A Life in the Arts

Contact me: mbargreen@aol.com

             

    Two exciting performances of my music this season: first was the great “Choral Arts” (under the direction of Dr. Robert Bode), singing “There Is No Rose” in their three Seattle-area Christmas concerts. And then there was the “Christmas at Belmont” PBS concert on TV (see below), with Dr. Jeffery Ames conducting; it aired in Seattle over KCTS-Channel 9 on Christmas Eve. What a Christmas present for a composer! Bode and Ames are superb conductors who make you glad you write music.

Christmas at Belmont" is an annual Belmont University tradition celebrating the holiday season and the musical diversity and rich talent of the university's School of Music. The concert features a collage of familiar carols, classical masterworks, world music and light-hearted seasonal favorites. More than 400 student voices join with School of Music faculty to present the annual holiday production.

Run Time: 00:56:46

Rating: TVG  

           

                  Trumpet Notes from Seattle’s Past

Among the wonders of the Internet, Facebook never ceases to surprise me with its ability to connect you with people in your past. Here’s a short interview with Manuel (Manny) Laureano, who popped up on my Facebook screen a few days ago. He was just a youngster when he arrived in Seattle some three decades ago as principal trumpet. Orchestra fans in Seattle will still remember the rich, juicy sound Manny produced here -- and still does in Minnesota, where he has long been the Minnesota Orchestra’s No. 1 brassman. Here’s a short exchange with Manny, letting us know what’s up:

Q: Seattle Symphony fans with long memories will remember your long-ago stint in that orchestra more than 30 years ago – before you took off for Minnesota. You were just a kid then; what are your best memories of Seattle?

A: I have a tremendous affection for my days in Seattle. I was so green! I have often thought of my time there as a sort of post-graduate education. It is rare for people fresh out of school to be able to play the Ring Cycle 8 times in just four years as I did. I got to play with PNB and learn the great ballets. I literally must have played the Nutcracker 100 times in my time there. The European tour was certainly a highlight. Even the 9 week strike was a unique experience although I wouldn't have minded not having us go through that but it was a growing pain. Many of the friends I made back then are still dear to me today. I'm proud to have been on the committee that chose Mike Crusoe who has become a lifelong friend.

Q: What was it like, auditioning for and winning a principal job in a major orchestra at such a young age?

A : When I was a boy my father made it clear to me that my path was to be "go to school and get a job". Well, I did just that and I was fortunate enough to be at the stage where I didn't realize just how difficult that was. I had just finished a wonderful tour with the rock group, Emerson, Lake, & Palmer and my "chops" were in very good form. It was really a blessing for me that I didn't quite know what it was getting into or I would have been scared stiff! I went from being a kid to a bona fide adult with many, many responsibilities. I made some mistakes but that's part of growing up after I left the safety of the nest back in East Harlem. I realized there was a whole 'nother country out there besides New York City. That was good for me to learn and learn I did.

Q: You have a lot in common with Gerard Schwarz, another great orchestra trumpeter who later became music director in Seattle (after you left) and remained in that role for 26 years. And you have a lot of history with the Eastern Music Festival, which Jerry now directs. Are you two still in touch?

Jerry was an important mentor for me while I was a student at Juilliard. He was the 1st trumpet for the NY Philharmonic during that same time, 1973-77. He heard me play, took an interest in my career, and helped me get some jobs and establish connections that would have been vital had I chosen to stay in NYC. I was thrilled to find out he was to become music director of the SSO after I left. Most recently, he asked me to come celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Eastern Music Festival last summer. I jumped at the chance to do that and complete a ring cycle of my own by playing for him as I once did. I'm glad to say I was a lot smarter this time around! With any luck, I may well be able to go again to EMF this summer and play for him and the very nice people I met there.

Q: These days, you also are drawn to the podium, and have been not only assistant conductor in Minnesota, but also (with your wife Claudette) the co-director of the Minnesota Youth Symphonies. Are you ever tempted to give up the trumpet, as Jerry did, and concentrate on the baton?

A: Claudette and I have been directors of the Minnesota Youth Symphonies for over 23 years and working with young people has been a true passion we both share. We've built the program to be competitive with any other of its type in the country and it has become so. Along the way, I've had a few opportunities to conduct my colleagues at the MO, as well for Young People's concerts and that has been a thrill for me.

Of course, when the bug bites you it's hard to ignore the idea of laying the trumpet aside to pick up a stick and interpret the classics and new works on your own terms. I've a trumpet-playing career of significant length at this point. I can't say that if the right offer came to me that it would be hard to say "No". I've had some recent experiences at the Jacobs School of Music at IU that have really left me wondering how hard it would be to leave the trumpet in order to work with brilliant, young college-level players. It would be hard to leave Minnesota and I don't think I'm quite there yet,

Q: Tell us what it’s like playing in Minnesota. I understand music director Osmo Vänskä is greatly loved in the orchestra and the community.

A: I love Minnesota! It has been like being part of a stock with a graph that has been spinning upwards since I arrived here over 30 years ago. I played for Neville Marriner and he was very kind to me and very understanding of a young man in an important chair. Edo deWaart was a strict disciplinarian who expanded the repertoire of the orchestra to include many of the big trumpet-laced works that I love playing. He was here while I experienced some playing problems and gave me the time to attend to them. Eiji Oue was the man with the keys to the candy store. He saw the wisdom of letting the orchestra breathe and express itself perhaps to a fault but I always appreciated getting to have a musical opinion that i could render.

