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Wednesday night there was an all Polish program at the Pritzker Pavilion. The pimary piece being Chopin’s First Piano Concerto that was accompanied by a ‘copter making the rounds over The Taste of Chicago every three minutes. I don’t think Frederick could’ve imagined such an accompanyment. But the notes from pianinst Krzysztof Jablonski rang true.

The first piece on the program, “Krzesany” by Wojciech Kilar was unencumbered by any flying machines and was a very interesting contemporary piece.

Unfortunately the helicopter was so damn annoying, I left before Lutoslawski’s “Concerto for Orchestra”. Somebody ought to tell the TV stations there’s a no-fly-zone over the Prtizker on concert nights.
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Bruce

Wednesday at the regular Dame Myra Hess Concert at the Cultural Center, Evan Mack played three wonderful pieces while all dressed up in his finest tux. First up was “Dumka” by Tchaikovsky, a short and unknown piece to me, as were all the others to come. The major work was from Mozart, his Sonata for piano in F Major. Evan’s dress might’ve influenced my impression, but it was so sweet. And to end up with a flourish, we heard Ginastera’s “Danzas Argentinas”. Evan’s performance was a great treat in the midst of a rather good The Taste of Chicago this year.

But if I’d known this was a dress-up affair, I would’ve tucked my shirt into my jeans.
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Bruce

PianoForte’s 1st Adult Chicago Amateur Piano Competition was held June 24th through 26th. There were 58 competitors who played at the South Loop’s Sherwood Conservatory, now operated by Columbia College.

On Thursday afternoon I ushered for the preliminaries. My inclination was to get everyone seated during the two minute interval, which separated each 10 minute performance, and then stand outside the door like a “gatekeeper” to keep disruptors to a minimum.

Friday morning there was another usher, so I listened to some of the preliminaries.. All the contestants were very good except one who I won’t name. After the lunch break Friday I resumed ushering. I made a point to sit in the hall for: Joan Zarry playing some Scarlatti and piece by Layrsa Kusmenko called “In Memoriam to the Victims of Chernobyl”; Hideya Suzuki playing Debussy Preludes and Images; Hiroko Ohtani playing three pieces by Poulenc and finally Kotomi Suzuki (Ms Hideya) playing the Allegro Moderato of Prokofiev’s sonata #6.

Practice rooms on the second floor of the Sherwood Conservatory were my business Saturday afternoon. This was a good opportunity to meet and talk with the semi-finalists, but I didn’t have a chance to hear any of their 20 minute programs. There were also quite a few pianists who weren’t still in contention who wanted to have a piano to practice on. I managed to find them and open room.

Saturday night there was social gathering with beer and snacks at Curtis Hall on the 10th floor of the Fine Arts Building up the street from Sherwood. Thomas Zoells also arranged for a local Blues pianist to entertain us during the eats. Later, there was no shortage of pianists to tickle the ivories to let enjoy music until the 10:00pm shut-down time.

Sunday morning at the Fazioli Salon in the Fine Arts Building, sixteen competitors volunteered to play “gratis”, i.e. just for the enjoyment. I was anointed master of ceremonies for being there on time. About half way through the performances, brunch showed up on carts brought up via the (in)famous last remaining manually operated elevators in the city.

After a little cleaning up at The Fazioli Salon in the Fine Arts Building, I went down to hear the finalists at Sherwood. The balcony was open, so that’s where I planted myself, up by the judges. Unfortunately, due to timing, I missed the ultimate winner, Victoria Bragin. Others who made the final cut were wonderful. Sebastian Huydts, the chairman of the judges commented to me in the men’s room that everyone at this level deserves notoriety. I agree.

On Sunday evening the PianoForte Foundation hosted gala dinner at Cafe Absinthe in Wicker Park. Quite a few competitors who didn’t need to catch flights out until Monday morning were there. Food, drinks and conversation with tablemates from Toronto were great.

