By Eileen Wingard
LA JOLLA, California — San Diego County’s flagship Chamber Music Festival, the La Jolla Music Society’s Summerfest, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, and what a celebration it is!
There will be 65 musicians participating in 17 paid concerts in Sherwood Hall, and free events, such as five open rehearsals, three encounters at the Athenium, and master classes. The festival will include such world reknown artists and ensembles such as violinist Gil Shaham, conductor James Conlon, the Zukerman Trio and cellist Mischa Maisky. It is all under the directorship of violinist, Cho-Liang Lin.
The opening was a free event August 3, 6:30 p.m. at the Cove in La Jolla. Except for some occasional helicopter noises, the concert provided pleasant listening. The first half featured the talented young violinist, Luke Hsu, in two concertos from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Autumn and Winter. The International Youth Symphony of the San Diego Youth Symphony accompanied Hsu, under the direction of Summerfest’s first conductor, Heiichiro Ohyama, the current conductor of the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra. Hsu played with technical skill and youthful energy. Although his tone was not consistently warm in the slower movements, his spirited rendition proved engaging. Among his teachers were Fredell Lack and Cho-Liang Lin.
The first half concluded with a lilting rendition of Mozart’s Paris Symphony, conducted by Jeff Edmonds, the charismatic music director of the San Diego Youth Symphony. The young musicians, twenty-four of whom came from abroad, played with precision and vitality.
During the Vivaldi Concertos, Sofia Sakharova from St. Petersburg, Russia, served as concertmaster and Ilana Hirschfeld of San Diego, was concertmaster for the Mozart Symphony.
Following a pause, Time for Three came on stage. These are three young artists, violinists Nicolas Kendall and Nikki Chooi and bassist Ranaan Meyer, who met at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, Each musician is unquestionably a virtuoso in his own right.
In fact, Nikki Chooi will be dropping out of the ensemble soon to take his new post as concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Their show, with movements and antics, seemed a crossover between a rock concert and a string trio recital. Their fast and frenetic playing reminded me of my first bullet train experience in Japan last year. Everything passed by so quickly. The threesome did original works, such as the opening “Ecuador,” by their bassist, Ranaan Meyer. I recognized some klezmer influence, though it was inspired by the traffic in that Central American country.
Several of the offerings were “mash-ups,” combining melodies from the classical and pops genres such as a Led Zeppelin tune and Dido’s Lament from the Purcell opera,Dido and Aneas. The penultimate piece was Czardas by Monti at a clip so fast, the slow sections were hardly recognizable. The audience seemed to love it all.
What could be more pleasant, a balmy evening at the La Jolla Cove with music performed by accomplished artists?
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Wingard is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. She may be contacted via eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com. Comments intended for publication in the space below MUST be accompanied by the letter writer’s first and last name and by his/ her city and state of residence (city and country for those outside the United States.)