Quatuor Mosaïques presents depth, quietly:  ”No doubt this is what people mean when they talk about music casting a spell,” writes the Philadelphia Inquirer‘s David Patrick Stearns in his review of the Austrian period instrument ensembles’s April 10th concert at the Perelman Theater

Pianist Garrick Ohlsson at his peak in Liszt at the Kimmel Center:  ”The pianist’s coloristic range is so tactile that you need to be in the same room with it,” noted David Patrick Stearns, reviewing Ohlsson’s all-Liszt recital at the Perelman Theater (April 12th).

For Marlboro Musicians, at home or on tour, performance is in the details:  The New York Times‘ Vivien Schweitzer covers the April tour of Musicians from Marlboro, which stopped in New York prior to its April 26th PCMS appearance at the Seaport Museum.

Tokyo Quartet rewards:  David Patrick Stearns reviews the Tokyo’s May 6th date at the Seaport Museum, noting that the group “has turned into something that will no doubt continue galvanizing attention in its two final Philadelphia appearances next season.”

András Schiff’s piano marathon rewards:  David Patrick Stearns says the Hungarian master’s May 8th performance at the Perelman Theater was “the recital of his life.”

In Phila. debut, Gerhaher displays fine baritone voice:  David Patrick Stearns writes that Gerhaher’s Philadelphia debut on May 10th “left no doubt…. that he possesses a Stradivarius among voices and is one of the most cultivated singers in the new generation of German art-song interpreters.”

Christian Gerhaher and András Schiff:  A True Musical Partnership:  Also reviewing the May 10th recital, Bachtrack’s Micaela Baranello hails Gerhaher and Schiff as “an exceptionally subtle and accomplished team.”

In order to fully understand how Tony Checchia (Artistic Director) and I go about putting together a typical PCMS season, I would suggest traveling back in time to when you were a child. Think back to one of those days when it was raining outside and you were unable to go out and play. Instead your parents suggested the idea of doing a giant puzzle to pass the time. With no video games, computer or a TV in my house (until I was a teenager) I would eventually be convinced that putting together the 500+ piece puzzle of the map of the world was a “great” idea. As we all know, when it comes to putting together a large puzzle there are some standard strategies, e.g. find the corner pieces first, then put together the edges, then attack the middle.

Where am I going with my childhood puzzle story, you may be asking? Well, putting together PCMS’ 60+ concert season each year is in many ways quite similar to completing a large jigsaw puzzle. Tony and I begin by establishing a set of primary guidelines. For starters, we usually block out 24 chamber concerts, seven piano recitals, three string recitals, three vocal recitals, three wind concerts, five special events, and five Musical Fund Society concerts. That brings us to 50 concerts right off the bat, and then the final 10+ events can be anything:  extra piano recitals; concerts to promote younger artists; additional guitar recitals; or special projects such as next season’s Rossini Mass). Before we know it, Tony and I are at 63 to 65 events and wondering what else we can squeeze in or who we may have overlooked.

One part of the 2012-13 puzzle

Once we have this basic framework in place, the next conversation Tony and I have revolves around which artists PCMS has presented in recent years that we (Tony, Philip, Bradford, Brian, Jacob, myself) want to have back, and also which artists/ensembles have generated real positive public buzz (Tony and I always take your feedback/thoughts  into consideration).  For those of you that are longtime PCMS attendees, you know that we try to build relationships with certain artists and ensembles by bringing them back as often as we think makes sense. Having a 60+ concert season does afford us some flexibility to present artists more often than some other series in the country.

However, returning artists only make up 60-70% of the musicians on our series. Tony and I are always striving to introduce PCMS audiences to the next wave of young musical stars or artists who have international careers elsewhere but who have rarely visited Philadelphia. A few examples in recent seasons include Quatuor Mosaïques, Pepe Romero, Bernarda Fink, and Hopkinson Smith, to name a few. Naturally we are approached often by managers and patrons suggesting new artists for our series, and Tony and I do our best to add every name to the overall list that we revisit each spring. We do our best not to overlook anyone, but even with 63 to 65 concerts each season, unfortunately there are going to be artists/ensembles that we cannot find space for.

