Arts & Entertainment
Performance Plus
Israeli-born classical cellist, who often mixes
music with political action, appears in Ann Arbor.
Yehuda Hanani: "I believe
the world of art can be more
powerful and real than
reality itself."
Suzanne Chessler
Special to the Jewish News
Ann Arbor
ellist Yehuda Hanani welcomes
concert innovation in both corn-
mon and uncommon ways.
When he appears Saturday, March 11,
with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra,
the innovation will be a new work com-
pleted by a University of Michigan gradu-
ate. Other innovations include political
action concerts to bring change beyond
performance.
"Variations," the Ann Arbor program,
features Hanani playing Erika Nelson's
dVRG along with Tchaikovsky's Variations
on a Rococo Theme. The orchestra will
.present Miguel Del Aguila's Conga Line in
Hell and Brahms' Symphony No. 4.
"I'm a firm believer in promoting young
composers," says Hanani, 61, who is
debuting with the A2S0 but has per-
formed many times in Michigan. "To me,
the world of art is the best thing we can
show as human beings."
C
Close Encounters
Hanani, who grew up in Israel, travels the
world as a soloist, teaches at the
University of Cincinnati College-
Conservatory of Music and serves as the
founding artistic director of "Close
Encounters With Music," a chamber series
at the heart of his innovation.
"Musical experience is not just floating
in outer space without any link to the
human experience says Hanani, whose
career has included appearances with a
range of orchestras from the Chicago
Symphony to the Hong Kong Symphony.
"'Close Encounters' links music to other
disciplines — painting, literature, dance,
philosophy and history.
"We had a concert to oppose the build-
ing of a huge cement plant in the small
town of Hudson, N.Y. The plant would
have brought pollution to the Hudson
River and would have altered the entire
character of the area.
44
March 9 2006
"The concert started with Beethoven
and went all the way to Shostakovich. We
commissioned a piece, River Songs by
John Musto, and invited Sharon Olds to
read her poems related to the environ-
ment. Bob Blackman, a cartoonist for the
New Yorker, designed our program."
Hanani's concert, part of a three-year
battle that included demonstrations and
press initiatives, helped move the plant
elsewhere. Other Encounters projects had
Sigourney Weaver reading Shakespearean
sonnets and Jane Alexander recalling
romantic letters written by Schumann.
Plugging Into Art
"I'm attracted to art in general, and the
cello is my way of plugging into it," Hanani
says. "I think that all artists are really cop-
ing with the big questions of human exis-
tence. It's both a search for answers and an
escape from a reality that is sometimes
unbearatle.
"I believe the world of art can be more
powerful and real than reality itself. When
I read a great book, I forget where I am. I
once missed a flight because I was in the
middle of reading Dostoevsky."
The power of music enveloped Hanani
as a 5-year-old in Jerusalem fascinated by
the violin. He was made to switch to the
cello three years later by an aunt who was
a professional musician in Russia.
"I was very upset about it, but my father
was very wise recalls Hanani. "He took
me to a recital featuring a woman cellist
from Canada. She played a Dvorak concer-
to and that sold me on the instrument.
"At this point, I would not switch the
cello for anything else in the world. The
sound range is the range of the human
voice, and I can sit down to play it."
Hanani reports that his parents,
although told he had perfect pitch and a
special talent, insisted on a varied educa-
tion.
"My parents did not allow me to prac-
tice more than two hours a day:' he says.
"They sent me to a school that provided a
lot of exposure to theater, art and nature. I
experienced a broad tapestry of artistic
disciplines woven together and never felt
that music was separate. This is what I'm
trying to re-create with my concert series."
After graduating from high school,
Hanani was seen by the late violinist Isaac
Stern and the late conductor-composer
Leonard Bernstein. They brought him to
America, where he attended Juilliard on
scholarship and was taught by Pablo
Casals.
Winning performance prizes led to a
management contract with Columbia
Artists and the growth of his international
career, which has included recordings.
Currently, he is working on a CD of all of
Beethoven's works with Walter Ponce on
piano; it will be released in late spring.
Hanani and his wife, Hannah, a free-
lance writer who helps with the
"Encounters" series, founded a small syn-
agogue near their home in the Berkshires
in New York State. Their son, Benjamin, is
a financial analyst in New York City and
plays piano for recreation.
The cellist returns to Michigan later this
year to perform with the Great Lakes
Chamber Music Festival and introduce
another new piece. He will be playing a
work composed by Paul Schoenfield.
As Hanani looks forward to appearing
in Ann Arbor, Erika Nelson is thrilled
about the concert.
"The title of my piece is the initials of a
classmate-composer, deVon Russel Gray:'
explains Nelson, a University Musical
Society administrator whose work was
recommended by one of her teachers.
"Since the title of the concert is
`Variations, I did a variation of his
melody. I will be meeting Yehuda Hanani
for the first time, and I'm incredibly excit-
ed that someone of his caliber is playing
my piece." ❑
Yehuda Hanani will perform 8 p.m.
Saturday, March 11, at the Michigan
Theater, 603 E. Liberty, in Ann
Arbor. Maestro Ari Lipsky delivers a
pre-concert lecture at 7 p.m., when
he talks about the pieces to be per-
formed, demonstrating passages
on his flute. $17-$39, with student
and age discounts.
(734) 994-4801.
Children's Concert
"Freedom," a concert and activities geared
toward young people, is planned by the
Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra.
The concert, which features eight
works exploring the theme of free-
dom, begins 4 p.m. Sunday, March 12,
at the Michigan Theater. Morton
Gould's American Salute and Handel's
Israel in Egypt are featured.
A String Instrument Petting Zoo,
held in the theater lobby 2:30-3:30
p.m., lets youngsters experience the
instruments. Girl Scouts from the
Huron Valley Council will attend a pre-
concert workshop to earn their
Making Music badges.
Benjamin Beilman,16, concertmas-
ter of the Pioneer High School
Symphony Orchestra, will perform the
third movement of Tchaikovsky's
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra.
"I love this piece because it's very
diverse and flashy," says Beilman,
who travels to Chicago for weekend
study with private teachers and has
appeared professionally. "I like work-
ing with this orchestra. Last May, I
performed Nigun by Ernest Bloch. It
was very deliberate and deep."
- Suzanne Chessler
The "Freedom" concert begins
4 p.m. Sunday, March 12, at the
Michigan Theater, 603 E. Liberty,
in Ann Arbor. $12 adults;
$5 children. (734) 994-4801.