Osmo Vänskä has become the beneficiary of the music directors that have preceded him yet has still been able to make a musical stamp and form his own legacy. His constant demand for excellence from his players has now put us in a musical market that we have never enjoyed before. These are now, "The good, old days" for us in Minnesota. It's a very exciting time. We're recording a lot, as well as touring, and it's a great time to be here as principal trumpet, a job I learned how to do many years ago in the Pacific Northwest.

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                                An Amazing Memoir

    Want to read something truly astonishing? Try the new autobiography by Seattle’s 96-year-old Wunder-senior, Randolph Hokanson, a respected pianist and University of Washington emeritus professor. “With Head to the Music Bent” (published by Third Place Press, available at University Bookstore outlets) will make you laugh, ponder ... and marvel. Find out more on this site’s “Some Recent Reviews” section.

   Toby Saks, the founder and artistic director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society and its three festivals, has made 2011 her swan song in that post -- though she’ll continue teaching at the University of Washington, where she is the cello professor and also the teacher of music classes for non-majors. And this 2011 season was quite a year for the Festival -- check out this site’s “Some Recent Reviews” page for details.

    Saks, a friend of conductor Gerard Schwarz’s since their childhood in New York, coincidentally left from her post at the same time Schwarz left his 26-year music directorship at the Seattle Symphony. (He will continue as conductor laureate, returning to the SSO podium for several weeks each year.)  In addition to his music directorship of the Eastern Music Festival and his composing career, the maestro is putting together an annual series of filmed and widely accessible educational concerts that will feature performances by an orchestra made up of “All-Stars” from top symphonies around the country. Stay tuned for more details.

      

    A delightful new documentary film, with the witty title of “Two Gentlemen of Cremona,” has been released by director John Forsen and co-producer David Fulton (the latter is the famous rare-violin collector, whose instruments are featured in the film). It tells of the two peerless violinmakers of Cremona, Stradivari and Guarneri “Del Gesu,” whose instruments have never been equaled by subsequent luthiers. Footage from such violin stars as Itzhak Perlman, Midori, Pinchas Zukerman, Vadim Repin, and James Ehnes demonstrates the passionate attachment and partisanship between great violinists and the instruments that “speak” for them and with them. Thought-provoking, beautifully shot ... and full of wonderful music. The film now is being used as a fund-raising vehicle by music/concert presenters. It’s a splendid use for this memorable documentary movie.

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     Meanwhile, if you want a chuckle about the musical follies of 2010, click on “...And the Ridiculous” up above on the menu field, and read about new lows in the world of classical music. You’ll laugh, you’ll gag ....

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Watch KING-FM’s “Club 98” Newsletter (and sign up at www.king.org) and The Seattle Times, as well as this website’s review pages, for reviews of current concerts as they appear.

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ON THE COMPOSING FRONT:

-- A new piece for the Gordon College Women’s Choir (Faith Lueth, director) is the current project. I also wrote music for a wedding this past August -- always an event to inspire something special.

    I’m delighted to report that my new and recent choral compositions have been getting lots of performances. The highly regarded director Nancy Menk conducted my “Gordon Magnificat” in performances on a 2011 China tour in March. Here are notes on some recent performances of this and other works:

-- The Celebration Singers of Kelowna, B.C., performed my “Faith Carols” in their home town, and also my setting of “Be Thou My Vision” (for women’s chorus and piano) at Seattle’s First Presbyterian Church, with Susan Bellile Skinner conducting.

-- A setting of the folksong “Shenandoah” (SATB a cappella) was performed by the Florida Pro Musica of Tampa (Larry Kent, founding director).

-- World premiere of “Silver Night” (for SATB divisi, a cappella) took place in Washington National Cathedral, featuring the Cathedral Choral Society (J. Reilly Lewis, director).

-- “Gordon Magnificat” (for SSA/piano), which was performed at the Eastern Division MENC convention, was sung more recently on a tour of China by St. Mary’s College Women’s Choir, led by Nancy Menk. Also performing this piece: the Women’s Chorus of Dallas (Melinda Imthum, director).

-- “There Is No Rose” (SATB a cappella) got a lovely reading from founding director Dennis R. Smith and his virtuoso chorus Acappellago (Westmont, IL).

-- Selections from the four-part SSAA/piano “The Faith Carols,” featured at Rodney Eichenberger’s 2009 summer workshop, were performed by the First Unitarian Church of Cleveland (Fern Hill, director) and the Overlake School of Redmond, WA (Erin Gabriel, director).

-- Settings of two Blake poems, “The Tyger” and “The Lamb,” were performed in recently by Floyd Farmer and his Camerata Singers (Muskegon, Michigan).

    Interested in hearing the Norwegian Folksong Suite? Clips from the wonderful performance conducted by Faith M. Lueth are posted on the “My Music” section of this website.

    Choral conductors, want to get scores of the Norwegian Folksong Suite scores for your own choruses? Visit the “My Music” pages for details.

    Meanwhile, check out my recent freelance concert and opera reviews! You can click on “Some Recent Reviews” on the top menu bar.

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Little did I realize, when I started writing music reviews back in 1974, that this would be my career focus for more than three decades. It’s been a great run! I have heard, reviewed and interviewed some of the world’s finest, most fascinating classical artists and opera stars.

    And now that I’m officially a free agent, I’m engaged in a number of interesting creative projects -- and always looking for more.

    So welcome to this website, where you can read a sampling of what I’ve written (both words and music) and discover both the sublime and the ridiculous aspects of arts journalism. Happy reading, and listening!

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