Once we have a general idea of the 60+ artists/ensembles making up the season, Tony and I then discuss venue options, and if we have dates available, we look at when it would make the most sense to present certain artists. For example, we try to avoid having all of our piano or vocal recitals in the fall or on the same day of the week. More often than not, especially with European artists, they are only touring for a small window of time, and thus PCMS tries to maintain the utmost flexibility by presenting concerts seven days a week (although we typically avoid Saturdays). We also try to take Mother Nature into account. She can be most unpleasant in January and February so we avoid loading up on concerts in those months. And, of course, we look at trends from recent seasons. There are numerous factors to consider; for example, we have less time to promote events in the early part of the season, and concerts later in the season often benefit from extra PR.

Once Tony and I carefully consider all of these steps, there is an entire secondary part still to come, including fee negotiations, determining programs, arranging travel, booking hotels, and confirming the rehearsal process. I feel I have run on long enough in this particular blog, so I shall leave it up to you whether you would like to learn more about this part of the booking process. Provided enough patrons post responses below or email me directly, I promise to go into more detail about this part of this in a future entry.

In the meantime, I hope that this has helped to shed some light on the steps involved in booking a typical season at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. As I said above, I look forward to hearing your feedback and answering any questions you may have.

The cause of such a dramatic (and fortunate!) turn in Robert Schumann’s thinking has puzzled and intrigued musicians and scholars ever since. In his article “Schumann’s Year of Song” (1965) Eric Sams offered the tantalizing hypothesis that Schumann’s composition on February 1, 1840 of that year’s first song, Schlusslied des Narren, (and, by implication, the torrent of creativity that followed) was inspired by a conversation with Felix Mendelssohn the day before. What could have been the subject of Mendelssohn and Schumann’s discussion? Sams suggests that it centered on the age-old question of whether music can be joined to a text without losing its purity and sublime nature. And the answer Schumann ostensibly gained from Mendelssohn? Set only the greatest poetry, and thereby retain the possibility of becoming a musical poet in turn.

Christian Gerhaher

This Thursday’s recital featuring the German baritone Christian Gerhaher and the eminent Hungarian pianist Andras Schiff promises to be nothing short of a celebration of the song cycle – the genre in which the pairing of words and music is most subtly achieved. The program is anchored by Beethoven’s An die Ferne Geliebte, Op. 98 (1816) considered to be the first true song cycle, and by Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Op. 48, arguably its finest example.

Schumann admired the earlier work, quoting its final song “Nimm sie hin denn, diese Lieder” (Take then, these songs) in both his C major Fantasie for piano, Op. 17, and in his C Major Symphony, but the two cycles are very different. While Schumann composed Dichterliebe in a blaze of artistic inspiration as part of a year dedicated to song, the origin of An die Ferne Geliebte is thought to have been highly personal and autobiographical for Beethoven, the subject of the songs being none other than the Immortal Beloved. Whereas Schumann turned to the poetry of the great Heinrich Heine for his cycle, the poet of An die Ferne Geliebte, Alois Jeitteles, was a physician and only an amateur poet. Dichterliebe is psychologically multilayered and musically complex. Beethoven’s cycle, while certainly showing musical sophistication, seems at times to be purposefully simple and direct, almost naïve, as if to embody lines from the final song:

                        Und du singst, was ich gesungen,

                        Was mir aus der vollen Brust

                        Ohne Kunstgesprang’ erklugen,

                        Nur der Sehnsucht sich bewusst…

                        [And you sing, what I have sung,

                        What I, from my full heart,

                        Artlessly have sounded,

                        Only aware of its longings…]

The two works share a very important link, however, in that both evoke the power of memory by ending with a cyclical return of previous themes. An die Ferne Geliebte ends by returning to the beginning of the work, he narrator imagining his distant beloved singing his songs. In Dichterliebe, the poet is consoled by the wordless song first sung by the flowers in “Am leuchtenden Sommermorgen.”

And in the case of both Dichterliebe and An die Ferne Geliebte, we see the poetry both elevated and given greater depth by their setting by the master composer-poets Schumann and Beethoven.

Admissions Director Jennifer Loux has been a member of the Marlboro Music staff since 2007. She holds degrees in music education from West Chester University and in choral conducting from Temple University.

