Family and Friends Create the Chamber Music Festival

— by Margie Doyle —

The Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival (OICMF) is now in its 18th year, with  each season weaving a new tapestry of family and friends in the artistry of musical performance.

The five concerts at this year’s festival will be the centerpiece of a tapestry that is intricate, entrancing and surprising, as OICMF Founder and Artistic Director Aloysia Friedmann would say. She can regale you for hours with programming details of the “confluence of people and places” and the varied degrees of separation from inspiration to engagement to performance that will highlight the 2015 Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival.

Aloysia Friedmann has a gift for putting people and music together in a fun and friendly way; the  Chamber Music Festival under her direction is full of stories of mother-pleasing, match-making, back-packing, school-skipping, parade-leading musicians,their families and friends.

Friedmann, who also plays violin and viola, and her husband, Artistic Advisor Jon (Jackie)  Kimura Parker, piano, will welcome, among others: the Miró Quartet, Sharon Abreu, vocalist;  Oliver Aldort, cello; Paul Hansen, percussion; David Harding, viola; Desmond Hoebig, cello; Nathan Hughes, oboe; Lachezar Kostov, cello;  Timothy McAllister, saxophone; Lorna McGhee, flute; Charlie Porter, trumpet;  Orli Shaham, piano;  Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir, cello; Viktor Valkov, piano; and Sandy Yamamoto, violin.

We caught up with Aloysia last month just after she’d arrived “home” in Houston, and just before she was about to fly “home” to Orcas Island. She’d spent the previous week in Santa Rosa California at the inaugural music festival founded by pianist and conductor Jeffrey Kahane.  Much of the repertoire — featuring Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, with nine concerts performed in five days — Aloysia hadn’t played before. She talked about the schedule of performing and then returning to her hotel room to practice at night. “I’m in good shape now for our festival!”

So last week (July 1) she, husband Jackie and daughter Sophie were packing for the family, including Oscar and Scout the cats and their dog, Ricky, to make their “exodus” to Orcas for the summer. They arrived in time for the Glorious Fourth, where they appeared in the parade. And they’ll make their home the rest of the summer on Orcas, with a few trips off island to play in Santa Fe (Jackie), and at the Music in the Vineyards Festival in Sonoma, just before the Orcas Chamber Music Festival starts on August 6.

For daughter Sophie, school in Houston will have already started, but she’ll still be at the OICMF, as she was last year. “It was such a great experience for Sophie to be on stage for nearly every concert as festival page turner. She was able to be at the last two concerts with Ian and James Parker; to be with her extended family. She really bonded with [her cousin] Ian Parker.” This year, Sophie Parker’s role will be supported by a festival sponsorship. “We’re delighted to be recognizing her,” says new OICMF Executive Director Leslie Rae Schmitz.

[metaslider id=37953]

As “regulars” on the Chamber Music Festival circuit, Aloysia can appreciate all it takes to make the festivals rewarding for the musicians and their audiences, and hopefully the organizers too. While at Kahane’s inaugural ChamberFest she saw, “Jeff [Kahane] was working so hard — and he knows how hard we work during a festival, trying to be everywhere all the time and making sure people are happy — so of all the people that were at his festival, he knew I would understand.”

The Miro Quartet were also a big part of the Santa Rosa ChamberFest, and will be returning to Orcas this August to take part in the Chamber Music Festival. Aloysia also met up with oboist Nathan Hughes who produces” a warm, deep, pure sound.” She commented on the importance of having an oboist of his caliber out of respect for her mother, Laila Storch, who was oboist with the Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet at the University of Washington for 30 years.

Hughes will be coming to Orcas next month, along with his partner, Icelandic cellist Sæunn Thorsteinsdóttir who played with a trio in residence at the Santa Rosa Festival. She has recently accepted a position at the University of Washington, which was formerly held by famed cellist Toby Saks, who was also a founder of the Seattle Chamber Music Orchestra.

And in between visiting her mother’s family home, performing and rehearsing, Aloysia also encountered Barry and Barbara Carlton, a couple from San Diego who represent the wide reach of OICMF. The Carletons were on a camping trip to Orcas Island during the 2014 Beethoven Cycle, and thought they’d see what the performances were about. After the first concert, they were enraptured and waited in line for every concert. This year, at Kahane’s ChamberFest they told Aloysia they’re returning to Orcas for this season’s OICMF.  “They went from ‘Let’s check out what’s going on’ that one night to enthusiastic followers queuing up for every performance,” said Aloysia. “We’re always bringing in new people to the Festival on Orcas.”

She delights in telling of the connection between her mother, Laila Storch, and pianist Van Cliburn’s mother. When both women lived in Houston,  Laila played oboe with Yehudi Menuhin, celebrated 20th-century violinist, at Mrs. Cliburn’s home.  “My son is a very good pianist,” his mom told Laila, who thought, “right, every mother thinks that.”

