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VOCAL RISING STARS, SIXTH SEASON: Day 5

As Sondheim wrote in Company, “Today is for Amy.” At Caramoor, that meant giving Amy Burton time to have leisurely one-on-one sessions with each cast member. After lunch we worked on the spoken continuity and then we “hit the low spots”—i.e., rehearsed all the numbers that needed special review. The day started at 10:30 and wound down at 7 PM—time well spent.

It is a little bit of an adjustment—and an act of trust—to let someone else come into the rehearsal process at the end of the week and make adjustments to the work you’ve begun. But Amy is family, and she made a tremendous contribution. She has an eagle eye for gesture and stage space, she respects and loves the voice, she hears poetry equally as sound and meaning, and she’s so cultured and experienced that her soul seemed to resonate with every song on this crazy program. As the day went on, Michael and Amy and I started to function as one entity, and by the time everyone limped out of the hall I felt we were simply a community of eight artists—five singer and three pianists—working the material like a team of jewelers.

Theo and Miles have been reveling in good health and good spirits, and the music has been like an artistic aphrodisiac for them. But Annie and Olivia have been fighting various ailments all week—the tail end of colds and flus that seem to have taken up squatter’s rights in their bodies. I too was sick last week and am puzzled to find that I’m still coughing as if I were overplaying the role of Mimí in some regional production of La bohème. Coughing doesn’t affect my piano playing all that much, but it has challenged both of the women in the program. Today we had to change one of Olivia’s numbers. Truth to tell, necessity was the mother of invention: I much prefer the song we’re going to do (by Granados) to the one originally planned (by Turina). It’s far more appropriate to the theme of the program, and it plays into Olivia’s strength. She studied Granados’s songs with the great Spanish mezzo Teresa Berganza a few years ago, and brings a patrician authority to the material—or will, once she sings it for a couple of days!

Annie’s been husbanding her resources with wisdom and calm. When she sings, she gives everything she’s got (and it’s stunning); she also is one of the few singers I’ve known who can have a really useful rehearsal without singing at all. She’s been a great scene partner in all the group numbers, and her oversexed British dowager in Coward’s “A Bar on the Piccola Marina” has only gotten drunker, dirtier, and (somehow) more subtle as the week has progressed.

written by Steven Blier.

1. Our genius guest teacher, Amy Burton

2. The many moods of Theo Hoffman

3. Leann Osterkamp, with the world at her feet

4. The many moods of Theo Hoffman, part duex

5. Les Grands from ages: with two men I adore

Photos by Steven Blier

#vocal rising stars #vocalists #vocals #schwab vocal rising stars

VOCAL RISING STARS, SIXTH SEASON: Day 4 by Steven Blier

A day of highs and lows. In the morning we had some visitors—a small cadre of Caramoor donors and board members, and also the General Director of Caramoor, Jeff Haydon. He’s the fellow who took over Michael’s old job, and I admit I have a soft spot for him. He’s a very decent guy with wonderful energy, and things always seem to shine a little brighter when he’s around. I like it when Jeff comes to rehearsal because none of us are afraid to do real work (i.e., screw up) in his presence, yet our hearts remain light and buoyant. Jeff always makes me feel talented and worthy and I appreciate that so much. He and the other visitors, including the appropriately named Vivian Song, were a sensational audience and the cast gave some of their best performances so far. Olivia suddenly morphed into a Brazilian sex-kitten in “Nenê,” Theo brilliantly channeled Noël Coward in an amazingly stylish rendition of “Uncle Harry,” Miles poured out vocal gold in his Grieg song, and Annie stopped time with “Calling You.” By the time we went into lunch Michael and I were feeling that all was right in our corner of the world.

The afternoon session took a turn for the worse. We did a run of the whole show and lots of it was really good, but…some of it was suddenly sliding out of place. If God is in the details, he was taking a siesta. I'd played really well in the morning; in the afternoon I felt like a hack. The concert seemed to need some sort of chiropractor to get it back in alignment.

