Cari on… SVBF 2024
Well, another Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival has come and gone! I played more this year than ever before and it was an incredible week. If you want a refresher about last year’s festival, click here!
Noon Chamber concerts
Once again this year I played on two chamber concerts. On Monday I had the honor of joining two tremendous musicians: Celia Daggy on viola, and Amanda Gookin on cello. We played Harbor Sounds by living flutist and composer Laurel Zucker. It was a delight to join with other women to paint a beautiful picture of the Puget Sound with its passing, moving lines and open harmonies.
After a seemingly infinite number of orchestra and chamber rehearsals later, on Friday, I had the pleasure of joining husband and wife viola/harp duo Thomas Stevens and Anastasia Jellison for the illustrious Debussy Trio (actually called Sonata for flute, viola, and harp but no one says that). This expansive, vivid piece is a true masterpiece, not only of chamber music but of the entire repertoire and performing it is always a tremendous privilege. In fact, this was the final piece on the final chamber concert for this year!
Festival concerts
On Friday night our program was as follows:
Nkeiru Okoye: Voices Shouting Out
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Violin Concerto in G minor
Antonin Dvořák : Symphony No.9 in E minor, “The New World”
The Okoye piece was percussive, intense, and cacophonous but not without moments of beauty. The Coleridge-Taylor concerto was exquisitely performed by Alejandra Switala. This underperformed work is proof of what we have denied ourselves by ignoring the voices of Black composers in the past. Even if you don’t think you know the New World symphony, you have likely heard several of the iconic melodies. It is unique in that the second flute part actually has more solos than the first flute! We like to speculate that dear Dvorak may have been dating a second flutist to have given so many sparkling moments to the unassuming position, but no flutist (however main-character their energy…cough cough…) has scoffed at the chance to play second on this piece. But beyond that, the absolute exhilaration of the teamwork required to play this piece is unparalleled. Even an independent introvert like myself (I assure you it’s true no matter how much I love the spotlight) relishes the community of discovery here. If you’d like, you can listen at this link, but be aware that there is nothing until 20:57 when artistic director David Berry comes out for commentary and thanks, and then the music begins at 24:57.
Saturday night, my final concert:
Valerie Coleman: Umoja: Anthem of Unity
Richard Strauss: Four Last Songs
Michael Tippett: A Child of Our Time
Hear me out: while I support the importance of listening to and performing new music (and especially music by Black people, women, queer people, and other historically silenced communities) I don’t always like new music. The two outside pieces on this concert both challenged and taught me.
Valerie Coleman is a living Black woman who is also a flutist!! She is experiencing numerous well-deserved, high profile positions and she couldn’t deserve it more. Her Umoja is truly one of the most exquisite things for orchestra that I’ve ever heard. It is new, alive, and yet not unfamiliar and easily enjoyed. It was a delight and a challenge to learn this piece!
Of course the Four Last Songs are well loved. Often hailed as some of the most beautiful music ever written, they are transportive and overflowing with expression. Sara Duchovnay was absolutely exquisite, the perfect voice for the richness and depth Strauss requires.
The Michael Tippett is not a piece meant for enjoyment. It is a piece meant to memorialize, to reflect, to learn, and to grow. To teach us how to move forward in a new and uglier world than we have previously known. He was compelled by Kristallnacht to write this piece. I don’t know how to sufficiently hold or explain his use of African American Spirituals in conjuncture with the emerging Holocaust, but I was deeply moved every time a familiar line would rise from the cacophonous piece.
You can hear the concert here. The concert begins at 27:50. David Berry’s commentary begins at 19:37 and is lengthy, as we are saying goodbye to the executive director Amanda Gookin. She makes remarks after the intermission which I think are worth hearing in addition to saying her thanks to the board, etc, as she leaves.
My husband watched this one via the livestream, so behold this photo of our projector!
our fearless leaders
It was a joy to work under the baton of Deanna Tham. She was asked to conduct this year’s festival only a couple of weeks before the event! But you would never have known based on her knowledge and expression with the pieces. Deanne treated us as trustworthy musicians, and the orchestra rose to the invitation, which created a rich environment for excellent music making.
David Berry is a grounding and inspiring presence at the festival as artistic director. When he speaks before a performance, it is with deep feeling and knowledge - an invitation to become engrossed in the performance you’re about to hear. He is kind and attentive when he speaks with you which is both humbling and encouraging. A privilege to work with him and see how he is growing and evolving this festival!
This year I want to give a special nod to Amanda Gookin who is leaving her position as executive director of the festival after four years. Amanda is passionate and knowledgeable about new music in a way that immediately inspires trust and curiosity - no easy feat! She performs and programs pieces by living composers without apology, but with context and truth. For Amanda, engaging with living composers and composers previously ignored is the farthest thing from checking a box. She genuinely believes, embodies, and understands the need to connect with the music of our time and more recent times. I have been changed by playing and working with her, and I am forever grateful that our paths crossed at this festival. May they cross again as we both continue to bring music to a hurting, broken, but still moving world. Thank you, Amanda.