Ellington & Dvorak

Berkshire Choral International, Berkshire School, Sheffield, MA

www.choralfest.org

July-August 2015

by Michael J. Moran

Since its founding 34 years ago, Berkshire Choral International has gathered “choristers from the U.S. and abroad to rehearse and perform the great choral-orchestral masterpieces,” according to BCI’s program notes. This summer they presented one concert in Maynooth, Ireland, one in Portland, OR, and three in Sheffield, MA, the last two of which illustrate the wide range of programming BCI now undertakes.

Besides the 150-member BCI Chorus, the first concert, “Music of Duke Ellington and His Era,” featured guest conductor Philip Brunelle, artistic director and founder of VocalEssence in Minneapolis, pianist Sanford Moore, four vocal soloists, and the David Berger Jazz Orchestra. The first half of the program included spirituals arranged or written by various African-American composers, some familiar (Harry T. Burleigh’s rousing “My Lord, What a Mornin,” popularized by Marian Anderson), others obscure (Nathaniel Dett’s revelatory “Ave Maria”), all performed with loving sensitivity by the mixed chorus and soloists.

The second half was a radio hour of “Duke Ellington on the Air,” complete with hip announcer (a cool Frank Nemhauser as Dr. Jazz), inept field reporter (a hilarious Sean Taylor), and sound effects (a versatile Buzz Moran). But spirited renditions by the singers and the Berger ensemble of excerpts from the Duke’s rarely heard Sacred Concerts and more mainstream Ellingtonia (“Come Sunday,” “Take the A Train”) provided rich musical substance.

The other concert showcased the resident Springfield Symphony Orchestra with the Chorus and four vocal soloists in more traditional BCI fare, Dvorak’s “Stabat Mater.” This moving oratorio in ten short movements sets a thirteenth-century Latin poem about Mary’s grief as she stands at the foot of the cross bearing her son, Jesus. The text must have resonated with the composer, who lost three of his young children while writing the piece.

Erin Freeman

Conductor Erin Freeman, choral director for the Richmond Symphony and Virginia Commonwealth University, led a vibrant account of this characteristically Slavic-flavored score, and the strongly distinctive voices of the solo quartet – soprano Laura Strickling, mezzo-soprano Ann McMahon Quintero, tenor Theo Lebow, and bass-baritone Kevin Deas – perfectly complemented each other.

Britten’s “War Requiem” on this season’s opening Sheffield program and the announced repertory for 2016, including Masses by Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert, confirm the matchless opportunity that BCI offers to hear great choral works in an idyllic setting.

Q & A with the Actors of Shakespeare & Company’s “The Unexpected Man”

by Shera Cohen

Photo by Enrico Spada

In a sense, “The Unexpected Man” by Yasmina Reza might be subtitled “strangers on a train.” John Woodson portrays “Man” (who the audience learns is a world-famous author named Parsky), and Corinna May is “Woman” aka Martha, an avid reader and Parsky fan. They are middle-aged strangers seated opposite each other in a small train compartment. What ensues is a somewhat soft comedic look at serendipity and the dilemma of what to do next.

Director Seth Gordon is new to Shakespeare & Co. but not to this play. Gordon revels in presenting “The Unexpected Man” as a challenge. Perhaps more importantly, he said, “In fact, it allows for as rich a dimensional portrait of two  people as you may see in a theatre.”

Spotlight: Why did you want to take on this role? Tell me about your character.

CM: Martha is facing her "twilight" years. She's a reader! A lively, cultured, intelligent, whimsical, woman, a widow with grown children, freshly in grief for a longtime dear friend. She is dealing with these personal losses, as well as all that a woman faces in the way of loss as she ages. I love her for how she handles all of this. Martha is not a woman to collapse into cynicism or dwindle into a sad shadow of her youthful self. She "loves life"; I love her continuing curiosity and wonder, her feistiness. 

JW: I find this role challenging and enigmatic -- a mountain any actor would welcome. Having reached a certain age as a working actor, the writing is very human and I find a sincere identification with where Parsky is in his life.

Spotlight: How much input do you feel you have in defining your character?

JW: I have great input. The director an point out things, request clarity, emotional life and it is in my hands to deliver, if you will, those requests (direction) through my unique lens as an actor and human being.

CM: I expect to have a great deal of input. I expect that the director, et al, have hired me precisely because they have confidence in my ability to do the work and bring the artistry to create this character.  I consider it my job to advocate for my character, to be responsible for her, to know more about her than anyone else . 

Spotlight: Tell me about your rehearsal process.