As it turned out, God was not asleep. He sent us the art-chiropractor we needed: our guest teacher for the week, soprano Amy Burton. She hadn’t worked at Vocal Rising Stars since the first season five years ago, but I remember how sharp she was on every level: language, voice, interpretation, staging. She dispensed some much-needed vocal wisdom to the singers, and she instantly fixed two of the biggest problem spots in the group numbers. My favorite moment? A critique of the Hoagy Carmichael song, which had been absolutely stellar yesterday but which abruptly lost its way this afternoon. “Theo, ‘Hong Kong Blues’ is about opium. You look like you’re strung out on crystal meth…or coke. Anyway, wrong drug. We’ll work on it tomorrow.” The Schwab Vocal Rising Stars will be at Caramoor on Sunday, March 16.

Vocal Rising Stars, Sixth Season, Day Three - In Pictures!

Image 1: A brief prayer (Hallelujah, Hey nonny-no) at Mrs. Wentworth-Brewster's funeral.

Image 2: Lothario reels in Mrs. Wentworth-Brewster, to their mutual profit.

Image 3: Mrs. Wentworth-Brewster's children watch their mother discover the Joy of Sex.

Image 4: Rehearsing Stenhammar, the Caramoor way!

Image 5: A great photographer will put himself in any position to get the right shot! Here's our very own Gabe Palacio getting familiar with the floor for a photo.

VOCAL RISING STARS, SIXTH SEASON: Day 3 by Steven Blier

The third day is the sweet spot. The pressure of the performance isn’t really upon us yet, the group numbers are on their feet (or, in one case, on its butt, since the cast is seated for it), the guest teacher hasn’t arrived, and it’s just the family, workin’ away on songs. Salient features of the day:

(1) We had a morning visit from about twenty students from a nearby high school, all of them members of their school chorus. They were amazingly attentive, asked a lot of good questions, and gently kicked all of us into performance mode. Sure, they were watching us rehearse, and we let them see us change keys, talk about vibrato, place vowels, fix problems. But inevitably you don’t rehearse the same way when you have an audience—you have to deliver the song, and that was a good boost to our energy. They also gave us an idea for a dance break in the Hoagy Carmichael piece that had been eluding us--it’s something called the Bernie…? Anyway, it comes from a movie, I think, it rang a bell with Miles and Theo, and it covered sixteen bars we’d been struggling with. I have found with high school students that a tiny, tiny touch of bad language and a soupçon of irreverence go a long way to earning their trust. I was all too happy to oblige.

(2) Both Olivia and Annie asked for a day of vocal rest. They have been struggling with some fatigue, and Annie is still getting over the same cold I just had. They devoted all their energies to the ensemble numbers, in which they sang lightly but acted with amazing commitment. Annie has to play a dowager in “A Bar in the Piccola Marina,” and she is already channeling Maggie Smith and Patricia Routledge. Today we got her to speak so she’s always straddling her register break—upper crust perfection, slightly crocked. Everyone’s great in that piece—Miles and Olivia as her very strait-laced children, and Theo double-cast as her boring (and soon dead) husband, and also her libidinous Italian boy-toy.

(3) With the girls pretty much on “mute," Miles and Theo had breakthrough days. I gave Miles a pretty wide range of songs, from the gentle to the forceful, and he’s rising to the challenge quite beautifully. I always say that song is the great arena for expanding your vocal art, because you can safely go into uncharted waters in the span of a two-minute song. In his Grieg piece Miles is stepping into what I call his Helden-lyric voice, his big-boy sound, and it's perfect for his juicy Scandinavian Stimme. And Theo is breaking through barriers, sinking into his music, his voice, and his art in the most moving way. The warmth and passion of his music is so satisfying.

(4) The cast decided they wanted to sing their a capella Stenhammar piece lying under the piano, just as we’d done two years ago rehearsing the Blitzstein quartet “In Twos.” They’d read about it and seen the picture on this blog, and they decided they needed to revive the tradition. This time we made sure Gabe Palacio, the photographer, was around to capture it. And I got a shot of Gabe on the floor with them as he took his pictures.

