Copious Notes

In the past 10 years, the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre has recorded Aaron Copland’s The Tender Land, creating one of the few complete records of the work, and the world premier of Thomas Pasatieri’s The Hotel Casablanca. This year, UK Opera will offer a new take on a much more familiar work, Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus.

The opera, which is UK’s current production, will be recorded after spring break and released later this year, according to a note from UK Opera Theatre director Everett McCorvey to the group’s supporters. All three of UK’s recordings have been for New York-based Albany Records. Like Casablanca, this recording will include the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, conducted by John Nardolillo. The UK Symphony has its own burgeoning catalog of CDs, independent of the UK Opera. 

Daniel Mason is concertmaster of the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra and Jessica Miskelly is concertmaster of the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra. Both of their orchestras will be playing Max Bruch's "Violin Concerto" with guest soloists in February 2010. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

Max Bruch is not exactly one of the Three Bs of classical music: Bach, Beethoven and Brahms.

“I don’t even know if he’d make a ­second tier of Three Bs,” says Daniel Mason, ­concertmaster of the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra.

But Bruch (1838-1920) did write an iconic work: his unique “Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor.” This month, Lexington has a chance to hear two live performances of this work.

On Friday night, rising violin star Arnaud Sussmann will perform the piece, which was written in 1866, with conductor Scott Terrell and the Lexington Philharmonic. Eight days later, on Feb. 20, international recording star Sarah Chang will play the concerto with conductor John Nardolillo and the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra. Chang released a recording of the concerto, along with Johannes Brahms’ Violin Concerto, last year.

To get a little ­perspective on the piece, I caught up with Mason and his concert­master counterpart in the UK Symphony, ­Jessica Miskelly, to talk about the masterwork.

Question: I was looking up the Bruch concerto in iTunes, and there were recordings from Jascha Heifetz to Joshua Bell and everyone in between. Why is it so popular?

Mason: It’s very user-friendly. It’s the kind of piece you can learn for the first time as an ­advanced student, so for many ­violinists, it’s one of their early big pieces. That means it’s one of the pieces that tends to be most ­comfortable for life.

If you set a recipe for a violin concerto, the things that you would want as a violinist are all there in the Bruch concerto. For example, at the beginning of the piece, you don’t have to wait very long to play. When you do play, you play a beautiful, sonorous G-minor melody. It makes it very inviting to play because the sound on the open G-string on the violin is one of the better features of the instrument. So, at the beginning of the piece, it makes you as a player say, “Oh! Nice sound.” …

So you do that thing a little bit, and it lets you warm up and settle down, and then, bit by bit, are layered more demanding things which are written to show off the skill of the player, but not written in a way to be more difficult than they sound. …

It’s interesting that a composer such as Bruch, who is not one of the Three Bs, was able to pack so many good musical ideas into this one piece. If he had spread them out over several pieces, he would be a good composer of that rank. But because he was able to concentrate all those good ideas in one piece, that piece really makes the reputation of the composer. … You wonder, was this person always working below that level, or was he just working way above his level? How did that ­happen, that one real stroke of genius?

Miskelly: I can still remember the first time that I ever heard the piece. We were driving along in my parents’ car, and it came on halfway through the first movement, and then it went into that gorgeous second movement, and it gripped me. I probably had my mouth open the whole time. And I think it is for that second movement that violinists and audiences keep coming back to it over and over again. The ­melodic line, I can’t get over. He just wrote a really inspirational piece that I think speaks to many people.

Q: Both of you have played it as soloists. What is it like to play?

Mason: Everybody has recorded it. So the ­challenge is to play how you as an artist want to present it. Read the rest of this entry »

Heather Parrish led the most successful show of the year for Studio Players, the summertime production of "Always, Patsy Cline." Photo by Mark Cornelison | Herald-Leader staff.

