Spring 2011 And On We Go.. Margaret Welch, Festival Chair By Margaret Welch - Last year Chesapeake Chamber Music celebrated its 25th Anniversary. It was a wonderful landmark, but who is looking back. This year, our schedule has continued to expand, we are visiting three new venues, and as usual, many of our long-time favorite artists are returning, and will be joined by new faces and new talent. This year features thirteen concerts in two weeks with events every day except Mondays, including Free Open Rehearsals both Wednesdays. The season opens with a new experience in a new venue a jointly presented recital presentation at St. Mark s United Methodist Church. William Neil, Organist from the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, will perform with David Bilger, Principal Trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra in a recital utilizing both the organ and piano at St. Mark s Church. The recital will be at 5:30 p.m., and will be performed in lieu of our previous Sunday afternoon street concert. We are excited about this cooperative venture and about the opportunity to utilize St. Mark s magnificent organ. We will return to Christ Church Easton again this year for another recital featuring their magnificent Steinway grand donated last year by the family of Monty Mrs. Alexander Margaret Nuttle. Peggy Pearson (Oboe) and Ieva Jokubaviciute (piano) will perform there on Tuesday, June 14. On Thursday, June 16, we will have a delightful combination of chamber music and visual art in a recital to be held for the first time at the Easton Studio and School, hosted by gallery owner Nancy Tankersley. Daniel Phillips (violin) will perform surrounded by works of art from Nancy s South Street Gallery. Nancy, by the way, is the artist whose painting of Black Walnut Point is our Festival Image for music on the Eastern Shore this year. Yet another new venue for our festival is the St. Michaels High School Auditorium where our Saturday afternoon, June 18, concert will be held. We are delighted to be able to utilize this new-to-us venue with its superb acoustics, and hope that vacationers visiting the St. Michaels waterfront area will join us for the concert. Students will be admitted free. Our Angels Concert this year will conclude the festival with a gala concert and picnic at Point Elizabeth, Oxford. This striking home, with magnificent views across the Tred Avon River, is the residence of Elizabeth Fago. We welcome Ms. Fago to the CCM family and thank her for opening her home to us. Jazz on the Chesapeake Committee Planning Jazz By Beth Schucker - Once again, Monty Alexander, legendary jazz pianist, and Chesapeake Chamber Music are preparing for the 2011 Jazz on the Chesapeake festival this Labor Day weekend. Al Sikes, Chairman of the Jazz on the Chesapeake Committee, describes what it s like talking to talent, as he refers to brainstorming with Alexander, who is the Artistic Director of Jazz on the Chesapeake. Ideas pop! Pop, pop, pop like a jazz riff. Names. Talent. Dollars. Sikes admits that the need for the latter tends to channel discussions back to reality. But exciting ideas are firming up, he says. Getting news of Jazz on the Chesapeake to the shore s wide-spread audience of jazz lovers is a major topic on the agenda, says committee member, Leslie Hamburger. Of course, the possibility of using social networking, was explored -- and acted upon quickly. So her advice to Interlude readers who are on Facebook is to go to Monty Alexander Jazz on the Chesapeake and like it. At the same time, Simone Rones is developing JazzNet to enable wider electronic networking. Should it be food and jazz or jazz and food? Whichever, the mere combination promises delectable enjoyment as Debbi Dodson, another committee member, sketches ideas for Café Jazz. As a way to expand the jazz presence for this exciting Labor Day weekend event, the Committee is working with local restaurants to offer jazz and eats before Saturday afternoon s concert. Sikes anticipates near-final plans (as final as jazz can get) in the next thirty days. Meanwhile, mark your calendars for Jazz on the Chesapeake the weekend of September 2 and 3, 2011. For Festival tickets and further information please visit the CCM website www.chesapeakechambermusic.org or call the office at 410-819-0380
