The smile sealed the deal.

During a quiet moment of Mahler's Symphony No. 1 at Merrill Auditorium on Monday night, Robert Moody turned at his waist and learned in toward first violinist Charles Dimmick. With his eyes closed and left arm outstretched, Moody allowed a broad smile to cross his face as the music rolled over him.

We think of Mahler's first symphony as a monumental, loud and energetic piece of music. But when played well, it's the quiet moments that resonate.

The Portland Symphony Orchestra played it well and with great sensitivity during Monday's Podium Prelude concert, which served as a formal introduction of Moody to the community. Moody and the orchestra repeat Mahler's first tonight in the final Tuesday Classical concert of the season.

Among those in attendance last night was Henry Fogel, president of the League of American Orchestras. For Fogel, it was the quiet moments that caught his attention.

"What I heard was an orchestra listening to itself," he said.

Fogel has been a frequent visitor to Portland, since the PSO began searches for both a new music director and executive director. Now that Moody and Ari Solotoff are firmly in place as the orchestra's new leaders - Moody as music director and Solotoff as executive director - Fogel wanted to return to Portland to celebrate Moody's debut.

He praised the PSO's board of trustees for its leadership during the search, and for holding the orchestra together during what could have been a time of crisis.

The next challenge for the orchestra, he said, is firming up the endowment. The current endowment stands at about $3 million, which is about the same as the orchestra's annual budget. Ideally, the endowment should be three to five times the annual budget.

"This is the perfect time for an endowment campaign," Fogel said. "You've got excitement building about the music director, and you have an executive director who will make himself a presence in the community."

While the orchestra has not formally begun an endowment campaign, it has begun the conversation, Solotoff said. Soprano Renee Fleming will join the orchestra Feb. 17, 2009, for a concert that benefits the endowment fund.

E-mail this entry to a friend