Tag: Hill Auditorium

REVIEW: Itzhak Perlman and Friends

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By nature of the profession, musicians are extremely passionate people. Yet, Itzhak Perlman’s dedication and personality somehow stand out among the rest. At 77 years of age, Perlman continues to share his music with audiences across the globe with laid-back, freeform concerts and has no plans of stopping. I had the pleasure of witnessing his collaboration with fellow musicians Emanuel Ax, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and the Julliard String Quartet in last Friday evening’s concert titled Itzhak Perlman and Friends. This special program will only be performed in two other locations: Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall and NYC’s Carnegie Hall. 

Because I’ve primarily only heard entire orchestras perform in Hill Auditorium, I was a little taken aback when Perlman and violinist Areta Zhulla strolled onstage to immediately launch into Jean-Marie Leclair’s Sonata for Two Violins in e minor. With the two voices alone, the performance felt very exposed–yet abundant chords, trills, and echoing melodies kept the piece satisfyingly rich. Perlman and Zhulla exhibited stunning coordination in articulation, playing with the same creaminess in melodic sections and crispy short notes in the faster parts. Following the piece, we were first introduced to Perlman’s playful practice of fist-bumping his fellow performers. 

The next piece, Mozart’s Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat Major, featured Perlman alongside pianist Emanuel Ax, violist Molly Carr, and cellist Astrid Schween. Amidst the characteristic delicacy-with-underlying-energy Mozart sound, I felt Ax’s phenomenal ability to inject dynamics and subtle nuances into each phrase shined through in the performance.

Concluding the concert was Chausson’s Concert for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet featuring Perlman with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and the Julliard String Quartet. This ended up being my favorite piece of the program due to the dramatic ebb and flow of sound and “pretty” quality. The piece plays with a bold, 3 note motif that melts into different passages with singing strings and underlying harp-like piano gymnastics. Perlman’s subtle use of emotional stylistic slides was the cherry on top.

Concerts like this remind me of the immense privilege we hold to experience world-class musicians brought to the university. I highly encourage students to keep an eye out for UMS’s future programming so they don’t miss these amazing opportunities!

PREVIEW: Itzhak Perlman and Friends

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There are many versions of Itzhak Perlman floating around in popular culture. For many, he is the iconic, gutwrenching violin solo from Schindler’s List. For concertgoers, he is an international rockstar, having played with every major orchestra and venue out there. For students and music enthusiasts alike, his recordings are textbook–and the recipient of 16 Grammy awards. 

Despite his decorated career, Perlman has always maintained a warm, friendly personality. For his 12th UMS-sponsored visit to Hill Auditorium this Saturday evening, he is bringing along several “friends” (a.k.a highly renowned pianists Emanuel Ax and Jean-Yves Thibaudet as well as the Julliard String Quartet) for an Avengers-esque mixed chamber music performance. 

Apart from the big names coming together in this performance, I am excited to experience more types of chamber music. The program will feature Jean-Marie Leclaire’s Sonata for Two Violins in e minor, Mozart’s Piano Quartet No. 2, and Ernest Chausson’s Concert for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet. While I played in my own quartet throughout high school, anything beyond the standard 4-part instrumentation is totally beyond my scope of knowledge!

REVIEW: Berliner Philharmoniker (Saturday Program)

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8:30pm • Saturday, November 19, 2022 • Hill Auditorium

Seeing the Berlin Philharmonic perform Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 on Saturday night was nostalgic for me, despite never having seen them perform previously. Back in early September, I vaguely recognized the name of the orchestra on the UMS season schedule as one of my younger brother’s favorites. He is still in high school, and lives several hours away, but when I texted him that the Berlin Philharmonic was coming to Ann Arbor, he flew into action coordinating travel plans with our parents while I bought us two student tickets. This weekend, he and my parents drove through blizzards down from northern Michigan to see the performance and kick off Thanksgiving break.

On the night of the performance, my brother and I waited anxiously in the crowded lobby of Hill Auditorium for the doors to open, and in our seats we people-watched together, with a particular eye to the eccentric winter gear of some of the older patrons. During the performance, we excitedly nudged one another whenever we heard a flute (his instrument) or clarinet (mine) playing solos, and we both fangirled obsessively over the showy flutter-tonguing of the flute in the fourth movement.

I am not an expert in music, orchestras, arranging, or conducting, but this performance was captivating for me because of the way live music engages my imagination, eases the flow of my thoughts in new directions, and awakens moments from my past to be interpreted in new ways. I have read that Symphony No. 7 seeks to represent the transition from night to day, drawing from nature. There were moments where the music made me think of a slumbering hive of honeybees beginning to stir, or the midnight walk of a lone coyote across moonlit snow. At intervals, I drifted into memories of my childhood, time spent listening to and playing my own music. Listening to the Berlin Philharmonic flow through the symphony’s five movements became a process of listening for the memories evoked by each melody.

Seeing the Berlin Philharmonic perform reminded me of music and artistry as a common thread weaving throughout my life, connecting me with my family and my memories. It also reminded me to be grateful for the advantages afforded my by attending a school like the University of Michigan, and the privilege of being able to share the arts here with my family. The performance helped me reconnect with the joy that comes with experiencing music, and my first evening upon returning home for Thanksgiving break saw me digging my old etude books out from among my mom’s stacks of piano music and brushing the dust off of my clarinet case.

REVIEW: Berliner Philharmoniker (Friday Program)

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One thing my childhood piano teacher of twelve years always told me was that a good performance made you feel taken care of. If you feel nervous on stage, so does your audience. If you are comfortable, the natural rise and fall of the music emerges and your listeners can comfortably breathe along each phrase. 