This is a very special program, indeed, and I’ve never done one like it….It consists entirely of short pieces. There are two main lines hidden in it: the Bach Inventions and the various Bartók pieces. Both Bach and Bartók thought a lot about the musical education of children, even of their own children. Bartók’s Gyermekeknek (For Children) and Mikrokosmos collections follow Bach’s model; Bach clearly writes in his preface to the collection what he wanted to achieve: inventions, ideas, imagination,fantasy, the art of playing in “cantabile” style, and good taste in composition.

As Bach progresses through the two-part inventions and three-part sinfonias, Bartók also advances from simpler to more complicated pieces in his wonderful series. Both composers have given great music to children, who can now learn the art of keyboard playing without having to play bad music. The program ends with Bartók’s Out of Doors Suite—one of his masterpieces, especially the fourth work, “The Night’s Music.”

In addition to the emphasis on Back and Bartók, Schiff has included a few other select works to round out the program.  His thoughts on Kurtág, Jorg Widmann and Beethoven:

…the [three] pieces I’m playing [by Kurtág] are deeply tragic and sad, quasi requiems for friends who have recently passed away. Haydée Charbagi was a Tunisian musicologist and literary scholar who died in Paris at the age of 28. Kálmán Strém was the best concert promoter and impresario in Hungary. I knew him very well; he died in 2007 in his mid-70s.

Widmann is a very talented composer of the younger generation. I wanted to include him here and asked him to write something that would go well with the rest of this program.

The Beethoven Op. 126 Bagatelles are essential music—his final thoughts on the piano.

Then, interspersed through the rest of the recital, are works by Béla Bartók, spanning three decades of his creative output.  Schiff “provides a personal and, at times, moving insight into his fellow-Hungarian’s life, music, self-imposed and unhappy exile, and death in the US.”

Juliet Woods:  For this recital, you have put together a program of works entirely by American composers. How did this program come together? Why did you choose these particular pieces and composers?

Scott St. John

Scott St. John:  This program of all-American composers has been on my wish list for a long time. There are two main reasons I put together this specific program, and the first has to do with the violin I own and play. When I was a student, everyone talked about fine old Italian violins. I was very fortunate to borrow and play two different Stradivarius instruments, and yet I would always enjoy coming back to my own violin. And what was my own violin? An early American instrument, made in Boston by J.B. Squier in 1886. A terrific instrument, but with no “Euro” pedigree. The same sort of situation comes up with early American composers — we still tend to be very Euro-centric in our repertoire choices. I’ve always wanted to show the remarkable breadth of style from our own historical figures, and I’ve chosen repertoire that ranges widely. A more conservative sonata by John Knowles Paine should contrast well with Charles Ives, and I’ve always enjoyed hearing and playing music from two great film composers: Miklos Rosza and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

JW:  You travel all around the world as a member of the St. Lawrence String Quartet. How do you manage to find the time to practice, let alone perform in recital?

SS:  As a member of the St. Lawrence Quartet, I enjoy the touring schedule, despite the fact that life on the road can get somewhat grueling! With a young daughter at home, though, I find it easier to practice on tour than at home.

JW:  You lived in Philadelphia for years when you were a student at Curtis. What are some of your memories of Philadelphia, and what is it like for you to return here?

SS:  Philadelphia has lots of great memories for me. Musical ones, like coachings at Curtis with Felix Galimir and Karen Tuttle. Late night breakfast at Little Pete’s on 17th Street! Since my wife and I both went to Curtis, we think of Philadelphia as a second home, and we always look forward to return visits.

Violinist Scott St. John appears with pianist John Novacek on Friday, May 18th at the Curtis Institute. For tickets and information, visit the concert page or call the PCMS Box Office at 215-569-8080.

The violins, violas and cellos that Stradivari made are among the most famous and only trade hands every once in a blue moon for millions of dollars.  This price range puts them out of reach for even the most gifted artists.  So to bridge the gap, foundations and individual patrons have acquired many of them in order to loan them to well-deserving musicians.  The Nippon Music Foundation is one such organization that currently owns seventeen violins and cellos along with the “Paganini Quartet.”