#NYFOS #vocals #vocal rising stars

VOCAL RISING STARS, SIXTH SEASON: Day 2

The first day is always the honeymoon; and on the second day I can see what the week’s work is going to be about. These singers all have such fertile imaginations that they are sometimes bombarded with thoughts, ideas, images, impulses. They’re gifted and young, and they are still building the wiring to handle their own artistic electricity. Their capabilities are enormous. Some singers would be daunted by the eight languages in “Ports of Call”; others would need to be shown the subtleties of melody and style. At Caramoor, though, everyone has a tremendous instinct for music, and no one has raised a fuss about the languages, not even Danish or Russian or Brazilian Portuguese. But in these early rehearsals, the cast tends to overreact to their material with bursts of passion that can knock them slightly off-kilter.

So today was all about simplicity, legato, bel canto. “Just sing the notes, everyone,” I finally told them. “It’ll ALL be there, just sing. Especially the little notes—make ‘em long and fat.” It’s the kind of advice you can only give to people who are natural stylists. The song is in there already, it just needs to be allowed to emerge.

I am glad there is such a range of music on the program, because everyone finds songs where they instinctively relax into their voices—often the American popular stuff. “AHA! There’s your voice—sing your art songs like THAT!”

Highlights? Miles stopped time with his “Song of the Indian Merchant” from “Sadko.” Annie has amazing command of Bill Bolcom’s “To My Old Addresses”—so does Leann, who hops through the piano writing as if it were child’s play, which it definitely is not. Theo is devastating in Guastavino’s “Pampamapa” and naughtily dapper in Noël Coward’s “Uncle Harry.” And Olivia is making a beautiful thing of the Brazilian tango “Nenê,” her first foray into Portuguese. She got a language lesson from Portugal-native Merceds Santos-Miller during which I quietly freaked out—oh lord, the Portuguese accent and the Brazilian one are even more different than I thought. But God is good. Merceds approved of the way Olivia learned the poem under my guidance…

As if to reward us, the sun came out after lunch. I was outside for about three minutes and I felt something I had not experienced since October: warmth. I’ll never forget that feeling—nor the music that came afterwards, equally warm.

Catch the Schwab Vocal Rising Stars at Caramoor on March 16. Tickets here: https://tickets.caramoor.org/public/loader.asp?target=show.asp?shCode=1708

Day One of the Schwab Vocal Rising Stars Residency by Steven Blier, Artistic Director, mentor and pianist

March 10, 2014 Today was the first day of the 2014 Vocal Rising Stars program at Caramoor—the sixth season NYFOS and Caramoor have collaborated on this project. Every year has its own distinctive atmosphere, like the unique timbre of an instrument or the tantalizing aroma of a something in the oven. Our cast is a bit younger than usual—just a few years, really, but for people in their twenties the age difference is significant. One of our singers, Annie Rosen, has sung in opera houses overseas, but the other three—soprano Olivia Betzen, tenor Miles Mykkanen, and baritone Theo Hoffman—are just entering the professional world. Theo is still an undergraduate (he’s the youngest we’ve ever had in the program), and Olivia is fresh off the boat--she moved to New York about six weeks ago after finishing the Masters program at Ann Arbor. All of them are superb musicians and total stage animals. I am reveling in their freshness and their sense of freedom. Sometimes the first day of rehearsal can be stressful as each singer endeavors to impress his colleagues. Today we saw no grandstanding; Michael and I were struck with how everyone was easing into the songs by exploring them, sinking into the words and music, letting the beginning be a true beginning—the bud, not yet the flower, of the song. Caramoor asked me (gently but repeatedly) to add a young pianist into the mix of artists, and I (gently but repeatedly) demurred. I felt it was like having another mouth to feed, and I admit that I was feeling selfish and proprietary about the songs. I’d created this program last summer at Wolf Trap and played it on my own; now I was already flipping out about splitting the repertoire with Michael—how could I add another person at the keyboard? But when Michael not only leaned on me to acquiesce but suggested Leann Osterkamp to fill the role, I had no trouble saying yes. Leann had helped me get the Juilliard show ready this January, and she is a dream colleague: prepared, attentive, flexible, and generous. I let her wear my hat all day as a gesture of inclusion. One thing is certain: all of us are in need of something restorative, an Art Retreat, and I cannot remember a group of singers who were more grateful for the peace and quiet of Caramoor. It’s like being in the eye of a storm for seven days. You know there is a lot of turbulence around you, but you are safe in a cocoon, a temple of music, a private clubhouse with a well-stocked DVD player. It’s a conservatory with only four students—and three pianists at their beck and call. It was beautiful hearing everyone sing today—what a program, if I do say so myself. If there was one single highlight, it was playing Kurt Weill’s “J’attends un navire” for Annie. I felt something at the piano that I hadn’t experienced in a few years, something I’d been missing: the feeling of riding on a rocket. The music is so powerful and it seemed to lead me back to the kind of uninhibited, spontaneous music-making I remember from my twenties, when I was the age of this cast. After we were done, Annie looked at me wide-eyed. “That’s how it’s going to go,” I said—“you up to it?” “Oh, YES!” she answered. Catch the Schwab Vocal Rising Stars at Caramoor on March 16. Pictured above, Steve Blier and Olivia Betzen.

