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CHICAGO MUSIC REPORT

A Pair of Virtuosos Dazzle in MYAC’s Winter Concert

4/7/2018

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Midwest Young Artists Conservatory Winter Concert


Fresh off its remarkable 25th anniversary concert in Orchestra Hall this past December, where 300 or so current and former students celebrated in high style, the MYAC Symphony Orchestra was back to its normal routine, presenting its annual winter concert at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall in Evanston. But with appearances by two extraordinary young winners of the 2017 Walgreens Concerto Competition, there was nothing remotely routine about the affair.
The first of the two winners to take the stage was 14-year-old pianist Joshua Mhoon, the overall winner of the open senior division of the competition. The Hyde Park native has made a name for himself in short order, with an earlier win in the 2015 Walgreens Competition, a guest spot with the Chicago Sinfonietta, and appearances at the Ravinia Festival, United Center, Pritzker Pavilion, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and many other notable venues in Europe. 
Mhoon’s winning piece was Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto no. 2, of which he treated the audience to a riveting account of the third movement. After Dennis led the orchestra in the delicate opening bars, Mhoon ripped into the opening piano bursts with bravura and panache, traversing much of the keyboard in a flash with fluid accuracy and an assertive sound. He didn't appear to have particularly large hands, yet he seemed to have little problem spanning the composer’s notoriously wide chords. Of the Russian composer’s many famously memorable tunes, none are more beloved than the long winded melody that appears a few minutes before the end of the concerto. The pianist had the full measure of it, sculpting the theme with a maturity rarely encountered in someone of such tender years. The following section again showed remarkable prestidigitation, the bulky chordal work not only rendered accurately, but with keen attention to voicing. The final statement of the melody was beautifully drawn by Dennis and his forces, and Mhoon brought the movement home with the appropriate swagger.
Cellist Adam Lee is no stranger to Midwest Young Artist Conservatory, being a student there himself. A native of South Korea, he studies with legendary pedagogue Hans Jansen and is currently a senior at Vernon Hills High Schools. He has excelled as a chamber musician, appearing most notably in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. But on this night he took center stage as soloist in the first cello concerto of Dmitri Shostakovich. 
The third movement is in the unconventional form of an extended unaccompanied cadenza. One might expect impatience from a young player like Lee when unimpeded by a conductor and orchestra. But his strategically deliberate pacing worked wonders, drawing attention to a wide range of color and dynamics. Lee’s technique was masterful throughout the range of the instrument, whether sustaining a singing tone or traversing the composer’s full range of chords and double stops.
The transition into the finale steadily gained in intensity, and the opening bars were shot through with sardonic ferocity. Balance inequities are hard to tame e in this movement, but Dr. Dennis kept the textures sufficiently transparent for all voices to come through. The concluding pages were an exercise in controlled fervor, and the audience leapt to its feet at the bristling conclusion.
Like most American orchestras, Dennis chose to honor the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein with his most beloved short work, the overture to Candide. Like their performance in Symphony Center in December, it was a sparkling rendition, with piccolo player Meredith Golding one of the many in the woodwind section contributing some of the more memorable passages.
Woodwinds were at the forefront of the concluding work in the program, excerpts from Ravel’s ballet Daphnis et Chloe, Suite No. 2. The long crescendo in the opening movement, Lever de jour, (“daybreak”) was beautifully paced by Dennis and his forces, and the gurgling of the superb woodwinds (led by principal flutist Jonathan Wu and principal clarinetist Samuel Perlman) brought Ravel’s technicolor score to life in vivid hues. 
Oboist Chloe Cardanas spun lovely lyrical phrases in Pantomime, and Wu excelled with exquisite tone color and breath control in the extended flute solo. The orchestra’s violins sounded as polished as ever in the shimmering chords and darting motivic jabs. The orchestra was joined by the fine singing of three of MYAC’s choral groups, Voices Rising, VocalPoint, and VX Ensemble, and their expressive voices soared from the rear balcony through the orchestral textures. Lower strings, and percussion, and percussion brought the luminous score to a grand finale. 






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Gil Shaham at Orchestra Hall

4/5/2018

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(reprinted from Chicago Classical Review)

