SUMMER SCHEDULE

SUMMER 5iUNDS from page 57

that don't necessarily get the big show
and some Lerner and Loewe. Our songs
tours," Schulman says. "They're look-
will include 'It's a Grand Night for
ing for exposure to Broadway, and this
Singing,' 'Younger Than Springtime'
is a great way to bring it to them. "
and selections from My Fair Lady.
"For the second program, we'll be
singing selections by Andrew Lloyd
Cello Virtuoso
Webber, Schonberg and Boublil, and
Alisa Weilerstein brings some 13 years
Stephen Sondheim. The songs include
of experience with cello performance
'Being Alive,' 'Memory' and the over-
to the Meadow Brook Music Festival,
ture from A Funny Thing Happened on
and she's not even 20.
the Way to the Forum."
Weilerstein, born in 1982, per-
Schulman, who grew up in a Reform
formed
in Texas for the first time when
home and had a bar mitzvah, can't
she was 6 and in trio with her parents,
recall when he didn't love performing.
violinist Donald Weilerstein and
A graduate of the State University of
pianist ViVian Weilerstein. She took off
New York at Oswego, he found his first Tenor Craig Schulman:
"There
are
two
songs
that
with
solo concerts when she was 13.
stage work with the Light Opera of
express
who
I
am,"
says
"Performing
is my favorite thing in
Manhattan, starting in the chorus and
Schulman,
referring
to
the
world
to
do,"
says the young cel-
moving on to house tenor.
"Bring
Him
Home"fi-om
list,
who
will
play
the somber Elgar
As his interest in classic opera grew,
"Les
Miz"
and
'Music
of
the
with
the Detroit
Cello
Concerto
he was hired by regional companies
Night" from "Phantom."
Symphony Orchestra under the direc-
around the country. A successful audi-
tion of Daniel Hege on July 20. "My
tion for Les Miserables changed his
parents always made sure I was enjoy-
focus to musical theater and concerts.
ing myself."
He has performed the role of Jean
Although surrounded by classical
Valjean almost 2,000 times over six sep-
music
as she was growing up in
arate assignments.
Cleveland,
Alisa Weilerstein decided to
Eighteen years ago, Shulman met his
take up the cello after getting a crafted
wife, Monica, during a Florida production
toy instrument from her grandmother.
of The Merry Widow. She gave up her
Her parents, she says, never pushed
singing career to be at home with their
her down an instrumental path.
children, now two sons and an adopted
"When I was 2 1/2, my father was
daughter from China, and later started a
touring
in Europe with a quartet and
management firm for classical artists.
my
mom
was about to tour around
"There are two songs that express
the
States
with another group," recalls
who I am," says Schulman, referring to
the musician, recently profiled on
"Bring Him Home" from Les Miz and
CBS This Morning.
"Music of the Night" from Phantom.
"The night before my mother left, I
The first relates to the emotions he felt
came
down with chickenpox, and my
during the deaths of his father and 6-
Cellist Alisa Weilerstein:
grandmother
came on the train [to be
year-old daughter, Jenna. fhe second
"Performing is my favorite with me]."
relates to his work in both opera and
thing in the world to do.
Her grandmother, Lotte Hornik
musical theater.
My parents always made
Weininger,
brought instruments she
"As an actor who has to perform the
sure I was enjoying myself" made herself out of cereal boxes —
same pieces repeatedly, I personalize
two violins, a viola and a cello. Alisa
them," says Schulman, who senses Jenna's
was drawn to the cello and didn't even pay attention
presence when he vocalizes numbers from Les Miz.
to the others.
"I want the audience to feel as deeply about the
:When my parents returned and I got better,"
songs as I do, and I want to make them seem as if
Weilerstein
recalls, "I had to participate whenever
they're being sung for the first time every time. I'm
they
rehearsed,
and I had to saw on that little cello."
known for not only singing but also acting interpreta-
Weilerstein
started
playing a real cello when she was
tions through my singing."
4, and played her first concert at a school program
Schulman counts his role in Fiddler on the Roof
when she was 5. Initiated into the concert stage through
among his favorite experiences because of both the
the Weilerstein Trio, she counts her performance with .
Jewish connection and the universal family values it
the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra as an important
communicates.
turning point to beginning her solo career.
One project that has been taking up considerable
"It would be a thrill to play with the Cleveland
time is his new CD, Craig Schulman on Broadway,
orchestra at any point in my life, but it was extreme-
which will be released this summer on his own label.
ly exciting then," says Weilerstein.
Although new to this area, Schulman is travel-
She went on a fast track to prestigious concert halls
ing with friends. He knows Hayden, Hernandez
around the world, including debuts at New York's
and Crosby through Les Miz. Groenendaal, who
Carnegie Hall in 1997, Switzerland's Verbier Festival
was chosen through auditions and came to be a
in 1998 and Paris' Louvre Museum in 1999, the same
friend, will be joined b y his wife, Sue Anderson,
year
she made an eight-city recital tour of Japan.
as conductor.
Just
last year, she was a recipient of an Avery Fisher
"One of the things that I love about the concerts
Career
Grant, and as part of the ECHO (European
to
a
lot
of
places
CO
go
is that it gives us a chance