#vocal rising stars #nyfos #steven blier #Caramoor

Q&A with 2014 Schwab Vocal Rising Star Miles Mykkanen who will be appearing at Caramoor on March 16. 1. You’ll be living with and studying these songs for an entire week straight in preparation for the public concerts on March 16 (at Caramoor) and March 17 & 18 (NYC). Which piece are you most excited to obsess over? Are there any that you afraid to get to know on an intimate level?

The music in "Ports of Call: An Itinerary of Song" is all incredibly diverse. The program features songs that will be familiar to regular concertgoers in addition to a handful of rarities. But no matter new or familiar, each of these songs are gems and will be undoubtedly entertaining for all. Until last October, I had never looked at a Russian song or attempted the daunting task of reading Cyrillic. However, I was offered Lensky in Juilliard's recent production of Eugene Onegin and had to face my fears. Over the last five months I have been immersed in Tchaikovsky's music and the beautiful Russian language. Russian has become my favorite language to sing; the Italianate vowels and the luscious liquid consonants produce a sensuality that lends itself perfectly to music. When Steve asked me to sing "The Song of the Indian Merchant" from Rimsky-Korskov's Sadko, I immediately started jumping up and down and squealing (the prospect of working on new music--especially gorgeous music--always excites me). Rimsky-Korskov's beautiful melody has been haunting me and I am thrilled to be performing it on the program!

I am not afraid to get to know any of my songs on an intimate level, however I am extremely afraid of the technicality of Grieg's Tak for dit Råd! There is a lot of Scandinavian blood running through me (I am Finnish-American), but Norwegian is not a language singers often encounter. To top off this tour-de-force song, the words come at a lightning-fast pace and the whole thing climaxes on a big ol' high A. May the Norse Gods and the spirit of Jussi Björling be ever in my favor!

2. Best dessert you ever had. Go! (I will accept up to two answers)

I get two answers! This is difficult because I am a huge dessert lover with quite the sweet tooth... The first one that comes to mind is from an Italian restaurant on the Upper West Side. The dish is three scoops of strawberry and mango sorbet each dipped in white chocolate and drizzled with a tad of milk chocolate sauce. It doesn't matter how much I ate, I will always have room for that treat. My second answer is my favorite after-dinner cocktail: a pear martini. I had my first pear martini with my dad at a bar in the Northwoods of Wisconsin (where I grew up). Even though they technically are "anytime-cocktails", there is truly nothing else like sipping on a pear martini on a warm July night watching the sunset over a lake with your dad!

A Q&A with 2014 Schwab Vocal Rising Star Olivia Betzen who will be appearing at Caramoor on March 16th. 1. Our 2014 Vocal Rising Stars program, Ports of Call: An Itinerary of Song takes us from port-to-port on a journey through some of the most musically-inspiring locales. What is the most enchanting place you have traveled to for a performance or for study?

Moravia is one of the most enchanting places I have traveled. Two summers ago I went to the Czech Republic to study Czech diction for several weeks. We stayed in a 15th c. castle in a very small town called Namest nad Oslavou. The rolling hills, castles and churches in these small towns where little to few people speak English gave me the greatest taste of Moravian life and what some of the greatest Czech composers like Antonín Dvorak wrote about in his music. I love going places where English is rarely spoken. The rustic realness of Moravia, the history of this area, a country overrun by wars and under different rule do you not only feel in the cobble stones beneath your feet world hung in the air, like a quiet reminder, a reverence for all those generations before who suffered for their freedom. Still today, the Czech Republic is country fighting to leave the impoverished state it was in over past century, towns slowly being brought to the 21st century. The truth of their struggle was evident. It was authentic. It was real. And I loved every minute of it.

