The great gift that is Millennium Park, with its kaleidoscopic variety of free performances in the heart of the city during the (mostly) warm months of the year, continues to fulfill its promise as a place of musical discovery. No matter if you have neither money nor plans for an arts experience - there it is, for anyone walking in the area, daring you to experience sights and sounds that otherwise might not be part of your life.
I am not talking about veteran patrons who can parse out interpretive variations of gnarly warhorse repertoire or name everyone in the Grant Park Orchestra wind section from memory. It is all the others who have not yet had the opportunity, for whatever reason, to make proper contact with the excitement of live performances of unfamiliar music whether it is “classical”, jazz, Afro-pop, Tibetan monks, or a world of other great music that are the greatest beneficiaries. The connection is there to be made just by walking by Pritzker Pavilion, peeking over the wall, or sitting on the grass. No charge.
As part of this wonderful scenario, the School of Music at Northwestern University recently completed its third annual performance at Pritzker Pavilion. From a programming aspect, this is an interesting opportunity to stretch out and try things that we would not normally have the personnel or rehearsal time to attempt.
The first year featured a monster piano concert: 10 Steinway grands, 14,000 pounds of pianos, 880 keys, 2,300 strings, 5 piano tuners, and 300 tons of string tension. The second year was a very uplifting explosion of percussion including 28 marimbas celebrating Clair Musser’s (former School of Music faculty member) great marimba orchestra that performed at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair.
This year – we upped the ante to three ensembles: an orchestra of 50 cellos (ah, the Barber Adagio never sounded more engaging; an orchestra of forty-five saxophones (complete with contra bass tubaxes) performing Rhapsody In Blue – Paul Whiteman must have been smiling; and a large brass ensemble performing an arrangement of Richard Struass’ Alpine Symphony.
What all of these have in common are audiences at the rehearsals that always exceed the capacity of our beloved Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. (1,000) No doubt about it, we are reaching the general public and it is a beautiful thing to see the look of amazement and hear enthusiastic applause even at rehearsals. (The official attendance estimates for the actual concerts have been around 9,000.)
It is our great privilege to be a small part of this incredible musical offering. Send your friends, and strangers as well, to experience and support these events. It makes the summertime in Chicago second to none. Most of all, let’s keep art alive in public places and avoid the moldy edges that insinuate themselves when things are left cloistered in the same place for too long. There is no better way to expand our base of support.
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A recent concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington featuring five outstanding student performers from the Northwestern University School of Music brought to mind many excellent musical performances available right here in the Chicago market. These student performances, by the next generation of professional musicians, are often overlooked or discounted in favor of higher profile, but not necessarily higher quality, concerts. This is a plentiful and underappreciated musical resource. (Perhaps we can ignite the blogosphere to share ideas about combating the counterproductive pattern of “celebritymusicianphobia” that motivates many patrons and inspires redundancy in arts programmers.)
The School of Music concert at the Kennedy Center was part of the
Conservatory Project that twice a year features outstanding students from the top music schools in the United States. These schools include Juilliard, Eastman, Curtis, Indiana, Manhattan, New England Conservatory, Berkley, San Francisco, and Northwestern University among others. (You can watch streaming video archives of this series by going to: http://www.kennedycenter.org/programs/millennium/conservatory.html)
If these student performances are a bellwether for the future of classical music, then we are in fine shape indeed. Just as college sports often exceed the creativity and energy found at the professional level, so too do these inspiring young artists have that potential. Their vitality and fresh approach to familiar and new repertoire is a wonderful thing to experience.
Most importantly, you do not have to travel out of state to find such performances. A little online research of Chicago area music school calendars will reveal a treasure of concerts and recitals that will surprise, enlighten and entertain your musical muse. Many of them are free of charge. It is all there, just below the surface.
For the record, the five Northwestern University students who recently performed at the Kennedy Center were: Deanna Talens, cello (pictured above with Kay Kim); Ellen Huntington, flute; Jennise Hwang, violin; Karin Bliznik, trumpet; and Sergiy Komirenko, piano. Remember those names. They will be lighting up stages for many years to come.
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The epic 2008 edition of Musical America features an unlikely, full color two-page photograph of The Princeton Laptop Orchestra a.k.a. PLOrk. The accompanying caption begins “the Computer Age throws down a gauntlet.” The implied threat is that electronic devices are encroaching on the territory of traditional orchestras. Leaving aside the irony of using an object from the Middle Ages to describe the increasing integration of 21st century technology into musical performance, this “challenge” is nothing to fear.
A recent performance by PLOrk on the Sonic Divergence Festival at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall featured twenty laptopists, five conductors, acoustic violin and percussion soloists, and members of the Northwestern University Percussion Ensemble. Ample ingredients for an interesting evening of music were in place. And it was very interesting, up to a point.
The big question going in, even taking into account the brilliant minds at work on this project, was “how great will the distance be between what is musically possible and what we will actually hear?” While many of the elements for success were present, there is a long interesting journey ahead to close the existing gap between the two.
The technical creativity, innovative language allowing real time interaction among ensemble members, individual speaker systems, and obvious commitment by the performers produced a series of different “soundscapes” that, nevertheless, ran the emotional gamut from A to B. The technical wizardry is still in need of a way to make contact with the senses. Operational sequencing dominated the proceeding leaving a longing by the audience for phrasing, melody, and musical entry points.
Some of the best moments involved the acoustic instrumental interaction. We could see what they were doing and how they were doing it. Those moments were pregnant with the possibility that anything could go very right or very wrong at any time, making the audience a partner in the live performance experience. This was a welcome sensation.
Just as a great concert hall is only as good as the artists who perform on its stage, laptop orchestras will always be dependent on the quality of the music written for it and its ability to engage the audience as a partner. In that regard, there is much to do, and there is little to fear as far as usurpation of performance opportunities by armies of laptop-toting computer science majors.
Equally clear is the potential for new technology to compliment and embellish the music and musicians we have come to love, enjoy, and respect. I have little doubt that evolving technical innovations will one day blossom into the reality of something more artistically and emotionally engaging. It will be an exciting new addition to the lexicon of the arts when it happens. The battle has begun and the troops are energized.
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