Michael Cameron


Symphony Center subscribers were no doubt crestfallen when the megastar duo of violinist Itzhak Perlman and pianist Martha Argerich cancelled their spring American tour. Even though Perlman’s best years are well behind him, the match offered intriguing intriguing possibilities for musical fireworks.
Judging by the reaction to their replacements, the audience felt they got their money’s worth with a varied program offered up by violinist and Illinois native Gil Shaham and pianist Akira Eguchi. The performances were well-executed and thoughtfully realized, and Shaham deserves credit for mixing some modern curveballs in with a healthy dose of standard repertoire.
Legendary violinist Fritz Kreisler’s Praeludium and Allegro (“In the Style of Paganini”) is meat and potatoes repertoire in violin pedagogy, but these days few big league violinists dust it off for the concert stage. It’s a beguiling work, and Shaham seemed to channel the playing of the master with the lush tone and sensuous portamentos of a by-gone era.
Kudos to the duo for thinking outside the box with the inclusion of two substantial works by contemporary American composers. The subtitles suggest the presence of musical references from Turkey and the middle east, but Scott Wheeler’s “The Singing Turk” (Sonata No. 2) from 2017 took inspiration instead from Larry Wolf’s book of the same title. The author muses on the the fascination for Turkish characters in European operas, and each movement of the sonata is based on specific personalities.
The first movement, “Su la sponda”, includes a quotation from Handel’s Tamerlano in which an imprisoned Turkish ruler sings to his daughter before committing suicide. Pointillistic gestures and single note ostinatos open the movement before neo-baroque harmonies mark the appearance of the theme. 
The second draws on the 1761 opera The Three Sultanas by Paul-César Gibert in which Roxelana implores Suleiman the Magnificent to “defend yourself from becoming the slave of two beautiful eyes.” A passacaglia opens the movement, eventually sharing space with variations on Gibert’s aria.
If the first two movements meander unconvincingly, the tightly constructed perpetual motion finale (drawn from Rossini’s Il Turco in Italia) hits its mark with Eguchi and Shaham opening in muted colors before surging ahead with ever more virtuosic dialogue.
Avner Dorman’s “Nigunim” (Sonata No. 3) explicitly draws on non-Western elements, fusing material from various sacred and secular Jewish traditions with non-Jewish components from the same regions.
The most well-known reference to the nigum tradition in the violin repertoire comes from Bloch’s Baal Shem, and Dorman’s musical idiom can be heard as a modern extension of that composer’s evocations of Jewish musical traditions. The redolent opening movement unfolded with sustained drones, piquant dissonances, and impassioned outbursts from both players.  
 Georgian folk music was the impetus for the second movement, a scherzo of sorts, and the duo had great fun with the metric incongruities and flights of virtuosic fantasy. The muted opening of the third movement briefly suggests the listless phrase structures of Morton Feldman before submitting to more conventional lyrical impulses. 
Moto perpetuo is again the preferred texture of this finale, with Shaham’s perfectly executed rapid-fire double stops and Eguchi’s disjunct chordal outbursts combining for an explosive realization. Inspired by Macedonian dances, echoes of Prokofiev and early Stravinsky pepper the score, and all of the cliches of middle eastern traditions are eagerly harvested. But for all of these references, Dorman has crafted a distinct personal style, and his idiomatic way with both instruments make for an easily accessible concert duo.            
Bach’s E major Partita for solo violin was effectively dispatched by Shaham, and he mined his trademark tonal polish and effortless virtuosity to good effect in the opening prelude. But the remaining dance movements were a decidedly mixed bag, his penchant for nearly uninterrupted legato and unvaried articulations obscuring Bach’s clearly delineated architecture. He occasionally employed hushed dynamics to good effect, and his tasteful ornamentation in the Gavotte was artfully applied. But run-on sentences were the norm, lending his account an air of impatience that was exacerbated by the absence of even the smallest pauses between movements.
There is no more standard concert fare than Franck’s Sonata in A major, but Shaham and Eguchi managed to bring a freshness and vigor to the oft-trodden score. The understated opening bars in the first movement were vividly contrasted by the lyrical eruptions that followed, while the second unfolded with barely concealed fury. 
There was a distinct operatic intensity to the third movement Recitativo-Fantasia, and the finale’s outpouring of sunny melodic gestures in canon lead to heroic final pages. Their partnership throughout was seamless and soulful, though there were occasions when Shaham remained in the foreground when the primary material was assigned to the piano.    
“The Graceful Ghost Rag” by William Bolcom was the pleasant if mildly lethargic encore.


   
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Eschenbach and Fray with CSO

2/25/2018

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(reprinted from Chicago Classical Review)

Michael Cameron


While pianist David Fray is not quite the fixture in the local music scene as his more renowned father-in-law (Riccardo Muti), he as made a strong enough impression that many subsequent invitations have been proffered since his Chicago debut in 2011.

The Chicago Symphony has a more direct and long-standing relationship to the other guest artist at Thursday’s Symphony Center concert. Maestro Christoph Eschenbach was music director of the Ravinia Festival for many summers, and makes guest podium appearances with the orchestra with some regularity. Leading a slightly reduced orchestra with a few subs in principal chairs, he and Fray seemed genuinely simpatico in Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2, even if the performance waded somewhere in the gulf between the routine and the revelatory.  

Fray’s adjectives of choice in interviews about the music of the Polish composer include “fragile, vaporous, perfumed, and ephemeral”, stereotypes rooted in reality but also obscuring other facets of Chopin’s art that can’t be ignored in readings of longer works like this concerto, penned at the tender age of 20.

The opening movement showed the pianist in full control of the idiom, teasing out melodic turns, employing tasteful rubato, and voicing the sometimes thick textures with a sensitive touch. But Fray underplayed more muscular passages, draining the work of the dramatic tension that more memorable accounts reveal.

The middle Adagietto of the concerto is its spiritual nucleus and raison d’être, an exquisite creation that brims with extravagantly decorated melodic charm. Fray was clearly at home in this milieu, spinning the meandering filigree with an unforced and elegant ease and gently suggesting the harmonic underpinnings with a pillowy left hand.

