Tucson Lifestyle • March 2020 • Editor’s Picks

Each year, aficionados of chamber music are privileged to experience both stirring performances of muchloved works, as well as some more obscure pieces, and even premieres of new compositions, all at one intimate festival.

Slated to perform this year are pianist Lera Auerbach, double bassist Rafael De Stella, pianist Bernadette Harvey, violinist/ violist Yura Lee, pipa player Wu Man, and the Jasper String Quartet, as well as a number of other top musicians.

Cellist Julie Albers, known to the world through her performances with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, as well as two trios — the Albers String Trio and the Cortona Trio — will charm audiences with pieces ranging from Richard Strauss’ String Sextet from “Capriccio,” Op. 85; Philip Glass’ The Sound of a Voice; Ginastera’s Pameana No. 2 for Cello and Piano; Mozart’s Flute Quartet in D Major, K. 285; Schubert’s Piano Quintet in A Major, D. 667; Prokofiev’s Piano Trio, Op. 94 and the premiere of Ross Edwards’ Four Inscapes.

Born in Longmont, Colorado, Albers hails from a musical family. “My mom is a Suzuki violin teacher, which gave my siblings and me the opportunity to start studying music at a very early age,” she reflects. “By age two I had started both violin and piano lessons. My older sister also studied violin, so in the interest of us each having our own instruments, my mom started playing cello recordings and taking me to cello recitals, and around the age of four I happily switched to cello.”

Though she has performed many works with orchestras, she notes that she is especially drawn to chamber music. “Particularly piano trios and string quartets are some of my favorite pieces to perform,” she reveals. “What I love about piano trios is that each instrument has a very soloistic line that then comes together to form some of the most beautiful music written. In string quartets, it feels like the opposite, with all instruments blending to create one large voice.”

Her repertoire includes concertos by Barber, Beethoven and Brahms, with numerous 20th century works by masters such as Hindemith, Walton and Dohnanyi. She observes of the pieces she is scheduled to perform in Tucson, “Many of them are new for me, so I will be discovering them with the audience.”

This won’t be her first time performing in Tucson, but it will be the first performing at the Winter Chamber Music Festival. “I’m looking forward to working with so many amazing musicians in a beautiful — much warmer than home — setting,” she says.

And what might you find her doing when she isn’t performing or practicing? “I have a four-month-old baby, so downtime is a thing of the past,” she comments, adding with a smile, “In the future I will look forward to cooking, traveling and running again.” TCC Leo Rich Theater. 577-3769. Arizonachambermusic.org

There’s a very good reason why harps have long been associated with heaven and the afterlife … the sound of them is infinitely calming, beautiful and ethereal.

But often they are hidden in the back of an orchestra, and their contributions to a major symphonic work are not given much credit. You almost have to attend a folk festival, or a mariachi performance, where the smaller, non-pedal harps are given a chance to shine to hear how versatile and amazing they are.

Thank goodness for HarpFusion, an ensemble created at the University of Arizona in 1978 by the late Dr. Carrol McLaughlin, and currently under the direction of Dr. Michelle Gott. Gott is quick to point out McLaughlin’s extraordinary contributions to re-envisioning harp music.

“I think apart from Carlos Salzedo, she was the pioneer of the modern harp ensemble in the U.S.,” explains Gott. “It’s because of her that this tradition of a harp ensemble started developing more. For a long time she was a fixture in the Tucson community, and a lot of people knew her, respected her and loved her. When I came into this position, it was very much about honoring the history of the program, but also having the confidence to go forward and take the next steps in the creative direction that I feel is genuine for me.”

A giant step that HarpFusion will be taking occurs this month as the group — composed of Gott and about a half dozen or so of her UArizona students — jets off to Reykjvík, Iceland, to perform two concerts. “One concert is going to be more of what people have come to know from HarpFusion — our acoustic work — with all of our arrangements. And the second show is a multimedia presentation that we’ve been developing over the last year.”

Gott is certainly the perfect person to launch the harp ensemble into the interdisciplinary sphere. Her mom, Caryn Wunderlich Gott, was a harpist who played for many of the top-name entertainers while she and her family were living in Las Vegas. Michelle grew up not only watching her mom perform for these huge shows, but also studying harp, piano, voice, dance and theater. She confesses to being a huge fan of classic musicals, and has the exuberant personality, the youthful drive, and the finely tuned musical skills to expand the reach of the concert harp into many performance areas.

In Reykjvík, her group will perform with Autumn Eckman and Lauren Mathis, who are on the faculty of the UA School of Dance, enhanced by a video created by Dorsey Kaufman.

