ComposerJones

Wednesday brought the second of the annual Rising Stars Concert Series at Cazenovia Counterpoint, and the room was absolutely filled.  Three more outstanding young musicians played to an enthusiastic audience.  Asked to hold their applause until the end of each individual’s set, the audience could not be contained, and broke into applause between each piece.

First on the program was Alicia Friedrichs on violin.  Alicia’s brother, Andrew, performed on trombone last year (Open Space, which I was privileged to write for him), and Alicia proved to be equally talented.  She is only 17, and has one year of high school left, yet she performs with grace and aplomb.  She began with Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole, played from memory, and gave a sensitive performance.  Bach’s Partita No. 2 in D Minor for unaccompanied violin followed, and she gracefully filled the hall with music.

Last on Alicia’s program was the premiere of Diego Davidenko’s The Story of a Joke.  The movement titles will tell you a lot about the piece:  I. Betty told a joke about Tom; II. Tom’s feelings were hurt; III. But Joseph thought it was funny.  The first movement was lyrical and conversational, and a bit fun-loving – exactly as you would tell a joke.  The second was wildly dramatic and melancholy, and you found yourself thinking “poor Tom” as the movement progressed.  The third began with pizzicato strings, and the bouncing melody, slides, and rapid-fire accompaniment told the story marvelously well.  I love to hear a piece so well-written that you don’t need to know the titles of the movements to understand it.

Next up on the program was tenor Dominick Corbacio.  This is Dominick’s second year performing on Rising Stars (he premiered To . . . by James Welsch last year), and having completed his first year at Eastman he brings even more depth to his performance now.  Dominick impresses me both for his fine voice, and for his programming choices.  He not only programs pieces that are lyrical and dramatic, most of them are 20th or 21st century pieces as well.  He opened with selections from Gerald Finzi’s A Young Man’s Exhortation, Op. 14, which fit his voice and his age extremely well.  This is the second time I’ve heard him perform this work, and I am still impressed.  He followed with Donaudy’s Quando ti rivedro, O bei nidi d’amore, and Spirate pur spirate, showcasing his bel canto training.

The third piece on his program was the premiere of Endings and Beginnings, written by your humble (cough) blogger.  I have already blogged a bit about the personal aspects of writing this piece, and I (obviously) cannot be objective in reviewing the piece itself.  I will say, however, that Dominick did an amazing job.  I asked him to tell a story expressing emotions that are well beyond his years and experiences, and he did so with a depth of emotion and understanding – well, I could not have asked for more.  By the end of the piece I was in tears, and he received a well-deserved standing ovation for his overall performance.

Following Dominick was Brenna Ardner on flute, a student of Kelly Covert.  She opened her program with Muczynski’s Sonata for Flute and Piano, Op. 14.  As a flutist, having played this piece myself, I listened with great anticipation and excitement.  This is a difficult piece, requiring a trememdous amount of energy, dexterity, and grace from the performer.  Well, Brenna blew me away.  The three quick movements were fast and furious, while the Andante was beautifully lyrical.  She has obviously put in a LOT of work to make it sound this effortless.

She closed her program with the premiere of Tomas I. Gueglio-Saccone’s 273″ of purple light (after J.C.), a piece that is an homage to – John Cage.  This piece surely stretched Brenna again, but in a very different direction from the Muczynski.  Filled with extended techniques such as flutter tonguing, multiphonics, whistle tones – the list goes on – it was a marked change from the rest of the program.  Yet it fit the program very, very well.  Too often pieces such as this seem to be technique for technique’s sake, but Gueglio-Saccone successfully avoided that trap.  The piece had definite shape, form, and genuinely took the audience on a journey.

This is it for Rising Stars until next season, so I need to mention again the wonderful performers . . . Rhimmon Simchy-Gross, piano; Daniel Fields, tenor; Dave Raschella, horn; Alicia Friedrichs, violin; Dominick Corbacio, tenor; and Brenna Ardner, flute . . . and the talented composers . . . Alex Graham, Paola Marquez, Elizabeth Luttinger, Diego Davidenko, Tomas I. Gueglio-Saccone, and yours truly, Diane R. Jones . . . who worked together to premiere loads of new music this year.

I want to also make particular mention of Sar Shalom Strong, who accompanied all six performers, and will be playing during the Lincoln’s Shadow concert Friday Night, as well as reading for the Young Composer’s Corner on Saturday during Family Arts Day.  Sar is an integral part of Cazenovia Counterpoint, the Society for New Music, and the music community in Central New York.

Finally, in an act of shameless self-promotion, I invite you to visit the “List of Works” page on my own website, where you can hear Endings and Beginnings sung by Dominick Corbacio, as well as Open Space performed by Andrew Friedrichs from last year’s Rising Stars.  (And a lot of other music as well!)