romanian Rhapsody” opened the program.
The two composers, one Czech and the other Romanian, had a strong bond in their dedication to folk music, long suppressed by the dominant European cultures so pronounced in German and Austrian composers.
The other offering on that 2005 program was Ludwig van Beethoven’s iconic “Ninth Symphony” with local soloists soprano Hilda Ramos, Ilka López, Antonio Barasorda and Rafael Torrens.
Now, history repeats itself as Serbanescu’s sudden death at age 68 has left his colleagues bereft and scrambling for a replacement.
“’Nelu,’ as everyone called him, had a great effect on the morale of the whole orchestra and was an outstanding musician for over two decades,” said principal bassoonist Adam Havrilla, who shared the small but important section with the musician who had given a half century of his life to orchestras in his native Bucharest (where he trained), East Germany, Denmark and Puerto Rico.
Serbanescu was talented and disciplined from his upbringing. His father, George Serbanescu, was first violinist of the Romanian State Orchestra. Ion got his education in his country and in East Germany.
Underlying the ensemble’s raw grief at Saturday’s concert will be the lack of a vital instrumental element. The absence of a strong assistant principal bassoonist is especially significant because the orchestra under the baton of Mexican conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto will feature a work by 20th-century Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich, who relied heavily on lower-register winds.
The show will go on
Saturday’s program, whose triple bill of Mexican nationals also includes eminent pianist Jorge Federico Osorio playing the beloved “Emperor Concerto” (Piano Concerto No. 5 in E Flat Major) by Beethoven. The opening work will be the vibrant eight-minute “Antrópolis,” an evocation of Mexican dancehalls by Gabriela Ortiz, a two-time Grammy winner for Best Classical Composition.
The piece recreates four funky night spots of the capital city with spectacular percussion effects some compare to Leonard Bernstein.
“The concert will be dedicated to Ion and I will say a few words, but we won’t dwell on the sadness,” PRSO Musical Director Maximiano Valdés told the STAR.
He said the orchestra had done the same last Saturday at a concert in the mountain town of Utuado.
“When we speak [Saturday], Melissa [Santana, director of the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture and the Corporation of Musical Arts] and I will concentrate on Ion’s many years of outstanding contribution to the orchestra,” he added.
A sister’s tribute and siblings abroad
Retired PRSO violinist Elena Sherbanesco, who anglicized the surname, served as a surrogate mother to her younger brother Ion after the death of their mother, Ioana, in 2015.
Ion’s eldest sibling Dan Serbanescu, once a second violinist in the PRSO, now works in several orchestras in central Florida. Ion’s twin Mariana, the only non-musician of the four, works in real estate in the same state.
Elena remembers most vividly that Nov. 11, 1957 her mother brought Ion and Mariana home from the hospital.
“We shared so many magic moments since that day,” she recalled, calling her brother “a sophisticated and generous artist, an authentic sovereign soul.”
She said Ion will be missed by his many cousins in Romania, where he visited most summers.
A command of languages and true sense of humor
Rafael Enrique Irizarry, PRSO associate director, praised Ion Serbanescu as an “enviable polyglot” who often corrected their German.
Serbanescu also possessed a sense of humor that was legendary among his colleagues, including Havrilla.
“He would greet us in exaggerated English, and spend hours polishing his instrument, which was especially appreciated during occasional tedious rehearsals,” Havrilla said. “He had a profound effect on our morale as a group and his artistry and dedication will live on.”
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