Celebration of note: A new summer festival brings the intimacy of chamber music to Atherton and Palo Alto Celebration of note: A new summer festival brings the intimacy of chamber music to Atherton and Palo Alto (July 23, 2003)

By Rebecca Wallace
Almanac Staff Writer

Tough times take their toll on the arts. Donations to symphonies dwindle, painters can't scrape together rent for studios, and people have less money to spend on tickets to concerts.

Art, though, always survives. And against today's dark backdrop, an undaunted pianist and cellist hope to make their new chamber music festival blossom in Atherton.

Music@Menlo runs from August 3 to August 18 at Menlo School's Stent Hall, with two weeks of concerts by renowned musicians and workshops and concerts for young performers. The music hails from five eras -- from the Baroque period to today -- and the festival will include multimedia discussions on these dynamic epochs.

Some events at the festival, which is buoyed by a grant from the Menlo Park-based William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, will also take place at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Palo Alto.

The founders and artistic directors, pianist Wu Han and cellist David Finckel, who perform together around the globe, hope this year's Music@Menlo will mark the beginning of an annual event.

"A festival by definition is so fascinating, because you're celebrating something. It's so different than if you go to a concert once a month," said Wu Han, who goes by both names. "You have to allocate a period of time and have a deeper experience ... In the end your life is a little richer than before."

The couple, who are married, live in New York but chose the San Francisco Peninsula for its entrepreneurial, creative spirit and its wealth of local musicians.

"What a wonderful place. It's a place where the soil is pretty rich," Wu Han said.

Both have also performed in the Bay Area and forged connections with many local musicians. Mr. Finckel is cellist of the Grammy Award-winning Emerson String Quartet, which performs in Stanford University's Lively Arts concert series.

Other Music@Menlo performers will include the St. Lawrence String Quartet, which is in residence at Stanford; Boston Symphony Chamber Players pianist Gilbert Kalish; Jorja Fleezanis, concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra; Geraldine Walther, principal violist of the San Francisco Symphony; and Jeffrey Kahane, pianist and music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Santa Rosa Symphony.

Composers whose works will be performed include such historical luminaries as Vivaldi, Bach, Mozart, Schubert, and Dvorak, as well as modern composers such as Arnold Schoenberg, Bright Sheng and John Corigliano.

Local musicians are pleased to see another creative light switch on in the Bay Area event schedule.

"I think it's great, particularly in the summertime. There are more things going on during the (school) year," said Menlo Park pianist Teresa McCollough, who was a frequent champion for more musical events when she was a member of the city's Arts Commission.

"It's very difficult to put on a traditional chamber music series," she said. "In Italy, every town has string quartets. There's a stronger tradition and appreciation for the arts. Our culture has become more defined by pop music."

Jim Hogan, executive director of the California Youth Symphony in Palo Alto, said classical music will always thrive in the Bay Area, despite challenges.

"There are so many musicians here and so many music lovers. People are going to find a way to make music and enjoy and present music," he said.

Music and society

Chamber music has endured over the centuries by attracting new devotees. And Mr. Finckel and Wu Han hope Music@Menlo will not only appeal to longtime music lovers but will also educate people who don't know much about chamber music.

It's often easier to appreciate art in context, which is why the festival includes an "Encounter" multimedia presentation and discussion before each concert.

Five eras are covered: "The Age of Grandeur" (1650-1750), "The Age of Reason" (1750-1825), "Emotion Unbound" (1825-1900), "New Dimensions" (1900-1925), and "Music Now: Voices of Our Time" (1988-2002). Speakers will discuss political, cultural and scientific trends that shaped the periods when the music was born.

The interplay between music and society has been complex and even volatile. According to the festival brochure, two questions to be covered in the "New Dimensions" session are: "How would Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' 'Communist Manifesto' of 1848 come to resonate in the atonal music of Schoenberg and Webern? What could a Russian ballet do to incite its audiences to take angrily to the streets?"

People who buy tickets in advance for Music@Menlo will also receive CDs that provide insight about the chamber music composers and the structure of the music.

"By the time you get to the music, you have a much better appreciation of what's going on there," Wu Han said.

Intimate setting

Chamber music aficionados say the style of music has a special appeal because of its intimacy. It is performed in small groups without a conductor, drawing the performers to work closely together to blend their sounds.

"It's quite an interpersonal relationship among the people who participate. You have a common goal; that is, to produce something absolutely gorgeous," said Cynthia Nourse, managing director of the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra.

Mr. Finckel agrees. "The best composers all write chamber music, with very few exceptions," he said. "Every player can contribute his or her musical personality."

At the Music@Menlo workshops for young musicians, newer artists will polish their musical personalities as they learn from the more seasoned performers, Mr. Finckel and Wu Han said. The workshops are open to the public, offering a glimpse into that creative process.

The young musicians, many of whom come from the Bay Area, auditioned to be part of the festival and learn from renowned musicians. They will also perform in their own concerts.

"You can watch them grow from the beginning to the end of the festival," Wu Han said.

Audiences who attend several concerts will also watch and hear chamber music evolve.

Mr. Finckel says the chamber music of today has benefited as technology has allowed information and ideas to spread more quickly and widely. Music has become more diverse, with threads of widespread influences running through it.

"In the Far East, Western music has gotten over there and influenced people. Western musicians have become very interested in ethnic, native music of other countries," he said. "Even our folk and jazz have found their way into what we call classical music."

After traveling through time, the festival will end with a memorial for a modern tragedy. The last piece of music is "Aftermath," Ned Rorem's collection of 10 songs calling for peace in the wake of the September 11 attacks. It was written for violin, cello, piano and voice.

"It's going to be a very, very powerful close to the festival," Mr. Finckel said. "We don't shy away from anything."

INFORMATION

Music@Menlo runs from August 3 through August 18, with concerts, discussions and workshops at two locations: Menlo School, 50 Valparaiso Ave., Atherton; and St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 600 Colorado Ave., Palo Alto. To order tickets, call the Stanford Ticket Office at 725-ARTS (2787), or visit www.musicatmenlo.org.