JM: We explored each segment thoroughly and, not unlike peeling an onion, kept extracting more and more information, details, and connections.

CM: We collaborate. I come in with my ideas and instincts about this character; I am open to the director, who has his own vision of each role as it fits into the whole of the story. I am open to be influenced and affected by what the other actor(s) bring to the table, by how their roles come to life. In rehearsal, she evolves and develops. In private time I ask myself questions, puzzling, questioning, researching. She is also created in my dream time and in my unconscious.

Spotlight: What do you hope the audience will "get" from the play? 

JW: As Paul (my character) says, “to add to the world is to experience the magic of possibility.”

CM: I hope they leave lighter than they came in, having laughed and been moved, and feeling more connected to what they love and cherish -- and perhaps a bit more excited about the possible role of "chance, wonderful chance" in their own lives.

Spotlight: What does the play's title mean to you?

JM: To me, it is self-discovery.

CM: In French, “L'homme du hasard” means the man by chance -- the chance moment that happens whether we will or will not. Is it fate, magic, or happenstance? Does it make a difference in how we live our lives if we see an unexpected event as a simple coincidence -- or as an inevitable event to which our whole lives, up until that precise moment, have been leading?  

Spotlight: To the director - how do you make the play performance-ready?

SG: We rehearsed the individual pieces one at a time, with the other actor always present, even though they had nothing to say. Seeing them opposite was always a help to the actor speaking, and so John and Corinna were always there for each other. We slowly began adding pieces -- doing two at a time, then four, then eight, until we began running through the entire play. Then we added the technical elements: lights, sound, costumes, and the turntable.

The final element was the audience; that’s what previews are for. We’ve continued to hone and perfect individual moments, making sure that the audience gets the overall story while also not missing minute nuances. 

“The Unexpected Man” runs through September 6, 2015 at Shakespeare & Company, Lenox, MA. For information check www.shakespeare.org.

Kinga Augustyn & Lynelle James

Sevenars Music Festival, The Academy, Worthington, MA

www.sevenars.org

July 12-August 16, 2015

by Michael J. Moran

The Sevenars Music Festival has always been a family affair. It was started in the late 1960s by Robert and Rolande Schrade and named after the first letter of their own names and the names of their five children. Three of the children eventually joined their parents in becoming professional musicians and pianists. On five Sunday afternoons every summer, several generations of Schrades continue to present concerts by themselves and other musicians. 

Kinga Augustyn

The latest program was a stunning recital by young Polish-born violinist Kinga Augustyn and third-generation Schrade family pianist Lynelle James. It opened with an arrangement of Bartok’s “Sonatina,” originally written for solo piano on Romanian folk tunes. Augustyn’s natural tone is full and rich, but she scaled it back for the livelier dance rhythms, and even in the hectic close she never smudged a note. In total contrast, she next ascended the Mount Everest of the solo violin repertory with a virtuosic but finely nuanced account of the “Chaconne” from Bach’s second partita. These 14 minutes require the utmost concentration, but Augustyn made it all look effortless.

The rest of the program focused mostly on Polish music, but in this duo’s elegant performance, Fritz Kreisler’s arrangement of Chopin’s Mazurka, Op. 33/3 had an almost Viennese lilt, as did, fittingly, Kreisler’s own “Schoen Rosmarin.” The first half closed with a lively account of Wieniawski’s lovely “Polonaise de Concert” in D.

Intermission was followed by James’s fiery solo reading of Chopin’s “Winter Wind” etude. Surprisingly lyrical pieces by Paganini and Paderewski were then followed by a sensuous account of Szymanowski’s gorgeous “Fountain of Arethusa,” which exceeded even the brilliant closing Sarasate showpiece “Zieunerweisen” in interpretive finesse. A fervent encore of the Bach/Gounod “Ave Maria” brought the concert to a moving end.

As if all this musical nourishment wasn’t enough, Sevenars intermissions offer delicious home-baked refreshments; and there are still two more concerts to come in this uniquely bucolic setting: on August 9, Jerry Noble and friends; on August 16, James family musicians (Lynelle; her father, pianist David James; and her brother, cellist Christopher James).

Tanglewood, Mozart, and the BSO

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

www.tanglewood.org

by Shera Cohen           

I won’t pretend that I can, or even should, review a Tanglewood concert of Mozart music. In fact, while listening to last Sunday’s All-Mozart Program, I began to write comments in my trusty “review notebook” just as I do when I watch theatre. I soon realized that my task was ridiculous. I ceased writing altogether. The music, not to mention Mozart’s music, “said” in its own compelling way, “pay attention.” I did.

