Building Musicians

Chamber music offers listeners the opportunity to fully connect with the talents of one, two or a few musicians. It is about the bond of communication that is forged between artist and audience. In a chamber music setting, a listener can easily feel that he or she is the only person present--almost as though the entire performance is constructed personally for them.

Chamber music also offers inspiration to young people and those who aspire to greater accomplishment in their own study of music. As a society, we need to cultivate and support emerging young musicians so that our cultural life in turn will continue to be enhanced and nurtured by their contributions. This is particularly critical at a time when our educational system is faltering.

This year the New Jewish Theatre of St. Louis will inaugurate a new program designed to foster the careers of brilliant young musicians, the Gesher Music Festival of Emerging Artists, held June 26-July 3 at the Marvin and Harlene Wool Studio Theatre at the Jewish Community Center. Additionally, Festival musicians will perform at day camps, senior living centers and various inner city locations to further encourage awareness of and support for the work of musicians and composers.

The Festival will feature a host of lectures, galas and performances. Listeners will have the opportunity to not only hear great music and great talent, but will also be able to interact directly with the performers in question and answer sessions. It promises to be an exciting and stimulating event for the St. Louis area. Michael Tilson Thomas, Director of the San Francisco Symphony, has given his personal endorsement to the Gesher Festival.

The word "gesher" means bridge, or connection, in Hebrew, signifying the importance of establishing and maintaining our connection to music, musicians and all the arts. Although the Festival will feature music with a special connection to the Jewish experience, its impact and meaning will be universal in scope.

Kudos and many thanks to the New Jewish Theatre of St. Louis for developing and sponsoring this wonderful--and needed--program. It's reach will surely extend far beyond the St. Louis area. For further information, contact NJT.

Thanks for reading.
Gary

The Intersection of Music, Life and Death

Sometimes we think of music as an art form that remains aloof from the dust and grime of everyday life--almost as a refuge from reality rather than a means of illustrating it. Yet music can join the fray of controversy just as surely as the visual arts and literature. This month Opera Theatre of St. Louis proves that assertion with its staging of John Adams' 1991 opera, The Death of Klinghoffer.

Adams has already brought recent history to the opera stage through such works as Nixon in China and Dr. Atomic (chronicling the work of Robert Oppenheimer, one of the chief researchers in the quest for nuclear fission). However, no other work of his seems to have struck such a raw nerve as Klinghoffer. The opera is based on the murder of Leon Klinghoffer, an elderly disabled American Jew, by Palestinian terrorists in 1985, when they seized the cruise ship Achille Lauro as Klinghoffer and his wife were enjoying a cruise to celebrate their 36th wedding anniversary.

How can a frank portrayal of the grim facts of terrorism be considered controversial? Perhaps the answer lies in the fact that in our twisted modern world we have lost sight of who is a victim and who is an aggressor. Have you noticed how the word "terrorist" has pretty much disappeared from journalistic vocabulary? We are no longer allowed to label evil as evil. Rather, we use such terms as "militants", or even "independence" or "freedom" fighters--or perhaps "insurgents"--as though words can alter the stark reality of what terrorists do.

Even those who feel sympathy for the Palestinian cause--and, by extension, believe that Hamas and Hezbollah can be trusted as viable "peace" partners--surely realize that violence cannot ultimately win over hearts and minds. Today, sadly, terrorism runs rampant in the world, yet we are loath to recognize it for what it is: a crime against humanity and human values. The recent murders of five members of the Fogel family in Israel, in which a three month infant was brutally stabbed to death by terrorist monsters, or the death of a 16-year old student on a school bus, or the almost daily bombings in Pakistan--all are constant reminders of the battles we must wage on behalf of good and evil.

Adams' music is visceral and pounding. Listeners need no further proof of the power of music to move us and express the entire gamut of human emotions. The minimalist repetition of musical phrases, far from driving the listener to numbness, instead forces the audience to continually confront the action onstage. The libretto to The Death of Klinghoffer was penned by Alice Goodman, herself born Jewish, but who has since converted to Christianity and been ordained an Anglican priest. The family of Klinghoffer was at first furious with what they felt was moral equivalency expressed in the opera. In response, Adams and Goodman revised certain portions of the work. One thing must be remembered though: through the writing of this opera, and its presentation, the memory of Klinghoffer, and all victims of injustice, is kept alive. In an era in which sometimes we fail to remember even the victims of 9-11, the miracle of music ensures that we will not forget. And perhaps remembrance is the first step to healing and the creation of a different world.

The Death of Klinghoffer opens on June 15, 2011, at the Loretto-Hilton theatre, the home of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.

Teaching by Example

One of the maxims from Aesop's fables tells us that example is the best teacher. There is also the rather cynical dictum: "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach." Last fall I had the opportunity to attend a performance of the Webster University Symphony Orchestra, directed by Paul Davis. Afterwards I reflected that this fine ensemble is a vehicle for both doing and teaching.

Although the WUSO was established as an opportunity for student players at Webster University, a sizable percentage of the orchestra's personnel is composed of professionals, some of whom are members of the St. Louis Symphony. To observe and work with seasoned professionals offers an unmatched opportunity for students to learn precisely what it truly means to be a musician. Such learning does not take place in a lecture hall; it occurs during personal conversations before and after rehearsals, or at sectional rehearsals, or in the efforts to match the accomplishments of more experienced performers.

The audiences likewise learn, by hearing professionals and amateurs alike. It is one thing to study the life of a great composer in a book, but it is quite another to actually hear the musical thoughts that streamed from the composer's mind. Those who peruse the program notes are able not only to hear the music, but also learn about the historical, cultural and geographic context in which it was written.

The soloist in the concert I heard was pianist Daniel Schene, performing Chopin's Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, programmed in commemoration of the bicentennial of Chopin's birth in 1810. As artist in residence at Webster University, Schene maintains a busy teaching and performing schedule. By virtue of wearing both hats, he not only instructs students about Chopin, but is able to demonstrate Chopin's music.

Some purists actually decry teaching by example, claiming that it discourages personal creativity in artistic fields and leads to robotic imitation. Thankfully, we don't have similar qualms when it comes to teaching medicine or mathematics. Who would want to be treated by a physician who had never observed medical procedures, or be waited upon by a store clerk who had developed a "creative" approach to computations? For musicians, hearing a demonstration of execution and interpretation provides an aural example of what they should aspire to, and may actually inspire rather than limit personal creativity.

The Webster Symphony is, fortunately, one of many outstanding ensembles sponsored by academic institutions. At a time when standards in American education have been dangerously reduced, they are raising the bar by presenting a polished end-product. This is an example that shows education designed to train doers, not bureaucrats or methodologists.