134th sea son april 2020 vol. 54, no. 8 a musical …and serves as artistic director of the john...
TRANSCRIPT
134TH SEASON APRIL 2020 VOL. 54, NO. 8
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
A Musical CelebrationJoanna Taylor
Some 140 FMMC and Wise-Rosen-thal family members gathered on
February 22 for a musical reunion fea-turing the renowned Cavani Quartet, in memory of FMMC member Irene Wise, a violinist whose music-making carried her through her life to the end. Irene’s musician-filled family and friends came in numbers from near and far, among whom were Cavani Quartet first violin-ist Annie Fullard, Irene’s niece; FMMC violist Jeanne Rosenthal, another niece; and 2018 Johansen International Compe-tition viola winner Sam Rosenthal, Irene’s great-nephew.
A host of auspicious circumstances, along with the beautiful playing of the Cavani Quartet, made for a delightful and transformative concert experience,
offering something meaningful for every person in attendance. George Washington University Professor of Music Robert Baker, who has long-time connections to FMMC members, introduced the concert with a generous shout-out to FMMC and our contributions to the Washington-area community.
Ms. Fullard, the charming and humor-ous first violinist, “MC-ed” throughout. She started by graciously inviting the audience to imagine the players seated next to her on the stage as an amateur group set up in Irene’s living room, reading through some favorites, with piles of dog-eared music spread out on the floor around them. The group proceeded to play selected movements from several well-known quartets that evoked memo-
ries of Irene. Violist Sam Rosenthal later joined the players to perform Mendels-sohn’s quintet in B flat major, op. 87.
The concert took place at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, in the imposing beaux arts–style Flagg Building, now part of George Washing-ton University. The Hammer Auditori-um was the perfect performance space, just the right size with tiered seating and an apron stage to allow everyone, audi-ence and performers, to engage.
FMMC President Leslie Luxemburg and Managing Director Jennie Weyman worked diligently to ensure the concert’s success. All in all, the event embod-ied the best of FMMC—an inspiring reminder of what we are and the mutual respect and collaboration that is possible between audience and performer, young and old, amateur and professional, and everyone in-between, all dedicated to a music-filled life.
Invitation to Submit Performance ApplicationsOnline Solo and Chamber Performance Applications Improved for 2020Albert Hunt
Applications for next year’s performance opportunities will run May 1 through June 20, 2020. Online performance applications were initially accepted in
2019-2020. The system worked well, but there were obvious areas in which it needed improvement. In February, FMMC Venue Chairs representing performance spaces met to discuss how the process could be enhanced. We hope the newest version will make the process easier for all involved.
One change we are looking forward to is the opportunity for you to put your name on the “Ready to Play” list. We have numerous cancellations throughout the season, and we are looking for musicians who will be able to perform with only a week’s notice. We expect this to provide more performance opportunities to many FMMC musicians.
In order to apply, you must be up-to-date on your FMMC membership dues. (When you begin the application process, you can renew your membership.)
For now, please make sure FMMC has your correct email address. When the application process begins we will email more information. To update your contact information, go to www.fmmc.org and update your member profile. Any questions? Please email: [email protected].
2 From the Foundation Director
3 From the President
3 Arioso Chorale Changes Its Program for April
4 Johansen International Competition Updates: Composers
5 Announcing Honoray Membership Nominations for 2020
5 For the Members
6 FMMC Concert Calendar
7 From the Managing Director
8 FMMC Piano Master Class Announced for May
8 For Sale
An official publication of the
Friday Morning Music Club, Inc.
Organized in 1886
LESLIE LUXEMBURGFMMC President
CAROL FROMBOLUTINewsletter Editor
For address changes, please go to
www.FMMC.org and update your member profile.
If you do not have access, send changes to:
JULIA MOLINEMembership Chair
JENNIE WEYMANManaging Director
April 20202
We received 147 appli-cations for our 2020
Washington International Pi-ano Competition. They came from Canada, China, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Indone-sia, Iran, Israel, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Ru-mania, Russia, and Uzbekistan, as well as the United States. Sixteen pianists have been selected to compete at George Washington University’s Ben-jamin T. Rome Hall located at 801 22nd Street, NW, on Saturday, May 23, beginning at 9:30 AM. Six finalists will then be chosen to perform in con-cert at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater the follow-ing day, Sunday, May 24th, at 2:00 PM. The judges for both semi-finals and finals are Simone Dinnerstein, Robert McDonald, and John Perry.