THREE IS THE KEY!!! By Philip J. Webster - What do The Three Tenors, a String Trio, three-part harmony, triplet notes, three quarter time and a Concerto in Three Movements have in common with the 26th Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival? Three is the key!!! Festival 26 will feature three totally new musical venues to delight and astonish our audience St. Mark s United Methodist Church and the Easton Studio and School in thriving Easton, and the St. Michaels High School Auditorium in bucolic St. Michaels, the town where the Festival first performed some 26 years ago. According to Executive Director Donald Buxton, the three new venues will not only bring a freshness to the Festival, but each serves a unique purpose St. Mark s with its soaring organ sound and high pitched ceiling perfect for reflecting a trumpet s vibrancy; Easton Studio and School for its intimacy, superb acoustics and artistic surroundings; and the St. Michaels High School Auditorium for its marvelous acoustics and tier-style seating for maximum audience visibility. The Festival will open on Sunday afternoon, June 5, not with its traditional concert, In The Streets, but with a jointly presented recital at St. Mark s at 5:30 p.m. for organ and trumpet featuring two world-class virtuosi. William Neil, organist and harpsichordist for the National Symphony Orchestra and organist of Washington s National Presbyterian Church, and David Bilger, principal trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra, will take chamber music to a new level of both sound and brilliance with music by Telemann, Bach, Neruda, Eben, Elgar, Gershwin, Beiderbeck and Clark. Festival veteran Daniel Phillips will then treat recital-goers with his violin virtuosity on Thursday, June 16, at 5:30 p.m. at the Easton Studio and School. Daniel Phillips will be joined by Tara Helen O Conner, flutist, who will share her musical talent to complete this special program. The recital will combine Daniel and Tara s music with wonderful art. This recital is hosted by gallery owner and artist Nancy Tankersley. Nancy painted the work that graces the flyer, program book cover and poster art for the 2011 Festival, an iconic image of a sailboat at anchor off Black Walnut Point. At the end of the second Festival week, Festivalgoers will take a short drive down Route 33 past our former concert venue at MEBA to the relatively new auditorium at St. Michaels High School for a Saturday, June 18, concert at 3 p.m. Completed in 2009, this venue designed by architect Tom King features amphitheater seating, state-of-the-art lighting, a time-delayed sound system, and sound clouds that create amazing acoustics. John Masone, former A s s i s t a n t Superintendent of Talbot County Schools, who oversaw the renovation of the educational complex, says the residents and town of St. Michaels asked for a performing arts center. To date, the auditorium has hosted musicals, ballets and dramas for the community to enjoy. The sound clouds in the auditorium s raised ceiling provide amazing acoustics, while the space itself has an intimate feel. Well, on June 18, the auditorium gets its CCM premiere, with Mozart s Piano Quartet in g minor, K. 478; Michael Torke s Telephone Book for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Piano; and Mendelssohn s Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 87, arranged by the Festival s own Peggy Pearson. St. Michaels will never be the same!!!! St. Marks United Methodist Church, Easton Artists at Easton Studio and School will move easels aside for recital photo by Nancy Tankersley St. Michaels Middle and High School auditorium photo provided by Sally Lentz Someone once said, Good things come in threes. How about chamber music to-kill-for in three spectacular new settings? Thank You to all the Chesapeake Chamber Music Volunteers photos by Bill Geoghegan, Jennifer Jackson and Jerry Michael Volunteers enjoy picnic in 2010 2 C h e s a p e a k echambermusic.org 3
Three Composers from Two Worlds in a Third Chestertown By David Jeffery - The bricks to build Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Chestertown were shipped from England in 1768 to enclose a space whose acoustics are still noted for transparency and warmth. Eighteen years later, a Slovak boy and prodigy, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, was a live-in pupil of Mozart s, making his concert debut at age nine. A piano virtuoso, Hummel was praised by such luminaries as Schumann, Schubert, Chopin, and Goethe. Although most noted for piano compositions, his Quartet for Clarinet and Strings, S. 78, shows mastery of the chamber genre. Of Czech origin, Antonín Dvořák rose in the world of music not prodigiously but steadily. By 1892 he had been appointed director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York City and a year later composed Recent Festival concert at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Chestertown Totally French C est magnifique, enchanté, charmante will be among the enthusiastic words exchanged on the