7/6
2001

64

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra presents new
programming at this summer's Meadow Brook
Music Festival on the campus of Oakland
University in Rochester. Here's the symphony
schedule with guests and programs. Prices range
from $16-$56 for individual shows in addition to
subscription rates. More information is available by
calling (313) 576-5111.

JULY 13

JULY 29

"American Fanfare"
with Fireworks
8 p.m.
Brian Jones, timpani
Music by Stephenson,
Peck, Williams,
Copland, Gershwin

"Broadway
Under the Stars"
7:30 p.m.
Soprano Kim
Crosby/tenor Craig
Schulman/baritone
Chris Groenendaal
Music by contemporary
composers

JULY 14

"New World
Symphony"
8 p.m.
Pekka Kuusisto, violin
Music by Grieg,
Sibelius, Dvorak

JULY 15

"An Evening
of Rodgers and
Hammerstein"
7:30 p.m.
Soprano Tamra
Hayden/tenor Craig
Schulman/baritone
Philip Hernandez

JULY 20

AUG. 3

"Best of Baroque"
with Fireworks
8 p.m.
Violinist Emmanuelle
Boisvert
Music by Handel,
Rameau, Vivaldi,
Bach, Handel

AUG. 4

"Mozart in the Meadows"
8 p.m.
Horn player Karl
Pituch
All-Mozart concert

"Symphonic
Blockbusters"
with Fireworks
8 p.m.
Cellist Alisa Weilerstein
Music by Mozart,
Elgar, Gliere, Bizet,
Brahms

JULY 21

"Carmina Burana"
8 p.m.
Soprano JoAnna
Mongiardo/tenor
Christopher
Pfund/baritone Kerry
Henderson/Meadow
Brook Festival
Singers/Christ Church,
Grosse Pointe Boys
and Girls Choir
Music by Haydn, Orff

JULY 22

Nancy Wilson
7:30 p.m.
Jazz, pop and
golden standards

JULY 27

"Vive La France!"
with Fireworks
8 p.m.
Music by Bizet,
Saint-Saens, Debussy,
Berlioz, Ravel

JULY 28

."Beethoven's Fifth"
8 p.m.
Pianist Andrew
von ()even
All-Beethoven concert

AUG. 5

"Big Band Bash II"
7:30 p.m.
Vocalist Dee
Daniels/drummer
Rich Thompson
Music by Glenn Miller,
Tommy Dorsey,
Duke Ellington

.

AUG.10
"Tchaikovs
Spectacular"
with Fireworks
8 p.m.
Pianist James Tocco
All-Tchaikovsky
concert featuring
1812 Overture

AUG. 11

"Tchaikovsky
Spectacular II"
8 p.m.
Pianist James Tocco
All-Tchaikovksy
concert featuring
1812 Overture

AUG. 12

"Marvin Hamlisch"

7:30 p.m.
Music by

Marvin Hamlisch