If the conductor/soloist partnership seemed generally sure, there were moments in the finale when pianist and ensemble didn't quite gel. Yet Fray conjured up a Polish mazurka with confident idiomatic flair, balancing the work’s inherent showmanship with a respectful nod to Chopin’s roots.

Like the concerto, Mendelssohn’s Overture to a Midsummer Night’s Dream is similarly the product of a precocious mind, composed as an introduction for a dramatic reading of Shakespeare’s play at age 17. 

The quicksilver string patterings introduced here and in his string octet the year before became a hallmark of his orchestration. CSO’s upper strings had an uncharacteristically difficult time synchronizing the fleet chirps with precision, and one fiddle player even jumped the gun in a later appearance of the gesture. But balances were neatly judged and the clarinet solos of….soared with light-winged lyricism

Mendelssohn was a comparative codger at 24 when he wrote his Symphony No. 4, a work inspired by an extended Italian sojourn. He seems to have not thought much of the work himself, but Eschenbach's vivid reading made one wonder how the composer could have ever doubted himself.

The bracing opening movement was sturdy and swift, with rapid-fire woodwind pops and the famous bustling violin tune brimming with virile confidence. The Adagio is one of the composer’s most noble melodic creations, but the conductor choose a tempo too quick for contemplation, leading to an oddly stiff and mechanistic traversal.

The third movement found Eschenbach mining the score for rich inner detail, and the horn and bassoon quartet in the trio lent the section a bucolic charm. The invigorating salterello raced ahead with a blistering edge, the brute virtuosity of each of the orchestra’s sections firing at full bore.

Weber’s opera Der Freischütz may have forever changed the course of German opera, but today only its splendid overture is familiar to most listeners. Eschenbach’s account as the program opener was a highlight of the concert, brimming with atmospheric foreboding and gleaming incantations from brass and woodwinds.

The program will be repeated at Symphony Center Friday at 1:30 p.m., Saturday at 8 p.m., and Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.


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Rolston String Quartet - Winter Chamber Music Fest Debut

1/16/2018

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(reprinted from Chicago Classical Review)
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Michael Cameron

The Winter Chamber Music Festival in Evanston has justly earned kudos for curating interesting programs deftly executed by a mix of local and visiting performers. This year they scored something of a coup with the debuts of two promising young string quartets. The Dudok Kwartek Amsterdam made an impressive showing Friday in their first American appearance, and Sunday at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall at Northwestern University the Rolston String Quartet paid their first visit to the Chicago area.
The Canadian foursome seem to be following a parallel career path with the Dover Quartet. The Bienen School of Music’s Quartet-in-Residence (slated for their own appearance at the festival January 26) rose to prominence with a victory at the 2013 Banff Competition, and the Rolston Quartet nabbed the same prize in 2016. For their concerts at this festival, all three ensembles chose program openers from Mozart’s set of six quartets dedicated to Haydn, the first master of the idiom.
From the opening bars of the first movement of the A major quartet, K. 464, the ensemble demonstrated near flawless technical precision, with clean, cushioned articulations and unfailing unanimity of expression. Reading from matching iPads, they took pains to emphasize elegance and refinement above all other virtues, a strategy that mostly succeeded in the opening Allegro. Vibrato was applied judiciously, and was occasionally avoided entirely, most notably in Mozart’s mildly dissonant suspensions. 
The Minuet unfolded with care lavished on the composer’s asymmetric phrase structures, and subtle rubato gently illuminated each melodic fragment. But the reading underlined elegance at the expense of other attributes, including the composer’s occasional flashes of dark humor and the dance lineage of the idiom.
First violinist Luri Lee’s sweet-toned reading of the theme of the third movement held a winning charm, but some of the following variations worked better than others. The minor key variation was wanting in dramatic intensity, and the signature “drum” variant initiated by cellist Jonathan Lo lacked percussive bite. The finale was better, the quartet’s unwavering transparency working wonders on Mozart’s ingenious counterpoint.   
Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No. 1 was similarly exacting in execution, and filled with expressive touches that reflected the young players’ intellectual engagement with the romantic warhorse. The shimmering opening chords of the first movement bloomed with an organ-like sonority, and the final accelerando worked up a bracing head of steam. A highlight was the famous second movement Andante cantabile, spun as an intimate, lyrical lullaby.
The quartet dug deep for a more extroverted Scherzo, but fell short of the kind of abandon that the best performances of the movement feature. Their aura of invincibility dimmed a bit with some shaky violin octaves in the finale, but the coda was vivid and hot-blooded. 
With 12 string quartets to his credit, few Canadian composers have devoted themselves to the idiom with such consistency as R. Murray Schafer. The Rolston Quartet has little contemporary music in its repertoire to date, but they could do worse than turn their attention to the works of their esteemed compatriot.
His String Quartet No. 2 (“Waves”) from 1976 is a 17-minute sonic depiction of sea water, constructed in a succession of bars lasting between 6 and 11 seconds, the temporal distance between successive crests of waves. The language is pervasively atonal, with a heavy emphasis on brief motives that are continuously repeated and varied. There are suggestions of the string writing of Berg, Bartók, and Ligeti, but the language is very much Schafer’s own.
The young players made for ardent champions of the piece, placing the dazzling colors and modulating tempos in high relief. There was a bit of theater involved, with a spotlight on the players and dimmed lighting in the hall (inexplicably retained in the Tchaikovsky). 
In the final minutes Lee, second violinist Jeffrey Dyrda and violist Hezekiah Leung slowly walked off the stage one-by-one, a la Haydn’s “Farewell” Symphony, playing motives that eventually settled back stage into a unison doldrum. The cellist was left alone, with solitary whistles intoned with mournful bowed utterances. On paper this may appear gimmicky, but the imaginative scoring and the Rolston’s committed advocacy were a winning combination.
The Winter Chamber Music Festival resumes Friday with a 7:30 performance at Pick-Staiger Hall featuring works by Tartini, Bartok, and Stravinsky.
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Midwest Young Artists - A Quarter Century of Excellence

