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Ever since I heard Edie Brickell up at Martyrs a few years ago, http://www.ediebrickell.com/, I’ve been wanting to hear Natalie Merchant. For me, these two women epitomize the genre of singers with clear voices, interesting lyrics and good moves on stage.

Natalie performed songs based on poems for children by various poets who were projected on the screen at the back of the stage.
http://www.nataliemerchant.com/

And there were two encores – #1 included four more songs and for #2 there were three more ending with her signature “Thank You, Thank You”. Two hours and 45 minutes of great music and moves. Natalie would be the perfect companion for a week in Aruba.
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Bruce

I’ve been having a lot of fun attending the music fests in Chicago held in the open air.

Last Thursday, 7/8 at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park there were two African bands – Victor Deme from Burkina Faso & Dobet Gnahoré
from The Ivory Coast. Victor’s band included an modernized Kora, with tuning pegs like a guitar instead of the traditional fiber rings around the neck. Dancing in front of the stage was tentatively permitted. Dobet brought along dancing with her music. http://www.myspace.com/dobetgnahore. There was a lot of energy when she danced. Her yard-long braids swung around like crazy. In one song she strummed the mbira, the finger harp and one of my favorite African instruments.

Sunday at Welles Park, for the Chicago Folk & Roots Festival just South of the Old Town School of Folk Music, I arrived in time to hear Andreas Kapsalis & Goran Ivanovic play their unique Black Sea oriented rock. Hear them again at the Chopin Theater on 7/22. Andreas was followed by a Venezuelan band featuring Leonard Jacome and playing a Venezuelan-Colombian border mix of music called Jororpo. http://www.chicagofolkandroots.org/2010/main/jacome.html Red Baraat, http://www.redbaraat.com/ an Indian funk band was close behind and took the crowd off their butts to dancing bangra and bollywood hits. But (no pun) Les Saltimbanks, a group who characterizes itself as troubadours, sang French dance pieces which kept everyone on their feet, despite a light rain than came over Welles Park. The final group, Etran Finatawa http://www.etranfinatawa.com/ hardly had 15 minutes to play when a lightning storm shut us down.

Monday evening at the Pritzker Pavilion in Millenuim Park, The Budos Band & Caribou performed. The Budos were also at the the Folk & Roots Fest on Saturday, but I couldn’t go that night. http://thebudos.com/music/. The Budos were a great wind band with a full brass ensemble with bass sax. Later a group called Caribou http://www.caribou.fm/ made more sound that should be permitted by any four men. There was a real drum set and some electronic pads.
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Bruce

I get encouraged every time I see young musicians who value the art of performance. And High School is a turning point for many of them as to whether they pursue further studies. Friday night I had a chance to see the Classical Guitar recital of the National High School Music Institute (NHSMI) held in Lutkin Hall at Northwestern, thanks to two friends who’s son attended NHSMI the this year.

There were seven students in this year’s class. The program included solos, small ensembles and the large ensemble including five NWU grad-student “practice partners” who nurtured the students during their two weeks of study. The program spanned the gamut of classical guitar from Frescobaldi to Roland Dyens with many Spaniards and some Leo Brouwer in between. Two pleasing exceptions to the Latin-influenced pieces were excerpts from the Bach Suite in G Major and the “Theme and Variations on Sakura” by Japanese composer Yuquijiro Yocoh.

The students, whether tentative or accomplished, were joyfully applauded by at least 100 of their peers from other sections of the NHSMI program. More NHSMI concerts and recitals are scheduled for the remainder of July. Check http://www.music.northwestern.edu/precollegecommunity/nhsmi/ and http://www.music.northwestern.edu/calendar/

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Bruce

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