Happy Birthday Johann Sebastian Bach!

Today was J.S. Bach's 331st birthday and I celebrated with two friends from the Flint Symphony, violinist, Lorrie Gunn and cellist, Judy Vander Weg. We have the distinction of being the first registered chamber music group in Michigan to perform the music of J.S. Bach under the auspices of Bach in the Subways, a movement which is catching on all over the world to introduce the music of J.S. Bach to people who wouldn't normally come into contact with it.

"Wait a minute," you might say, "Michigan doesn't have any subways." And you would be right. According to Dale Henderson, the founder of Bach in the Subways, you don't have to play Bach in a subway system to participate in this worldwide celebration. Bach in the Subways began in New York City's subways in 2010 with a single cellist, Dale Henderson, who wanted to share the glorious music of Bach with the public and "sow the seeds for future generations of classical music lovers." Part busking and part flash mob, it has since grown rapidly throughout the world with musicians playing in train stations, on street corners, in cafes and malls, zoos and restaurants and, after today, a hospital in Flint, Michigan.

More Bach was heard today than perhaps ever before in history on one single day. It was heard for free throughout the world because part of the terms musicians agree to when they sign on to participate in the Bach in the Subways project is that they will perform for free in a place where the general public will come into contact with the power and beauty of Bach's music.

It was a wonderful feeling to perform the music of Bach for the people of Flint as they were coming and going through the hospital lobby. I hope our music was able to lift the cares and concerns from their shoulders for a short time and let their spirits fly with the heavenly music of Bach.

A View from the Pit

Heinz Prechter Educational and Performing Arts Center at WCCC

The final weekend performances of MOT’s production of Aaron Copland’s The Tender Land were held at a very interesting venue, the Heinz Prechter Educational and Performing Arts Center in Taylor, MI. It’s the first time the company has presented there and, according to CEO Wayne Brown’s opening remarks, it won’t be the last.

My first impression was favorable. It looks like a very new performing arts hall but I was told it’s been there for a number of years. As I drove in from Northline Rd. the architecture of the building welcomed me with open arms and the glass façade gave an inviting effect. Inside the back stage area was spacious and clean – unbelievably so. Someone provided signs directing us to the pit which was so low that a platform had to be built for the orchestra and, even with a podium, the conductor’s head couldn’t be seen from the audience. After coming from the Macomb Center the sound was surprisingly complimentary and friends in the audience said the orchestra sounded great.

My view of the stage from the pit

It was generally agreed in the orchestra pit that, although we enjoyed the music from Copland's opera, we are glad it’s over. The orchestra parts were reduced from a full orchestra to a small chamber ensemble of 13 musicians and we had to carry the backup for the singers for a little over two hours.  It wouldn’t have been so bad if we had had an intermission between acts 2 and 3 but, perhaps in order to save time, they decided to combine the second and third acts into one 60-minute act. It was a killer for some of the musicians. A few of us were complaining about our rotator cuffs, there was a bad back or two and arms were practically falling off by the end of every performance. Maintaining concentration was also a challenge when you're playing constantly, as was balance in volume between pit and stage. We were frequently given “the hand” (shhh – play softer!) and I was heard proclaiming that “I’ve never played so softly in my life!” The clarinetist and I were comparing notes on how our embouchures were unable to produce a decent sound anymore and I felt a kindred spirit with marathon runners as they collapse at the end of a race.  

Now we have a much needed week off before rehearsals start for the ballet, The Sleeping Beauty with the American Ballet Theater from New York. I have to switch gears from flute to piccolo and Copland to Tchaikovsky – a marathon to a series of sprints. At least in ballet we don’t have to worry about playing softly all the time so the singers can be heard.

