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CONCERT REVIEWS
Review by Janos Gereben in San Francisco Classical Voice
8/7/06
Britten@Menlo
"...Virtuoso soloists in a close-order ensemble performance, the musicians made special impressions in the surprisingly rough passages."
Review by Robert Commanday in San Francisco Classical Voice
7/31/06
Younger stars
"...an inspired performance of Gabriel Fauré's Piano Quartet No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 45.... Klorman and Choi made the most of Fauré's expressive gifts to their instruments. With all its passion (the sublime lullaby of the Adagio offers the only calm), the Second Piano Quartet was made for young artists and they took advantage."
Review by Annette Farrington in Rochester Flute Association Newsletter
9/1/05
World Class Music by the Lake
"...a concert worthy of any performance hall one might visit in a major metropolitan city.... Edward Klorman amazed the audience with his rich, powerful tone and his passionate interpretation of the work [Hindemith Sonata Op. 11 No. 4]."
OTHER PRESS
Blog Entry by New Yorker critic Alex Ross in The Rest is Noise
7/4/07
"When people aren't talking about the crisis facing orchestras, they're talking about the crisis facing chamber music. Be that as it may, the LakeMusic Festival, in New York's Finger Lakes region, is apparently having considerable success reaching out to new audiences: they've organized family concerts, mixed new music with traditional repertory and down-home fiddling, and forged connections with local culture. Ed Klorman, the twentysomething co-founder of the festival, writes: "Now entering our third season, we are expecting an audience of 1500; a recent survey suggests that approximately 90% of our audience had attended two or fewer classical music events in their lifetime, prior to the establishment of the festival."
Alumni Q&A with Edward Klorman and Amy Sue Barston in The Juilliard Journal
May 2007
Concerned about dwindling audiences for classical music, Edward Klorman (B.M. '04, viola) and Amy Sue Barston (M.M. '98, cello) decided to take matters into their own hands by founding their own summer chamber music festival. Now in its third season, the Canandaigua Lake Chamber Music Festival, in upstate New York's Finger Lakes region, presents a mixture of traditional concerts and innovative community presentations.
How did the festival get started?
We had both been involved with Juilliard's Educational Outreach programs and were excited about the idea of bringing chamber music to a new community and presenting it in a fresh, exciting way. We started in the fall of 2004 by playing a few house concerts to spread the word about our vision, and through the generosity of many individuals and local businesses, we were able to present a full, 10-day season the following summer.
Did your studies at Juilliard affect your concept for the festival?
Absolutely! We both believe strongly in President Polisi's idea of "the artist as citizen"—that is, that it's our job as performers to advocate for classical music in our community.
We do this through a series of community events that we design to reach new audiences for classical music. For instance, we have a program called Classical Blue Jeans, which takes place in a barn and begins with a barbecue, followed by an interactive concert. One year, we invited the audience to "coach" our performance, telling us different ways we could play, shaping the interpretation and then voting on their favorite version. Everyone had a blast, and it was a great experience both for veteran chamber-music listeners and also for people who were hearing it for the first time.
Many of the artists we present are friends we met while studying at Juilliard, or even former mentors of ours on the Juilliard faculty. Charles Neidich generously played a benefit concert with us, and last summer, we were thrilled to have Robert White come to sing Dichterliebe and to invite Curtis Macomber for several pieces, including a Davidovsky work for violin and electronics.
Is it a challenge to present such experimental, contemporary music to an audience largely unfamiliar with these styles?
We strive to include a broad cross-section of music, and for us that definitely includes new works. We've premiered several commissioned works and are currently embarking on a collaboration with the Strong National Museum of Play, a well-known local children's museum, to present contemporary music to new audiences, including kids. We were able to develop this project thanks to a grant from the New York State Music Fund.
What's important for us, though, is to present challenging pieces with some kind of context. We might play part of a commissioned work at an interactive concert, so the audience can get to know it a bit before we premiere it in its entirety on our Festival Series. Last month, the ensemble counter)induction gave a concert that juxtaposed new pieces with standard works—such as Schnittke's Piano Quartet movement that completes Mahler's unfinished quartet—to give a context for the contemporary repertoire. Next year, the Orion Quartet will premiere a piece we're commissioning from Lowell Liebermann, who will be in residence to give presentations throughout the community for a few days leading up to the premiere.
What's the funniest thing that's happened at your festival?
During our first season, Amy performed the Handel-Halvorsen Passacaglia together with her sister, a violinist. We sent out a press release announcing an upcoming performance by "the virtuosic sisters Amy and Elisa Barston." A few days later, we received a call from a reporter asking for an interview with the virtuous nuns who play violin and cello!
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