1/3/2018

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​Midwest Young Artists Conservatory - Symphony Center

A quarter century ago, conductor/educator/double bassist Dr. Allan Dennis had a dream. With many years of experience under his belt educating young musicians in the Chicago area, he found a deficit of opportunities for ensemble training for the best and brightest talent. There had long been an ample supply of bright and eager students, supportive parents, and exceptional artist teachers plying their craft. Musicians spend endless hours in solitary pursuit of artistic excellence, but ultimately the art of music comes alive primarily as a collaborative art, and an enthusiastic audience of supporters is critical in the pursuit of excellence.

Out of the this dream was born Midwest Young Artists Conservatory. Dennis quickly secured a physical home among the century old, stately buildings of Fort Sheridan in the northern suburbs of Chicago. With years of accumulated contacts among area music educators and professionals, Dennis was able to offer parents and students a comprehensive collection of ensembles, from the MYA Symphony Orchestra under his baton, to chamber ensembles, choral groups, and jazz combos.

The fruits of these endeavors are manifest in many ways. Dozens of these students have gone on to established careers as world class performers, many with positions in symphony orchestras, chamber ensembles, and countless other performing institutions. Others, inspired by  the first class artistic guidance from their years at MYA, have themselves become educators at every level from K through 12 to higher education. Still more have chosen careers in other professions, but even these students continue to make music a central part of their lives, and usually pass on their love of the musical arts to their children. The virtuous cycle spins on. 

Many of these alumni and more gathered Friday night for a truly extraordinary event: the 25th anniversary season Celebration and Alumni Concert at Symphony Center on Michigan Avenue in Chicago’s loop. Not only did hundreds of performers congregate on the hollowed home stage of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, but numerous current and former ensemble directors lead choruses, jazz ensembles, and a truly massive symphony orchestra.

Conductor Stevi Marks opened the festivities with an appropriately wistful rendition of folk singer Jim Croce’s Time in a Bottle. No doubt fond memories came flooding through the minds of MYA’s loyal supporters in attendance. Next the chorus evoked the holiday season with New Dance for the Sugar Plum Fairy, an adaptation of the Tchaikovsky standard by Amy Engelhardt, complete with swinging rhythms and finger pops. Their final number, the Styne/Comdon/Green standard Make Someone Happy could stand in as MYA’s mantra.

Quentin Coaxum has injected a shot of adrenalin into MYA’s jazz program since taking the helm this past year, but the inclusion of former directors Chris Madsen and Nic Meyer was a reminder of the stellar heritage of jazz studies at the school. Tchaikovsky’s seminal ballet was again an inspiration, this time for Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Overture. The tune works well in swung time, and the students had great fun with the transformation. The triple time With Gratitude composed and directed by Chris Madsen was also an apt expression of students and parents. But for all of the reminders of happy memories, Mercer Ellington’s Things Ain’t What They Used to Be (lead by all three directors) was an exhortation that the best years lie ahead. 

I can’t be certain that a record was set, but I can’t imagine that a larger symphony orchestra has ever graced Orchestra Hall in the 115 years since legendary architect Daniel Burnham built the landmark performance venue. Well over 200 current students and alumni performed in the short program, and space was so tight that the brass sections performed from the choral balcony at the rear of the main stage.

A cheerful, vivid reading of Leonard Bernstein’s Overture to Candide opened the program, conductor Allan Dennis wisely choosing a moderate tempo that allowed the massive ensemble to cohere. The woodwind sections were in find form, lending the score an infectious effervescence. There are few more rousing symbols of celebratory triumphalism than the finale of Beethoven’s mighty 5th Symphony, and the young brass players brought it home in grand, ringing fashion. 

On the other end of the musical spectrum, the Adagietto from Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 is one of the most beloved slow movements in the symphonic repertoire. Dennis led his string players in a glowing rendition, tenderly lyrical and punctuated with a pair of searing climaxes. Excerpts from Daphnis and Cholé (Suite No. 2) demonstrated fleet virtuosity from every section, and a bold, virile account of Brahm’s Academic Festival Overture closed the program in rousing fashion. There was a palpable sense of pride and accomplishment among musicians and supporters for this quarter century of extraordinary achievement, and a sense of hope that the coming years will find the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory an ever more vital part of the community. 








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MYA Shows an Intimate Side

11/26/2017

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     For those not familiar with the splendid performances by the young musicians of the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory, this season offers a plethora of opportunities to see their ensembles in action. The concerts of the full Symphony Orchestra under the stewardship of Dr. Allan Dennis are always a highlight, and the 25th Anniversary Celebration and Alumni Concert December 29th in Orchestra Hall is a can’t-miss event.