For the “Bon Voyage!” concert in Tucson on March 1, fans will be able to hear the acoustic works that these Soaring Sisters of Strings have in store for Icelanders at the appropriately named Harpa Concert Hall, and help to send them off on a high note! 4 pm. UA Holsclaw Hall. 621-1655. Music.arizona.edu.

“It was supposed to be just an easy, breezy fashion show, and of course, once you put five American designers with five haute couture designers — the lions of fashion — on a single stage, in what is the most grand establishment on the continent, it’s going to become a battle of egos, a battle of talent and just a transcontinental fashion cat fight.”

That’s how documentary director Deborah Riley Draper describes the epic fashion show that occurred at the Palace of Versailles on November 28, 1973.

The wave that was generated by that colossal cultural clash is still rippling today, and the fact that names like Halston, Bill Blass and Anne Klein are famous worldwide is directly the result of what went down that night. It also was the show that demonstrated to the world that models of color had truly arrived on the scene and deserved everyone’s respect.

If you weren’t one of the luminaries lucky enough to attend that show, you probably aren’t familiar with the details. Fortunately, filmmaker Draper has undertaken the detailed task of piecing together the stories that sprang from the show, utilizing interviews with participants, stills and other materials. Asked what led her to create Versailles ’73, she observes, “Fashion, Paris, New York, the ’70s, the economic impact of it, and the non-racialized inclusion of black women on a stage, what’s not to love?”

Though they were representing glamour, things were a lot more like the chaos of Woodstock behind the scenes. The French designers commanded the rehearsal space in a way that left the Americans little time to prepare. The venue was cold, and in disrepair (the show itself was a fundraiser to help restore Versailles, which had fallen to a sad state), and so many of the participants, especially on the American side, were inexperienced at such a monumental enterprise.

Among the many big names who were at the event was Princess Grace of Monaco (known to film fans as Grace Kelly, one of Hitchcock’s favorite leading ladies), pop art icon Andy Warhol, and even the very young, then-unknown actor Dennis Christopher (later the star of Breaking Away, Chariots of Fire, Django Unchained, etc.), who was an assistant for Halston. The great, groundbreaking entertainer Josephine Baker also was in attendance, and performed at the show. “I spoke to all the African American models about that very thing [Josephine Baker] and they were in awe of her,” says Draper. “A couple of them cried when they met her because they knew she represented the ability to defy stereotypes and Jim Crow institutionalized racism. She was so fabulous and glamorous. On the flip side, it meant everything to her to see all of them in the chateau representing these designers, and in a way that they didn’t compromise who they were. It was really an incredibly emotional moment for Josephine and the ladies.”

Fashions by Yves St. Laurent, Pierre Cardin, Hubert de Givenchy, Emanuel Ungaro, and Christian Dior were presented in an elaborate, very staged presentation that was Old World all the way. The young and fearless American houses — Halston, Anne Klein, Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass and Stephen Burrows — were led off by a bring-down-the-house performance by Liza Minnelli (whose passion and professionalism helped to rally the U.S. contingent). American models who later became household names, like Pat Cleveland, Bethann Hardison, Alva Chinn and Norma Jean Darden, won over the audience and forever changed the fortunes of American designers.

“That evening may go down in history as the greatest collection of style icons from jet set society ever in one room,” observes Draper. “There were heads of state, executives from corporations, lots of famous people, and I think what the show did was, at that moment, Europeans considered America to be like a daughter, and it elevated us to being a peer.”

The Invisible Theatre screening at The Loft Cinema of Versailles ’73 will include a Q&A with Draper and Norma Jean Darden, who not only had a career in fashion, but went on to become a restaurateur, author, playwright and actress (the creator of the one-woman show Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine).

Though the Versailles show was a gamechanger for fashion in many ways, it didn’t have the same immediate impact for its intended purpose — helping to restore luster to the grand French palace. “It was very significant in bringing awareness to the need to raise money,” explains Draper. “They got a lot of money in years to come as a result of that, but that night, they spent almost more money than they took in!” 2:30 pm. The Loft Cinema. 795-0644. Invisibletheatre.com.

Continuing to showcase some of the finest classical guitarists from around the world, the Tucson Guitar Society presents the Djibouti-born, French-raised performer Raphaël Feuillâtre.

The program that Feuillâtre will perform in Tucson is eclectic, technically complex and audience-pleasing. “I enjoy presenting a vast collection of repertoire, exploring composers from varying countries and time periods,” he says. “I’ll be playing pieces by Barrios, Llobet, Rameau, Ramirez, Assad, Villa Lobos, Scriabin, and Rachmaninoff. From Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Les Indes galantes to Sergio Assad’s Aquarelle, it’s going to be an intense trip from France to South America, passing by Spain and Russia.”

