Nearing the end

The Marlboro Music Festival ends this weekend. We are nearing the end of our ability to come here and listen to chamber music. Today may be the last day; I'm not sure. Saturday, the Feinlands are all coming to the house at 4pm for supper, and Ellen will need the day for shopping and cooking.

Today I dropped Ellen here at 11:00a.m. and then went back so I could spend time with John. I took my lunch makings (Eggie-rice) there and got caught up on many of their projects and challenges! The main project right now is a new woodstove and tiles that will go under it. The tiles - from Spain! - were delivered. today. The challenges? First, Cynthia's sister, Lyn, is dying, so Cynthia is spending a lot of time with Lyn. They have canceled their planned trip to Grand Manan. And then there is the discovery of rot in the bedroom balcony that extends who knows how far into the supporting beams that run into the house. Fixing that will be a huge and unexpected project. 

After John's, I came back to Marlboro. Right now I am listening to a Mozart String Quintet. It is delightful. First violin is being played by 25-year-old Stephanie Zyzak:

"Born in 1994, Stephanie Zyzak began playing the violin at 4 years old. She studied with Miriam Fried at New England Conservatory where she received her Bachelors and Masters degrees, and is currently completing her doctorate degree at City University of New York, The Graduate Center with Mark Steinberg. 

At the age seven, Stephanie made her first solo appearance with the Starling Chamber Orchestra in the Aspen Music School and became the youngest recipient ever to be awarded the Aspen Music School New Horizon Fellowship. The following year, she performed in Germany as an invited guest of the Internationale Kunst – Akademie Liechtenstein (IKAL). Over the years, she has had the opportunity to solo and tour with orchestras and various groups in Germany, Russia, Austria, Sweden, Spain, Italy, and France. In 2004, Stephanie made her debut with the Louisville Orchestra, and has performed with orchestras such as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Dayton Philharmonic, and Southeast Missouri Symphony. Other notable performances include an appearance on Praire Home Companion with Garrison Keillor and an invitation to perform as an honored guest at the Lotus Festival for His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. 

Stephanie has received top prizes in various competitions and was most recently named a finalist at the 2018 Naumburg International Violin Competition. She has been invited to participate in renowned international competitions including: the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis (2018), Joseph Joachim Hannover International Violin Competition (2018), Shanghai International Isaac Stern Competition (2016), International Ima Hogg Competition (2016 semifinalist), Seoul International Music Competition (2015), and Zhuhai International Mozart Competition (2015 semifinalist). 

A passionate chamber musician, she has collaborated with Ralph Kirshbaum, Steven Tenenbom, Hsin-Yun Huang, Colin Carr, Michael Kannen, and Robert McDonald. She has performed at festivals such as the Taos School of Music, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival, and has also been invited to the Marlboro Music Festival this coming summer.

Stephanie performs on a 1778 Joseph and Antonio Gagliano violin, generously on loan from Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute."

Stephanie Zyzak

We are meeting John at the Food Cart Roundup at the Brattleboro Retreat farm at 6pm - there are 7-8 food carts there, music, and lots of people. Included is an Indian Dosa Cart, but several others as well that can meet John's dietary restrictions. Should be fun. Cynthia is with her sister and will not be back for supper.

Later:
It rained during much of the food cart event, but John did join us and we had a good time and the nutty falafel dosas were delicious.  We found some tables under a tent where we could eat them. Then we came back to the house and Ellen made fresh peach ice cream sundaes with peaches she had brought back from PA - they were perfectly ripe and delicious!