This quartet of instruments – two violins, a viola and a cello – are forever united together by their history as a set.  The legendary Italian violinist and composer, Niccolo Paganini (the quartet’s namesake) acquired each of the instruments individually in the early 19^th century.  Each had its own personal name:

• 1^st Violin: “Comte Cozio di Salabue” (1727)
• 2^nd Violin: “Desaint” (1680, Stradivari’s early Amatise style)
• Viola: “Mendelssohn” (1731, one of less than twelve surviving Strad violas)
• Cello: “Ladenburg” (1736)

After Paganini, the quartet was divided and changed hands numerous times before being united again by Emil Herrmann, a prominent dealer and restorer of violins in New York City.  They were purchased by Anna E. Clark for the formation of a new quartet in 1946 – the “Paganini Quartet” – this time taking their name from the instruments they played.  When the quartet disbanded in 1966, it was established that the set would never again be separated.  After a short stint with the Cleveland String Quartet, the Nippon Music Foundation bought the instruments and loaned them to the Tokyo String Quartet.

One may wonder why a musician would desire a Stradivarius over another instrument, besides the appeal of playing an instrument from such a famed luthier.  In a conversation with Colin Eatock (of the Houston Chronicle) last year, the Tokyo’s first violinist, Martin Beaver, explained:

I would say, first and foremost, that because the instruments all came from the same maker, it makes it possible to achieve a really nice blend of sound. Strad instruments will afford the individual player a wider palette of colors. That means we can more readily achieve different and special colors – colors that you might not get from lesser instruments.

Over the years, we’ve all had to come to terms with the instruments and their particular personalities, and make them work for the quartet as a whole. That can sometimes be a bit of a challenge. But it’s nice to know you can play the softest pianissimo, and it’s still going to be heard at the back of the hall, no matter how big the hall is.

Cellist Clive Greensmith had a slightly different take on playing a Stradivarius in his conversation with Jason Serinus in 2003, four years after he joined the group:

I think cellos of this caliber are not ideal, because they often have very strong personalities of their own. I really felt like I was in the driver’s seat when I played my own cello. If I wanted to crescendo or dimuendo, make a nuance or a color or change the pacing, it was all me. With the Strad, I had the feeling that it was playing me. The sound was so vibrant and so strong, especially when playing softly, that sometimes a note would pop out in a certain range. It’s hard to play. To have to coax the sound out has been quite an adjustment.

People have sometimes criticized Stradivarius instruments for not being particularly ample or rich sounding right under the ear. But when one goes out into the hall, they sound totally different. So there’s an element of trust in there. Now when I go back and play other cellos, I feel like I’ve learned a lot. Playing the Strad has changed my playing.

Whatever the sentiment, Stradivarius instruments have remained “seductive and extremely transparent,” Greensmith said elsewhere.  And in the hands of such an illustrious ensemble as the Tokyo Quartet, the sold-out audience at their PCMS concert on Sunday, May 6th, will hear another great masterpiece performed – the “Paganini Quartet.”  One can only wonder where the set will travel next after the Tokyo bids farewell next year.

Racking up a total of 17 performances after the Takács Quartet’s concert this year, Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major took 1^st place.

Bartók’s String Quartet No. 3 will pull away from the pack into 2^nd place after the Tokyo Quartet performs the work on Sunday, May 6^th, chalking up its 16^th performance.

Three works tied for 3^rd place, each having been performed 15 times.

• Schubert’s String Quartet in D Minor, D. 810, “Death and the Maiden”
• Debussy’s String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10
• Beethoven’s String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132

Looking forward to next season, the Modigliani Quartet will open the Emanuel S. Kardon Series with the Ravel Quartet on their program, and the Juilliard Quartet will close their Friday, November 30^th program with the Beethoven. Don’t miss these popular works by two of the world’s most sought-after chamber ensembles.

The video below features Bulgarian violinist Bella Hristova performing the fourth movement of the Moszkowski Suite for two violins and piano.

If you attended the Musicians from Marlboro II concert just last month, you will have already heard violinist Robin Scott.  Here he performs a Brahms piano trio.

Here is Belgian violist Dimitri Murrath performing the Final from Debussy’s Trio for Flute, Viola and Harp.

The Tokyo String Quartet just released its recording of Schubert’s quartets Nos. 13 and 14.  While familiar works (No. 14 being the famous “Death and the Maiden”, which they also recorded in 1990), this will likely be their final and finest recorded output before the ensemble officially retires from performing at the end of next season.  After working together for more than four decades, they will continue their separate journeys, enjoying “more free time while continuing to teach and play the great chamber music literature.”  They will surely be missed as a staple on our chamber music series and for the indelible mark they have made on audiences around the world.