Concert-goers will be able to hear both works written specifically for guitar, including Sergio Asaad’s shifting, flowing Aquarelle, along with works originally composed for other instruments, such as Rachmaninoff’s Prélude Op. 23, No. 5 in G Minor, which actually sits very well on a guitar.

“The program I am currently playing during my tour really represents my tastes,” Feuillâtre observes. “When I’m choosing a piece, there is so much that goes into it. Most importantly, I need to be sure that I will be able to continuously work on it and find new ideas; the pieces must feed my inspiration for an extended time, especially on tour.” 7 pm. UA Holsclaw Hall. 577-2814. Tucsonguitarsociety.org.

Like many great classical works, J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor began in bits and pieces. In 1724, he composed the Sanctus portion for use as Christmas music. Some nine years later, he wrote the Kyrie and Gloria sections, which he presented to Augustus III of Poland. It wasn’t until the final years of Bach’s life, sometime around 1748-49, that he wrote the remainder of the work and organized it into specific sections. Most music scholars believe that he never heard the B Minor Mass played in its entirety.

True Concord Voices & Orchestra has long had the work in its sights. Small wonder, for as Fiona Maddocks observed, writing for The Guardian in 2018, “Performers cannot resist this pinnacle of the repertoire.”

For the benefit of those who have yet to hear this groundbreaking work, and desire a preview of what they’ll experience at the True Concord concert, we reproduce, with kind permission, abridged program notes prepared in 2004 by the Aylesbury Choral Society and Making Music

“The magnificence of the work is signaled at the very outset with the mighty adagio five-part setting of the words Kyrie eleison succeeded by a fugal section of architectural grandeur and complexity. The Christe eleison is a gentle duet for sopranos with a charming ritornello for strings. The second Kyrie, for four-part choir, has an intense, chromatic fugal subject.

“The first part of the Gloria, a joyous outpouring, was probably reworked from a now lost instrumental movement. The setting of Et in terra pax was grafted onto it without a break. The Laudamus te, with its beautiful soprano solo balanced by an equally beautiful violin obligato, has all the hallmarks of having originally been a violin duet. The Gratias is a fairly straight copy of the opening chorus of Cantata No. 29 (1731). The Domine Deus is a duet for tenor and soprano, with accompaniment for flute and muted strings. It leads directly into the Qui tollis, a revision of part of the opening chorus of Cantata No. 46 (1723). In Qui sedes, the alto solo is matched by the instrument of corresponding pitch, the oboe d’amore. The Quoniam, with its dark tones of horn obligato and well-rounded bassoon duet figurations, provides an impressive vehicle for the bass soloist, and leads into Cum Sancto Spiritu, complete with agile choral fugue, marking the end of Bach’s original Missa.

“The Symbolum Nicenum has its own cohesive structure. It is a superlative example of Bach’s concern with symmetry: Crucifixus is the central pivot and the center of the trinity of movements concerning Christ’s incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection.

“The Credo bursts forth with two vibrant fugal choruses. The first, in antique style, is based upon the plainchant associated with the words ‘Credo in unum deum’ and symbolises strength of faith; the second is adapted from a chorus of praise from Cantata No. 171 (1729). The duet Et in unum Dominum is set for soprano and alto with oboe and strings. The chorus Et incarnatus est depicts an intense awe, an emotion that is deepened into despair in the Crucifixus, reworked from a chorus in a youthful Weimar Cantata, No. 12 (1714). The Mass springs from the depths of hopelessness with the jubilant Et resurrexit. The symmetry is apparent as the bass aria, Et in Spiritum, recalls in tone Et in unum Dominum and the fugal Confiteor, harks back to the older church style and uses plainsong to underpin the firmness of the belief it represents. It is linked to the final joyous Et expecto by a passage of the strangest, most haunting quality.

“Bach’s magnificent Sanctus, with its exultant fugue, was written originally for Christmas Day, 1724. The choir for this piece is divided into six parts. But a double (eight-part) chorus is required for the sprightly Osanna, based an the opening chorus of the secular Cantata No. 215 (1734). The Benedictus, apparently the vestige of a lost tenor aria, with its slow, long, graceful vocal and instrumental lines is an evocation of serene love and longing. The Agnus Dei, which follows a straight reprise of the Osanna, is scored for alto solo matched to a low-lying ritornello for strings. It uses almost the same music as ‘Ach bleibe doch, mein liebstes Leben’, from Cantata No. 11 (The Ascension Oratorio). The Dona nobis pacem reprises the Gratias, bringing the Mass in B Minor to a triumphant close and linking majestically the concepts of peace, praise, and gratitude to God.” March 27: 7 pm, Valley Presbyterian Church (Green Valley); March 28: 7:30 pm, Catalina Foothills High School; March 29: 3 pm, Catalina Foothills High School. 401-2651. Trueconcord.org.