Marlboro once again

This is proving to be a Marlboro summer! After several summers of missing it entirely, this is wonderful. We are here this morning for the Schubert String Quartet in G Major. The first violin is being played by Joseph Lin:

--> "Sought after as a performer and teacher, Joseph Lin (Pre-College ’96) appears regularly at halls, festivals, and conservatories throughout the U.S., Asia, and Europe. He was first violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet from 2011 to 2018 before stepping down to devote more time to his four young children; he continues to teach violin and chamber music at Juilliard, leading several artistic initiatives and enjoying collaborations with both students and colleagues. His 2019 projects include a collaboration with Robert Levin playing Beethoven and Schubert on period instruments, a Musicians from Marlboro tour on violin and viola, collaborations with Juilliard students during ChamberFest, and performances of Bartók’s Second Violin Concerto. In 2020, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, Lin will lead a series of performances of the late string quartets for Camerata Pacifica and continue explorations of the sonatas on period instrumen

From 2007 to 2011, Lin was an assistant professor at Cornell University, where he organized the inaugural Chinese Musicians Residency, in 2009. The following year, he led a project with Cornell composers to study Bach’s violin sonatas and partitas and create new works inspired by Bach, culminating in a series of concerts premiering the new works alongside Bach’s. Last year, he performed the complete Bach sonatas and partitas at Sumida Triphony Hall in Tokyo. His Bach exploration continues in 2020, the 300th anniversary of the sonatas and partitas, with complete cycles in Boston and Philadelphia.

Lin was a founding member of the Formosa Quartet, which won the 2006 London International String Quartet Competition. In 1996, he won first prize at the Concert Artists Guild International Competition and was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts. In 1999, he was selected for the Pro Musicis International Award and, in 2001, he won first prize at the inaugural Michael Hill International Violin Competition in New Zealand. His recordings include the music of Korngold and Busoni with pianist Benjamin Loeb; an album of Debussy, Franck, and Milhaud with pianist Orion Weiss; and the complete unaccompanied works of Bach and Ysaÿe. His recording of Mozart’s A Major Violin Concerto with original cadenzas was released in 2017. With the Juilliard Quartet, he recorded Schubert’s Death and the Maiden and Elliot Carter’s Fifth Quartet as well as the quartet’s most recent album, of Beethoven, Davidovsky, and Bartók. During the summer season, he is a regular artist at the Tanglewood and Marlboro festivals."

Lin, whose violin teachers have included Mary Canberg (Diploma ’45), Shirley Givens (Diploma ’53), and Lynn Chang (Pre-College ’69),  graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 2000, and in 2002 began an extended exploration of China including studying Chinese music in Beijing as a Fulbright scholar.

  How many men would voluntarily relinquish one of the most prestigious positions in the musical world to spend more time with their children?

Joseph Lin

Ellen got back from Pennsylvania at about 8pm last night, and we got home at about 10:30pm. Tuesday, I inked the tax forms in the morning and then after lunch I took Savanna's car to the Amherst College Library. I was most interested to see Robert Alter's Hebrew Bible and Commentary, 3 vols., which was released earlier this year to glowing reviews. But alas, the Frost Library does not have it. The only library in the area that has it is the DuBois Library at UMass, and even there it is on Reserve, which might mean I couldn't see it since I'm not a student. I checked World Cat and the next closest library to me with a copy is in Manchester, NH. So I decided to bite the bullet and buy it. I found a new copy on Abe Books that was $35 off list price, so I ordered it.

Lacking that at the Library, I turned to other interests. I found Jon Lane's book on the Mississippi Freedom Schools of the summer of 1964 which mentions Wally Roberts several times and has his picture. Earlier this summer i had been remembering him and his wife  Jane Tillinghast, who were friends at Brown). I found two books about the Atlanta Race Riot of 1906 ( an interest of long-standing because my father was a ten-year-old boy living in Atlanta that summer). More on that later. And I found a book on Postmodernism that had two essays by CTS faculty, Ken Stone and Laurel Schneider, who I had course-work with back in 2000 when I was Pastor-in-Residence at CTS.