Here are new friends who I met at this competition:
Karmjeet Bindra
Rhea Borja http://www.linkedin.com/in/rheaborja
Victoria Bragin http://www.victoriabragin.com/
Louis Dalaveris http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Iaogj42Dg
Damira Feldman http://mirafeldman.com/default.aspx
Jason Klein
Cathryn Lai http://www.oberlin.edu/con/bkstage/199912/lai_cathryn.html
Esfir Ross http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRNEfl7R5-I
Anne-Marie Rouchon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2FS5wrmP8w
Hidea Suzuki
Kotomi Suzuki
Joseph Wearing
Carol Wilson
Joan Zarry http://www.facebook.com/people/Joan-Zarry/1467383579

I think some video and sound recordings may be available soon at http://chicagopianocompetition.org/home/
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Bruce

A few weeks ago I received an e-mail for a donors event at the WFMT Studio. William Buchman, the CSO’s second bassoon would be accompanied by David Schrader on piano. It was broadcast between 3:08 and 4:10 by the clock-on-the-wall Sunday afternoon. They played three pieces for bassoon that I’d never heard before, (and who hears bassoon that often anyway?) so that made my day. There was no printed program, but the first piece was by Saint-Saëns then two other by 20th century Czech composers, one for solo bassoon and then the last for piano and bassoon. David did good on the clusters in the last piece. And Bill never squeeked a note!
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Bruce

Yesterday evening I walked up to the Pritzker Pavillion for some world music. A whole bunch of West Africans in their silk “Jammies” played instruments, new to me, the ngoni (West African lute). There were all sizes from viola sized to tiny mandolin sized. Bassekou Kouyate, was joined by two Blues Fest greats for the second half of the concert that got my feet chair-dancing. If you want to learn more about the ngoni see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngoni_(instrument)

Next week on Thursday evening will be the North African rock band Tinariwen. I hope to see you there.

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Bruce

Two days in a row I found myself sitting in the Grainger Ballroom of Orchestra Hall.

Tuesday at noon, donors were invited to hear an interview with the recruiters at the CSO on how an open seat gets filled. The audition process isn’t simple, but it seems fair. Principal trumpet, Chris Martin was there to attest with some personal insights into the two times he flunked and the last time when he won the seat.

Wednesday evening the Baroque Band presented their “Harpsichords Galore” end-of-season finale. All the works, which included at least one harpsichord, were by C H Graun, J S Bach, W F Bach and C Graupner. The last piece, “Concerto for Four Harpsichords in a-minor”, by JS Bach, four beautiful harpsichords were set in place center stage, two double manual and two single manual instruments. They were surrounded by strings from the Band for a glorious sound. Thanks to David Schrader, Jayson Moy, Paul Nicholson and Alex Kelber who made the day for me, despite not seeing the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup.

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Bruce

This early in the summer music season, I managed to miss the 1st Rush Hour concert at St James last week, but made the effort yesterday in the rain to hear a wonderful a-capella choir singing Spanish Renaissance pieces. The choir, 17 students from the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, were directed by fellow student Rachel Carpentier.

The first work was “Missa Ego Flos Campi” (1653) by Juan Gutierrez de Padilla. In a church like St James, the Kyrie through Agnus Dei were wonderful to hear. Then to wrap up the way-too-short concert was “Maria Magdalene” (1570) by Francisco Guerrero. There was a short encore with the choir lined up in front of the first pew, very good, but I don’t what it was.

Future Rush Hour concerts I’ll probably attend are:
June 15, Fulcrum Point
June 22, David Schrader organ & Robert Morgan oboe
June 29, 5th House plays Kevin Puts’ “Red Snapper”
Aug 3, 3rd Coast Percussion plays Paul Lansky’s “Threads”
Aug 10, CSO Cellos and soprano play De Falla
Aug 17, Xiaohui Ma plays erhu
Aug 24, Wind Quintet Attacca plays Janacek

I hope to see you there.

–
Bruce