On this trip I had the opportunity to visit Praha as well. An amazing European city, that in it's day was on the forefront of Astrology, Science and Music. It was absolutely spectacular to see Praha's art relatively unaffected by World War, unlike other big cities in other countries. Praha was the seat of so many fabulous musical compositions such as Mozart's Don Giovanni. Getting to step into the opera house that Mozart once premiered this master work in, conducting it himself, understanding the size of their theaters at the time was inspiring for me to understand Mozart's times and appreciate one of his most beloved masterworks still performed today. Prague is a must see city for all.

2. Favorite thing to do on a lazy day off? Staying in my PJs, making a cup of coffee and pulling out the latest book, reading almost all day or until the book is finished. I love being carried away with the lives of others in a novel or biography. Stealing away to a different time or situation, engulfing myself in other peoples experiences, loves, tragedies, triumphs and disappointments is inspiring, humbling and reinvigorating for me. They inspire my music making, my views on relationships and how I see others in my daily life. Getting to read while in the comfort of my home, with coffee in hand, a soft blanket laying across my legs, and hopefully an animal napping next to me is the best kind of lazy day I could ever ask for...

A Q&A with 2014 Schwab Vocal RIsing Star Annie Rosen who will be appearing at Caramoor on March 16th.

1. As an interpreter of song, I imagine you need to interpret in a multitude of languages! Is there a language that is particularly challenging to sing in? What is your favorite language to sing in?

It's true, at conservatory in the USA you learn the diction of at least four (French, German, Italian, and English), and I actually love exploring as many different languages as I can - it's a big reason song is so fascinating to me! In a recent concert I sang in ten different languages and dialects, mostly thanks to the Berio Folk Songs. So far the trickiest for me has been Polish - the phonetics are tricky for a native English speaker, and I gather the grammar itself is also pretty complicated. This summer I'm tackling an opera in Mandarin at Santa Fe, so I'll let you know if that's harder! My favorite non-traditional singing languages have been Romanian (beautiful! Like Italian!) and Hungarian (fun!), but my top favorite is singing in English to an English-speaking audience.

2. Let’s assume you are starting a heavy metal band. What is the name of your band and/or your new stage name?

This is a great question. My heavy metal band would perform hard-hitting covers of our favorite art songs, probably mostly German Lieder. With that in mind, the best band name I've come up with so far is "Frauenscreamer und ragin'." But I'm open to suggestions.

A Q&A with 2014 Scwab Vocal Rising Star Theo Hoffman who will be appearing at Caramoor on March 16th. 1. You’ve been hailed by the New York Times as possessing a voice “as concentrated and rich as a bouillon cube”. What soup would you recommend to the Caramoor audience?

In this phenomenal program, I'm going to be serving up some of everything. Audiences are definitely going to hear a different side of me than they're used to. I'll take you to Argentina, where Sopa de Sorel is on the menu. Next we'll take a caravan to Persia, where we'll enjoy Ash-e Reshteh. Finally we'll end up in New Guinea where we'll dine on "yams and clams and human hams." All and all, you'll leave satiated. 2. What is your favorite operatic role you've performed to date? Is there a dream role that you’re aiming for?

I'm very young in my pursuit of this great art form, so I don't have a plethora of experiences to choose from, but playing the Count in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro this year was a fantastic experience. It's really lovely when the role fits like a glove because then you can focus more on fleshing out the character rather than thinking about the singing all the time. There are so many incredible roles, so I'm hard pressed to pick just one. I don't think my dream role has been written yet.

A Q&A with 2014 Scwab Vocal Rising Star Leann Osterkamp who will be appearing at Caramoor on March 16th. 1. Leann, you are our first ever Vocal Rising Star pianist! How do you hope the Caramoor program will impact your professional and musical goals? Come on, reach for the stars!