!@#$% Taxes

I got all the tax stuff out and it wasn't long before I realized that I had made a fairly significant error to my disadvantage in the penciled-in version I did back in April. So I had to recompute a lot and check everything. But I also realized that I had failed to include the special standard deduction for seniors. The regular SD is now $24,000 for a couple filing jointly, but for a senior couple it's $26,600. So that helped - it made my error a wash. Tax = $0. That's good - I am not enthusiastic about supporting the current federal government at all. But it's a pain nonetheless.

Looking back at my April 7, 2019 post about Richard Kim, I was reminded that I was here at K&S's when I penciled in the taxes and decided to take an extension. I had forgotten that. It's sheer coincidence that I'm doing them again here and not at home.

Also, back then we helped John pick up his Honda Insight. It's proved to be a good car so far and hasn't needed much work. The $ we've put into the Impreza since then would have bought three Insights at the price he paid!

I heard from Ellen  and she is having a good time. She likes Wallace's new digs at Kendal.

By the time I had the taxes figured out there was no time to get to the Amherst College Library which closes at 5pm today. And Brendon isn't coming back here until tomorrow.

So there you have it!

My view from the living-room couch where I am right now (taken with Photo Booth which reverses everything)

In Shutesbury, MA

I am in Shutesbury, MA at Katie & Savanna's. Ellen and I got up early this morning and got here at about 9:15a.m., in time for me to go to church with Savanna. Ellen continued on to Pennsylvania and I assume that she is now at Kendall, Kennett Square, where Wallace now lives. I think she is staying in someone else's apartment who is away, since Wallace's apartment has no guest bedroom. I hope she had a good drive after we got the Subaru back in good running order yesterday.

The pastor at First Congregational, Amherst, Rev.Vickie Kemper, started off referring to something that had happened which made it a "dark time," but we were in the dark, because we had not been listening to the radio. Later, we learned about the two horrific mass shootings in El Paso, TX and Dayton, OH. We realized with chagrin that we had at first thought of the worst - a nuclear attack - and were "relieved" that it was "only" a mass shooting. That is what we have come to.

I have spent the afternoon talking with Savanna, blogging and working on Spelling Bee. The letters this week were an "N" in the middle, with TAHMOR around the outside. It was a hard one forme, but I finally got the 3-pointer and managed to be a genius, though I missed several they got. Katie spent most of the afternoon at a much higher level - she was with Tye prompting her with questions to help her prepare for an LPN certification exam she is taking tomorrow.  Katie was impressed both by how comprehensive the exam is, and how much Tye knows. We all wish her good luck on the exam. This weekend, Brendon has been with his mother visiting Krystal's aunt who lives in Vermont. That made it possible for Katie and Savanna to come to Marlboro yesterday. He will come back here tomorrow.

One thing I hope to accomplish here is to ink in my final tax forms and get them in the mail. I took extensions last April, but I think (hope!) that I have accurate penciled-in versions. I brought everything with me. I don't quite remember why I didn't finish the job in April, but I think it was because I was under pressure because tax day came the day after Palm Sunday, when I was leading the choir in Dummerston. So, here's hoping I can get that off my mind.

I also hope I might find time to get to the Amherst College Library. I have some things I want to find and possibly photograph there. That includes Robert Alter's new translation of and commentary on the Hebrew Bible - It's 3 vols., so I'm not going to photograph the whole thing! But maybe just the Book of Isaiah, which would be useful for my dissertation work. Also, I'm just eager to see it and especially see what his commentary is like. I also would like to meet Penny Kim, widow of Richard  E. Kim, Korean-American author of the 1964 novel, The Martyred. She lives just down the road. June 23rd was the tenth anniversary of his death. I read The Martyred when it was first published (and was quite moved by it), and have since read two other novels by him. I would like to learn more about him. (See my earlier post "Richard E Kim"for April 7, 2019).

Ellen will return Tuesday evening.

Good luck on your exam tomorrow, Tye!

And have a good visit at Kendall, Ellen!

