By Eileen Wingard
LA JOLLA, California –SummerFest 2013 began with a sunburst evening in Scripp’s Park at the La Jolla Cove. The program, a wonderful amalgam of old and new, consisted of works by Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, Piazzolla, and Bolcom. This concert was just one of the many free features offered by the La Jolla Music Society during its exciting SummerFest.
The official opening of this internationally acclaimed music festival is Friday evening, August 2, at 7:30 p.m. at Sherwood Hall. That concert, Let’s Dance, includes works by Schubert, De Falla, Stravinsky, Ravel, and Schifrin, featuring some of the festival’s most famous artists, such as the German violinist, Augustin Hadelich, the Israeli pianist, Inon Barnatan, the well-known clarinetist, David Shifrin, and the director of the festival, the celebrated violinist, Cho-Liang Lin.
Six free open rehearsals include August 3, 3:50-4:45 p.m. rehearsing works by Salieri and Mozart in preparation for that evening’s concert, Salieri’s Vienna; August 5, 1:50-3:00 p.m. with Jonathan Biss, rehearsing Beethoven’s “Ghost” Trio, one of the works on the August 6 concert, An Evening With Jonathan Biss ; August 7, 12:50-2:00 p.m. rehearsing Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins for that evening’s Bach and Beyond I concert; August 13, 1:50-3 p.m. rehearsing Chausson’s Concerto for Violin, Piano and String Quartet, featuring Joseph Kalichstein, piano and Cho-Liang Lin, violin; and August 19, 3:20-4:30 p.m. rehearsing Brahms’ Neue Liebeslieder for the August 21 concert, Bach & Beyond III.
There is also free admission to coaching workshops held at the La Jolla Riford Library during every weekday morning August 1-20 from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. A special extended coaching workshop of Baroque Techniques with Nicholas McGegan will be on August 14.
Three excellent free ENCOUNTERS are scheduled at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library Thursdays, from 12:30-2:00. August 8, Bach and American Music, a lecture-performance by Howard Pollack, Professor of Music at the University of Houston; August 15, Composers’ Forum , a panel discussion with the three composers-in-residence at this year’s Summerfest, David Del Tredici, John Harbison and Steven Stucky; and August 22, Forging a Concert Career: Making it as a Professional Musician in the 21st Century, four SummerFest artists discuss their different career paths with moderator, Eric Bromberger.
There are still tickets available for most of the concerts with prices ranging from $45 to $75.
Each concert is preceded by a Prelude that begins an hour prior to concert time. The Preludes range from interviews to performances and are free to ticket holders.
Among the many participants in this summer’s festival are several of special interest to this writer: Jeffrey Kahane, pianist, and conductor of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, will be featured at the Saturday, August 3 concert. Members of the Jewish Community may remember Jeffrey when he performed under the auspices of the JCC Music Committee at a Hilsberg Memorial Concert at the College Avenue JCC. At the time, he was a recent, first-prize winner of the Young Musicians Foundation where Ignace Hilsberg had served on the judge’s panel.
Jonathan Biss, pianist, is the son of the renowned Israeli violinist, Miriam Fried.
In an interview prior to a recent duo performance at the New York City Gala for the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, Fried spoke about the joy of performing with her talented son. The Tuesday, August 6 concert features Biss in all three selections: Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in G Major, opus 31, No. 1, the Piano Sonata in C Major, opus. 53 “Waldstein,” and the Piano Trio in D Major, opus 70, No. “Ghost.”
Two Israeli-born pianists will be performing on the August 17 concert, along with Joseph Kalichstein, a frequent soloist with the San Diego Symphony during the Yoav Talmi years, and Orion Weiss, who has appeared before with SummerFest.
The final concert on Friday, August 23, will feature James Conlon conducting the Summerfest Chamber Orchestra made up of festival participants. Their program will feature works by Mozart and Britten. Conlon, one of the globe’s most distinguished symphony and opera conductors, introduced Los Angeles Opera audiences to operas and other works written by composers who died in the Holocaust.
SummerFest 2013 promises to be a stellar experience. The beauty of La Jolla, the warm hospitality of host families, and the camaraderie among the players combine to attract some of the finest artists concertizing today. Credit must also be given to the leadership of Cho-Liang Lin for gathering together such an outstanding array of talent.
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Wingard is a freelance writer and a retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra. She may be contacted at eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com