New Year’s Day 2009, I assumed by New Year’s Eve I would have written about at least one Lexington arts group closing its doors. The economy was buried nose-first in the ground and theaters and other arts organizations were closing their doors around the county. While Actors Guild of Lexington did give us plenty of offstage drama, there actually were no fatalities here as far as arts groups go, and some even thrived despite the nation’s foundering fortunes.

The poster child for doing quite well, thank you very much, was Studio Players. In the depths of our national despair, Studio put up a winter show about Mary Todd Lincoln it thought would probably have limited appeal. And “The Last of Mrs. Lincoln” was a sold out hit that had to add performances to accommodate the audiences.

And that’s pretty much how 2009 went for Studio, the pinnacle of the year being the summer production of “Always, Patsy Cline” that added numerous performances including unprecedented, for Studio, Wednesday shows.

Studio was not alone in bucking trends. The Lexington Ballet went out and hired a new company of professional dancers, the ballet’s first pro troupe since the early part of this decade. Paragon Music Theatre presented its first two productions directed by new artistic director Robyn Peterman Zahn at the Lexington Opera House.

Now Lexington and Central Kentucky were not immune to economic challenges. Donations to campaigns cooled a bit and the Kentucky Arts Council has had to endure several cuts due to state cuts. But, everyone came out alive.

Of course, there were other big arts stories this year:

Scott Terrell conducts his first Masterclassics concert as music director of the Lexington Philharmonic in September. Photo by Matt Goins.

A new maestro: After two years of searching, the Lexington Philharmonic named Scott Terrell its new music director. He succeeded George Zack, who held the Philharmonic’s baton for more than three decades, and so far, it seems the change has done the orchestra good.

“This orchestra is coming alive,” Herald-Leader critic Loren Tice wrote, reviewing November’s MasterClassics concert. “There is a sense of cohesion, of belief that there is first-rate music being made here.”

The new face has given the Philharmonic a chance to rebrand itself with a more youthful profile, helped by a group of hip, young soloists to start Terrell’s debut season. In all, it has been a profound change for Lexington’s flagship arts group.

Now-departed Actors Guild of Lexington artistic director Richard St. Peter and managing director Kim Shaw. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

Actors Guild melts down: Lexington’s one-time flagship theater had a very different year. Actors Guild of Lexington has long been angling to become the area’s fully-professional theater for adult audiences — Lexington Children’s Theatre has been a professional house for years. In May, it announced plans to make that move, but less than a month later, the bottom fell out. LexArts, exasperated after years of AGL’s financial roller coaster, withdrew annual general-operating funding from the theater. That nearly-$70,000 hit sent the theater into a tailspin, with both artistic director Richard St. Peter and managing director Kimberly Shaw eventually leaving to pursue other opportunities.

This fall, AGL has presented an abbreviated and altered schedule from what was announced in the spring. The December production of “The SantaLand Diaries” was reportedly sold out, and Actors Guild says it is making plans for 2010. But none have been announced.

It should be noted that at the same time this story has played out, other area theaters including the ones mentioned above plus The Woodford Theatre, Balagula Theatre and Children’s Theatre have thrived.

Abraham Lincoln played by Jim Sayre of Lawrenceburg, left, and Henry Clay played by George MGee of Georgetown put the finishing touches on their costumes outside the entrance to the Kennedy Center. Photo by Jonathan Palmer.

“Our Lincoln” in Washington: Many Lexington artists and groups go to perform in other areas on celebrated stages such as Carnegie Hall and even Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. But taking 375 performers from a diverse ensemble of groups to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington was a whole new level of ambition.

The Kentucky Humanities Council pulled it off, traveling - despite the epic ice storm that befell Central Kentucky - on the first days of February to put on a show for 1,463 people. The performance, narrated by Bob Edwards and including the Lexington Singers and the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, is now available on DVD from the Humanities Council Web site.

Film incentives pass: In June, the state General Assembly passed a bill providing financial incentives to filmmakers who shoot in Central Kentucky. The incentives - a 20 percent refundable tax credit for production and post-production expenses for feature filmmakers who spend at least $500,000 in Kentucky - are seen as essential to attract filmmakers. An immediate result was Disney’s “Secretariat” chose to come to Kentucky for filming in October.

