Notes from a Curious Listener

My name is Matthew Geaman, and I am proud to be a SummerFest Spouse. I have been married to a member of the LJMS staff for a little over a year (my wife Leah Rosenthal is the Artistic Administrator). Living with an LJMS staff member during SummerFest can be a little stressful at times, but exciting as well. As the festival approaches, I can see the lines of worry start to cross my wife’s face as she is contemplating all the things that could go possibly wrong, constantly retracing her steps to make sure everything is as organized as possible before the first artist arrives. I have also seen her elated with joy, when she comes home to tell me about the most beautiful performance she has ever heard or shows me a sweet text message she received from Olga Kern sending her appreciation for making her time in La Jolla so memorable.

Witnessing these ups and downs I’ve realized that I have a unique perspective on the festival. As I was wrapping up work last Tuesday and wondering what I should do that evening I remembered that it would be yet another night alone with our dog Sebastian and I thought to myself “…well, there’s a SummerFest concert tonight and if I go I’ll get to see Leah…and hear some great music.” I realized that I had seen her for a total of a few hours since the festival started. It dawned on me that most people probably don’t comprehend the effort that goes into making this festival happen and how the entire organization dedicates their lives to SummerFest.

Us concert-goers get to hear incredible performances, but we rarely think about all the work that goes on behind the scenes. The entire staff is in constant management mode coordinating events ranging from backstage preparation to educational events like coaching workshops and encounters, artist arrivals/departures, artist housing coordination, rehearsal scheduling, development events including intermission receptions and post-concert events, luncheons, etc.

The Serenades and Romance SummerFest concert on Friday, August 12,  is the epitome of why I love La Jolla Music Society's SummerFest - because the musicians are an amazing variety of people, all of whom excel at what they do. The musicians in this concert are a compendium of experienced and new, competition winners, soloists and concertmasters .

Take DaXun Zhang, double bass. I looked at his website and immediately liked him. How could you not when he puts this photo, with tie askew, on his website? And, the rare person who chooses the double bass to play - and becomes a soloist lugging that largest of instruments around - has to be cut from a different cloth than most. DaXun Zhang clearly is not afraid to be himself, and he has had some unique opportunities because of it. Mr. Zhang's association with La Jolla Music Society began with a concert he presented as a competition winner over a decade ago.  Thereafter, he played with Yo Yo Ma in the Silk Road tour, which stopped in La Jolla at SummerFest 2005.  

Hai-Ye Ni is one of the cellists playing in Serenades and Romances. She is also from China but unlike Mr. Zhang, Ms. Ni was shy. She says she was scared when, in the '80s, she was one of the chosen few to be coached by western musicians traveling to China, which had been closed during the Mao regime. Of course, her fear was understandable given that she was only 12 years old and westerners were rare at that time in Shanghai. She clearly overcame her fear as she is now the principal cellist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. I wonder if those western musicians realized that Americans would benefit from the classes they provided to the Chinese musicians? This article in the Epoch Times by Pamela Tsai is a very interesting view into Ms. Ni's life.

"Our SummerFest Chamber Orchestra will make our little, intimate Sherwood Hall boom!", said Christopher Beach, President and Artistic Director, when I asked him why we have a chamber orchestra at SummerFest. As soon as he said it, I knew what he meant. Usually people have a preference between chamber music and orchestra. They either like the intimate sounds of one or the explosive sound of the other. But Christopher (he uses his first name with all La Jolla Music Society devotees) and I love both.

I love chamber music because it is so personal. I feel a strong connection with the 3 - 5 musicians who are playing so close to me. I can see how they concentrate, how difficult a piece is, who is the leader, and how they communicate. The best concerts are when the musicians are having so much fun that I feel like I'm peeking into their personal jam session.

Orchestras, on the other hand, are big, bold, even explosive. The music can blow me away with a big punch or pull me in with curiosity to see which instrument and sound will come forth next.

The first Sunday concert of SummerFest includes a World Premiere written by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. La Jolla Music Society is one of the commissioners of the piece. That peaked my interest; so, I started my research and quickly found that Ms. Zwilich wrote this piece specifically for the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson (KLR) trio, Michael Tree, and Harold Robinson, who will be playing it for the first time, for us!

K-L-R and Zwilich have a long history together. This is the fourth composition that she has written for them, and they have three CDs from 1996, 2002 and 2007. She said to Greg Stepanovich , writer for the Palm Beach ArtsPaper, that the relationship she has with the K-L-R musicians is, "a very family-like relationship, and I love them. I really love these people."

The composition that we will be hearing during SummerFest will also be played around the country including at the Kennedy Center in New York on February 14, 2012. That concert, like ours, will include the piece by Schubert that inspired Zwilich, the much-loved, Piano Quintet in A Major, D. 667, also known as "Trout". The Kennedy Center website describes the piece that we will hear as, "a typical Zwilich combination of emotional intensity and jazzy, frolicking fun. At its center is a bluesy Fantasy that toys with the famous Schubert theme, whimsically titled The Moody Trout ."

 Does the conductor matter? What more is required except good baton technique to keep the musicians together? While researching Nicholas McGegan, one of SummerFest's conductors, I have discovered great performances require a great conductor. A conductor must have his own interpretation of the music which thrills us, even though we have heard it many times. And, to motivate all 80 or so musicians to embrace his interpretation requires skillful leadership. The minute the conductor loses the respect of the orchestra, the concert and conductor are doomed to mediocrity.

So how do they gain the musicians' respect? McGegan uses a deep, deep, (did I say deep?) knowledge of early music, coupled with humility, humor and a mutual respect for the musicians. Being a flautist and harpsichordist gives him the musician's perspective. This quote from Eddie Geoghegan's website taken from the Irish Times, gives some understanding of McGegan's approach:

"Musicians are trying to get something right that's just difficult to do. Being a little martinet maestro does not help. Because everybody really is doing their best. And, some pieces are just very difficult. Having been on the other side of it all, I'm a little bit more sympathetic than some. Well, a lot more, I hope. One of the things I do work at very hard is trying to organize rehearsals so that you don't waste any time. And remembering that such and such a piece does have a triangle player in it, so that you don't keep him sitting around for three hours and then say, 'Oh we didn't quite get to your bit', because you can guess what his assessment's going to be."