A Freelancer's Feast

"The Merry Wives" play krummhorns and rebec at the DIA at Shakespeare's First Folio gala

A freelancer’s life is cyclical; it’s nice to have steady work but it rarely works out that way. It’s usually a feast or famine situation. As a musician in the southeast Michigan area, my summers are for relaxing, golf and gardening, maybe a bit of travel, teaching workshops and an occasional concert or wedding gig. It’s easy to go without playing my flute for a few days to a few weeks. Similarly, January and February are slow times when the natural hibernation season coincides with time to rest and reflect. Preparation for the coming profusion of work is not far off. Teaching is the one steady income during these times of famine.

During Autumn and Spring it’s a different story. This year the feast came a bit early, mid-February to be exact, when I played the touring Broadway show, Cinderella (eight shows a week for two weeks) in addition to regular teaching and a student recital thrown in on the one night off. As soon as Cinderella closed, rehearsals began for Michigan Opera Theater’s production of Aaron Copland’s opera, The Tender Land. Chamber Music at the Scarab Club, in cooperation with MOT, also presented two chamber concerts of Copland’s music at which I played his Duo for flute and piano. On top of that, I was called to play piccolo with the Detroit Symphony on a couple of concerts. As good luck would have it, the DSO concerts wedged themselves into my packed schedule very nicely.

A piccolo onstage at Orchestra Hall

One additional gig this week was the one to which I have been looking forward most ardently. A few months ago I was approached to assemble a small group to play at the Detroit Institute of Arts for a gala dinner reception celebrating the collaboration of the DIA, the Detroit Public Library and Wayne State University in bringing a copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio from the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. to Detroit. As the year 2016 is the 400^th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, a copy of the first publication of 36 Shakespeare plays (including 18 previously unpublished plays) will visit all 50 states. For a reason I cannot explain, this idea was very exciting to me and I accepted immediately.  Of course I would have to find people to play Renaissance music, ideally on period instruments and dressed in period costumes.

Fortunately my friend from the Flint Symphony, Lorrie Gunn, plays regularly with an ensemble at the Michigan Renaissance Festival and she was able to ask the leader of their group, Mary Ann Fischer, to join us on March 10 at the DIA. They already had the costumes, instruments and music and were just as excited as I was to play for the First Folio opening. We decided to call ourselves "The Merry Wives" for this gig and after a couple of rehearsals, krummhorn lessons and costume fittings we were ready!

Acts I, II, III  ready to go!

The Tender Land bows at dress rehearsal

There was one tiny little potential glitch: the First Folio gig at the DIA started at 6:00 pm and The Tender Land dress rehearsal was from 3:00 to 6:15 pm at the Macomb Center for the Performing Arts, 30-40 minutes away on a good travel day. The bane of a freelancer’s life are these impossible overlaps, making it impossible to do all the gigs you want to do. Normally I would have to give up one of the gigs but I had another solution.  Lorrie and Mary Ann were used to playing together so they agreed to play the first set at the DIA while I was en route from the Macomb Center. Assuming good weather and traffic conditions, I should be able to make it by the time we needed to start the second set.

The crazy day of March 10 came with a DSO Children’s concert in the morning (piccolo) where I was spoiled by playing with the wonderful Detroit Symphony in the acoustical marvel of Orchestra Hall, then the opera dress rehearsal in the afternoon (flute) closely followed by the mad dash to the DIA, costume, music stand and instruments in hand. Luckily the stars were aligned in my favor and the Michigan weather cooperated. These feast days don’t always work out so well, nor are we often called upon to play so many different instruments in the space of 24 hours, or in this case, about 11 hours. March 10, 2016 will go into the books as one of my most productive and satisfying feast days. Lorrie and Mary Ann would agree that the First Folio gig at the DIA was excellent. We were invited to partake in their feast where dishes fit for the gods were served at various stations around the Diego Rivera court. I was pleased to learn that the catering was in house and the yummy mac and cheese station is served in their cafe on occasion.

All's well that ends well and this day will be a feast day to remember in the coming times of famine when I reflect on my salad days and my mac and cheese days.

Lorrie on rebec and Laura on krummhorn

Can you spot the Shakespeare quotes?