Soon afterward, Van Cliburn triumphed in his victory at the first Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow in 1958.   When he returned to the U.S. he was celebrated in a New York ticker tape parade, among explorers and military generals, the only musician to be so honored. He said on his return,

“I appreciate more than you will ever know that you are honoring me, but the thing that thrills me the most is that you are honoring classical music. Because I’m only one of many. I’m only a witness and a messenger. Because I believe so much in the beauty, the construction, the architecture invisible, the importance for all generations, for young people to come that it will help their minds, develop their attitudes, and give them values.”

To bring things full circle, Jackie Parker has just served as jurist at the first Van Cliburn Junior Competition at its inaugural season at Ft. Worth, Texas. The competition is among 12-17-year-olds from around the world — “brilliant pianists,” Aloysia said. “Any inspiration we can give to talented young artists is is so meaningful.”

The Junior Van Cliburn competition will alternate every second year with the Van Cliburn Piano Competition, held every four years since 1962. Another of the jurists at the Van Cliburn Junior Competition was Orli Shaham, who will perform several times at the Orcas festival.

Pianists and cellists will stand out at the 2015 OICM festival, with many unexpected threads appearing.

Russian Tableaux August 7-8

The mutual musical love affair between Russia and America will be highlighted in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Suites for two pianos, which begin and conclude the OICMF this year. Rachmaninoff only wrote two suites, and Aloysia says, “It’s great for Jackie to share the stage with Victor Valkov in the Russian Tableaux, playing the Suite No. 1 Fantasisie-Tableaux for two pianos.”

Included in the two nights of  Russian Tableaux concerts are pieces for three cellos and piano (Popper’s Requiem), for piano and saxophone ( Prokofiev’s Visions fugitives and Dinicu’s Hora Staccato), and a quartet for violin, viola and two cellos (Arensky’s Quartet in A minor). 

Timothy McAllister will perform on the saxophone; he has won a Grammy award for his performance in a concert recorded with the St.  Louis Symphony (conducted by Orli Shaham’s husband David Robertson).

Façade August 11-12

Aloysia says, “I’ve wanted to program Façade for years [Façade — An Entertainment by William Walton]. “It’s unusual with its pairings:

• flute-piccolo
• clarinet-bass clarinet
• saxophone – trumpet
• two cellos”

The piece also includes percussion and a reciter (Adam Stern “with his punctuated speaking– fast rhythmical, articulate),. And it’s one of the rare times there will be a conductor in performance — it’s just complicated enough to need one.

“It’s purely entertainment and rarely done, with wacky poetry and rhyming.”

This piece is underwritten by David and Amy Fulton, who introduced Aloysia to it some years ago when she was using his studio in Seattle for production of the OICMF’s 10-year anniversary CD-DVD set. “David is a violinist and extraordinary philanthropist, with a fabulous instrument collection,” says Aloysia.

Coincidentally, she was also approached “completely separately” about doing the Walton piece by Timothy McAllister, Lorna McGee (flute) and Adam Stern. “I am extraordinarily grateful to David and Amy Fulton,” says Aloysia. As it happens, they won’t be able to attend the performance at the Festival, but Fulton’s videographer will be coming to Orcas to film the program.

A recent addition to the Façade program is Jackie Parker playing a piano etude by Oscar Peterson, Canadian jazz pianist, who himself played the difficult piece  “maybe once or twice in his life.

“His wife heard Jackie perform and asked him to learn this work,” Aloysia says. “It is extremely difficult with fast fingers and bass notes, and Jackie will record it on Oscar Peterson’s own piano in the fall. It gives Jackie the ability to be nervous and play, and that’s what drives us. Even more than for the audience but for our fellow colleagues, we want to be equal to the amazing artists surrounding us.

“And given its jazz component, it will add to  the fun of Façade.”

The Romantic Cello August 14-15

start and end the first half with cello pieces

@nd half continues with that,with cello pieces by Strauss, Brahms and Schonberg? Musically it works very well

“The Romantic Cello  was not quite my original intention, but it evolved that way,” says Aloysia. “It’s been nice to involve couples as performers in the festival.” So when Nathan Hughes  [oboist] agreed to come with his partner Sæun Thorsteinsdóttir, cellist, she gave some thought to cello pieces.

The next domino in the cello procession occurred to Aloysia when she thought, “How great it would be to invite ‘the Bulgarians’ (Viktor Balkow, piano and Lachezar Kostov, cello) back!”

Then the news came of islander Oliver Aldort, who just graduated from the Curtis School of Music and has been engaged by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Aloysia shares that she got a nice letter from Oliver’s dad, Harvey Aldort, saying how the OICMF inspired Olivers as a young boy; he got to hear great cellists over the years.”

Aloysia says, “And now is the time to officially honor Oliver as a great talented artist.”

