Camerata celebrates the holiday season at home

The Boston Camerata is a pretty big deal in early music circles. It’s a Boston-based ensemble with an international reputation. In fact, the Camerata is America’s “foremost early music ensemble,” according to Le Monde, the Parisian daily. Its album “A Mediterranean Christmas,” which explores holiday musical traditions from Spain, Italy and the Middle East from 1200 to 1900, was an international bestseller when it came out in 2005. Three years later, “A Boston Camerata Christmas: Worlds of Early Christmas Music,” a three-CD set looking at similar themes in American, French and Spanish holiday celebrations, also burned up the charts. But the Camerata is way more than just rarified, early music performance. “Simple Gifts,” its collection of Shaker spirituals and chants, topped the Billboard classical charts in 1995. And when the group performed at the Classique au Vert festival in Paris last year, they didn’t play madrigals or the like. They played a program of American music: hymns, patriotic songs and dances. Two performances of that show had a combined audience of 2,300, one of the biggest audiences in Camerata history. “That’s enormous,” says Boston Camerata director emeritus Joel Cohen, an Amesbury resident. “I mean, that’s rock concert stuff.” So when Cohen and his wife, French-born singer and musicologist Anne Azéma, who became the ensemble’s director in 2008, get past the jet lag — the group toured Europe five times in 2011 — and put on a local show, something they’ve been doing for the past few years, you might expect the air to come hissing out of their tires a little, psychologically if not in performance; that the rush level after so many big shows in big venues might go down when they play in smaller venues like First Parish Church in Newbury, where the Camerata will reprise “The Brotherhood of the Star: A Hispanic Christmas 1300 to 1700” this weekend, in the group’s only North Shore appearance of the year. And that’s fine.

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Amazing journey: Dunphy, Epomeo, the Dreadnaught

Melissa Dunphy is a classical composer with, um, some unusual influences, touchstones, like her stubborn, lingering obsession with Nine Inch Nails, which led her to re-imagine NIN’s “The Frail,” which she named “Variations on a Theme by Trent Reznor” and which she arranged as an Elizabethan madrigal, of course. And this is probably the most “normal,” the most standard repertoire thing she’s done lately. She’s 32, an Australian transplant. She’s a fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, a PhD candidate in composition, on a Benjamin Franklin Fellowship. She’s currently working on an opera based on the writings of Ayn Rand. Not the (yawn) important philosophical underpinnings of her fiction, what the Russian writer called objectivism. No, she’s zeroing in on Rand’s nasty, completely over-the-top depictions of sex that read like rape fantasy, or, in the case of “Fountainhead” hot-to-trot protagonists Howard Roark and Dominique Francon, sexual assault committed during the course of a home invasion. “I’m amazed that no one has made an opera out of it yet,” she says. Then, pausing, she adds, “Hopefully I won’t get sued.” 

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It's in with the new at NCMF

What's new with the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival, the intimate classical music series with a rock and roll attitude, as it digs into its second decade? Plenty, says NCMF Artistic Director David Yang in an e-mail exchange from Calabria, Italy, in the Bay of Naples, where the violist chills, so to speak, every summer before the Port music series kickoff, at Festivale d’alla Musica da Camera d’Ischia, a week-long chamber music festival and intensive workshop where Yang has been a coach and performer for years — a cool retreat, he says,  but “hot as hell, actually,” he says, “but a dry heat,”  not that dry heat is much of a comfort. New? There will be new players, in the festival quartet, which will feature two new violinists, and at large, with two hired guns in the house to perform the much-loved Brahms Sextet, among other pieces. There will be new venues, as organizers reach across the river into Carriagetown for its first-ever non-Port concert, a performance benefiting the steeple restoration fund for the historic Union Congregational Church, as well as an open rehearsal at the 14 Cedar Street Artist Studios.  As in the past, there will be a world premiere, another piece highlighted by local texts, this one with Port poet Rhina Espaillat’s  “Three Tenses of Light,” inspired by the paintings of Ipswich artist Andrew Anderson-Bell, which will be lit up by Philadelphia composer Andrea Clearfield, who composed  it specifically for the Port-based  Candlelight Chorale, a 30-voice chorus. Which is certainly new for NCMF.

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American classical music finds its voice, old school

Strictly speaking, there's still nearly three decades left of the so-called American Century, the somewhat jingoistic phrase coined in 1941 by Henry Luce, the American Century's first multimedia mogul, to spur on the good old USA to dominate the world stage in politics, business and culture, not necessarily in that order, just the way God wanted it. But, truth be told, it looks like our century has passed in everything but the cultural realm and, while we may make it to the finish line of our designated time, we will probably be limping and hurting and gasping for breath, impressing no one, save for the cheerleaders for the power de jour and its hangers-on. So, the Boston-based collective Amercan Century Music seems a little unstuck in time, historically speaking, seeing how much, if not most, of its programming comes from before our self-proclaimed time — and far more benign, referring to the period when American classical music found its own voice, but not shouting at people with it. In fact, all three pieces in "Voices of the Early American Century," the ensemble’s second performance in Newburyport, were created and performed before Luce ever shot off his big mouth. About that, anyhow.