But Sunday at Bennett Gordon Hall at Ravinia in Highland Park, MYA aficionados had a chance to hear the musicians ply their trade in more intimate settings. Four ensembles of varying sizes tackled works from the Baroque and Classical eras, with one contemporary piece for good measure.  

     The concert opened with a buoyant chamber orchestra rendition of Mozart’s Symphony No. 36. The slow introduction of the first movement unfolded with an air of mystery, with well-groomed solo passages from oboist Tim Zhang and bassoonist Nick Nocita. Dr. Dennis led his forces through a bustling Allegro proper, followed by an elegant, light-footed second movement Andante, Mozart's occasional mild dissonances providing a touch of piquancy. The maestro took the Presto indication in the last movement quite literally, and the students took to the challenge head-on, with crisp articulations and sharp dynamic distinctions that brought the rondo form into high relief.

     Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 was composed for the smallest and least varied ensemble in the set of six: three violins, three violas, three cellos, one bass, and harpsichord. Dennis stepped away from the podium, allowing the the students to lead themselves in true chamber music fashion. The risk paid off handsomely, the musicians taking cues primarily from harpsichordist Kimie Han and violinist Daniel Wu. The playing was robust and precise, and the players demonstrated admirable unanimity of style and balance. The final allegro was bright and vigorous, with transparent textures and precisely prepared solo passages from all.

    Sadly, most pre-college music schools give short shrift to the skill of musical composition. Fortunately MYAC gives their students this option, and a woodwind quintet (Lucy Rubin, flute; Clara Stein, oboe; Samuel Perlman, clarinet; Andrew Zhuang, bassoon; Zach Greenberg, horn) presented the first performance of Liam Diethrich’s Woodwind Quintet. It was a delightful piece, filled with engaging tunes and perky rhythmic riffs.
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      As varied and satisfying as all of these performances were, the highlight of concert was a solo appearance by violist extraordinaire Carrie Dennis, daughter of MYA’s conductor/founder and former member of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, and Los Angeles Philharmonic. Ms. Dennis gave a riveting performance of the Bartók Concerto a couple of years ago, and this time around she chose the Hoffmeister Concerto as her vehicle.
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     This concerto is a staple of the repertoire, but it’s presented more often in the hands of students in academic contexts than by professionals of Dennis’ caliber. For those listeners who only know the work from budding violists, her account was nothing short of revelatory. The opening bars were imbued with a confidence and musicality that presented Hoffmeister’s underrated melodic inventiveness in a new light. There is a fine line between tasteful classical elegance and robust extroversion, and the violist managed to inhabit both worlds simultaneously. The lyrical line was always paramount, and the horn call double stops were deftly dispatched. 

     The Adagio second movement is nearly Mozartian in its pathos, and Dennis delivered a poignant reading that was deeply moving from start to finish. She began the movement with little vibrato, then slowing warmed up the tone as the musical tension grew. Her sound was deep and singing, every phrase caressed with deeply felt affection.

     The violist chose a blistering tempo for the finale, and it’s hard to imagine any living violist pulling it off with such unwavering tenacity and unflappable technical command. Articulations were clean as a whistle, rapid fire arpeggios were tossed off with ease, and the melodic snippets sandwiched between virtuosic passages were beautifully molded. After such a definitive performance of this warhorse of the viola literature, I’m certain that many in the MYA ensembles were prompted to rush home to work with renewed commitment on their current repertoire.




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Triumphal Brahms from MYA

11/17/2017

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​Midwest Young Artists Symphony Orchestra and Big Band

Youth ensembles have specific challenges that adult musical organizations rarely face. A sizable portion of the membership departs at the end of each academic year, and a new, less experienced class enters the fray. And there is a good chance that for each work programmed in public concerts, most of the musicians are approaching it for the first time. 
The Midwest Young Artists Conservatory Orchestra under Dr. Allan Dennis is not immune to these challenges, but they seem to address them with more determination and success than most. Now entering their 25th year of exemplary musical training for Chicago area youth, the orchestra opened their season with the first of what will be many celebratory events in a concert Sunday at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall at Northwestern University.

But before the Orchestra took the stage, MYAC’s Big Band played a set with its new director, Quentin Coaxum. It was clear from the outset that the bandleader has earned the respect and affection of his musicians, and with his animated visual cues and infectious exuberance, he soon had the audience eating out of his hands. 

Coaxum’s set of mostly jazz standards was nicely varied, and the idiosyncrasies of the composers and arrangers had clearly been absorbed by his young players. Bill Holman’s “Told you So” featured fine solo work by pianist Jonah Karsh and trombone player Ted Wyshel. There were also stylish solo turns from Drew Morhun (trumpet), Joey Ranieri (bass), Chris St. Leger (tenor sax) and Brandon Jaimes (trombone) in Ray Brown’s “Ray’s Idea.” The ruminative solos from alto sax player Matthew Dardick set the mood in a laid-back rendition of “When Sunny Gets Blue”, and the Duke Ellington masterpiece “Black and Tan Fantasy” came alive with soulful contributions from Dardick and Miranda Towler (trumpet). Karsh, Ranieri, and drummers Alexander Rivera and Amil David combined for a the tight and stylish rhythm section.