The Emerson String Quartet will also be losing cellist David Finckel at the end of next season, as he continues to focus on his work as the Artistic Director of the Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center, the Artistic Director of Music@Menlo and the Creative Director of ArtistLed Records (each of these positions he shares with his wife, pianist Wu Han).  Facing their first member change in 34 years, the other three members of the quartet stated that their “collegial feelings toward this marvelous cellist are mingled with awe and admiration for his manifold talents as a chamber music player, soloist and artistic director of two major presenting organizations and a recording company….His passionate, uncompromising commitment to our art could serve as a beacon to those who have lost their way in these economically and culturally disorienting times.” As one of the Emerson’s last recordings, they issued Mendelssohn’s Op. 80 quartet and Op. 20 octet, having recorded themselves twice, covering all eight parts with only four players – a feat unfortunately too impressive for the stage.

Both CD’s are great additions to one’s listening library, but make sure not to miss their back-to-back performances on the Kardon Chamber Music Series next season.  The Emerson will appear on Wednesday, April 24th, 2013 and the Tokyo on Sunday, May 5th, 2013.

Newhouse takes the reader on a wonderful survey of venues throughout history, from ancient Greek and Roman times through the present day and beyond (she examines the imminent future of venues as well).  A few halls are featured in particular depth:  Lincoln Center (with all its transitions and remodelings); the National Opera House of Norway (Snøhetta, 2008), and the Casa da Música in Porto, Portugal (Rem Koolhaas, 2005).

For a delightful snapshot of the work and a fantastic overview of the many impressive halls that Newhouse has studied, click on the video clip below. Newhouse concludes the brief segment by stating her opinion that there is a “very strong relationship between the space and what takes place in the space.”  What are your thoughts?  How closely connected are the two? What sort of impact does the space have on your own concert experience?

As a performer, this concept always enticed me. While less relevant in an intimate chamber music setting than a 2,500-seat concert hall, the idea of allowing modern audiences to engage more fully and easily in the music-making process is pretty cool (it should be remembered, that at one point, classical music audiences were a bit more like well-dressed rugby fans).

In the digital age, it seems that intimacy with artists is all too present outside of the concert hall. In addition to program book bios, we have regular features on blogs and websites, and outlets like Twitter (@esapekkasalonen), Facebook (Lang Lang has 37,000 likes), Instagr.am, personal blogs – even LinkedIn!

At PCMS, we’ve attempted to align our marketing more and more with the concept of ensuring that our audience members “know” the artists we are presenting. But is knowing what an artist ate for breakfast, or seeing a picture from their day off while on tour in Europe, really what they’re looking for?  For me, the answer is a flat-out “no.”

While some of it is pretty interesting stuff, and we’re not against sharing it, our goal is to make sure that our audience members — who are truly some of the most sophisticated chamber music listeners around — are as enthralled as we are with the different approaches/sounds of various string quartets, or the lineage that informs Richard Goode’s Chopin or Mitsuko Uchida’s Mozart.

So How to Market Artists in the Digital Age?
When it comes to marketing, my instinct is to keep our efforts focused on the meat (the music, the musical perspective) and less about the potatoes (the human interest, the lifestyle, etc.). Some artists will certainly have more interest in sharing personal details with their fans than others. However, as a marketing manager, my goal is to find the most compelling and effective “hook” for deep engagement — and as Christoph Eschenbach likely meant, it’s less about a camera in a musician’s face than about ripping back the cover on the music and making sure we’re all having as rich an experience and conversation about that music as possible.

1. Focus on Quality. What we’re finding (and this is no small task) is that quality is paramount. A bad video of a great conversation with Marc-André Hamelin isn’t all that exciting. That’s why when we spoke with Marc the other day, we showed up with four cameras and two videographers.
2. Content is king. The next most important aspect is relevant musical content. Our Artistic Administrator, Miles Cohen, does an excellent job of blending his unique relationships with our artists along with a deep understanding of the repertoire and the happenings in the world of chamber music. This results in a rich conversation that is relevant and engaging.
3. Keep it informal. Spend a few minutes with this video of pianist Anton Kuerti, and you’ll see why an informal, “behind the scenes” approach can be so powerful.

Click here to view the embedded video.