Simone Dinnerstein rose to international attention in 2007 with her self-produced recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Classi-cal Chart and received rave reviews worldwide. She has since recorded many high-ly-lauded albums with reper-toire ranging from Beethoven to Ravel to contemporary works, and she has performed at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Vienna’s Konzerthaus, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Sydney Opera House, the Seoul Arts Center, and
From the Foundation DirectorFrank Conlon
Frank
London’s Wigmore Hall. She has recently been touring Piano Concerto No. 3, a piece that Philip Glass wrote for her with a commission from twelve orchestras.
Robert McDonald has toured exten-sively as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the Unit-ed States, Europe, Asia, and South America, and he has appeared as concerto soloist with major orchestras throughout the world. He was a recital part-ner with violinist Isaac Stern for many years. He has partic-ipated in the Marlboro, Casals, and Lucerne Festivals, and has performed with the Cham-ber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and for broadcasts over BBC Television. He has been a member of the piano faculty of the Juilliard School since 1999 and has taught at the Curtis Institute since 2007, where he holds the Penelo-pe P. Watkins Chair in piano studies.
John Perry has won numerous awards, including the highest prizes in both the Busoni and Viotti Interna-tional Piano Competitions in Italy and special honors at the Marguerite Long Internation-al Competition in Paris. Since then he has performed ex-
tensively throughout Europe and North America to great critical acclaim. He has also collaborated with some of the finest instrumentalists in the world. Mr. Perry is professor at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. He is Professor Emeritus of the USC Thornton School of Music. He recently founded and serves as Artistic Director of the John Perry Academy of Music in Los Angeles.
Both the semi-final and fi-nal rounds of our competition are open to the public free-of- charge. Please plan to come and spread the word. You will enjoy some incredible piano performances.
The Friday Morning Music Club Newsletter 3
From the PresidentLeslie Luxemburg
As I write this, I am basking in the memory of our weekend of special
events featuring the Cavani String Quar-tet as guest artists. First up was a chamber music concert on Saturday, February 22 at the Hammer Auditorium of the Corcor-an Gallery followed by a Master Class for young string players at the Kennedy Center REACH in the Justice Forum on Sunday, February 23.
Both programs perfectly captured the enduring spirit of the Friday Morning Music Club. We shared music to honor and memorialize valued members no longer with us, in such a way as to engage and include musicians and community members of all ages.
The concert on Saturday consisted of selected movements from string quar-tets by Mozart, Beethoven and Dvorak, followed by a performance of the Men-delssohn String Quintet in B Flat Major op. 87. Twenty-eighteen Johansen Inter-national Competition viola winner Sam Rosenthal came from Juilliard to partici-pate with his mother Annie Fullard, first violinist of the Cavani, as the concert was dedicated to the memory of his great aunt FMMC member Irene Wise who passed away recently.
The master class on Sunday featured four ensembles of high school string players including several winners of our Gustave E. Johansen High School String Competition. The students played movements by Kodaly, Schubert, Ginas-ter, and Shostakovich. Under the warm and supportive instruction by the Cavani members, featuring suggestions for better communication among ensemble mem-bers as well as helpful guidance on pacing and balance, clear improvements were made. We all enjoyed being in the intimate new REACH facility which is dedicated to arts education. It was an experience the young participants will never forget.
We were also able to honor the mem-ories of long-time FMMC members Irene Wise and Frances Kaplan by presenting these events. This would not have been possible without the participation of the Cavani Quartet, the generosity of the George Washington University in allow-ing us to use the Corcoran auditorium, and FMMC volunteers. It was gratifying to see so many FMMC members in the audience.
Another opportunity to hear a winner of our international competitions will occur on Sunday, April 19, when 2015
Washington International Competition first prize violin and audience prize-win-ner Nadir Khashimov will play the Bruch violin concerto #1 with the Symphony of the Potomac, conducted by FMMC member Joel Lazar. The 3:00 PM concert will take place at the Montgomery Col-lege Cultural Arts Center in Silver Spring. All FMMC members are being offered a special ticket price of $10, so be sure to identify yourself as such at the box office.