afternoon of June 11 at the Aspen Institute French Masters Concert and French Country Picnic in Queenstown. Artistic Directors Marcy Rosen and Lawrie Bloom have selected music by three French composers, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Ravel and Nicolas Bacri, for this concert. Fauré, a composer, organist and teacher who lived in the late 19th and early 20th century, helped free French music from German influences and is regarded as a transitional figure in French music. The Piano Quartet in c minor, Op.15 was written between 1876-1879 when Fauré was in his early 30s; the final movement which did not satisfy Fauré was rewritten in 1883. In its completed form the quartet is an extraordinary achievement both for the range of its expression and for its imaginative craftsmanship. Twenty years later Maurice Ravel completed his only string quartet, the String Quartet in F Major, at the age of 28. Ravel dedicated this piece to his friend and teacher Gabriel Fauré who was an important influence and inspiration for Ravel s music. Today Ravel s String quartet in F Major is one of the most widely performed chamber music works in the classical repertoire. Born in 1961, Nicolas Bacri is the composer of some Symphony No. 9, From the New World. The summer of 1893 found Dvořák in Spillville, Iowa, a small town settled by Czech refugees. There he wrote the American quartet, closely followed by the Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 97. An advocate for native popular influences on American music, Dvořák might have enjoyed numbers later played at the Innwood Inn in Spillville by such as Louis Armstrong, Glenn Miller, and The Byrds. Born in Argentina in 1960, Osvaldo Golijov absorbed early influences from classical chamber music, Jewish liturgical and klezmer music, and the new tango of Astor Piazzolla. His music has been called a volatile and category-defying style, and he has been associated with a gypsy band, a Mexican rock group, and the traditions of Christian liturgical music. He has also written two scores for Francis Ford Coppola films. Currently a professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, Golijov has accepted many awards including a MacArthur ( Genius ) Fellowship. The song, How Slow the Wind, based on two short poems by Emily Dickinson, was prompted by the sudden death of a friend. He has described the song Lúa Descolorida, as in part, a slow motion ride on a cosmic horse. Attendees of the concert and following reception who may wish to make a day in Chestertown can find information about restaurants, shops, and other attractions at www. chestertown.com and www.washcoll.edu for area attractions. 100 works in many genre. He is considered one of the outstanding figures in contemporary French music. The American Letters are three Dinner at Aspen for the 25th Anniversary Festival trios each dedicated to a major American composer, Elliott Carter, John Adams and Aaron Copeland, who are contemporaries of Bacri. The unique music of these French composers will set the mood for the elegant French Country Picnic following the concert. Gathered under a white tent, seated at tables covered with crisp checkered tablecloths, overlooking the sunset on the Wye River and surrounded by the tall trees of Wye Woods, concert-goers will enjoy an elegant picnic. Building on the success of last year s French Picnic, Bernice Michael and the Marriott management have planned a delectable buffet spread and suitable wines to complete the dining experience. C est magnifique, enchanté, charmante, indeed! This will be an event to remember! Reaching Youth Through Music By Amy Blades Steward - When the Monumental Brass Quintet of Washington, DC, arrived at St. Michaels and Cambridge-South Dorchester High Schools auditoriums on April 20, to play for a combined 600 elementary school students, excitement filled the room. Children were having a hard time not swaying in their seats as the familiar Ragtime and classical pieces were played. Chesapeake Chamber Music s YouthReach Program sponsored the programs this year in an effort to reach a larger number of schoolchildren than was possible at the Chesapeake Chamber Music Family Concert, held during the CCM Festival each June. The purpose of the YouthReach concerts over the years has been to feature world-class musicians demonstrating and discussing their instruments and their music in a child-friendly concert. According to Don Buxton, CCM Executive Director, The longer-term goal of the program is to awaken young people s interest in, and ultimately their love for, the classical music art form. This year s concert at the new St. Michaels Elementary-High Auditorium was