To some degree, I compare taking tourist photos to my writing a review. Most people who I know think that I’m wrong not to take a camera or iPhone with me on vacations. “Save the memories,” they say. Yet, and especially because one of my skills is not as a photographer, I leave the camera home. I would spend more time trying to frame a shot, check the exposure, and make sure of no passers-by, than I would actually seeing the view. Ah, but a photo brings back a time to reminisce. Maybe so, but those memories are with me as pictures in my head.

Experiencing the supreme Boston Symphony Orchestra interpret three of Mozart’s well-known symphonies was with me, not just in my ears but in my pours, in my being there in the moment. Will I be able to hum the Jupiter symphony when I return home? Of course not. Will I be able to recite the number of each work; No. 39 in E-flat, K.543? Of course not. It’s been a long time since a course in Music Appreciation for me to even know what E-flat, K.543, etc., means.

Posthumous painting by Barbara Kraffit, 1819

Yet, in reading the Tanglewood program, it was extremely interesting, and sad, to learn that Mozart wrote symphonies No. 39, 40, and 41 in a period of just two months. The little that I knew of Mozart’s history was that this boy genius, who died at age 35, was one of the most gifted and prolific composers of any century.

Didn’t Mozart deserve the attention, away from my notebook and pen, for me to listen and love his brilliant talent? Yes.

The Mount

Remembering the fallow years, looking at the turn around

by Shera Cohen

by Dashielle

Not so long ago, after the Shakespeare & Company theatre troupe left their performance venues at The Mount in Lenox, the home of author Edith Wharton, along with the grounds, looked empty, and to be honest, rather dingy and an unlikely site for what has become a destination point in the Berkshires -- a magnet for museum-goers and audiences of all backgrounds, interests, and ages. I never would have guessed such a 180-degree turn-around.

My favorite program is the “Monday Lecture Series”. Again, I recall attending when 30 or so others came to The Stables Theatre to hear author book discussions, readings, and book signings. The series grew. Due to its immense popularity, many talks are now sold out even before the Mount’s brochure is printed. Topics often have a historic slant; last week’s author introduced her book about women spies during the Civil War. Speaker Karen Abbott offered one of the most dynamic and intelligent talks that I have heard to date.

A close second favorite is “Wharton on Wednesdays,” outdoors on the veranda. With great emphasis on language, particularly that of the early 1900’s, professional actors offer readings of Wharton short stories as guests sip wine (or whatever). This is one of the Berkshires’ most elegant “events,” yet attire is strictly casual.

Fridays and Saturdays, beginning at 5pm, musicians use this same terrace for “Music After Hours.” In fact, each day of the week offers some form of cultural activity. Gone are the days of the empty Mount.

by Kevin Sprague

While at the Mount, we enjoyed viewing (sometimes trying to understand) giant art pieces placed throughout the grounds’ 50 acres under the title “SculptureNow”. For those who have seen this exhibit in the past, this year brings a new pool of sculpture and artists -- 28 in all, made from fabric, metals, wood, fiberglass, and/or other materials. Each is whimsical, dramatic, odd, curious, and/or colorful.

Of course, tours are a must-see, which include those of the house and backstairs (check the Ghost Tours) and the exquisite four-sided garden.

Although I have visited the Mount for 20 years, even I was unaware of its storytelling series that takes place with a storytelling workshop in October.

by Gallery Administrator

I end with another very important 180-degree turn -- Shakespeare & Company once again mounts theatre at The Mount. For the entire summer, “Hamlet” (often considered Shakespeare’s best play) takes the outdoor stage in a “Bare Bard” (meaning cut version) production, with actors performing in multiple roles, and always extremely accessible to any audience member.

There’s more to choose from: poetry readings, food adventures, film, and Friday Conversations En Francais. If only, I could remember anything learned in my three years of high school French, I might join in. Alas, I will stick with English language, albeit Elizabethan.

For information on The Mount check www.edithwharton.org.

Tanglewood: Selected Concerts, Part 2

Festival of Contemporary Music

Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

www.bso.org

July 20-27, 2015

by Michael J. Moran

Besides the distinctions noted in the first installment of this three-part series, Tanglewood also features a week-long Festival of Contemporary Music that explores “new” music in more depth than most other summer music festivals do. The 75th anniversary of the Tanglewood Music Center, whose students perform most of the Festival repertoire, lends it a special resonance in 2015. Called fellows during their TMC summer residencies, many of these emerging musicians perform in two or more concerts per day, but always at the highest level of professional skill.