I honestly don't have to "hope" for the experience to impact my life... It has already happened. Having the opportunity to work with Michael Barrett and Steve Blier is, quite literally, a dream come true. Every time I watch a NYFOS concert, I always walk out of the hall thinking to myself, "I hope one day I can be part of something like this." They both have an exquisite and endless love for what they do. I think this is why I was immediately drawn to them as artists and people. I have always believed that enthusiasm is contagious, and that is exactly what they exude. One can always pontificate about what the future may hold but life is simply too unpredictable. All I can say is that this experience is full of people I love, music I love, and the instrument that I have loved since I was old enough to play it. How it will impact my career, we will all see as time unfolds. I am just simply ecstatic to be able to share my love for this music with others who share in that same enthusiasm. e and endless love for what they do. I think this is why I was immediately drawn to them as artists and people. I have always believed that enthusiasm is contagious, and that is exactly what they exude.

2. What is your earliest musical memory? I have one of those memories that vividly retains practically everything I've experienced in my life. My earliest musical memories are endless! So perhaps the question should pertain to what my most "interesting" early memories are. I remember that I did not like the metronome at all. I would go to great lengths to hide it around my old house so that my mother could not find it. From a very young age, before I even touched a piano, I had an uncanny ability to memorize complete tunes from the television. Every type of music had its purpose for me. I used to be very afraid of going to school when I was in elementary school because I would get bullied. I always insisted that my mom play Mozart or Chopin in the car on the way to school so that I would feel better. I called it my "tummy music" because it would always calm down my stomach before I got to school.

Caramoor after Hercules / January 2014

A Look at What's in a House - by Jessica Meyer

Each year more than 5,000 students from area schools participate in various Arts-in-Education programs at Caramoor. Jessica Meyer is a violist and composer who recently led a workshop with a class of 5th graders from Yonkers, and wanted to share her experience:

I am really excited to be part of Caramoor's two-day educational residencies called What’s in a House, a series of workshops where students visit with both an architect and a horticulturalist, then compose music with me based on rooms of the famous Rosen House. When I first saw the house, I was shocked by how unique and captivating it is. I have traveled the world as a classical violist, but I have never seen a house like this! What makes it really special is that there is an entire room devoted to music, and that Ms. Rosen loved to play the Theremin - which is proudly displayed next to the stage. The residency officially starts off with a warm-up and discussion with me just after students tour the house. They briefly describe what they noticed while looking in each room, especially about patterns and structure. We then make the connection that music also usually has patterns and a structure as they get ready to hear a piece I composed for solo viola and loop machine. It was quite a happy accident that both myself and Ms. Rosen worked with electrified instruments, and we spend a brief time composing with a few kids from the audience using the machines before lunch. During the rest of the residency, I work more in-depth with smaller groups of children. We name specific parts of the house and then brainstorm how we can convey a certain mood or story through sound. For instance, questions in the past have included: What is the story being told by that room/tapestry/painting? What instrument would be best for that? Let's pick up our pretend (instrument), sing something that this instrument would play...and so on. In 30 minutes time, we have composed several pieces for viola, piano and percussion based on different places in the house, and we practice performing it before the rest of the students get back. Students quickly learn the essence of teamwork and detailed listening skills, and methodically tweak their pieces to make them better down to the wire.... until it's showtime. With so many music programs no longer available in the schools, teachers are always pleasantly surprised to see some of their more challenged or quiet students have their moment in the sun when given the opportunity to get creative in an inspiring space. To learn more about Jessica, visit her website JessicaMeyerMusic.com Learn more about Caramoor's Programs for Schoolchildren.

#Arts-In-Education #music #programs for school childrens #education program #jessica meyer #Caramoor

Meet the Dover Quartet

Meet our 2013-14 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence, the Dover Quartet. Their residency includes visits with participating schools for "Concert and Conversation," after which the young string students visit Caramoor for an instructional string clinic under the supervision of the quartet members. The week ends with the quartet performing in the Rosen House Music Room on Sunday, November 17th.

Joel Link, violin Q: I see you studied with Pamela Frank during your time at the Curtis Institute of Music. Pam was just here coaching Caramoor's Evnin Rising Star artists during an intense week of music making! What is one thing she said to you or taught you that really stuck?