Other pieces on the program in-clude Johannes Brahms’s Tragic Overture and the Rhenish Symphony of Robert Schumann.
A graduate of Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music, Nadir has been a prize-winner in numerous competitions in the United States, Europe, and Australasia. He has appeared with orchestras that span the world, including the Philadelphia Or-chestra, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, and London Symphony Orchestra, and has collaborated with artists that include members of the Guarneri, Emerson, and Orion Quartets.
With the Arioso Chorale performanc-es of Messiah parts 2 and 3 on April 16 and 18 at 8:00 PM at the Church of the Reformation, we hope our spring concert calendar will resume and bring much needed musical relief to our area.
Leslie
Arioso Chorale Changes Its Program for AprilPeter Baum
Sometimes, there is a need to make a change in plans and this was certainly true for the Chorale. The Chorale will not perform works by Beethoven at its April
concert as originally planned. Instead, since the concert dates are in the week after Easter, the Chorale will present the Easter portion of Handel’s Messiah.
While Messiah may be one of the most performed works in the classical rep-ertoire, there are ways to interpret and make it one’s own. The Chorale will use an orchestral arrangement composed by Ebenezer Prout, an English musician and theorist active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The arrangement expands the use of winds and adds brass to the orchestra.
The Chorale is already in rehearsal for this concert, and orchestra rehearsals will commence on March 23. Instrumentalists interested in playing on this concert should contact Peter Baum at [email protected]. We look forward to your participation.
Even as the Chorale is preparing for this concert, plans move forward for the trip to Italy to participate in the Amalfi Festival in July. While the final program is not completely set, the group will be performing at a “Bon Voyage” concert with performances on June 11 and June 13. Look for more information in future newsletters.
April 20204
performed by the Oklahoma City Philharmonic under the direction of Alexander Mickelthwaite.
• His Naxos CD of works recorded by the Nashville Symphony was nominated for a 2020 GRAM-MY for Best Classical Compendi-um. The CD was released on May 2, 2019, and includes his concert opener Starburst, his Guitar Concer-to (with soloist Jason Vieaux), and the premiere of his Symphony No. 4, “Heichalos” featuring the Violins of Hope.
• The Kansas City Symphony and soloist Joyce Yang on November 22–24, 2019, premiered his piano concerto, co-commissioned by the Harrisburg, Knox-ville, and Tucson Symphonies.
• A performance by the New West Symphony of his fourth symphony featuring the Violins of Hope in Los Angeles in April.
• Leshnoff also continues this season as composer-in-residence with the Fairfax and Harrisburg symphony orchestras.Robert Gibson, professor of music
and former director of the School of Music (2005–2016) at the Univer-sity of Maryland, College Park, is a member of the American Composers Alliance and since 2010 has served on its Board of Governors. He has had performances of his works by noted artists and ensembles that include bassists Lucas Drew, Bertram Turetzky, and David Walter; clarinetists Esther Lamneck and Nathan Williams; the Meridian String Quartet, the Aeolus String Quartet, the Clarion Wind Quintet, Prism Brass Quintet, the Contemporary Music Forum, the 21st Century Consort, the Stern/Andrist Duo, and Composers, Inc. of San Francisco; pianists Santiago Rodriguez, Marilyn Nonken, and Naoko Takao; and members of the National Symphony bass section, who commis-sioned his composition Soundings (2001) for double bass quartet. Soundings was the Grand Prize work in the International Society of Bassists 2018 David Walter Composition Competition for new music for bass ensemble.
Recent highlights include:• The commission Night Eats Color (2019) for Inscape Chamber
Orchestra, • The commissioned works for the Irving M. Klein Internation-
al String Competition (June 2020),
Robert Gibson
Johansen International Competition Updates: ComposersHarriet Kaplan
The JIC commissions a new work for each competition, and we periodically hear from the composers of these works
about their activities. Here are updates from David Froom (2015, Shades of Red), Jonathan Leshnoff (2012, Three-Minute Chaconne), and Robert Gibson (2003, Night Music).