particularly rewarding. Students got to hear By Shar McBee - Picture this: It is sunset over the water. You stand at the juncture where the Tred Avon River meets Oxford s Town Creek. World class musicians tune their instruments while you delight in delicious hors d oeuvres and vintage wine. Elizabeth Fago s Nantucket-style waterfront mansion and gardens Point Elizabeth are the perfect setting for a perfectly angelic afternoon. Welcome to the 2011 Angels Concert. Sunday, June 19th, 4 pm. Point Elizabeth Point Elizabeth, Oxford Interlude Editorial Staff Editor... Susan Koh Writers David Jeffery Shar McBee Beth Schucker Amy Steward Philip Webster Margaret Welch Dyanne Welte Design... Tim Young, Eclectic Graphics Photos... Jerry Michael firsthand the amazing acoustics of the new facility as the brass instruments were played. In addition to the Youth- Reach concerts, the YouthReach Program provides elementary school children in Talbot County, MD with a beginning string music experience called First Strings, as well as the Presto! program, an afterschool program of small group classes of five to eight students who have graduated from the First Strings program. Over 600 elementary school children have taken part in the program. Monumental Brass Quintet photo by Amy Steward Angels Concert: Sunset and a String Quartet As you stroll about, perhaps admiring the statuary, waterfront pool, an homage to ee cummings, the herb garden or the Ladies of Oxford calendar (brain child of our host) -- suddenly music wafts across the great hall. NOTHING could be more enchanting. You take your seat and promptly find yourself immersed in the evening, the setting, and the reason that chamber music was created to ease tension within the heart and make a human being soar. If you have attended an Angels Concert, you know that this is true. If you have not, or you have a family member that has not yet learned to love chamber music, this is an occasion to share. Beauty through simplicity and balance are the hallmarks of chamber music. The selections for this year s Angels Concert have an additional emphasis on accessibility which complement the magnificent setting: Composer Charles- Marie Widor s Suite for Flute and Piano, Op. 34; s String Quartet in B-flat major, K.589; André Jolivet s Sonatine for Flute and Clarinet; with additional works to be announced. Sunset and a string quartet Doesn t that sound angelic? We would like to keep you informed of the latest events in our growing series of year round programs. To help us reach you, please sign up on the website www.chesapeakechambermusic.org. 4 6 C h e s a p e a k echambermusic.org
Hungarian State Opera House Lobkowicz Palace The Danube, Budapest Musical Magic Along the Blue Danube By Dyanne Welte - A perfect match... Europe s rich musical legacy meets Chesapeake Chamber Music friends for a fabulous music-filled cruise along Europe s beautiful Blue Danube River. Barbie Smith of Smith Travel in Easton contacted Chesapeake Chamber Music last fall with an exciting opportunity for a group trip on the Danube aboard a brand new state-of-the-art riverboat. If CCM could fill six cabins on the cruise by mid-april, then the agency would make a generous contribution toward the support of CCM programs. The Board of Directors jumped at the chance, and Tauck Tours set aside six cabins for CCM travelers to be held if they could be filled by mid April. Mission accomplished on the last day of the dead line! Our lucky travelers are Carolyn and Charles Thornton, Mike and Ella Bracy, William Dempsey and his wife Elizabeth McGrory, as well as the Welte clan, who will be along to celebrate Bob s 80th birthday during this musical journey. These music lovers will travel together for twelve days filled with glorious music, luxury accommodations, fine dining and music-themed sightseeing. The adventure begins October 16th in Budapest and culminates in Prague. Tauck s knowledgeable musical maestros will offer workshops and seminars prior to performances at concert venues in cities including Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, Salzburg, Passau and Prague, to name a few. These musical scholars will guide the group as it visits the homes where Europe s great musical giants, such as Mozart, Beethoven, Bartók, Wagner, Liszt, Strauss, Haydn and others, lived, composed and performed their music. Some of the many exquisite highlights of this trip are: a visit to the Hungarian State Opera House in Budapest, an insider tour of Bratislava s Opera House, and a behind-the-scenes visit to the Bösendorfer piano salon in Vienna s Musikverein. Dinners and musical performances will be held at a premier concert venue in Budapest, at a 15th century Slovakian winery where one becomes a wedding guest at an interactive traditional Slovak wedding, at a palace in Vienna and at the Lobkowicz Palace in Prague. Before departing Prague for the Eastern Shore, the group will experience a gala evening at a private palace filled with music and magic. 