Stewart Letter #8

Here is Letter #8 in the Stewart series. This is the letter in which Stewart reports on his Army physical and the discovery that the lump above his ankle, which the family M.D. had brushed off as unimportant, was actually caused by a broken bone which Stewart had been walking on for almost six months.                                   

                                       Letter #8

August 28, 1944

Dear Dad,

            Last  Tuesday I went to the Federal Offices Building at 8 o'clock and took the qualifying mental examination.[i]  In reality, the test is for qualifying for the Air Corps but one applying for ERC[ii] takes just two-thirds of the questions. To pass, one needs seventy out of 150, and I scored on 79 out of 100. The average individual is expected to get about half. Then on Tuesday afternoon, I went out to the Fort[iii] to have my physical examination. I told the officer who inspected joints about the lump on my leg, and he had me sent to the base hospital to have it X-rayed. Then I waited that afternoon, the next morning and part of the afternoon until the report came back,[iv] and I found out that my leg had been broken six centimeters above the ankle, the fibula, which runs along the side of the leg, being the bone broken, and not the tibia, which is the main bone. The tibia acted as a sort of splint and kept the fibula in place, or otherwise it might not have set straight.  I am supposed to go back in another month, since the healing was not yet complete, and no wonder, because I have been walking on it ever since early March, when the pain started. Aug. 26th was my last day, however, at Spencer-Kellogg.  I will be able to fix the wood that Larry and I have been able to get from Chevrolet down on the far corner of Hennepin and thirteenth.[v]

Also I am planning to do some extensive reading , since I have the complete works of Washington Irving. However, I know that there are some other good books that we have on our shelves, for instance, I have just finished reading Green Light by Lloyd Douglas.[vi] I hope that by sleeping each morning until I wake up normally, that I can help my leg to heal completely, which will be evident when the lump goes down, which is a heavy callous formed around the break.

            Mother has changed the front bedroom into a bedroom for Larry and me together. It has plenty (of room)  for both of our beds and dressers and my desk, the big black library table.[vii]

            In getting to the Reception Center, where I had my physical, I had to take the streetcar [viii]   that runs from the end of Fort Snelling car line to the Reception Center, about a mile and a half. I ate two meals; neither was exceptional.[ix] But then, I suppose one would have to eat there for a whole week to get the benefit of their menu. There were about seventy-five or so inductees being examined when I was, and most of them had a "don't-care" attitude, and in the waiting-room, a special building, they had to wait for their names to be called when their papers were completed, and most of them smoked incessantly, making the atmosphere unpleasant to me.[x]

            It certainly does look as though the war in Europe will soon be over, so we must be concerned about what Congress does in preparing for the peace to come, since the fall of Japan fairly soon after Germany is an almost certain thing. [xi] I truly hope that the joke: "Pro" is the opposite of "Con," as in "Progress"/ "Congress"  is not true when applied practically.

            I must leave now to get my watch, since it has been a week since I left it at the jeweler's. The hands came too close together and the luminous material in them caught, and in getting them apart, I inadvertently loosened the material.

            I hope that you can keep well despite the conditions that you are living under. I wish with all my heart that I could be with you.[xii]

                                                                        Your loving son,

                                                                                    Stewart

---

[i] The Federal Office Building at that time was located at 212 3rd Avenue South, Minneapolis. 

Federal Office Building

[ii] Enlisted Reserve Corps. In that era, there was a difference between men who enlisted and men who were drafted. Technically, they were in two different armies. Stewart was enlisting through the ASTRP.

[iii] Fort Snelling was reached by streetcar from our house. It took almost an hour to get there, as I recall. Fort Snelling is a National Historic Landmark today, but in 1944 it was still an active military installation used to process recruits and also the prime army facility for teaching the Japanese language.

Fort Snellng Administration Building

[iv] I hope this doesn't mean he had to spend the night there, but probably not.

[v] I remember the Chevrolet building  Stewart is referring to, but I have no memory of the wood he is talking about.