David Froom is a professor of music at St. Mary’s College of Mary-land. Highlights from the 2019–2020 season:• Won first prize in the River-
side Symphony’s 2019 National Composers Competition for his clarinet concerto, Canzona di Notte. The orchestra will premiere the work on April 18, 2020 at Alice Tully Hall in New York City. Information at: https://vuvuze-la-koi-hz7c.squarespace.com/cur-rent-season/symphony-at-tully
• World premiere of Variations on an Early American Hymn Tune performed by Eliza Garth, piano, at St. Mary’s College of Maryland on August 31, 2019,
• Boston premiere of Petali di Gelsomino by the Brattle Street Chamber Players featuring Jessica Shand, flute, at Paine Hall, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, on November 9, 2019,
• Japan premier of Arirang Variations by the Yahhan Woodwind Quintet at the Hyogo Performing Arts Center, Kobe, Japan, on December 5, 2019,
• East coast premiere of Violoncelletude by Rachel Young, cel-lo, with the 21st Century Consort at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Washington DC, on December 21, 2019,
• Louisiana premiere of Hidden Motives at Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, on March 12, 2020. The work had its New York premiere by the New York New Music Ensemble at the Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation on March 16 and 18, 2020, and its Boston premiere at the Longy School, Cam-bridge, MA, on March 29, 2020.
• New York premiere of Shades of Red (the JIC commissioned work) by Michael Hall, viola, at OPERA America’s National Opera Center on March 21, 2020. The work also has its Bos-ton premiere by Michael Hall at Arlington Street Church on March 22, 2020.
• World premiere of Three Fantasy Dances: A Concerto for Wind Ensemble by “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band at Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall, Alexandria, VA, on May 3, 2020.Jonathan Leshnoff, professor of music at Towson University, has
a large catalog of works with many notable performances and four full CDs. In the 2019–2020 season alone, he has had:• A world premiere on February 1, 2020 of Of Thee I Sing,
commissioned by the Oklahoma City Philharmonic in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing and
David Froom
Jonathan Leshnoff
continued on page 5
The Friday Morning Music Club Newsletter 5
• His CD, Flux and Fire, was released by Innova Records in July 2018 and praised at Classical Ear (UK) as the work of “a composer exquisitely alert to atmosphere and mood.” The CD includes all three versions of his commissioned work for the 2003 JIC, Night Music, and the CD program notes include detailed mention of the JIC and the Friday Morning Music Club.
Johansen International Competition Updates: Composers..continued from page 4
Announcing Honorary Membership Nominations for 2020Mary K. Traver
At the Board of Governors meeting in February, two nominations for Hon-
orary Membership in FMMC were pre-sented. They were unanimously approved and will now be formally presented to the membership at the Annual Membership Meeting and Luncheon on May 8, 2020.
The first honoree is the acclaimed singer, Denyce Graves, recognized inter-nationally for her vocal artistry. She has been identified as “an operatic superstar of the 21st century” with a career that has presented her in the most presti-gious opera houses and concert houses of the world. She is well known for her signature roles in Carmen and Samson and Delilah and is a recitalist who possesses an exceptional gift for communication with a dynamic stage presence. There have been innumerable TV performances as well as important recordings.
Ms. Graves is a native of Washington, DC, where she attended the Duke Elling-ton School of the Arts followed by studies at the Oberlin Conservatory and the New England Conservatatory. Her many awards include the Grand Prix du Concours International de Chant de Paris, the Eleanor Steber Music Award, a grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, and the Marian Anderson Award. She has received honorary degrees from Oberlin College, the College of Saint Mary, and Centre College. Ms. Graves’ dedication to young singers is an important part of her career and she presently holds the Rosa Ponselle Faculty Artist position at Peabody
Conservatory. Letters of recommendation were received from Leslie Luxemburg, Jerome Barry, and Frank Conlon.