After switching their strings, the quartet has developed a distinctive sound through their tuning (a little lower than we’re used to), pitch selection (altering the spacing of their intervals to produce new sound colors), and the technique they employ as they interpret the music.  These changes, aside from trying to be more authentic to the time in which a work was composed, create a new experience for the listener.  You may hear more colorful shapes nuanced textures, or leave with a fresh understanding of a movement.  Either way, it is worth hearing a familiar piece in a new light.

The second piece in their performance next Tuesday at the Perelman Theater is Mozart’s well-known Quartet in B-flat Major, K. 458 – subtitled the “Hunt.”  To give you an idea of what you’re in for, listen to the two following renditions of the last movement, first by the Franz Schubert Quartet of Vienna and the second by the Quatuor Mosaïques.  Of course, you won’t be able to experience all the subtle variances through a recording alone.  That’s why live music still sells…and in the case of this quartet, sells out!

To learn more, make sure to catch the pre-concert lecture by Steven Kreinberg at 6:45pm.

What is the Juilliard Quartet without any of the original founding members remaining in the group?

How does the quartet manage disagreements during rehearsals, and what is the decision-making process like?

How much spontaneity is there during a performance?

Broad Street Review‘s Robert Zaller reviews the Jerusalem Quartet’s traversal of three mid-period Shostakovich quartets in his piece, “The caged nightingale had to sing”.

The City Paper‘s Peter Burwasser previewed violinist Ben Beilman’s PCMS recital debut at the Art Museum. The New York Times wrote up his appearance with Young Concerts Artists in New York a few nights prior.

David Patrick Stearns says the Elias Quartet “radiates charisma” in his review of the London foursome’s PCMS debut with pianist Jonathan Biss last week at the Perelman Theater.

Nevertheless, it’s heartening to remember that there are still a dozen great concerts remaining in the current season, spanning now through May 18th. From a star pianist’s surprising turn as an accompanist to the late addition to the series of one of our favorite young American quartets, here are my picks for spring concerts that may have slipped beneath your radar.

Quatuor Mosaïques:  Performing on gut-stringed original instruments, this Viennese foursome is pretty much the gold standard when it comes to classic European quartets. The group’s 2009 PCMS debut performing Mozart, Schubert and Haydn is easily in my personal top 5 PCMS concerts of all time, and their recordings for Naïve (particularly the Mozart Clarinet Quintet and Death and the Maiden) are always in regular rotation at home and in the office. Although currently sold out, their Tuesday, April 10th performance at the Perelman Theater has just a short waiting list for now. Add your name to it soon, and there’s a good chance we’ll be able to find you a seat for what is sure to be one of the highlights of this (or any other) season.

Parker Quartet:  Based in Minneapolis, this young foursome made its Philadelphia debut last season to a packed house in Franklin Hall. I think it was somewhere between the program-opening Rider quartet and the Hindemith quartet that followed that Tony and Miles started thinking about when we could present them again. We were expecting to wait until January 2013, but the unexpected cancellation of the Artemis Quartet on April 30th (for medical reasons) opened the door to a more immediate return.  Unless you already had seats for the Artemis (we informed ticket holders a few weeks back), this change may have escaped your notice. Good seats still remain for their Monday night program of Mozart, Janácek and Schumann, so don’t sleep on this precocious foursome that the PCMS staff and The New York Times agree is “something extraordinary.”

Christian Gerhaher and András Schiff:  This German baritone is a new name for many Vocal Series subscribers, but he’s been a star in Europe for years. London’s Guardian calls him “one of the finest lieder singers of his generation, perhaps the finest,” and The Telegraph hails his “quiet poise, gentle warmth and sincere musicianship.” Gerhaher’s biography is a fascinating one — he trained as a medical doctor before committing full-time to singing — and it’s hard to imagine a more distinguished accompanist for a PCMS debut than András Schiff (as an aside, we’ve somehow got about 30 tickets left for the Hungarian master’s solo recital at the Kimmel Center on Tuesday, May 8th – act now if you’re looking to attend that one). I expect Gerhaher’s performance of Schumann’s Dichterliebe, alongside works by Haydn and Beethoven, to rival Eric Owens for vocal recital of the season.

I’ll be at all of these events and sure hope to see you there too. Questions? Feel free to email me directly at bpotter@pcmsconcerts.org, or give our box office a call at 215-569-8080.