[vi] "Lloyd Cassel Douglas (1877-1951) was born in Columbia City, Indiana, the son of a Lutheran minister.  He became a Lutheran minister himself in 1903 and married Bessie Porch in 1904.  Between 1903 and 1911 Douglas preached in Indiana, Ohio, and Washington D.C. From 1911 through 1915, he was director of religious work at the University of Illinois.  After that, he preached at various churches around the United States and Montreal, retiring from the ministry in 1933. His first successful novel was 1929’s Magnificent Obsession.  He remained extremely popular for the rest of his life, appearing on Publishers Weekly’s  top ten annual bestsellers list thirteen times from 1932 to 1953, taking the number one spot four times. 

Green Light starts with the stock market crash in 1929, signalling the beginning of the Great Depression.  The protagonist, a doctor named Newell Paige, is preparing for surgery with his friend and mentor, Dr. Endicott.  The latter, shaken by his financial loss, makes an error in the surgery, resulting in the death of the patient, one Mrs. Dexter, with whom Dr. Paige had grown close over the preceding weeks.  Dr. Paige, hoping to save Dr. Endicott’s reputation, takes the blame and runs off under an assumed name. There are two major plotlines and a few subplots.  The other major plotline deals with Mrs. Dexter’s daughter, Phyllis, who falls for Dr. Paige, meeting him under his assumed name.  But both major plots and almost all the subplots are tied together by Dean Harcourt of Trinity Cathedral, whose philosophy and advice spur on the novel’s other characters."

Lloyd Douglaa

[vii] Boy, I hadn't thought about this piece of furniture for a long time. It was beautiful. It had scrolled pediment legs and a glossy, black finish. I wish I still had it - it would make a great desk.

[viii] This letter is evoking strong feelings of nostalgia for me. The Minneapolis Street Car system was really wonderful, and I loved the street cars themselves, which were yellow and had beautiful caned seats. 

Minneapolis Street Car

 

[ix] It would be interesting to know what would have made a meal "exceptional" for Stewart at that time.

[x] I'm afraid that Stewart - and me too, of course - had lived a sheltered existence. This was probably his first introduction to what "Army life" would be like.

[xi] Germany surrendered May 8, 1945 and Japan surrendered September 2, 1945. So in a way, I guess, Stewart was right. But when he said "soon be over," he probably was thinking a shorter time.

 

[xii] This must have touched dad's heart. I wonder if this was just a way of saying "I love you," or whether Stewart might also have been really eager to get away from home - i.e., mother and me.

Marlboro Rehearsal Notes

Yesterday we heard a rendition of Benjamin Britten's Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac, Op. 51 which is based on the medieval Chester Mystery Plays. It is sung by a tenor (Abraham) and an alto (Isaac). The role of God is sung by the two together. They sang beautifully.This is a piece I had never heard before - it is pretty powerful and intense. The singers had excellent diction, but it is in Old English, so I followed along with lyrics I found on-line, which helped a lot.

Here are the lyrics:

GOD: Abraham, my servant, Abraham,
Take Isaac, thy son by name,
That thou lovest the best of all,
And in sacrifice offer him to me
Upon that hill there besides thee.

Abraham, I will that so it be,
For aught that may befall.

Abraham: My Lord, to Thee is mine intent
Ever to be obedient.
That son that Thou to me hast sent
Offer I will to Thee.
Thy bidding done shall be.

Here Abraham, turning to his son Isaac, saith:

Make thee ready, my dear darling,
For we must do a little thing.
This woode do on thy back it bring,
We may no longer abide.
A sword and fire that I will take,
For sacrifice behoves me to make;
God's bidding will I not forsake,
But ever obedient be.

Here Isaac speaketh to his father, and taketh a bundle of sticks and beareth after his father, and saith:

Isaac: Father, I am all ready
To do your bidding most meekely,
And to bear this wood full bayn am I,
As you commanded me.