The second honoree is the conduc-tor of FMMC’s Avanti Orchestra, Pablo Saelzer, who has served as the orchestra’s eminent Music Director since 2005, when he made his area debut with that orchestra at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He is professor of music, and conductor of the orchestra at Mont-gomery College. From 2007 until 2012, he served as conductor of the Chamber Orchestra of the Maryland Classical Youth Orchestra, and presented that group in a Carnegie Hall debut. He has conducted at Yale University, at Southern Opera and Music Theater and Festival-South with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, in Santiago Chile, and in Pocos de Caldas, Brazil; at Festival International de Cuerdas Ibaque in Colombia, and is a regular guest
conductor of the Orquesta de Camera de la Universidad de Santiago de Chile.
He has conducted studies at the Music Conservatory in Valdivia, Chile, at the Kantorei St. Martini in Bremen, Germany, the Conducting Academy in Concepcion, Chile, and at the Conductors Retreat at Medomak, Maine. Active in music education, Maestro Saelzer has taught at the Music Conservator Universid Austral in Valdiva, and in the U.S. at the Levine School of Music and the University of Southern Mississippi.
Letters of recommendation were received from Nan Cooper, Joanna Taylor, and Anne Zim.
The Honorary Membership Committee consists of Mary Kathryn Traver, Chair, Frank Conlon, and Lois S. Jones
For the Members A column for members to share their non-FMMC eventsSummertrios—workshops for adult instrumentalists and vocalists, in chamber music, tango, vocal and improv led by a world-class faculty at Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA. Various classes starting June 6-June 28, 2020. For more information and pricing, contact 313-509-7909 or summertrios.org.Symphony of the Potomac—Music by Brahms, Bruch, and Schumann; Joel Lazar, conductor; Sunday April 19 at 3:00 PM; Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center, 7995 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring, MD; $15 in advance, $20 at the door, and $5.00 for students, FMMC members offered seats for $10—symphonypotomac.org.
April 20206
Wednesday, April 1, 7:30 pm at Ingleside at King Farm • This concert has been cancelled
Thursday, April 2, 11:00 am in The Mansion at Strathmore• Liszt: Vallée d’Obermann from Années de Pèlerinage I (Suisse). Simon Finlow, piano.• Bruch: Eight pieces for clarinet, viola, and piano. Albert Hunt, clarinet; Bonnie Cohen, viola; Jung-Yoon Lee, piano.• Fauré: Sonata No. 1 in A Major, op. 13. Lydia Leong, violin; Keng Siong Sim, piano.
Friday, April 3, 12:00 noon at Calvary Baptist Church• Ysaye: Ballade. Renee Roberts, violin.• Greig: Peer Gynt Suite No. 1. Chen-Li Tzeng and Jeongseon Choi, piano four hands.• Mozart: Trio in B-flat Major, K.502. Kunie Devorkin (guest) violin; Taka Ariga (guest) cello; Sarah Himmelfarb, piano.
Sunday, April 5, 9:00 am at the Steinway Gallery Stubbs-Henbest-Davis Student Competition for Piano
Sunday, April 5, 3:00 pm at The Lyceum, Alexandria• Robert Schumann: Fairy Tales. Albert Hunt, clarinet; Bonnie Cohen, viola; Joan Mizrahi, piano.• Ralph Vaughan Williams: Selections from Songs of Travel and House of Life. Ben Wallis, bass/baritone.• Grazyna Bacewicz: Capriccio for solo violin. Lili Boulanger: Nocturne; D’un matin de printemps. Two Spirituals (arr. Jacqueline Hairston): “Wade in the Water” and “Plenty Good Room.” Christine Kharazian, violin.
Friday, April 10, 12:00 noon at Calvary Baptist Church • Jackson Berkey: Voices from the Earth: Angela Winter, soprano, Albert Hunt, clarinet; Amy Miller, cello; Barbara Peterson Cackler, piano.• Katherine Hoover: Divertimento. Laura Benning, flute; David Brown, violin; Caroline Brethauer, viola; Joanna Taylor, cello.• Brahms: Sonata No. 3 in D Minor, op. 108. Robyn Tessin, violin, Sophia Kim Cook (guest), piano.
Thursday, April 16, 12:00 noon at the Old Town Hall, City of Fairfax Composers Concert• Works by Leslie Bennett, Garrison Hull, Jonathan Newmark, and Steven Schwarz.
Thursday, April 16, 8:00 pm at the Church of the Reformation Arioso Chorale, Paul Leavitt, conductor• Handel: Messiah parts 2 and 3.