Last Friday, I had the pleasure of seeing the Berlin Philharmonic play at the Hill Auditorium. Pen and notebook in hand, I was reminded of my teacher’s words when the pages stubbornly remained relatively blank. When faced with the golden standard of the orchestral world, I suddenly found it very difficult to come up with any constructive comments. For the concert’s two-hour duration spanning raucous 21st-century sounds to Mozart’s pristine motifs, all I could do was sit back and think: this is so nice.

As the orchestra members made their way to their seats, I was surprised to see the second violins and cellos settle down in each other’s usual sections, with the basses gathered on the left side of the stage behind the cellos. While this seating arrangement made sense for the Mozart concerto later in the program, it was interesting to hear it used for Unstuck, a recent composition by Michigan native Andrew Norman. It is difficult to describe what happens in the piece–eerie, yet beautiful melodies are sandwiched between messy, frantic climaxes. Blurry tutti slides carry the listener from one idea to the next to the point where you forget where the piece even started. I rarely get a good view of the basses when I watch concerts, but this time around I was able to observe how they were constantly employed to add subtle, textural elements–slaps, snaps, dry scrubbing–to the ensemble.

Next up was the Mozart Violin Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Major performed by concertmaster Noah Bendix-Balgley. I don’t typically listen to Mozart over other composers, but Bendix-Balgley’s interpretation felt like a return to the fundamentals and allowed me to appreciate his music. His solo part was impeccably clean and sweet with a bell-like quality. The hardest part of playing Mozart is to make it sound effortless–both the ensemble and soloist mastered this element. The candenzas, written by Bendix-Balgley himself, were complex and brilliant.

Concluding the concert was the Korngold Symphony in F-Sharp Major. There is a lot of discourse surrounding Korngold and his validity as a serious composer due to his career writing music for films–an argument I find silly. The cinematic lushness and bold tuttis give the piece a distinct mood, while the free-spirited clarinet solo at the beginning of the first movement introduces an engaging story of conflict and resolution throughout the work. 

Part of the reason why the Berlin Phil is able to produce such a distinct sound is the combination of intense coordination and soloistic playing. By matching the exact speed and positions of each bow, the strings are able to meld together and mask any sense of bowings. I can only hope that everyone could have the chance to hear them perform live because it is truly a magnificent experience.

PREVIEW: Campus Orchestras

Sabrina Kliza 1 Comment

Nothing quite beats a post football game concert. So if you find yourself having free time after shedding your maize and blue, you should head to Hill Auditorium this Saturday at 8 pm. Both the Campus Philharmonia Orchestra and the Campus Symphony Orchestra will be performing. Their performances will include Chevalier de Saint-Georges: Symphony No. 2 in D, movements 1 and 2, Bartok: Romanian Folk Dances, and Sibelius: Finlandia. So be sure to check it out!

 

REVIEW: Aida Cuevas with Mariachi Aztlán

Ella Larsen Leave a comment

8:00 pm • Friday, November 4, 2022 • Hill Auditorium

It struck me at some point during Friday’s performance that I was witnessing true mastery of an art form. Aida Cuevas and the musicians of Mariachi Aztlán–and their surprise guest, Valeria Cuevas, Aida’s daughter–demonstrated the kind of personality and confidence onstage that is only achieved by a lifetime of commitment to one’s craft. Aida in particular wowed me with her showmanship. Her banter with the audience felt warmly familiar, almost like they were all in on a little private joke. In a way, they were: conducted almost entirely in Spanish, the performance created a special celebratory bubble of Hispanic language and culture on a predominantly English-speaking, Euro-American campus. In an artistic environment that has historically been exclusive, Aida transformed Hill Auditorium into a space where Hispanics and Latinos were the insiders.

Little moments throughout the evening added to the mood of familiarity and celebration. Before the performance started, El Ballet Folklórico Estudiantil, a dance and mariachi company from Flint, performed a short set in the lower lobby, a space where audience and performers seemed to intermingle at one level, as one community. When I sat down in the auditorium, the couple sitting next to me made small talk for a moment, asking whether I spoke Spanish and suggesting that some 10% of the audience wouldn’t understand a word of the performance, but attended because they love how the music sounds. Later, in a particularly sweet moment, Cuevas wished a young audience member a happy birthday, having chatted with the teen’s mother via Facebook Messenger some time before the event.

The evening’s program took time to spotlight each performer, including the instrumentalists from Mariachi Aztlán. The improvised duet between the company’s pianist and percussionist especially has stayed with me–from my vantage-point on the main floor, I could see their hands flying across their respective instruments, exploring the synergy between their sounds. Near the middle of the performance, after Aida had left the stage to the band for their solos (and so she could complete a total costume change), her daughter, Valeria, entered in her mother’s place. Valeria’s voice balanced dynamically with her mother’s, adding richness to the program, especially their beautiful duet rendition of La Llorona.

Probably my favorite part of the evening was when Aida performed “El Pastor.” Aida’s voice is operatic in quality, and El Pastor exhibits her ability to deftly switch between vocal registers as well as her stunningly regular vibrato. She completed each of these challenging vocal maneuvers with ease; during the instrumental build-up to her vocal entrance, I even noticed as she jauntily tossed her microphone and caught it to reposition it in her hand.

If you didn’t make it to Friday night’s performance, I encourage you to take a look at the video attached below for a small sample of Aida Cuevas’s talent. One thing I know for sure is that should she return to Ann Arbor during my time here, I will be among the first in line for tickets.