A: I feel that Pam really taught me how to create music so that it makes sense intellectually. When we're young, I feel that we aren't always taught how to sculpt a musical phrase. We do things more instinctually, which is important, but not the whole story. She really took me where I was at the time and taught me how to make things MUCH MORE effective.

Q: Do you have a favorite TV series, book or publication that you just can't seem to quit?

A: I really love Parks and Recreation. It's actually one of the quartet's favorite shows, so it's fun to bring up some of our favorite lines from the show and laugh about it together in rehearsal!

Bryan Lee, violin Q: Your group used to be called the Old City Quartet. Why the change to "Dover"?

A: We originally named ourselves the Old City Quartet because of our favorite part of Philadelphia, Old City. Along the way, we got a bit of negative feedback on the name (too long, the word “old”) and so we chose Dover because it connected us to our alma mater and the city of Philadelphia, which we adore! We're named after Samuel Barber's piece, Dover Beach, written for string quartet and baritone. It was written after Barber had been a student at Curtis and it was premiered by the Curtis String Quartet (Barber wrote it for them to perform with him as the singer)!

Q: What is your favorite piece of music that you performed in the last 12 months?

A: I'd have to say my favorite piece we've played the last 12 months is the Schubert Rosamunde quartet. Ever since I can remember, I have cherished this piece, and now that we've gotten to learn it and perform it, it has been an incredibly satisfying and rewarding piece to play. I'm looking forward to playing it for many more years to come!

Camden Shaw, cello Q: Socks or slippers? Why?

A: Socks. When I walk in slippers I always feel like they're falling off my feet! And I don't feel the need to wear shoes indoors.

Q: You guys recently swept the prizes in every category at the Banff Competition! Congrats! What was the most valuable thing you took away from that experience?

A: The most valuable lesson learned for me in Banff was that any successful moment, big or small, is the result of a thousand moments preceding it-- I think we did well at Banff mostly because we had been on the right track for so long before it. I try now to use each day knowing that ultimately it's leading toward something important in the future. It helps me stay motivated!

Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola Q: How did you get involved with "Music For Food"? Can you briefly explain what that is?

A: I first heard about Music For Food when I was participating in the Marlboro Music Festival a couple summers ago. Kim Kashkashian, who founded the nonprofit, was there that year and gave a little talk about what MFF was, and what her vision was in creating it. Ms. Kashkashian lives in Boston, a city in which hunger is a big problem for those struggling financially, especially homes with larger families and more children, and was inspired to create a program in which music, the "food for the soul", could also directly and literally help feed large numbers of those in need. We were all very excited by this idea, and have since joined the cause by donating concert fees to our local food bank in Philadelphia!

Q: Favorite dessert?

A: You gave me a hard question---doesn't this depend on my mood? I'm certainly a lover of pretty much all desserts... especially vanilla ice cream. There's just something so perfectly satisfying about it...and I can't leave off chocolate! Ok so vanilla ice cream and chocolate!

#classical music #String Quartet #violist #violinist #cellist

For Classical Fans & those who prize Musical Discovery

On Saturday, October 5 The Knights will perform at Caramooor in the Venetian Theater.

The Knights evolved from late night chamber music reading parties with friends at the home of violinist Colin Jacobsen and cellist Eric Jacobsen - insanely creative powerhouses who are also the force behind chamber rebels Brooklyn Rider.

The Knights travel the world, play Ravinia (and other marquee festivals), collaborate with the Silk Road Ensemble and Yo Yo Ma, Dawn Upshaw, Itzhak Perlman and generate passionate excitement wherever they go.

On October 5, passions will flare at Caramoor when The Knights introduce the New York Premiere of Concerto for Santur and Violin by Colin Jacobsen and fellow Silk Road Ensemble member virtuoso Siamak Aghaei. Bach, Haydn, Stravinsky, and Reich are also on the program.

Santur? Yes, santur. An Iranian hammer dulcimer or struck zither.