Friday, April 17, 12:00 noon at Calvary Baptist Church• Haydn: Sonata in C Minor, Landon 33. Charles Timbrell, piano.• Kuhlau: Trio in G Major, op. 119. Maribeth Gowen (guest); Joan Cobbs and Katherine Riddle, flutes. • Brahms: Sonata No. 1 in G Major, op. 78. Spencer Nam, violin; Stephanie Ng (guest), piano.
Saturday, April 18, 3:00 pm at Jordan Kitt’s Music, Rockville• Schubert: Fantasia in F Minor, op. 103. Barbara Peterson Cackler and Rosanne Conway, piano four hands.• Rorem: Last poems of Wallace Stevens. Katie Katinas, soprano; John Kaboff, cello; Ruth Locker (guest), piano.• Nielsen: Quintet for Winds, op. 43. Gwyn Jones, flute; Jeff Kahan (guest), oboe; Alisha Coleman (guest), clarinet; Wendy Chinn (guest), horn; Eric Hall (guest), bassoon.
Saturday, April 18, 8:00 pm at the Church of the Reformation Arioso Chorale, Paul Leavitt, conductor• Handel: Messiah
Monday, April 20, 7:00 pm at Miller’s Grant Retirement Community• This concert has been cancelled
FMMC Concert Calendar APRIL and EARLY MAY 2020
Tuesday, April 21, 12:00 noon at Dumbarton House• J. S. Bach: Ciaccona from Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004. Mary Findley, baroque violin.• J. S. Bach: Suite in D Minor, BWV 1008. Susan Russo, viola.• Beethoven: Six Songs. Karen Mercedes, contralto; Patrick O’Donnell (guest), fortepiano.
Saturday, April 25, 2:00 pm at Riderwood Retirement Community• This concert has been cancelled
Sunday, April 26, 4:00 pm at Schlesinger Concert Hall New Dominion Chorale with 2019 Washington International Competition for Voice soloists There is an admission charge for this concert.
Tuesday, April 28, 7:30 pm at Goodwin House• This concert has been cancelled
Sunday, May 3, 7:30 pm at Riderwood Retirement Community• Mozart: Quartet in A Major, K. 298. Pamela Broene, flute; Miriam Goldberg, violin; Caroline Brethauer, viola; Sarah Hover, cello. • Shostakovich: Piano Quintet. Simon Finlow, piano; Robyn Tessin and Carrie Esko Carlson, violins; Julia Moline, viola; Valerie Matthews, cello.
Thursday, May 7, 11:00 am in The Mansion at Strathmore• Schubert: Impromptu. Jefferey Beaudry, piano.• Rorem: Last poems of Wallace Stevens. Katie Katinas, soprano; John Kaboff, cello; Ruth Locker (guest), piano.• DvoŘ�k: Sonata in F Major, op. 57. Eunju Kwak, violin; Jeongseon Choi, piano.
Friday, May 8, 10:00 am at DACOR Bacon House Annual meeting and luncheon10:00 am - Annual Membership Meeting and Election of Officers11:30 am – Reception12:00 noon - Annual Spring Luncheon
The Friday Morning Music Club Newsletter 7
VenuesCalvary Baptist Church 755 Eighth St. NW Washington, DC (Metro: Gallery Place)
Church of the Reformation 212 East Capitol St. NE Washington, DC (Metro: Capitol South or Union Station)
DACOR Bacon House 1801 F St. NW Washington, DC (Metro: Farragut West)
Dumbarton House 2715 Q St. NW Washington, DC
Jordan Kitt’s Music 11726 Parklawn Dr. N. Bethesda, MD 20852
The Lyceum 201 S. Washington St. Alexandria, VA
The Mansion at Strathmore 10701 Rockville Pike N. Bethesda, MD (Metro: Grosvenor)
Miller’s Grant Retirement Community 9000 Fathers Legacy Ellicott City, MD
Old Town Hall, City of Fairfax Corner of Main St. (Rt. 236) & University Dr. Fairfax, VA
Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall 4915 East Campus Lane Alexandria, VA
Riderwood Village Chapel 3110 Gracefield Rd. Silver Spring, MD
Steinway Gallery 11611 Old Georgetown Rd. N. Bethesda, MD (Metro: White Flint)
From the Managing DirectorJennie Weyman
Jennie Weyman
Jennie
As we head into April, it has officially been one year since I joined FMMC,
and I’m so glad that I’ve gotten to spend the last year with you. I hope you have been pleased with the progress we’ve been making, and I wanted to thank each and every one of you for your flexibility, feedback, and enthusiasm.
