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to perform and audiences to experience 
a wide range of musical repertoire,
” said 
Maury Okun, festival president, pointing 
out that programming also introduces 
chamber styles to works by classical com-
posers such as Schumann, Mozart and 
Beethoven.
Okun, also president of Detroit Chamber 
Winds & Strings, represents one of four 
organizations sponsoring the annual non-
sectarian festival. The others are Temple 
Beth El, St. Hugo of the Hills Catholic 
Church and Kirk in the Hills Presbyterian 
Church. 
A special event on June 15 at Temple 
Beth El — Music Meets Mindfulness: Yoga 
for Every Body — will feature exercise 
accompaniment by participants from the 
Shouse Institute, the festival component 
encouraging young talent, an important 
aspect of Goldstein’s musical pursuits.

“I’ve spent some time trying to find 
an authentic voice for myself,
” said the 
composer-professor, who supports Hillel 
activities. “My values in music are humor, 
tenderness and direct communication with 
audiences. I’m very interested in connecting 
with people who love music. 
“My musical language has come to 
include jazz, a little bit of popular music, 
blues and spirituals. Tonality has reentered 
my music after being prohibited for a long 
time as I [interpreted the role of] an aca-
demic composer. 
“My musical values are to use whatever I 
can in order to make direct contact with an 
audience that I hope will enjoy the music as 
much as I’m enjoying making it.
”
Goldstein, who grew up in New Jersey 
and earned his doctoral degree in com-
posing at Columbia University, became 
career-motivated while latching on to his 
dad’s hobby of listening to jazz recordings.
“I think I knew by the time I was 12 
years old that I wanted to compose music 
and started doing so about that time,
” 
Goldstein said. “The recording that made 
me most interested in composing had 
movie themes arranged by Quincy Jones. 
“I started a pop music band when I was 
in 10th grade and arranged for that group. 
In my senior year in high school, I per-

formed with the concert band and wrote 
music for the jazz band.
”
A significant part of Goldstein’s work has 
to do with saxophone.
“In 1992, I got a letter from a Dutch 
saxophone quartet, Aurelia, that had heard 
some of my music being rehearsed by a col-
league of theirs,
” Goldstein recalled. “They 
asked if I would write a piece for them.
“I wrote one, and they played it dozens 
of times over the next few years. They also 
recorded it. Because they were playing it 
so much, other saxophonists became inter-
ested in my work and, over the years, I’ve 
written 20 pieces that involve saxophone in 
all different instrumental combinations.
” 
Goldstein believes in composing dis-
cipline and is at desk and keyboard most 
every morning between semesters. 
“When you sit down daily, music is 
percolating in your mind,
” he said. “That 
constant contact with a particular piece and 
the sounds of that piece just about daily has 
been the best recipe for me.
” 

Details
The Great Lakes Chamber Music 
Festival runs live June 10-25 at 
venues around the metro area 
and Ann Arbor. Depending on the 
event, tickets range from $0-$75. 
For a complete schedule, go to 
greatlakeschambermusic.org.
(248) 559-2097.

Perry 
Goldstein

Last year’s 
performance 
at the DIA