New works: It’s always important to remember new performing arts works, because they help keep the disciplines vital and relevant.

This year started with the Lexington Ballet’s production of artistic director Luis Dominguez’s “The Magical Tales of Beatrix Potter” in March and concluded with The Woodford Theatre’s original holiday show, “The Christmas Presence.” In between, Actors Guild launched Silas House’s second work for the stage, “Long Time Travelling;” Pioneer Playhouse director Holly Henson presented “The Infamous Ephraim,” about Danville physician Ephraim McDowell’s historic abdominal surgery; the UK Opera Theatre premiered composer Joseph Baber and librettist James W. Rodgers’ opera “River of Time,” about young Abraham Lincoln; the Lexington Singers premiered “A Bluegrass Tapestry,” which was 11 songs accompanying the photography of Scott County’s James Archambeault; the Lexington Ballet presented “The Koln Concert,” set to Keith Jarrett’s iconic jazz concert album and the UK Symphony premiered Lorne Dechtenberg’s “Token of Affection.”

Other headlines

Kayoko Dan addresses the CKYO audience at her first concert, Nov. 15. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

Lexington’s Michael Shannon was nominated for a best supporting actor Oscar for “Revolutionary Road.” … Lexington musical theater artist Christopher Tolliver was fatally shot at Lexington Green. … The New York Philharmonic played a sold-out show at Danville’s Norton Center for the Arts. … Lexington Children’s Theatre celebrated its 70th anniversary. … The Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras named Kayoko Dan its new music director. … Former UK Opera star Reshma Shetty landed role on the USA TV network’s series “Royal Pains.” … LexArts announced Horse Mania will return in 2010. … UK’s Cliff Jackson was named “coach of the year” by Classical Singer magazine. … Winchester’s Jason Epperson, runner-up on Fox’s “On the Lot” film-director reality series, shot his feature film debut, “Unrequited,” in Central Kentucky. … Norton Center completed a $3 million rennovation. … The Men of Note big band played its last gig. … Former Kentucky State University drama teacher and area director Jack Parrish died. … Norton Center director George Foreman announced he is leaving for a University of Georgia job. … The Radio City Music Hall Rockettes came to Rupp Arena for the first time with the “Radio City Christmas Spectacular.”

I have to give credit for the headline on this post to the event posting on Facebook for Thursday night’s University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra concert — I couldn’t improve on the self-deprecating humor. Yes, as we have covered in stories over last weekend, we will get Gustav Mahler’s “‘Titan’ Symphony” as well as the Concerto Competition Winners playing Franz Liszt and Claude Debussy.

Lorne Dechtenberg conducting an August Bluegrass Opera rehearsal. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

But there’s also a world premier in the offing: UK doctoral candidate Lorne Dechtenberg’s “Token of Affection.”

It’s the latest composition by Dechtenberg, a UK Symphony assistant conductor and director of the experimental Bluegrass Opera, whose other works include an opera titled “Sex, Drugs and Aliens.”

With his piece on tonight’s show, I asked Lorne to share a little bit about “Token,” which he will conduct. Here are his notes:

Just before the start of the Fall semester, (UK Symphony director) John Nardolillo expressed interest in having the orchestra read a new piece of mine. I was already planning to write an orchestral work for my doctoral thesis this year, but since John didn’t know my writing style very well, he asked if I would start by writing something shorter. He gave me a few guidelines (how long it should be, how many instruments I should include, etc.). I finished the piece last month (shortly after our concert with Mark O’Connor) and gave it to John, and I guess he must have liked it because he slated it for performance almost immediately. This week’s performance is also an honor because, as I understand it, mine is the first student-composed work that John has programmed during his time at UK.

I tried to tailor the piece to the orchestra’s strengths (in some cases, to individual players’ strengths) in hopes of creating an enjoyable experience for the musicians — it’s always been my firm belief that if the performers are having a good time, then the audience will too. To this end, “Token” is full of singable melodies and warm harmonies, and the orchestra has done excellent work on it so far, so I’m confident that Thursday’s performance will be a great one.