This year’s opening FCM program presented music by five former TMC fellows, and three of the four living composers were present to take a bow after their piece was performed. A TMC- commissioned arrangement for violin and strings by Einojuhani Rautavaara of his violin-and-piano piece “Lost Landscapes: Tanglewood” featured recent TMC fellow Samantha Bennett in an affecting performance. TMC faculty member Emanuel Ax was the exuberant soloist in Robert Zuidam’s colorful “Tanglewood Concerto” for piano and orchestra.

Another program featured pieces by six former TMC fellows, several of whom spoke after intermission about their works. Michael Gandolfi’s entertaining “Carroll in Wonderland” showcased soprano Dawn Upshaw (who also more or less conducted the piece) and three TMC vocal fellows in a delightful “mashup” (the composer’s word) of nonsense verse by Lewis Carroll. The other popular hit on this program was TMC fellow mezzo-soprano Kristin Gornstein’s virtuosic account of a clever original text by Steven Mackey in his “Madrigal” for female voice and percussion quartet.

Michael Tilson Thomas

The blockbuster FCM event was the closing concert, lovingly hosted by rock star conductor, TMC alum, and former Boston Symphony Orchestra assistant conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony since 1995. MTT led brilliant accounts of short but challenging pieces by three of his own Tanglewood mentors in the first half of the program: Leonard Bernstein; Lukas Foss; and Aaron Copland. He introduced the second half -  Charles Ives’s astonishing “New England Holidays” symphony, a work he has championed and recorded – with several of the now unfamiliar hymns that Ives quotes in the last movement sung with spirited assurance by the high-school-aged Boston University Tanglewood Institute Chorus.

Reading from Ives’s own descriptive notes before each movement, he conducted only the first movement himself, while two TMC conducting fellows – Marzena Diakun from Poland, and Ruth Reinhardt from Germany - and a guest conductor led the last three movements. While all three were impressive, Christian Reif, a young German-born assistant conductor with MTT’s New World Symphony, exuded the special charisma of a star in the making as he led the orchestra and chorus in a mesmerizing account of the final “Thanksgiving” movement.

The last installment of this three-part series will appear next week.

Paradise Blue

Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, MA

www.wtfestival.org

through Aug. 2, 2015

By Bernadette Johnson

It’s 1949, the place, Blackbottom, a densely-populated Detroit neighborhood where African-American-owned businesses, nightclubs and theaters, which had experienced a growth-spurt in the ’30s and ’40s, are beginning to feel the encroachment of urban renewal. The once-vibrant music scene faces extinction. Blue, the owner of Paradise and trumpet lead in the club’s band has lost “soul” and is ready to sell out. Standing in the wings ready to save the club and its legacy are percussionist P-Sam and a newcomer to the scene, the sultry Silver (De’Adre Aziza).

Neil Patel’s moody set is a partitioned club/bedroom with freestanding doorways and lighting by Rui Rita directing attention from one space to the other.

Initially, the production lacks a bit of momentum as P-Sam (Andre Holland) and pianist Corn (Keith Randolph Smith) discuss the club’s shaky future and Blue’s seeming indifference, and Pumpkin (Kristolyn Lloyd), barmaid/cook/Blue’s girl, later tagged a “go-along girl”, and “prissy little thing,” recites memorized poetry.

Blair Underwood (Blue) leaves no doubt that his character feels the “demons closing in.” Underwood is a strong presence with a determined stride and troubled manner. His anger and frustration are genuine, especially when he picks up his blues horn, and struggles with reaching the pure notes that elude him. He lashes out at everyone, his rage comes to a climax in a fight scene with Holland and Randolph Smith (great direction by Thomas Schall).

Aziza is sultry and seductive as the enigmatic Silver, who leaves Corn and P-Sam mystified and entranced, Blue suspicious, and Pumpkin scandalized but curious. Randolph Smith is wide-eyed and mesmerized in a delightful bedroom scene between him and the seductive Aziza. Lloyd’s performance is spot-on as Pumpkin comes out of her shell and finds her voice. Her discovery of a gun in Silver’s belongings sets the scene for an ultimate confrontation.

Dominique Morisseau’s “Paradise Blue,” the middle play in a three-part history-based series, laments the “slum clearance” that led to the destruction of the Blackbottom neighborhood and the Paradise Valley cultural district. Who were the victims in this saga? These were black musicians struggling to earn a living while yet saving their “soul.”