26th Annual Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival Sunday, June 5 at 5:30 PM, Recital, presented in collaboration with St. Mark s United Methodist Church: William Neil (Organ & Piano) & David Bilger (Trumpet) St. Mark s United Methodist Church, Easton Georg Phillip Telemann Musique Héroique Johann Sebastian Bach Fantasia in G Major, BWV 572 And works by Neruda, Eben, Elgar, Gershwin, Beiderbeck and Clark Tuesday, June 7 at 5:30 PM, Recital: Christine Brandes (Soprano) & Ieva Jokubaviciute (Piano) The Inn at 202 Dover, Easton (Optional dinner available for $30. Call 410-819-8007 for reservations) Wednesday, June 8 at 10:00 AM, Open Rehearsal FREE! Thursday, June 9 at 12:00 noon, Recital: Kim Kashkashian (Viola) & Robert McDonald (Piano) Friday, June 10 at 8:00 PM, Concert: Inspirational Schumann Avalon Theatre, Easton Robert Schumann Lieder for Soprano and String Quartet (arranged by A. Reimann) György Kurtág Homage á R. Schumann, Op. 15d for Clarinet, Viola and Piano Robert Schumann Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 44 Saturday, June 11 at 4:00 PM, Concert: French Masters Aspen Institute, Wye Woods, Queenstown (Includes a French Country Picnic) Maurice Ravel String Quartet in F Major Nicolas Bacri American Letter No. 3, Op. 35 No. 3 for Clarinet, Viola and Piano Gabriel Fauré Piano Quartet in c minor, Op. 15 Wednesday, June 15 at 10:00 AM, Open Rehearsal Thursday, June 16 at 5:30 PM, Recital: Daniel Phillips (Violin), with guest artist Tara Helen O Connor (flute) Easton Studio and School, Easton Friday, June 17 at 8:00 PM, Concert: Evening in Vienna Avalon Theatre, Easton Quartet in d minor, K. 421 (Arranged by P. Pearson) Johann Strauss II Emperor Waltz, Op. 437 for Flute, Clarinet, String Quartet and Piano (Arranged by A. Schoenberg) Franz Schubert Piano Trio in B-flat Major, D898 Saturday, June 18 at 3:00 PM, Concert St. Michaels High School Auditorium, St. Michaels Piano Quartet in g minor, K. 478 Michael Torke Telephone Book, for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello and Piano The Yellow Pages The Blue Pages Felix Mendelssohn Quintet in B-flat Major, Op. 87 (arranged by P. Pearson) Sunday, June 19 at 4:00 PM, Angels Concert Elizabeth Point, Oxford String Quartet in B-flat Major, K. 589 Domenico Gabrielli Canon a due Violoncelli Charles-Marie Widor Suite for Flute and Piano, Op. 34 André Jolivet Sonatine for Flute and Clarinet Enro von Dohnanyi Serenade in C Major, Op. 10 FREE! Bratislava Opera House Budapest GERMANY Regensburg Salzburg ITALY Prague Passau CZECH REPUBLIC Melk AUSTRIA SLOVENIA Vienna Bratislava Danube River HUNGARY Maximum Elevation: 1,200 ft. SLOVAKIA Budapest Sunday, June 12 at 3:00 PM, Concert Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Chestertown Johann Nepomuk Hummel Quartet for Clarinet and Strings, Wo0 5, S. 78 Osvaldo Golijov Two Songs for Soprano and String Quartet: Lúa Descolorida How Slow the Wind Antonín Dvořák Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 97 Tuesday, June 14 at 5:30 PM, Recital: Peggy Pearson (Oboe) & Ieva Jokubaviciute (piano) Christ Church, Easton Week 1 Artists Todd Phillips, Violin Catherine Cho, Violin and Viola Yura Lee, Violin and Viola Kim Kashkashian, Viola Maiya Papach, Viola Marcy Rosen, Cello Ieva Jokubaviciute, Piano Robert McDonald, Piano J. Lawrie Bloom, Clarinet Christine Brandes, Soprano Week 2 Artists Catherine Cho, Violin Daniel Phillips, Violin Todd Phillips, Violin Maria Lambros, Viola Julia Lichten, Cello Marcy Rosen, Cello Ieva Jokubaviciute, Piano Tara Helen O Connor. Flute Peggy Pearson, Oboe J. Lawrie Bloom, Clarinet ALL ARTISTS AND PROGRAMS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE 6 C h e s a p e a k echambermusic.org 7
CHESAPEAKE CHAMBER MUSIC PO BOX 461 ~ EASTON, MD 21601 CHESAPEAKECHAMBERMUSIC.ORG NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 82 EASTON, MD 21601 Board of Directors Chloe L. Pitard, President Bernice Michael, Vice President Carolyn Thornton, Secretary Michael Bracy, Treasurer Betty Anderson Penelope Proserpi Garry Clarke Michael Smilow Bill Geoghegan Margaret Welch Jean McHale Kathleen Wise Rush Moody Hanna Woicke Chuck Petty J. Lawrie Bloom, Artistic Co-Director Marcy Rosen, Artistic Co-Director Donald Buxton, Executive Director Lois Campbell, Executive Director s Asst. Chesapeake Chamber Music Presents: Monty Alexander Photo by Peter Rickards