Salute to BachLinda Lombroso - Journal News, Sunday March 21, 2010The Soiree Society for the Arts has come a long way since Yashar Yaslowitz kicked off a concert series in his Suffern living room five years ago. The group currently presents 52 solo piano recitals each year at the Nyack Public Library's Carnegie Room. And next week, the society will join forces with Bach Works to present a four-part series featuring keyboard artist, composer and conductor Anthony Newman. Newman, who directs the Bedford Chamber Concerts, is also music director of Bach Works, an organization that promotes Bach and Bach-influenced works. The upcoming concert series, he says, was timed to coincide with the 260th anniversary of Bach's death. Performances begin next Sunday with Bach's "The Musical Offering,'' featuring Renee Jolles on violin and Eugenia Zukerman on flute. Future performances will be held on April 11 (two sonatas for violin and piano, with Yoon Kwan), April 18 (works for flute and piano, with Zara Lawler) and April 25 (three sonatas for cello and piano, with Dane Johansen and Edvinas Minkstimas). Newman will perform on keyboards in the first three concerts.
The April 18 program, with flutist Zara Lawler, will also include one of Newman's original works. "(Lawler) said she wanted to do all my music, but I said, 'Listen, no one is going to show up, so let's do half and half,' '' he says with a laugh. Although the collaboration between the Soiree Society and Bach Works is new, the Carnegie Room concert series has a long history: It was established in 1982 by pianist Bill Hargrove as the St. Paul's Festival of the Arts, with concerts held at St. Paul's Church in Nyack. When Yaslowitz joined as co-director in 2007, it was renamed the South Nyack Recital Series, with a focus on solo piano performances. Shortly afterward, when Hargrove retired, Yaslowitz became executive director. The upcoming collaboration with Bach Works, says Yaslowitz, offers audiences the chance to hear from Newman, whose expertise in Bach is legendary. Even with the passage of time, says Newman, Bach's compositions remain golden. "If you talk to a serious musician, most people would say there are three pillars of classical music: Bach, Mozart and Beethoven,'' he says."Bach represents the first, the oldest. Many equate him to Shakespeare in music.'' Although the musicians performing at the Soiree Society concerts are top-tier, the library setting hasn't put off any of them, says Yaslowitz. Part of the appeal, he says, is the architecture of the Carnegie Room: "It's really something out of the 19th century." The acoustics are also superb. "There are wonderful high ceilings and lots of wood pillars,'' he says. "It's especially appropriate for chamber music." It also helps that Yaslowitz has connections in the music industry. "What's unique to the Carnegie Room is that so many of the performers that come are either my colleagues or friends of mine,'' he says. "I think if we had to go through their management, the concerts wouldn't be possible." Newman's presence at the concerts, of course, is the icing on the cake. "Anthony Newman is the foremost interpreter of baroque music in the United States, if not the world, so he's a real expert," says Yaslowitz. Still, one of the most important features of a good classical concert is the "intimate experience" offered to audience members, adds Yaslowitz. Though he still hosts the occasional recital in his living room, he believes they've successfully created a similar warmth at the Carnegie Room performances. The space can accommodate about 100 people. "It's almost a home away from home,'' he says. "We feel like it's one of the best kept secrets in all of Nyack, that we have this mini concert hall." |