It’s not often that youth orchestras enjoy the thrill of presenting a world premier, and its’s rarer still when they are asked to contribute to the creative process. The Symphony Orchestra opened its section of the concert with James Stephenson’s MYA Palooza, a rousing concert overture brimming with infectious rhythms, multiple meters, and catchy tunes. Composers have borrowed or otherwise incorporated melodic ideas from other sources throughout the history of written music, and the use of a couple of tunes from MYAC students gave the work a personal touch that, along with the title, will forever link this delightful piece to the educational mission of this exceptional institution. 

Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C minor is not as outwardly flashy as some of the big orchestra warhorses the orchestra has tackled in the recent past (Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, Rachmaninoff’s Second Symphony, Strauss’ Till Eulenspielgel, etc.). But, like the Rachmaninoff, it demands a level of interpretive maturity from string sections that is a rare commodity in youth orchestras. But MYAC’s strings distinguished themselves hansomely, and Dr. Dennis brought an especially personal connection to the piece, conducting without either score or baton. 

The grim slow introduction unfolded deliberately, Brahms’ richly chromatic counterpoint beautifully rendered by the orchestra’s strings and woodwinds, accompanied by the throbbing pulsations from timpanist Patrick Thornton. The allegro proper had an appealing restlessness, and as a whole the first movement was viscerally dramatic, nowhere more so than in the extended, slowly building passage leading to the recapitulation. The coda was dark and menacing before resting at last on a major chord.

Few works in the composer’s catalog can match the intimate lyricism of the second movement of this symphony, and Dennis’ hands coaxed enchanting playing from each section. Principals Tim Zhang (oboe) and Sam Perlman (clarinet) spun dulcet solos that effortlessly reached the rear of the hall. The rapturous violin lines were a highlight of the evening, played with soulful expressivity by concertmaster Rebecca Moy.

Brahms was so intimidated by the example of Beethoven that he waited until he was in his forties before completing his first symphony, consigning earlier sketches to the oblivion of a desk drawer. But rather than slavishly imitating the earlier master, he went his own way, most notably by substituting a genteel allegretto for the standard scherzo or minuet. Flutist Jonathan Wu was a standout in a reading that brimmed with an appealing Schubertian grace. 

With the obvious exception of the 9th symphony,  Beethoven tended to weight his symphonies towards his opening movements. But Brahms’ finale is the longest and most complex of the four. It’s the most heroic music Brahms’ ever wrote for the orchestra, and Dr. Dennis and his forces imbued the score with imposing grandeur. 

There was an enchanting, almost impressionist swirl to the opening adagio introduction. Kevin Zawila’s gleaming horn calls over string tremolos were expertly done, paving the way for the sunshine of the main allegro. Here the strings gave a glowing rendition of the first theme, and the brass and timpani provided sharp bursts of energy. Greta Shawver (trumpet) and Jacob Weisbard (trombone) led their sections admirably, and the orchestra saved their best for last, charging to the final bars in blazing, unrestrained triumph. 




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Third Coast Baroque parties like it's 1685

11/3/2017

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​http://chicagoclassicalreview.com/2017/11/third-coast-baroque-parties-like-its-1685/
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MYAC and Lang Lang Scholars thrill Pritzker Audience

9/8/2017

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by Michael Cameron
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In the crowded summertime schedule of live musical events at Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park, one late August event stands out as a consistent highlight. The supremely gifted young high school age musicians of the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory Symphony Orchestra under the leadership of Dr. Allan Dennis team up with the Lang Lang International Music Foundation Scholars to present programs of excerpts of standard piano concertos. 



Many in the audience were family members of the youngsters on stage, but at least as many were downtown strollers who stumbled on the concert by accident, struck by the professional quality of the music making from virtuosic pianists. On closer inspection, these chance listeners seemed amazed to find pianists as young as 11 years old performing with dazzling artistry and unruffled confidence.


While the audience witnessed only a two hour concert, the event was in fact the culmination of a week of intensive collaboration and fellowship between the pianist/scholars and MYAC members and their families. Clearly, the time together was wisely spent, with coaching on the concertos given by Dr. Dennis, and considerable cultural exchange between the local families and the visiting artists, some visiting from far-off corners of the world. The synergy between visitors and guests was a marvel to behold.


After an effervescent reading of the overture to Verdi’s opera La Forza del Destino, Dennis introduced the first soloist, 16-year-old Californian Elizabeth Zietz, taking on the finale of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor. This was a smart choice for a concert spotlighting the concert grand, as the opening bars are given to the piano alone. Zietz launched into Mozart’s burst of passagework with bracing urgency, bringing sensitive clarity to each section of the concert and showing deft pacing in the sparking cadenza. 


