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The
Martha's Vineyard Times is a weekly publication.
July 21 - July 27, 2005 Edition
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Music:
Dolores Stevens and her talented friends July 21, 2005
When Delores Stevens, artistic director of the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society, opens up her Rolodex to round up a few musical friends, remarkable things happen. Thanks to her active performing and teaching career on both U.S. coasts, Ms. Stevens has a list of contacts that includes some of the finest artists making music today, and she has drawn on those connections in organizing the program of the chamber music society for Monday and Tuesday, July 25 and 26. The society’s program notes for the concerts are headlined “Chilmark Piano Quartet.” They might as easily have been headed, “Delores Stevens and Friends.” And an impressive set they are: Flutist Susan Greenberg is a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and a frequent soloist on flute and piccolo. She is active in the motion picture industry, having played for many films, including The Lion King, Star Trek, Toy Stories, and Monsters, Inc. “Susan has actually been to the Island twice before to play with the chamber society,” says Ms. Stevens. “She and I have a concert series in California that’s very successful, called Chamber Music Palisades.” The Los Angeles Times has praised the Palisades ensemble for combining “bright and seasoned professionalism with musical panache.” Violinist Joanna Kurkowicz of Boston is also a veteran of performances with the Vineyard chamber society. She is artist in residence at Williams College and enjoys an active career as an award-winning soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and concertmistress. She has performed on some of the great concert stages of the world, including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall in Boston, and the Grosse Saal in Salzburg, and has appeared as a soloist with the Metamorphosen Chamber Orchestra, the Jefferson Symphony, the San Luis Obispo Symphony, and the New England String Ensemble. As violist for this concert program, Ms. Stevens has enlisted Andrew Duckles, a celebrated artist who has performed extensively throughout North America and Europe since winning the prestigious Petri competition in 1996. “I first met Andrew,” she says, “when we judged a concerto competition, and he’s been my colleague in the chamber music institute of the American String Teachers, which I’ve been doing for the past few years at the University of the Pacific Conservatory.” Then there’s cellist Wilhelmina Smith, whom Mrs. Stevens describes as “really an astonishing player.” As a chamber musician, Ms. Smith has performed with artists including Paul Tortelier, Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, and members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, Brentano, Miami, Borromeo, and Galimir String Quartets in major venues across the United States and Europe. Ms. Smith, whom Ms. Stevens met when her husband’s work as a conductor brought them to Los Angeles, has her own summer music series on the East Coast: she’s the founder and artistic director of Salt Bay Chamberfest in Maine, now in its tenth year. Observes Ms. Stevens, “This program really evolved around the people, and the fact that I wanted a piano quartet. These are all very skilled, wonderful players.” The concluding piece on the concert program, and arguably the centerpiece, is the Piano Quartet, Opus 13, by Richard Strauss. Says Ms. Stevens, “This piano quartet is stunning — it’s early period Strauss, extraordinarily romantic and robust. The slow movement of the Strauss is one of the most beautiful movements in all music.” Wilhelmina Smith will be featured in a performance of the Cello Sonata, Opus 6, by Samuel Barber — the only cello sonata Barber ever wrote. Like the Strauss quartet, it’s a romantic piece, a passionate work filled with haunting melodies. The sonata is known among musicians for its challenging piano part, which should give Ms. Stevens a workout. And as the chamber society continues its celebration of Mozart’s 250th birthday, the ensemble will feature Susan Greenberg in the great composer’s Flute Quartet in D Major, K. 285. Also on the program will be an engaging modern work, Robert Muczynski’s Flute Sonata, Opus 14. Concludes Ms. Stevens, “This particular program is probably the most varied one we’ll be presenting this summer.” Hard as it is to believe, the concerts on July 25 and 26 already represent the midpoint of the chamber music society’s six-week summer series. The summer music festival will continue on July 30 with something entirely new for the society: A one-night concert at the Tabernacle on Saturday, July 30, featuring Island children in a performance of a beloved piece, the Carnival of the Animals by Camille St. Saens. u Piano Quartet concert Monday, July 25, Old Whaling Church, Main Street, Edgartown, and Tuesday, July 26, Chilmark Community Center, South Road, both at 8 pm. Tickets $25, students and children free. Call 508-693-0525. Nis Kildegaard writes as a member of the board of directors of the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society. |
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