This spring has largely been dedicated to grant writing and research. We success-fully renewed our grant with the Nancy Peery Marriott Foundation to assist with funding of the Chorale, and have lined up a series of grant applications over the course of the next several months. If you have any connection with a foundation or corporation that you think would be a good fit for FMMC as we seek grants, please reach out to me. When it comes to institutional giving, the most important thing is to have a preexisting connection to the organization.
Thanks go to the competition chairs and the volunteers who make our student competitions happen. We had 68 students compete this year, and we hope to see even more next year. If you are a teach-er, please mark your calendars once we release next year’s competition dates and advertise early. With only a $35 entry fee, even if they don’t win a prize, our com-petitions are great practice and experience for developing musicians.
In case you missed it, we have a brand new group email, which is a way for you to find other members to collaborate with, ask questions, share upcoming events (not just for FMMC!), and more! Simply email [email protected], and your email will go to all FMMC members. If you are unsure if something is appropriate to share, simply reach out to one of the administrators (myself or Charles Moko-toff - [email protected]).
Last, start thinking about the Chamber Music Series’ performance application, which should go live sometime in May. If you’d like to collaborate with other mu-
sicians, but aren’t sure whom to ask, send a note to the group email or consult the Member Directory. To access the online directory, go to fmmc.org, click the blue “Log In” box in the top right corner, log in to your account, and click “Member Directory.” From there, you can search by instrument to find members with whom to collaborate. In addition, we’ll be adjusting our guest policy prior to the 2020-2021 season, so please encourage guest performers with whom you work (including accompanists!) to join the organization. FMMC is about far more than performance opportunities, and we’re doing our best to expand member benefits to reflect that.
It’s also never too early to renew your membership! Remember that you must renew by June 30, 2020, so that we may begin work on the annual yearbook.
As always, I’m only an email away!
Friday Morning Music Club755 8th Street, NWWashington, DC 20001
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April 20208
FMMC Piano Master Class Announced For MayMary K. Traver FOR SALE
Cello made by CG Stewart Los Angeles 1920.
Beautiful instrument with gorgeous sound.
New bridge and strings.
Previously on consignment at Brobst Music for $19,000 including bow.
$17,000 with bow
Call 240-353-4321 for more information.
Robert McDonald will lead a piano master class on Friday, May 22, at
the University of Maryland’s Internation-al Piano Archives in the Clarice Center for Performing Arts. McDonald will also serve as one of the judges for the WIC finals this coming May 23 and 24. Some FMMC members may remember his wonderful performance when he won first prize in the 1978 Washington Internation-al Competition.
Robert McDonald, well known as chamber musician and soloist, has toured extensively throughout the US, Europe, Asia, and South America. He has per-formed with major orchestras and was a recital partner with violinists Isaac Stern and Midori. He has participated in the Marlboro, Casals, and Lucerne festivals, performed with the Chamber Music Soci-ety of Lincoln Center, and for broadcasts over BBC Television. McDonald’s prizes include the gold medal at the Busoni
International Piano Competition, the top prize at the William Kapell International and the Deutsche Schallplatten Critics Award. His teachers include Seymour Lipkin, Rudolf Serkin, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Beveridge Webster, and Gary Graffman. He is a member of the piano faculty at Juilliard as well as the Curtis Institute, where he holds the Penelope P. Watkins chair in piano studies. During the summer, he is artistic director at the Taos School of Music and Chamber Music Festival in New Mexico. His students have been winners of international competi-tions.
The master class on May 22 will take place from 10:00AM until noon. FMMC performance pianists who wish to per-form should contact committee members Mary K. Traver (301-699-8854) or Grace McFarlane (202-362-7505). Admission is free; however, donations to the FMMC Piano Master Class fund are welcome.