Pianist Tamara Bustamante and clarinetist Michael Lawton were the winners in the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra's Concerto Competition. Photos by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

The University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra’s Concerto Competition may be a big deal, a rare opportunity and all that, but wearing a couple of hats at Pikeville College and pursuing a doctorate at UK didn’t leave Tamara Bustamante much time to practice.

“The main part of my success has to be coming from my mind and my heart, because my fingers weren’t there,” Bustamante says of her audition performance of Franz Liszt’s “Totentanz.”

Her success was being one of the two winners of the Concerto Competition and therefore getting to play as a soloist with the full orchestra, not a privilege every performance major gets to enjoy.

Pianist Tamara Bustamante.

Often, Bustamante says, competitions of this sort are won by feats of impressive prestidigitation. But between her and clarinetist Michael Lawton, her fellow winner, Thursday night’s presentation of competition winners is probably as much a much a testament to interpretation as technical facility.

Now, if either felt ill prepared, UK Symphony director John Nardolillo didn’t notice.

“Both of the winners were extremely well prepared, and both are very good performers,” says Nardolillo, who  wasn’t a judge for the competition that attracted around 20 participants. “Tamara’s playing was polished, and her presentation of the Liszt was dramatic and exciting. Michael played with tenderness, style and musicality.”

For Lawton, Claude Debussy’s “1st Rhapsody for Clarinet and Orchestra,” was hardly love at first listen.

“I didn’t like it,” Lawton says. “But its use of color captivated me and brought up images from my childhood and things like that. It’s hard to explain.”

After the initial hostility, Lawton has come to like the Debussy enough that Thursday will be his second time performing it.

The only other time Bustamante was a soloist with an orchestra she was performing a piece by Tamara Bustamante with the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra in her native Alaska.

“It was in high school,” says Bustamante, 32, going on to explain that she had a piano teacher who also encouraged her to work in composition, and she entered her “Intermezzo for Piano and Orchestra” the Anchorage orchestra’s composition competition. “It was a time in my life when I had no self awareness or shame,” she says, with a laugh.

From that diverse start, Bustamante has gone on to earn a masters from UK and become a multifaceted assistant professor of music at Pikeville College where she teaches music theory, appreciation (of classical and rock ‘n’ roll), piano and she conducts the concert choir.

Clarinetist Michael Lawton.

Lawton, 23, is at a much younger stage in his career, currently pursuing a masters after getting a bachelors from Illinois Wesleyan University.

Winning the concerto competition, he says, is a huge opportunity, and he also likes the piece he has selected because he says it gives back to the orchestra.

“Sometimes, when you are accompanying soloist, it’s very boring, because that’s the way the old, dead European guys wrote,” Lawton says, pointing out they really allowed the soloist to have the spotlight. “In both of these pieces, the orchestra still has a very creative part.”

And ultimately, they say they are indebted to the orchestra for the opportunity to spotlight their work.

“It’s amazing that they give their stage to us,” Lawton says.

And he and Bustamante plan to return the favor with passionate performances.

Kayoko Dan takes a bow with the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestra Concert Orchestra Sunday night at the Lexington Opera House. Photos by Rich Copley.

Since I am a Central Kentucky Youth Orchestra parent, I stay away from writing about CKYO for the paper — sort of an obvious conflict of interest there.

Dan addresses the audience.

But it is certainly worth noting that the Kayoko Dan era officially got underway Sunday night with the Youth Orchestra’s season-opening concert at the Lexington Opera House. The group’s Symphony Orchestra and Concert Orchestra played a tidy program of just over 90 minutes that included music from Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” for the Concert players and the third movement Gustav Mahler’s “Symphony No. 1 in D Major ‘Titan’” for the Symphony. That was some challenging stuff, to say the least.