Now we must be cautious posting material like this, for we are not encouraging this type of behavior during Hamelin’s sold out recital on Thursday at the Perelman Theater.  His performance of works by Haydn, Stockhausen, Ravel and Brahms are much better enjoyed without interruption.  But while countless classical tunes have made their way into tinny ringtones, Hamelin is the first I know of to traverse the opposite way – turning “the annoyance into a masterpiece.”

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• This Wednesday night, the University of Pennsylvania presents a concert entitled “Penn Musical Traditions:  Wail of the Voice!” featuring music by faculty composers past and present. Artists will include the Daedalus Quartet (Penn’s Ensemble-in-Residence heard earlier this year on the PCMS series), Samuel Lorber (saxophone), Michele Kelly (flute), Matt Bengtson (piano), and Greg DeTurck (piano) performing Anna Weesner’s Sound as Four, Sound as One; James Primosch’s Piano Variations; Jay Reise’s Yellowstone Rhythms; and George Crumb’s Voice of the Whale. Part of the new Public Lives of Music Series, the concert will be held on March 28 at 8 pm in the Rose Recital Hall (4th floor of Fisher-Bennett Hall at 34th and Walnut on the Penn campus). Admission is free, and a reception follows the concert.

• Temple University composer, Young Friends card holder, and all-around good guy Daniel Fox sent word about Contemplum’s upcoming concerts. Presenting new music by Temple University composers, the group offers a pair of April dates featuring the Temple Composers Orchestra and conductor Adam Vidiksis. You can hear new works by Fox and other Temple up-and-comers this Wednesday, April 4th at 8 pm at the Ethical Society (1906 Rittenhouse Square) and Friday, April 13th at 12 pm at the Learning Center Auditorium on Temple’s Ambler campus. The full program of premieres can be found here.

While most of their performances toggle between Haydn/Sibelius or Suk/Janacek first halves (the latter being programed for PCMS), their appearance on our series is only one of four concerts on their whole tour that features Dvorak’s Piano Quintet in A Major (Op. 81) instead of a Mendelssohn quartet to close the concert.  Joining the Elias for this Quintet is Jonathan Biss. Arthur Keegan-Bole reviewed their collaboration in concert at Wigmore Hall (London) on the first of March.  He writes:

The opening theme is dripping in romanticism and sets the tone for a piece that really is serious about emotions. The piano sound in Wigmore Hall is simply amazing and here, blended with the quartet, it was a treat for the ears….the sound produced by these players was stunning. This music is certainly beautiful and enjoyable…it is an indulgent pleasure to hear music jam-packed with hummable tunes, and it felt like an antidote to the more serious and intellectualized stimulation of Haydn and Sibelius.

The Elias may be one of Europe’s best-kept secrets. Don’t let them return to Europe without hearing them first on Tuesday, March 27^th at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater.

If you would like to support our efforts as we connect world-class artists with students to encourage the next generation of musicians and audience members, please consider a contribution to our Education Fund. For more information on supporting PCMS, please contact me (epetersons@pcmsconcerts.org) or Jacob Smith, Development Director, at 215-569-8587 or jsmith@pcmsconcerts.org.

Take the artists performing on the second Musicians from Marlboro tour this Friday, March 23^rd at the Perelman Theater.  Their list of achievements stretchs longer than this post.

• Clarinetist Romie de Guise-Langlois was a winner of the 2011 Astral Artists’ National Auditions and will be joining the roster of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two this fall.
• Violinist David Bowlin took 1^st prize at the 2003 Washington International Competition and premiered a work by Alexandra Karastoyanova-Hermentin at Carnegie Hall in 2007.
• Though he is still studying at the New England Conservatory, violinist Robin Scott won the 2^nd prize in the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition in 2006 and has already made several international tours.
• In addition to numerous first place prizes, violist Kyle Armbrust was recently named Principal Viola of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and has collaborated with Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell and Yo-Yo Ma.
• Violist Emily Deans made her first solo appearance with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age 13 and took 1^st prize and the Audience Award at the 2009 Washington International Competition.
• After 12 years as the Associate Principal Cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Peter Stumpf joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Principal Cellist in 2002 and was appointed Professor of Cello at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music in 2011.
• Pianist Gabriele Carcano received the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Award in 2010.

In accordance with Marlboro’s unique mission, each Musicians from Marlboro tour combines artists at different places in their careers. Seasoned “master artists” join forces with the stars of tomorrow as they do each summer at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. Only the most successful collaborations are selected for the Marlboro touring ensembles, which travel up and down the east coast three times each season.