Another beloved Mozart Concerto, No. 23 in A major, was the vehicle chosen by Amir Siraj, a 16-year-old whose many kudos include first prize in the Boston Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. Siraj performed an emotive version of the justly acclaimed second movement Adagio. It’s in the unusual key of F sharp minor (the only such movement in Mozart’s vast input), and contains some the composer’s most tragic undercurrents outside his operas. While not technically challenging in any obvious way, it requires a mature touch to get under the surface, and Siraj’s poignant reading proved to be a highlight of the afternoon. The finale of the same concerto was given a sterling reading by 11-year-old Peter Leung, the youngest soloist of the afternoon. Though small in stature, Leung demonstrated confident elegance in a brisk and alert traversal of the Allegro assai. 


13-year-old Jenny Kong traveled from halfway around the globe to contribute a blistering account of the finale of Mendelssohn’s Concerto No. 1 in G minor. The student from the Hong Kong Academy was fresh off her first prize win at the Burgos International Music Festival Competition in Spain, and it was clear from the first dazzling measures why she made such a keen impact with the judges. The concerto tests the speed of a soloist’s chops like few other works, and she made easy and fun work of the rapid-fire scales and darting chords.


Dennis spoke to the audience of his fondness for Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, and Raymond  Feng’s’ account of the finale (Rondo-Vivace) understandably brought a smile to the maestro’s face. The 11-year-old Hong Kong native brought a calm poise and sure physical command to the formidable warhorse, vanquishing its many technical hurdles with an ease that would make many professional pianists wince with envy. 


Chelsea Guo also choose the finale of a big romantic concerto as her calling card, this time the beloved Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor of Tchaikovsky. The 16-year-old student at Juilliard’s pre-college division launched the opening bars at a zippy pace, vanquishing the fiendish scales and arpeggios with masterful accuracy and idiomatic understanding of Russian romanticism. But for the all the fireworks, her moving account of the composer’s lush lyricism was most memorable. 


Rachmaninoff’s single movement Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is far too long for a concert of concerto highlights, but pianist Eden Chen and Dr. Dennis patched together 10 minutes of highlights that held together quite well. The 18-year-old whiz will be attending Columbia and Juilliard in the fall, having already won the Platinum Prize in the Glendale Piano Competition. The excerpts covered a wide range of tempos and styles, but Chen had no problem switching gears, giving each variation a characterful and compelling reading. 


16-year-old Kimberly Han is no stranger to fans of MYAC’s stellar music program. She is a potent double threat as violinist and pianist, three-time prize winner in the Walgreen’s Concerto Competition, and prize winner in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Youth Competition. Her dazzling reading of the finale of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major was also the finale of the concert, and what a splendid ending it was for both soloist and orchestra. Every twist and turn of the work was handled with ease, and the final bars earned the musicians a richly deserved standing ovation. 


Every generation seems to fret over the future of classical music in our society. While the continued support of a fervent audience base may be a subject for legitimate concern, this concert is further proof that we need not fear a shortage of first rate talent for our concert stages.


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Calidore Goes Big

8/23/2017

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Picture
 
Go Big or Go Home

by Michael Cameron
(reprinted from Ravinia Summer Program
 
A few decades ago, chamber music aficionados could count scarcely more than a dozen full-time string quartets, and a mere three or four American quartets dominated the recording market and touring circuit. While many symphony orchestras and opera companies have weathered financial setbacks and painful downsizing, the string quartet firmament has expanded, with new ensembles breaking out on a yearly basis.
 
The increased demand has been a godsend for the music world, but competition among emerging chamber ensembles has intensified. From their earliest days, the Calidore String Quartet recognized the need to hit pay dirt in short order in the international chamber music competitions that have proliferated in recent years. The awards came their way early and often, their concert schedule blossomed, and collaborations with some of the biggest names in the classical firmament have mushroomed.
 
Chicago area quartet enthusiasts have July 24th marked on their calendars for Calidore’s highly anticipated Ravinia debut with the Emerson Quartet, with music of Beethoven, Strauss, Shostakovich, and Mendelssohn. I spoke to first violinist Ryan Meehan during the group’s June trip to the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Michigan. For Meehan, the Ravinia appearance will be particularly meaningful because of his deep roots in the Chicago area. He studied violin and received chamber music coaching with Roland and Almita Vamos, both legendary pedagogues whose former students include members of the Pacifica, Ying, and Miró Quartets.
 
“I grew up in Winnetka and attended the Music Institute, where the Pacifica Quartet used to give master classes. All four of them would stand behind us and channel so much energy. Their infectious intensity and passion made a big impression and gave every group a real jump start. When I was a junior in high school, Mrs. Vamos assigned me to a quartet that performed in all the competitions. Her son (Brandon) and daughter-in-law (Simin Ganatra) were members of the Pacifica Quartet, and they became important mentors to us.”
 
While the Ravinia performance will be their most prestigious area appearance to date, they performed at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music earlier this year. “The night before the concert we went over to the Vamos’ house and had a coaching, so I guess we’re still being mentored by them!”
 
The four musicians worked through the usual standard solo repertoire in their academic training, but over time they realized that quartet music held a special allure for them.
 
“(Violinist) Jeffrey Myers and I both attended the Aspen Music Festival for many summers. Every year the Takács Quartet would visit, and one particular year he heard them play an electrifying performance of Schubert’s ‘Death and the Maiden’ quartet, a version of which I later heard on a recording. He decided then and there to strongly consider the string quartet as a career.”
 