Also debuting was CKYO assistant conductor Daniel Chetel, who was actually a candidate for the top spot and ended up coming to Lexington to pursue a doctorate in musical arts and conducting at the University of Kentucky, where he also serves as assistant conductor of the UK Symphony. Chetel, who holds a bachelors from Harvard and a masters from the University of Maryland, was offered the Kentucky post by UK Symphony director John Nardolillo after he interviewed for the CKYO job. Sunday night, Chetel conducted the Concert Orchestra in an arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky’s “The Great Gate of Kiev” and the Symphony in the second movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 7 in A Major.”

Assistant conductor Dan Chetel greets Concert Orchestra concertmaster Laura Saikawa after conducting Mussorgsky

The Symphony’s program was a bit of an introduction to Dan as she said from the stage it was her favorite movements from symphonies. Bookending the Beethoven and the Mahler on that program called “Symphonic Progression” were the first movement of Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Symphony No. 104 in D Major ‘London’” and the fourth movement of Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 4 in f minor.”

When Dan auditioned for the Lexington Philharmonic’s music director post, Tchaikovsky was also a centerpiece of her LPO concert with music from “Swan Lake.” So, judging by her programming — Tchaikovsky’s “Russian Choral and Overture” opened the concert — and comments from the stage Sunday, it looks like CKYO kids will be getting used to Peter I.

Chetel’s presence also drove home the fact the Philharmonic and Youth Orchestra’s recent music director searches yielded two new conductors each: new Philharmonic music director Scott Terrell and Dan, who first came here as an LPO candidate, and Dan and Chetel at the CKYO. So Lexington’s conductor pool is enhanced with a trio of new talent, which is certainly worth noting.

Mark O'Connor rehearses with University of Kentucky graduate student Jessica Miskelly and the UK Symphpny Orchestra on Oct. 28, 2009. Photos by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

It’s a typical rehearsal two days before a concert.

The University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra is on the stage in the Singletary Center for the Arts Concert Hall with conductor John Nardolillo stopping occasionally to tweak parts, but mostly letting the music flow.

Centerstage two violinists trade increasingly virtuosic, knee bending phrases, somewhat reminiscent of a  little Peach State fiddle duel Charlie Daniels once sang about.

This is where things become less typical.

O'Connor and cellist Geoffrey Hershberger rehearse O'Connor's "Double Concerto for Violin and Cello."

One of the violinists is UK graduate student Jessica Miskelly. The other is Mark O’Connor, a classical music star who has distinguished himself by successfully bridging traditional classical music and American folk. He’s currently in the midst of a short residency at UK which will culminate in a Friday night concert featuring O’Connor, several of his compositions, the UK Choirs and several students sharing his spotlight.

“I’ve been doing more residencies the last couple of years at institutions,” O’Connor said in his dressing room, a few minutes before Wednesday’s rehearsal began. “Every time I show up at performances around the country, there’s all kinds of questions about, ‘Where’s this music going?’ and what your background is. There’s always some kind of educational component to it, so I just decided to expand that.”

In addition to UK, O’Connor works with students at the School for Creative and Performing Arts and the UK String Project, a primary school program, this week.

O’Connor has done his mini-residencies at prestigious schools such as the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the University of California, Los Angeles.

But he wanted to come to Kentucky.

In part, it was because of a growing relationship between O’Connor and the orchestra, which included another visit several years ago and a performance in February with the UK Symphony at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of the Our Lincoln production.

“John Nardolillo has put a great emphasis on performance and getting the material ready,” O’Connor said, referring the UK Symphony’s director. “It’s just fantastic to see and hear . . . It’s going to be a darned good show for the audience.”

This visit also brings O’Connor close to Appalachia, a region he is strongly identified with thanks to his own music and several celebrated albums of Appalachian music with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and bassist Edgar Meyer.

Read the rest of this entry »

Click the play button to hear a podcast of our River of Time report for WEKU-FM 88.9:

Copious Notes podcasts are available on iTunes.