The Musicians from Marlboro performance of works by Haydn, Brahms and Beethoven will surely be informed by their individual experiences and collaborations with countless other musicians. But true to their commitment to serve the score, personal accomplishments take a back seat to the shared mission of making music together.  That’s the beauty of these Marlboro tours – on display, yet again, tomorrow evening.

Before and during intermission of the recital with baritone John Moore and pianist Anna Polonsky, brewery rep Patrick Mullin will serve complimentary samples of his Phoenix Pale Ale and Dunkel Lager – two outstanding, exceedingly drinkable local beers that you can find around town on draft and in these fantastic-looking cans.  I hope you enjoy the beer and what promises to be a memorable evening with this fast-rising young baritone (some of you may remember his bravura performance of Mozart and Schubert songs with Polonsky as a highlight of last March’s Marlboro tour) performing songs by  Mozart, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and others.

As we wrap up this season’s Social Series, I encourage you to share any thoughts you may have on this year’s events. Which vendors and products did you enjoy the most? Are there other local purveyors you’d like to see join us in the future? Please share your comments below.

Located on the street it takes its name from, Frankford Hall is another one of Stephen Starr’s creations.  But this time, instead of starting another center-city hotspot, he moved to one of the city’s peripheral regions, revitalizing a former brewery into a traditional German “biergarten”…with a modern edge, of course.  As Craig LaBan, the Restaurant Critic from the Inquirer, wrote in a recent review:

The brick-walled ruin of a long-ago former brewery has been rehabbed just enough to create a sense of blight on a high-concept bounce-back, with roll-up garage doors separating the boisterous and moody interior hall (long community tables, couples playing board games) from a 260-seat open-air garden where the fun really happens-good old-fashioned hanging out, fueled by steins of beer, schnapps shots, and a steady hail of errant ping-pong balls whizzing past the sausage concession window.

The food is just as inviting as the atmosphere – warm Bavarian Pretzels for a quick bite or a Spicy Bauernwurst with Sauerkraut and German Potato Salad sandwiched on either side.  And with extra time before the concert, an open ping-pong table could help work off some of what made these dishes so good in the first place.

Then, with a quick ride down the river (Delaware Ave and Columbus Blvd) and up Spruce Street to the Kimmel Center with just enough time to grab your tickets and find your seat for a program of German and Austrian composers.  With a Haydn Quartet and Brahms Clarinet Trio filling the first half, a string quintet by Beethoven will round out an evening of gutem Essen und Musik.

Consider Musicians from Marlboro. Since 1964, the esteemed Marlboro Music program in Vermont has sent several groups of artists on east coast and national tours. Each season, the make-up of the groups changes, yet they all share certain special characteristics.

The idyllic Marlboro campus

If you have not yet been to Marlboro, it’s an advanced chamber music center, founded by Rudolf Serkin and his colleagues in 1951. For seven weeks each summer, amazing young professional musicians from around the world are joined—in the rural town of Marlboro, Vermont—by master artists, including Co-Directors Richard Goode and Mitsuko Uchida. The emphasis is to provide unlimited rehearsal time, with no deadlines. The musicians can rehearse a piece once or twice and then form another group, or they can stay with it for four, five, six or even seven weeks (with three rehearsals per week). Often, when a group of like-minded artists works in such a fashion, for this long, they discover and reveal the very heart of a great work. Invariably, the performances are infused with a degree of confidence, vitality, consensus and understanding that is quite rare and extraordinary.

Only a small number of the rehearsal groups (about 25%) end up playing on the five weekends of concerts that Marlboro presents each summer. Then, just a few of these—those that have achieved especially wonderful results—are selected for the tour concerts.

So what you will hear, on March 23 and April 26 this season, represents the joyful spirit, thorough preparation, spirit of collaboration and melding of artistic ideas that characterize this unique community. You will hear several master artists—cellists Peter Stumpf and Marcy Rosen, and pianist Cynthia Raim—and also be introduced to some really exciting new musical leaders.

We hope you will take a chance and join us. Also, for information about Marlboro, check out www.marlboromusic.org. The summer program is just a 5-6 hour drive from Philadelphia and, like the musicians who attend, it just may lead you to fall in love with music all over again.