Arts & I-4',ntertainment
Musical Potpourri
Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival combines
21st-century voices with the best of the classics.
Diana Lieberman
Special to the Jewish News
I
n classical music circles,
2006 has been celebrated
as the 250th birthday of
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and
the 100th birthday of Dmitri
Shostakovich. The 13th annual
Great Lakes Chamber Music
Festival, which runs June 10-25,
continues this tribute to two of
music's greatest geniuses.
However, along with featur-
ing works by at least one of the
birthday composers at each
subscription concert, this year's
festival makes a serious state-
ment in favor of new music.
Four composers-in-resi- .
dente will be on hand during
the two-week series. Each will
enjoy fresh new performances
of their work, and several will
participate in discussions with
concertgoers.
The series also includes a
healthy proportion of music by
other contemporary and near-
contemporary composers.
"We are not a new music
festival
that's not our mis-
sion," said Maury Okun, GLCMF
executive director. "However,
we want to promote a viable,
healthy, creative view of the art
form."
The 2006 composers-in-resi-
dence are:
• The Brazilian-American
pianist Gabriela Frank, whose
works reflect not only her Latin
American heritage but also her
Chinese and Lithuanian-Jewish
ancestry;
• Gao Ping, a Chinese-born
pianist who will be featured in
his own exciting, avant-garde
compositions;
• University of Michigan
Professor Michael Daugherty
and his "Ladder to the Moon," a
work for solo violin and cham-
ber ensemble inspired by the
works of assertively American
artist Georgia O'Keeffe;
• Detroit-born composer Paul
Schoenfield, whose new "Trio
for Clarinet, Cello and Piano" is
a 20-minute riff on motifs by
birthday boy Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart.
2006 GLCMF
SCHEDULE
(Subscription and Non-Subscription
Concerts – Highlights)
Saturday, June 10, 8 p.m., Seligman
Performing Arts Center and Sunday,
June 11, 4 p.m., Grosse Pointe Unitarian
Church:
Performers: Yehuda Hanani, James
Tocco, Audrey Luna, Ciompi String
Quartet
Works by Beethoven, Shostakovich,
Mozart, Elgar
72
june 1. 2006
Hot Off The Press
James Tocco, series artistic
direCtor, feels strongly that
"bringing new music into the
world is vital to keeping cham-
ber music alive and healthy."
With this goal in mind, the
GLCMF — an inter-faith orga-
nization founded by Tocco's
brother, the Rev. Msgr. Anthony
Tocco of.St. Hugo of the Hills
Catholic Church — has estab-
lished an endowment in Msgr.
Tocco's name expressly for
commissioning new music.
The estate of Wilda Tiffany of
Bloomfield Hills provided major
funding for the endowment.
Schoenfield is the first corn-
poser partially funded through
the endowment. Other funding
for the commission came from
the University of Cincinnati
and from "Close Encounters
with Music," a year-round fes-
tival directed by cellist Yehuda
Hanani.
Hanani will perform in the
premiere of Schoenfield's "Trio
for Clarinet, Cello and Piano,"
Tuesday. and Wednesday, June 13-14,
7:30 p.m., Temple Beth El Chapel:
Performers: Chee-Yun, Toby Appel,
Paul Katz, Andres Diaz, Yehuda Hanani,
Craig Rifel, Jeremy Denk, James Tocco,
Audrey Luna
Works by ,Mozart, Shostakovich,
Schubert (with prelude)
Thursday, June 15, 7:30 p.m. and
Friday, June 16, 10:45 a.m., Kirk in the
Hills Refectory:
Performers: Toby Appel, Yehuda
Hanani, Alexander Fiterstein, James
Tocco, Ciompi String Quartet
Works by Mozart, Paul Schoenfield,
Beethoven (with prelude)
which will take place 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, June 15, and 10:45
a.m.. Friday, June 16, at Kirk in
the Hills Presbyterian Church
in Bloomfield
Hills. The
trio's other
performers
will be James
Tocco, piano,
and widely
respected
clarinetist
Alexander
Fiterstein, a
graduate of
the Juilliard
School who
was born in
Minsk and raised in
Israel.
"The trio is
not what you'd
call variations:'
explained composer
Paul Schoenfield.
"It's basically mate-
rial from [Mozart's]
Paul Schoenfield,
Gao Ping, Gabriela
Frank and Michael
Daugherty are among
the diverse contem-
porary composers
'
whose works will be
performed at this
year's Great Lakes
Chamber Music
Festival.
Marriage of Figaro
put through a meat
grinder."
Friday, June 16, 8 p.m., Kerrytown
Concert House, Ann Arbor:
Performers: Chee-Yun, Gao Ping,
Jeremy Denk, Ciompi String Quartet
Works by Faure, Gao Ping, Britten
Saturday, June 17, 8 p.m., Seligman
Performing Arts Center:
Performers: Andres Diaz, Craig Rifel,
Jeremy Denk, James Tocco, Gao Ping,
Audrey Luna, Tarab Cello Ensemble,
Ariel Quartet .
Works by Shostakovich, Gao Ping, Villa-
Lobos, Mozart (with prelude)
Sunday, June 18, 11:30 a.m., Detroit
Institute of Arts, Brunch with Bach:
Performers: Chee-Yun, Paul Katz,
Jeremy Denk, Gao Ping, California
Quartet
Works by Boccherini, Gao Ping, Faure
Sunday, June 18, 7 p.m., St. Hugo of
the Hills Chapel:
Performer: James Tocco
Works by Mozart, Mozart-Stadler,
Beethoven, Shostakovich, Chopin
Tuesday and Wednesday, June 20-21,
7:30 p.m., St. Hugo of the Hills Chapel:
Performers: Ani Kavafian, Andres Diaz,
Paul Katz, Peter Soave, Wu Han, James
Tocco
Works by Gabriela Frank, Mozart,
Piazzolla, Brahms (with prelude)