Given the initial interaction between the two violinists, they could scarcely have imagined that fate would bring them together as artistic brethren. The two competed in a number of quartet competitions as opponents, and for a while didn’t speak to one other.
 
Eventually they met in friendlier circumstances at Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles. Myers, violist Jeremy Berry, and cellist Estelle Choi were in the first iteration of Calidore that won the Grand Prize and Gold Medal in the 2011 Fischoff Competition. Meehan joined a few months later, and the foursome won seven more competitions in the next few years. “That first competition was the impetus for making the quartet the primary focus of our studies. It’s always been the mantra of our group to “Go Big, or Go Home”.
 
The quartet’s name is an amalgamation of “California” and “doré” (French for “golden”, as in “golden state”), an homage to their Los Angeles roots, the diversity of it’s culture, and the strong support it has received from from the area since it’s earliest days.
 
“The fact that there are so many quartets doing so well means that there is a lot of demand for chamber music”, continued Meehan. He believes that some of the fuel for this demand is economic, since orchestra concerts and operas are so costly to produce. If interest has surged recently, chamber music has long had a devote following, in cities big and small.  “It’s always such a pleasure to talk with these people about their favorites pieces and recordings. It’s amazing how committed they are, more so than in any other genre. They’re quite sophisticated in their likes and dislikes.”
 
Another important catalyst in the proliferation of American string quartets in recent years is rising support from academia. Quartets-in-residence at conservatories and university schools of music were rare a half century ago, but now they provide a principal mode of employment for over a dozen quartets, lending financial stability for ensembles that perform most of their concerts on the road. As with so many other milestones in the rise of Calidore, the Emerson Quartet played a pivotal role connecting the young players with teaching opportunities.
 
“Our first contact with the Emerson Quartet was through David Finckel at the Aspen Festival”, according to Meehan. “Later, when we were still in LA, he encouraged us to play for him again. Soon after graduation from Colburn, we received a call from Stonybrook (Long Island) asking if we would assume a residency there. This kind of position is the dream of every young quartet, and it was largely on his recommendation that we were given the job. We worshipped the Emersons since we were young, both individually and collectively. It still seems surreal to have them now as mentors as friends.” At this point the quartet decided to re-locate to New York, a move that was soon rewarded with a three-year residency with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s CMS Two program.
 
The accolades from competitions did more than simply beef up their resumes. The top prize in the 2012 ARD Munich International String Quartet Competition was not only an important career boost, but it gave them a chance to interact with rising European ensembles and led to coaching sessions with the Alban Berg Quartet.
 
“We really wanted a full spectrum of advice. We really hoped to bridge the divide between European and American styles of playing. I think it’s very important to have that kind of global perspective.”
 
Pressed on differences in music-making on either side of the Atlantic, he spoke of the generalizations about American musicians made by their European counterparts. “The perception is that Americans play with perfect intonation and big sound, but not with enough sensitivity in string color, and perhaps with not enough stylistic differentiation between works of different periods.”
 
The quartet considers it’s exposure to a variety of sources paramount to the development of it’s characteristic sound. “The Berg Quartet descended directly from the Viennese tradition, where a majority of the standard quartet repertoire emerged. They can literally trace their lineage back to Beethoven, which means that indirectly you’re getting instructions from Beethoven when you’re working on his quartets with them.”
 
The quartet’s repertoire is remarkably expansive considering their age, but they chose the well-trod music of Mendelssohn and Haydn for their first disc. “Mendelssohn’s Opus 13 quartet was the first piece that we ever sat down and played together and it carried us through many important moments in our career, including every competition we ever did, as well as our our Wigmore Hall debut. We were later attracted by the idea of doing the complete cycle. Like the Beethoven cycle, it spans his entire life, from the age of 18 to just a few months before he died. We’ve done all of his quartets twice now. It’s a lot of music, with a lot of notes, and it’s really helped our endurance!”
 
For their second disc, the players shifted gears and assembled a program around the theme of World War I, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of a war that had profound implications for many composers of the era. “Serenade: Music from the Great War”, was an offshoot of a performance of music by Hindemith and the little known Jacques de la Presle they presented at Verdun in northeastern France, the sight of one of the deadliest battles in history.
 
The group is not waiting until it masters the entire quartet canon before connecting with living composers. They have forged an especially strong bond with Caroline Shaw, who in 2013 became the youngest composer to win the Pulitzer Prize. Cellist Estelle Choi knew Shaw well from their time together at Yale when they were assigned to the same quartet. Choi thought of her at that time only as a violinist, and was surprised to hear that Shaw would be moving on to Princeton to pursue a PhD in composition. Close collaboration soon followed, with multiple performances of Shaw’s “Enr’acte" and the world premier this past November of her “First Essay”.
 
As for their joint concert at Ravinia with the Emerson Quartet, Meehan could barely contain his excitement. “The idea for the performance came from the Emersons, and it should be exciting to hear two quartets at such different stages of their career. The level of energy will be overwhelming. What you feel on stage is even much more intense than what you’ll sense in the audience.”
 
 
 
 
 
 
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    Michael Cameron

    Music journalist.
    Musician. 
    Educator. 
    Published in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Classical Review, Fanfare, Ravinia Programs. Recordings

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