Moveable Feast

Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival
makes metro Detroit a summer destination
for chamber music afzcionados.

AR KWAS%Vq

.

Jamie Bernstein will narrate William
Walton's "Façade," a suite of poems
by eccentric British literary figure
Edith Sitwell.

DIANA LIEBERMAN
Special to the Jewish News

T

here is no surf to speak of
in southeast Michigan
and the Disney organiza-
tion has never scoped out the area
for a theme park. But, for two weeks
in June, metropolitan Detroit is an oasis for lovers of
chamber music. The Great Lakes Chamber Music
Festival, known for its innovative programming and
top-notch performers, takes place starting June 12 at
eight different sites in Oakland County, East Lansing,
Ann Arbor and downtown Detroit.
Now in its 11th season, the series is included in
numerous listings of summer festivals throughout the
United States — including, for the first time this year,
in the pages of the prestigious Wall Street journal
The most cutting-edge performance of the series'
2004 season is Snapshots, a multimedia concert sched-
uled for 8 p.m. Friday, June 25, at Detroit's State
Theatre.
"We've never done anything like this before, and
we're very excited about it," said Maury Okun, the fes-
tival's executive director.

To create Snapshots, the Elements String Quartet
commissioned 16 composers from the diverse genres of
classical, film, jazz, country and R&B. Each was asked
to write a short piece inspired by a personal photo-
graph or a professional photo that holds special mean-
ing. While the quartet plays each short composition,
the audience sees a video including each of the photo-
graphs.
Among the Snapshot composers is Detroit native
Paul Schoenfield, whose works frequently reflect
klezmer and modern Israeli influences. The program
also includes short works by Regina Carter, John
Corigliano, David Del Tredici, Lenny Pickett and oth-
ers.
"The combination of the programming and the
venue is designed to attract younger audiences," Okun
said. "They've done it in New York and Washington,
but this will be the Midwest premiere."

Detroit native Ruth Laredo,
who has performed with the
Great Lakes Chamber Music
Festival since its inception
in 1994, will be back for
the 2004 season.
But, in addition to play-
ing demanding piano parts
with numerous chamber
ensembles, Laredo will present
her first solo recital for the series. It's scheduled for
7 p.m. Sunday, June 20, at Temple Beth El in
Bloomfield Township.
Funding for the recital comes from the Adams
Foundation of Santa Barbara. The foundation also is
funding a duo recital by pianists Richard and John
Contiguglia, scheduled for 7 p.m. Sunday, June 13, at
St. Hugo of the Hills Catholic Church in Bloomfield
Hills.
Instead of a composer in residence, the festival this
year features the music of Charles Ives, a central figure
in American classical music. Although the New
England composer died in 1954, much of his ground-
breaking music seems as iconoclastic today as when it
was first performed.
An 8 p.m. concert on Monday, June 21, at Temple
Beth El will be devoted entirely to the music of Ives,
and will be performed by the Jerusalem-based Ariel

MOVEABLE FEAST on page 38

6/ 4
2004

35