I have always loved French music. Some of the fondest musical memories of my youth are of listening to the Detroit Symphony under the great Frenchman, Paul Paray. I still find the Paray/DSO Mercury recordings of French composers among the finest representations of this repertoire, both for the sheer artistry as well as the sound quality.
When I was 20, I traveled to Paris to study with the renowned pianist and pedagogue, Magda Tagliaferro. The five years I spent with her were among the greatest experiences of my life. Mme. Tagliaferro was especially close to Gabriel Fauré – they toured together and she often performed his music. She was also a friend to many of France’s greatest composers, and she helped instill in me a genuine love for their works.
So if there is any surprise that the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival is focusing on French music this year, it should only be in that it has taken us so long to do so. Our musical journey will travel back to Franck and Saint-Saëns and carry us forward to the spectacular Quartet for the End of Time by Olivier Messiaen, whose 100th birthday would have been this year. Stops enroute include Debussy, Ravel, Ibert, Poulenc, Milhaud, and of course, Mme. Tagliaferro’s beloved Fauré.
Our French focus is but one of many highlights for this year’s Festival. Some others:
We will celebrate the 70th birthdays of four of our previous composers-in-residence, John Harbison, Joan Tower, William Bolcom, and John Corigliano. Their music will be interspersed throughout the Festival, and each composer will attend a special birthday celebration of their music on June 23.
The Festival serendipitously overlaps with the biennial national conference of the American Harp Society. To that end, a concert on June 24 at the Seligman Center will blend our musicians with some of the world’s great harpists, including Yolanda Kondanassis, Judy Loman, Bridget Kibbey, Jennifer Swartz, and others.
Our series will conclude on June 28 with a concert featuring two jazz influenced works, Milhaud’s Creation of the World, and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
Artists appearing on our Festival for the first time this season include the brilliant young violinist, Nicholas Kendall, cellist Sara Sant’Ambrogio, pianist Edward Auer, and Anthony McGill, principal clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. We welcome the preeminent pianist, Menahem Pressler, to our stage for the first time. Returning artists include Jeremy Denk, Ursula Oppens, Ida Kavafian, Kim Kashkashian, Yehonatan Berick, Andrés Díaz, and Paul Katz. It’s a great line-up. I encourage you to share great French music, along with Brahms, Beethoven, Schumann, and others. Please join us for the 2008 Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival. It will be a real feast.