Here they both go to the place to do sacrifice:

Abraham: Now, Isaac son, go we our way
To yonder mount if that we may.

Isaac: My dear father, I will essay
To follow you full fain.

Abraham being minded to slay his son Isaac, lifts up his hands, and saith the following:

Abraham: O! My heart will break in three,
To hear thy words I have pitye;
As Thou wilt, Lord, so must it be,
To Thee I will be bayn.
Lay down thy faggot, my own son dear.

Isaac: All ready father, lo, it is here.
But why make you such heavy cheer?
Are you anything adread?

Abraham: Ah! Dear God! That me is woe!

Isaac: Father, if it be your will,
Where is the beast that we shall kill?

Abraham: Thereof, son, is none upon this hill.

Isaac: Father, I am full sore affeared
To see you bear that drawne sword.

Abraham: Isaac, son, peace, I pray thee,
Thou breakest my heart in three.

Isaac: I pray you, father, layn nothing from me,
But tell me what you think.

Abraham: Ah! Isaac, Isaac, I must thee kill!

Isaac: Alas! Father, is that your will,
Your owne child for to spill
Upon this hilles brink?
If I have trespassed in any degree
With a yard you may beat me;
Put up your sword, if your will be,
For I am but a child.
Would God my mother were here with me!
She would kneel down upon her knee,
Praying you, father, if it may be,
For to save my life.

Abraham: O Isaac, son, to thee I say
God hath commanded me today
Sacrifice, this is no nay,
To make of thy bodye.

Isaac: Is it God's will I shall be slain?

Abraham: Yea, son, it is not for to layn.

Here Isaac asketh his father's blessing on his knees, and saith:

Isaac: Father, seeing you mustë needs do so,
Let it pass lightly and over go;
Kneeling on my knees two,
Your blessing on me spread.

Abraham: My blessing, dear son, give I thee
And thy mother's with heart free.
The blessing of the Trinity,
My dear Son, on thee light.

Here Isaac riseth and cometh to his father, and he taketh him, and bindeth and layeth him upon the altar to sacrifice him, and saith:

Abraham: Come hither, my child thou art so sweet,
Thou must be bound both hands and feet.

Isaac: Father, do with me as you will,
I must obey, and that is skill,
Godës commandment to fulfil,
For needs so it must be.

Abraham: Isaac, Isaac, blessed must thou be.

Isaac: Father, greet well my brethren ying,
And pray my mother of her blessing,
I come no more under her wing,
Farewell for ever and aye.

Abraham: Farewell, my sweetë son of grace!

Here Abraham doth kiss his son Isaac, and binds a kerchief about his head.

Isaac: I pray you, father, turn down my face,
For I am sore adread.

Abraham: Lord, full loth were I him to kill!

Isaac: Ah, mercy, father, why tarry you so?

Abraham: Jesu! On me have pity,
That I have most in mind.

Isaac: Now, father, I see that I shall die:
Almighty God in majesty!
My soul I offer unto Thee!

Abraham: To do this deed I am sorrye.

Here let Abraham make a sign as tho' he would cut off his son Isaac's head with his sword; then...

GOD: Abraham, my servant dear,
Lay not thy sword in no manner
On Isaac, thy dear darling.
For thou dreadest me, well wot I,
That of thy son has no mercy,
To fulfil my bidding.

Abraham: Ah, Lord of heaven and King of bliss,
Thy bidding shall be done, i-wiss!
A hornëd wether here I see,
Among the briars tied is he,
To Thee offered shall he be
Anon right in this place.

Then let Abraham take the lamb and kill him.

Abraham: Sacrifice here sent me is,
And all, Lord, through Thy grace.

Envoi: Such obedience grant us, O Lord!
Ever to Thy most holy word.
That in the same we may accord
As this Abraham was bayn;
And then altogether shall we
That worthy King in heaven see,
And dwell with Him in great glorye
For ever and ever. Amen.