The Romantic Cello features Aldort, Joshua Gindele of the Miro Quartet,  Desmond Hoebig and Lachezar Kostov in Mozart’s overture to The Marriage of Figaro, and cello pieces by Schumann, Brahms and Beethoven (Eyeglasses) and Mendelssohn.

A unique inclusion in the programs is a Sonata for Viola with four hands and harpsichord, which Aloysia promises “will be surprising.” One hint: the piece is by PDQ Bach and arranged by Peter Schickele.

What comes next? Aloysia already had five cellists lined up for this summer’s festival when “I learned of the great work for eight cellists by Villa-Lobos, Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5.” She engaged Sasha von Dassow, of Islands Sinfonia, Roberta Hansen Downey and Frances Walton as assisting artists for the Villa-Lobos piece. It also has a vocal performance, and Islander Sharon Abreu, who has sung the work before, agreed to perform the piece with the multitude of cellos.

And so, “Into the Woods we go!” Concerts on August 18-19

The woods in this case refer to the chamber music compositions for primarily wood instruments. The theme is enhanced by the work of Orcas fiber artist Geoffrey Shilling. Aloysia explains that additional element in weaving the serendiipity and intricacies of festival programming:

“What stands out over all the years, is yes, great music, but a couple of unusual elements we’ve been able to make happen, like Joseph the Puppet who danced in Histoire du Soldat by Stravinsky.  Orcas artist David Densmore made the puppet, and, says Aloysia, “Nobody has done anything quite like it.”

She also recalls the year that the festival reunited 97-year-old filmmaker-photographer Otto Lang , pianist Claude Frank for a discussion and presentation of Lang’s film Beethoven: Ordeal and Triumph (in which Frank, who also played the piano in that evening’s program, had starred as Beethoven).

The Beethoven String Quartet cycle last year  — “I’ll never forget that. It was very hard to do it in seven days; and the Miró Quartet was just amazing.”

And this year, Geoff Shilling’s fiber art will be “the unique aspect” featured in Festival literature and onstage at Into the Woods performances, says Aloysia.

Aloysia makes some  programming choices In consultation with the performing musicians. This year, pianist Orli Shaham spoke up for Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) by Schönberg to include in the Orcas-trations: Into the Woods repertoire. The piece is one of Schönberg’s earliest works, based on a poem of a couple in the woods, with oboe and cello, wooden instruments, accompanying the piano.

The concerts will include performances by Desmond Hoebig, one of the OICMF’s first season artists and the Miró Quartet. Aloysia says, “It’s been several years since Desmond has been able to be a part of the festival and it’s huge for us to be able to play with him and the Miró Quartet!”

Hallelujah Junction, August 21-22

The festival finale will feature the composition Hallelujah Junction, by composer John Adams for two pianos, to be performed by Orli Shaham and Jackie Parker. When they played the piece together last year, composer John Adams wrote, ““Any composer should be so lucky to receive such a reading as Orli and Jackie have done.”

Aloysia has known Adams since the 1980s and has been “working to get him to Orcas.” Thanks in part to his associated with cellist Sæunn Thorsteindsdóttir, he’ll be coming to the festival this year.

Britten’s Phantasy Quartet  for oboe and strings will feature Nathan Hughes. The 15-minute piece is “a great work for oboe and strings, and I’m very excited to see how it will work into the program.”

The concert, and the season will end with Parker and Shaham at the keyboards playing Rachmaninoff’s Suite No. 2 for two pianos. In this way, the Festival will begin and end with the two Rachmaninoff piano suites.

But of course, there’s The Music Lovers Seminars on August 7, 11, 14, 18 and 21 and The Lopez Music Lovers Seminar on August 6; the Children’s Concert “The Story of Babar,” performed by Rachel Buchman and Viktor Valkov on August 12; the Hamlet Concerts in Olga, West Sound and Deer Harbor on August 16; the Pre-Concert Lectures; the Free Open Rehearsal for Seniors; and the Nightcap Receptions. There are additional events for festival donors, concert and reception sponsors, home hosts, board members and volunteers. And at last, as it has for 18 years, the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival will come to an end on August 22.

This year,  for the first time in a long time, Aloysia will stay on the island after the last day of the festival for a few days. “It’s always hard, after everyone’s worked so hard; it’s almost like the rug’s been pulled out from under us. I miss going to the OICMF office, to the market, for coffee.” She’s also enjoying the prospect of “debriefing in the calm after following the festival.

“Every year is a challenge. This past year didn’t know where we’d be with a new Executive Director and Board President. Sam Coleman has done a remarkable job taking us on and making the Festival Board his own.

“And it’s absolutely incredible what Leslie has done with us. We have an incredible team, including our board. It’s been an incredibly smooth transition with Joyce [Stone]and Laura [Gibbons]  there to help in every way possible.”

Tickets for Festival concerts and other events may be purchased at www.oicmf.org .