The University of Kentucky Opera Theatre presents the world premier production of composer Joe Baber and librettist Jim Rodgers’ River of Time Oct. 8-10 at the Lexington Opera House. The opera, commissioned by UK Opera, looks at Abraham Lincoln’s early years including his search for purpose in his life and the roots of his desire to fight slavery. Photos by Rich Copley | staff.

Feature: Lincoln Opera portrays a ‘journey to greatness’

University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra director John Nardolillo, shown conducting a rehearsal in March. Photos by Rich Copley | LexGo.

More than a decade ago, Everett McCorvey started building the University of Kentucky’s opera program into a nationally recognized boutique for training young voices and presenting exciting programs. The middle of this decade, John Nardolillo took over the UK Symphony Orchestra and a similar ascension quickly began.

Friday night, those two success stories came together as the voice department’s newest teacher stepped in front of the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra for its season opener in the Singletary Center for the Arts Concert Hall.

Soprano Cynthia Lawrence, shown at a rehearsal on Tuesday.

Soprano Cynthia Lawrence took the stage to open the second half of Friday’s concert in a billowy black gown which sparkled like this was Live from Lincoln Center or something. And when she opened her mouth for a performance of Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs, it sounded that way.

Though Lawrence, who now holds UK’s endowed chair in music (voice), was making her big debut as a faculty member, Four Last Songs is not a diva show-off piece in the sense of rafter-rattling high notes, ornamental trills and the like. It doesn’t even give the soprano a big finish, as the orchestra closes the piece as if the sun has set on the voice.

But if you are looking for interpretive skills, Strauss gives the singer a chance to put those on full display, and Lawrence did. She encourages listeners to read the work’s poetic text, but the poetry was in her voice Friday night. Through masterful phrasing and control, she gave the audience a very clear idea where this piece was going. And yes, she did have moments of spectacle and sublime beauty that left you marveling that this woman was not an imported guest soloist. She is UK faculty.

What’s more, she aggressively went after the job after spending a few weeks here working with singers at UK last fall. That an artist of Lawrence’s caliber — a celebrated soprano at the Metropolitan Opera and many, many other stages — vigorously pursued a post here says as much about the growth of the School of Music as the Met audition wins and concerts at Carnegie Hall.

What was really striking was how the orchestra responded to Lawrence. Her performance followed good though unremarkable performances of W.A. Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro overture and Symphony No. 39 in the first half.

When Lawrence started singing though, the orchestra followed her lead, including several passionate solos from violinist Jessica Tzou, flutist Aaron Sexton and others.

And the passion continued into the concert closer, Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration. With all hands on deck, the orchestra unleased a powerful performance that convinced you that its Dec. 3 performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 “Titan” should not be missed.

Then again, the way things have been going, you could say that about the whole season.

Prior to the concert, Narolillo and UK President Lee Todd announced a gift from the family of Jan Karon, a master violinist and violin maker who died last year, which will add $400,000 to the orchestra’s endowment established by Keeneland and Maker’s Mark. Karon was a native of Poland who survived Nazi concentration camps in World War II and played in orchestras in Warsaw, Krakow and Houston, where he was concertmaster. After retirement, he settled in Lexington. The gift from his daughter Dr. Magdalene Karon and her husband Dr. John Stewart, will underwrite the concertmaster’s position, which has been renamed the Jan Karon Concertmaster. Tzou is the first to hold that chair.

Cynthia Lawrence rehearses Richard Strauss Four Last Songs with conductor John Nardolillo and the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

Friday night is diva night in Downtown Lexington.

On one side of town, we have Angela Brown kicking off First Presbyterian Church’s new philanthropic concert series. On the other side, we have the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra opening its season with new voice faculty member Cynthia Lawrence singing Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs.

Whether you head to Singletary or not, Lawrence is someone Lexington music lovers will be getting to know as she settles in to teach aspiring divas and divos, and turns in the occasion performance herself.

Click the play button to hear our podcast with Cynthia Lawrence:

Copious Notes podcasts are available on iTunes.