Later:

Katie and Savanna left after the Britten, but Ellen and I stayed and we got to hear the Beethoven Piano  and Wind Quintet in E-flat Major, and then a full run through of the Dvorak String Quintet which we had heard earlier and so enjoyed. As an added treat, after the Dvorak, Arnold Steinhardt, who was first violin for the Gaurneri string quartet for years, came up and gave some suggestions to the musicians on how to make what was gorgeous sound even better. Very fine points, but offered very graciously and the musicians responded and you could hear the  difference. That was fascinating to observe.

Musicians for the Beethoven Quintet for Piano and Winds, Op. 16.

The Beethoven Quintet rehearsal was unusual in this respect: the clarinetist, Alexander Fiterstein, dominated the rehearsal more than is usual at Marlboro. Our experience there is that rehearsals are very collaborative, with each person making suggestions. Sometimes, after a run-through, a faculty "coach" will come forward and provide a critique, as Arnold Steinhardt did for the Dvoràk. But Fiterstein frequently interrupted the rehearsal to tell others how they should be playing. Not in a pre-emptory way, but prescriptive nonetheless. It was hard to tell if they had all agreed to this in advance. Granted, Fiterstein was probably the senior member of the quintet and had the most experience and perhaps also therefore the greater authority. It's very possible that he was just doing what they asked him to do. In fact, he may very well be Marlboro "faculty," and the other four were all "students." But I don't think there is a hard distinction between faculty and students at Marlboro. They are all listed together as "participants." Anyway, it was interesting and not the usual procedure that we see.

Alexander Fiterstein

I personally was quite impressed with the bassoonist, Marlène Ngalissamy. She is much younger than Fiterstein, but already has an impressive resume and played beautifully. She said very little during the rehearsal, however. Observing the interactions among the musicians is one of the fringe benefits of attending rehearsals.

Marlène Ngalissamy

Her resume:

Marlene Ngalissamy, bassoon:
Born in Moscow, Marlene moved to Canada at the age of 10 and began learning the bassoon three years later. She quickly developed a deep passion for the instrument and was accepted at the Montreal Conservatory of Music in the class of Mathieu Harel.
 
Over the past few years, she had the chance to participate in several workshops: Pacific music festival in Japan, International Summer Academy of the mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Pablo Casals Festival, Orford Academy, Chamber Music Academy of the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and Domaine Forget. She had lessons with several national and international masters such as Dag Jensen, Carlo Colombo, Laurent Lefevre, Ole Kristian Dahl, Stéphane Levesque, Gustavo Nuñez, Christopher Millard, Vincent Parizeau and Louise Pellerin. She worked with different conductors such as Kent Nagano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Juanjo Mena, Vasily Petrenko, Allain Trudel, Julian Kuerti, Robert D. Levin and many others.
 
Winner of the first prize in the Canadian Music Competition (2012), she performed the W. A. Mozart bassoon concerto with the gala orchestra in Toronto. As a soloist, she performed with the Metropolitan Orchestra of Montreal, the Montreal Youth Symphony Orchestra and the orchestra of the Conservatory of Montreal. She played with different orchestras in Quebec such as The Metropolitan Orchestra of Montreal, les Violons du Roy and The Montreal Symphony Orchestra as both substitute bassoon and contrabassoon. She was also part of a chamber music recital at the Salle Bourgie in February 2015 with some of the OSM musicians.
 
In February 2014, Marlene gave a recital at the Red Path Hall at McGill University as part of the Montreal High Lights Festival. The performance was recorded and broadcasted on CBC radio2. She is also a finalist of the MegQuigley bassoon Competition 2015.
 