Intrigued? Creative activists Jacobsen and Aghaei previously teamed up to compose Ascending Bird, an internet sensation performed by the YouTube Symphony. Tickets & More Info

The Intrepid Discoverer - A Journey of a Thousand Miles...

by Barbara Prisament

Cedar Walk, Caramoor. photograph by Barbara Prisament

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" - Lao-tzu

Seven weeks ago I invited you to join me on an adventure as I set out upon an intrepid journey of discovery in search of transcendence through Caramoor's 2013 summer music festival. My self proclaimed task was this:

I will move beyond the limits of my prior experience, and all urges to count off the music Ramones style (1-2-3-4!), placing myself in the audience at the classical, jazz and opera performances that I am curious about and drawn to, but do not normally attend, allowing space for the “not knowing”, and it’s endless possibilities, as I set out to discover the gifts of each.

My hope was that I would gather the inspiration for this journey though my musician and music loving friends as well as my older friends (much older - as in my beloved 600 and 800 year old Sufi poets Hafiz and Rumi) as well as Caramoor itself - it's beautiful setting, knowledgeable staff, and the performances themselves. My goal was to merge with my favorite state in new ways and as often as possible, the state in which time becomes irrelevant, and as Joseph Campbell describes so eloquently, in which we have deeply meaningful experiences of being alive...

...so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonance within our innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive...

...and I have great news! It worked! Time stopped over and over again here this summer - in myriad ways. From the most subtle to the most dramatic, there have been so many "flashes of truth"and the experience has been so expansive, that when I sat down to reflect upon it all in the hope of distilling it's essence - and sharing it with you... I was at an almost total loss for words. I found myself adrift...in Rumi's field:

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase each other, doesn't make any sense.

Still, I was certain there was a way to describe it...a simple word or sentiment that would do justice to the journey, I just didn't know what it was yet. So, I decided there was only one thing to do: pack a picnic, gather my children, and head to Caramoor's Friends Field...for the last program of the season: Dancing at Dusk with La Troupe Zetwal - an evening of traditional Haitian drumming and dancing...perhaps my insight, my "word", awaited me there.

And so it came to pass that this past Wednesday evening, as I danced with my children amidst the Haitian drumbeats, the din of the cowbell, the Caribbean rhythms, the folklore dancers in their bright costumes, and the smiling faces of children waving scarves and self-made shakers in the air with their families surrounding us....that I suddenly knew what it was:

Abundance!

And while I long to share more of the particular moments that moved me, suffice to say that the natural beauty, history, and music stopped me in my tracks time and again, just as I'd hoped. And I realized along the way that there is something else...something less tangible, but also abundant, and at the core of the Caramoor experience - and it was only on this last evening, surrounded by summer interns, volunteers and staff - that I was able to really put my finger on it. This place has a spirit...nurtured and kept alive by the people that come here and by those that work and serve here - an esprit de corps, perhaps rooted in Lucie Rosen's original intention to build a place for beauty and for music, that you can feel when you're here and I know that it affects the artists that come here too - you can hear it in their performances - and feel it in the audience...even the birds, who often chime in, seem to know!

Thank you to those of you - music lovers and musicians alike - who joined me on this journey - pausing along the way to read or reflect, to answer my questions, and to help me glimpse what it was about the music that I was discovering that you love. It was an honor to share it with you, your passion and excitement sparked my own in the process, and there were hidden surprises. The journey was not only, as it turned out, about jazz, classical, opera, broadway, and roots music - it was also about embracing the not knowing, it was about vulnerability, it was about freedom, and it was about trust. It was also, quite frankly, about simply showing up and being present. I call it "putting myself in the path of grace", a practice that enables, and allows, experiences to unfold. And what was true for me also appeared to be true for the presenters and the musicians themselves - who also seemed to leave space for the not knowing and the endless possibilities that it created.

My friend, and professional musician, Tim Armacost put it to me this way:

The great artists always try to surprise themselves!

Perhaps that's the most profound gift of all: the realization that we're all in this together, on the same intrepid journey towards fully experiencing the rapture of being alive.

Abundance! And a sneaking suspicion that we have only just begun to scratch the surface of all there is yet to experience, together...

What was your favorite Caramoor moment this summer?

#Barbara Prisament #Intrepid Discoverer #Caramoor #Tim Armacost #Joseph Campbell #Lao-tzu #Lucie Rosen #La Troupe Zetwal #Dancing at Dusk

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