arts & life

mus i c

Friends Of
Four Hands

A local group

celebrates playing

piano in pairs.

J

ill Stone’s Bloomfield Hills
living room regularly turns
into a musical salon, during
which some 50 guests take their
seats around two Steinway grands
for intimate concerts.
Performers — longtime pianists
whose lives have presented priori-
ties beyond instrumental music
— appear in pairs as members of
Friends of Four Hands (FOFH), an
organization that gives dedicated
keyboardists opportunities to com-
bine their talents.
Stone is among 12 of 58 mem-
bers who have two pianos for these
monthly events, when programs
can be classical or contemporary
and members choose from three
approaches: duet piano (two play-
ers at one keyboard), duo piano
(two players at two keyboards) or
eight-handed piano (two players at
each of two keyboards).
“It’s great to work and be with
people who share the same pas-
sion,” says Stone, a seven-year
member who this month takes on
the group presidency. “The music
written for two pianos is beautiful
and so are arrangements planned
for duos.”
At one concert, Stone and part-
ner Linda Permut opened the eve-
ning with a duo piano format for
three movements of Scaramouche
by Darius Milhaud.
Susan Feigenson and Yuki Mack
(a professional concert pianist who
appears with sister, Tomoko, and
mentors members) followed with
the same player approach for the
Mozart Sonata in D Major.
Interspersed were guest seg-
ments featuring duo high-school
students presenting pieces by Bach,
Haydn and Grieg.
The program and the scheduled
players became the main talk at
the reception afterward, when con-
versation also centered around the
group’s 35th anniversary event.
“Unlike the closed home con-
certs, the celebration will present
a free and open concert to be
held Sunday afternoon, May 22,
at the Steinway Piano Gallery in

Commerce Township,” Stone says.
“We hope to have a large audience.”
FOFH was founded by Joyce
Adelson, who had played profes-
sional piano duo for many years
with her identical twin, Joanne,
under the names Joanne and Joyce
Weintraub. After her sister’s death,
Adelson moved into a teaching
career at Oakland University but
kept up her interest in four hands
by developing the group.
Ruth Weingarten stays on as one
of the original seven members.
“This group has made my life
so much richer with so much fun,”
says Weingarten, also a member
of Adat Shalom Synagogue and
Hadassah.
“Joyce Adelson was my teacher,
and the group plans programs in
the same way that she planned
them. When we pay guest musi-
cians, that’s always interesting.”
Weingarten’s partner since the
beginning has been Franziska
Schoenfeld, and the two recently
performed Concertina Opus 94 by
Shostakovich. Schoenfeld, a past
president, kept up with piano while
establishing a career as a dentist.
Weingarten, who took lessons as
a child, had been encouraged into
a professional career, but that had
not been her goal. After a teaching
career, she resumed lessons and
studied with Adelson at Oakland
University, where she was familiar-
ized with ensemble piano.
“I met Franziska and enjoyed
playing with someone else more
than playing solo,” Weingarten
explains. “This group became
another impetus to learn and play.
The people are very supportive.”
Weingarten has watched the
membership grow with a partici-
pant age range now reaching from
the 30s to 80s.
Stone explains that duo piano
performances began in the 17th
century. At that time, most music
was played in homes or in smaller

details

OAKLAND UNIVERSITY KRESGE LIBRARY ARCHIVES

Suzanne Chessler | Contributing Writer

ABOVE: Playing piano in the
four-hand style of duet piano

LEFT: Jill Stone, president of
the piano group, in front of two
Steinways at her Bloomfield
Hills home

TOP LEFT: Friends of Four
Hands founder Joyce Adelson

venues due to costs associated with
concert halls and the pay of orches-
tra musicians.
Composers early on wrote two-
piano works such that one piano
was designated for the melody and
the other for special treatments.
Many classical composers moved
into music intended solely for two
pianos with both parts being of
equal balance and difficulty.
The piano team of Ferrante and
Teicher popularized the duo format
in the 1960s with contemporary
music.
Professionals invited to appear
before FOFH have included the
Contiguglia Brothers, Cheng and
Chow, Aebersold and Neiweem,
Elizabeth and Eugene Pridonoff
and Flavio Varani.
Stone, who decided against the
rigors of becoming a professional
pianist when she was in her sec-

ond year of music studies at the
University of Michigan, turned
away from the instrument for 35
years — until she found old tape
recordings of herself in recital.
“Eight years ago, I came back
with a vengeance, playing solo
before getting involved with this
group,” says Stone, a member
of Temple Beth El. “I really love
playing duo. It’s great fun, and the
sound is bigger and better.
“Some of us have gone on to play
before other organizations, such
as the Battle Creek Area Music
Teachers Association.
“One of my piano partners,
Lauren Smith, and I are going to
a world-class music camp this
summer in Poland, and we will be
playing in a palace. Other members
of Four Hands also are going with
their keyboard partners.”
Beyond the members with

two pianos, others open up their
homes for concerts featuring duets.
Individual members must ask to
perform and, except for the person
doing the scheduling, the rest don’t
know who’s playing until they
arrive.
“The spirit and camaraderie
among FOFH is palpable during
the programs and the after-concert
socials as members understand the
enormous amount of dedication,
hard work and musicality that is
required to play piano skillfully,”
says Stone, who describes long-
time friendships and group outings
to hall concerts.
“We are always looking for
new people for this group — just
as long as they are willing to
perform once a year. We always
want new ideas to keep our pro-
grams fresh.”

*

Friends of Four Hands will host a free open concert at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 22, at the Steinway Piano Gallery in
Commerce Township. For information about the concert or group, contact jillstone@comcast.net.

May 19 • 2016

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