One of the eight laureates of the Developing Artist Grant of the Hnatyshyn Foundation (2013), Marlene completed her Bachelor degree at the Montreal Conservatory with Mathieu Harel and Stéphane Levesque. She is now attending the Curtis Institute of music in the class of Daniel Matsukawa. She recently played with the Jupiter Chamber Orchestra Players in New-York and will have the opportunity to perform the Weber bassoon concerto with the Edmonton Symphony orchestra in October 2018.

And Again!

It's Saturday, and we are back at the Marlboro Music Festival rehearsals, but this time, Katie and Savanna have joined us! Our morning got off to a somewhat anxious start, however. It started at Subaru - a place I seem to have spent a lot of time lately! Since we picked up the car last Tuesday, we have been having a lot of trouble with the engine stalling. Not all the time, but often when we would come to a stop at an intersection, or even gear down to first gear going up the driveway. Last night, Ellen and I got to talking about the fact that she was driving to Swarthmore tomorrow, and we got to thinking about what that problem would mean in a situation like bumper-to-bumper traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike! We decided that she should not drive that car to PA! What to do? I checked and found Subaru Service is open on Saturdays. I called them and left a message describing the problem and warning them that we were showing up at 8a.m.! So we got up early and were there at the stroke of 8. And they took us in without a scheduled appointment. We went into the waiting room and called K&S to warn them we might be late at Marlboro. But 20 minutes later, Shayne the service guy came out and said, "You are all set." The problem was a dirty throttle! And that indeed has taken care of the problem. Whew!

Right now we are listening to Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring.

Strings and winds playing Copland

The first violin in the Copland is Scott St.John. He is a faculty member at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. We've noticed several students and graduates of the Colburn school are among this year's musicians.

"Violinist Scott St. John is the Director of Chamber Music at The Colburn School in Los Angeles. He leads the chamber music programs in the Colburn School’s Conservatory of Music and pre-college Music Academy. Scott is Concertmaster of the innovative ROCO Chamber Orchestra in Houston, Texas, and a frequent participant at the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont. Born in London Canada, early violin success gave Scott a path to the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and the chance to work with David Cerone, Arnold Steinhardt and Felix Galimir. After winning the Alexander Schneider Competition and playing a Carnegie Hall debut, NYC pulled Scott into its orbit, where Young Concert Artists gave him fabulous opportunities for performance. In addition to a magical year of working at the Disney Store in Times Square, Scott has been Associate Professor at the University of Toronto, and Artist-in-Residence at Stanford University as part of the St. Lawrence String Quartet. He has received an Avery Fisher Career Grant and won a Juno Award for recording Mozart with his sister Lara St. John. He has founded two chamber music awards for students: the Felix Galimir Award at University of Toronto and the Ida Levin Award at the Colburn School. Scott loves chamber music, Dvorak, new music, music by less-known composers, and a great espresso. He has been to all the Canadian provinces, 49 of the United States, and would prefer to travel by train when practical. He is married to violist Sharon Wei and they have a spirited daughter named Julia."

Scott St. John

The flautist is Marina Piccinini (born 1968), "an Italian American virtuoso flautist. She is noted for her performances of compositions by Mozart and Bach, and has performed with many of the world's top orchestras and conductors. Piccinini was born in the United States to an Italian father and a Brazilian mother. Piccinini became interested in the operas of Mozart as a young girl at the age of 7, and began playing the flute at the age of 10. She grew up in Newfoundland, Canada and did not have formal flute lessons from a teacher until she was 16. In Toronto, she won First Prize in the CBC Young Performers Competition^. She later moved to New York City to commence studying at the prestigious Juilliard School and won First Prize in New York's Concert Artists Guild International Competition. She was awarded a scholarship by the Concert Artists Guild in 1986, winning First Prize in their international competition. In 1991, she became the first flutist to receive an Avery Fisher Career Grant from the Lincoln Center and was named Young Artist to watch by Musical America. She has studied under mentors such as Jeanne Baxtresser, Julius Baker.and Aurele Nicolet."

Marina Piccinini