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The Camerata's gonna get medieval on your holiday

... and speaking of cool holiday music, the kind probably won't be subliminally torturing you in elevators or department stores,the Boston Camerata is about to get all medieval on your holiday. Just back from a tour of northern France and Belgium in November, the early music group will perform “A Medieval Christmas,” a program of song and poetry from France, Provence, England, Spain and Germany performed by a virtuoso consort of voices and instruments, including harps, vielle, lute, recorder and flute. Selections range from a very early Hebrew chant and 10th century Spanish Sybill’s prophesy to 12th-century Aquitanian (French) tales of the Wild and Foolish Virgins, to 13th- and 14th-century English and 15th-century Dutch songs. Program notes include contemporary English translations of the texts and lyrics, much of which will be quite familiar to the audience.The only north of Boston performance will take place at 3:30 p.m. Dec. 11 at First Parish Church, 20 High Road, Route 1A, Newbury. The performance will be recorded by WGBH for a commercial release ... well, as commercial as medieval music gets.

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NCMF: The sounds of summer ... barely

Okay, Memorial Day has come and gone, and so has the solstice, meaning, at least for  crusty, fatalistic New Englanders, that summer, which officially arrived a couple of days ago, although you certainly can't tell by the weather, is almost over and we can move on to other things, like that big 10th anniversary season for the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival, and, on the horizon, the impending winter. The festival, which runs from Aug. 13 to 20, just before the cold winds blow, will bring back the popular Baroque concert, which has been sidelined for the past couple of seasons. The program has not been announced, but will feature hot-shot performers like harpsichordist Dongsok Shin, from the renowned New York early music group Rebel, and violinist Leah Gale Nelson, who specializes in historical performance. The festival will also celebrate the centennial of composer Samuel Barber, putting the spotlight on two of his most beloved works — the String Quartet Opus 11, which includes the famous "Adagio for strings," and "Dover Beach" for string quartet and voice. Also on the program is Beethoven's String Quartet in C# Minor, Opus 131 and Janacek's String Quartet No. 1, the Moravian composer's "neurotic quartet," as NCMF Artistic Director David Yang puts it, first performed by the NCMF quartet five years ago, and Ravel's Sonata for violin and cello, which Yang calls the composer's "sexy and jazzy duo." 

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NCMF: Waiting out Mother Nature

In case you hadn’t heard, it’s official: Pianist Natalie Zhu’s Newburyport Chamber Music Festival debut, a victim of our unrelenting winter season, has been rescheduled for 4 p.m. April 24. Yes, that’s Easter Sunday. Making it “a perfect way to celebrate the return (well-established by this time) of sun and light to our world,” according to  NCMF Executive Director Jane Niebling. Yeah? Maybe. We’ll see. Regardless, this might actually be good news for laid-back romantics, who figured they could  grab a ticket later, only to discover the cookie jar was empty by the time they finally got around to it. Well, maybe the cancellation will shake a couple of tickets loose. Maybe folks have other plans for Easter Sunday — like being with family or hunting wabbit or something. Which is certainly possible, although wabbit season is still a ways off. The program will include a performance of Chopin’s Barcarolle in F-Sharp Major, Rachmaninoff preludes, including “The Bells of Moscow,” and Liszt’s majestic B minor Sonata. Anyhow, it’s up to you:  So, you can hang on to your tickets and see the show in (hopefully) better meteorological conditions, or turn them in and get a refund — enough cash, perhaps, to get those snowblower blades sharpened. The show will be at the Carriage House. Dial up the NCMF online to buy, sell or trade your tickets.

The show must, but simply cannot, go on

Usually we’re fans of irony, but this is just too much: A show designed to take a bite out of the psychological turmoil of this cold, heartless winter — the hottest ticket in town, by the way — has been canceled because of ... well, because of the cold, heartless winter: Natalie Zhu, a  pianist who is known for hot, emotional pyrotechnics, was supposed to play “The Romantic Piano,” a program that would have included Chopin’s Barcarolle in F-Sharp Major, Rachmaninoff preludes, including “The Bells of Moscow,” and Liszt’s B minor Sonata, one of the titanic pieces for the instrument, at the Carriage House this Saturday,  Feb. 5. Instead, she will be shoveling snow from  the roof of her Philadelphia home. Well, OK, maybe we’re making that up. But the 500th storm of the season has forced the folks from the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival to postpone the show until what we used to call the cruelest month, as mean old Mother Nature prepares to dump another foot of what old Dick Albert used to call “the white stuff” and what we call .... well, never mind about that, on us. Word is the show will be April 23, but that’s unofficial. And, considering what a rhymes-with-witch MN has been, perhaps optimistic. We’re anticipating a mid-May thaw. Check out the NCMF web for real details. And, note to Mother Nature, nobody’s trying to fool you, so don’t get yourself into full vengeful mode.

Cold Comfort: Hot pianist's Port performance

Yeah, I know, I know: You hoped that you would be able to swoop in at the last minute and snatch up a couple of tickets for Natalie Zhu’s  “The Romantic Piano” concert, which, one hopes, perhaps vainly, will take the winter’s chill out of our bones. Fat chance of that, or getting a ticket to this show, for that matter. The pianist, of course, is a monster, a Philadelphia-based musician who has walked away with every award worth having, who toured for nearly a decade with renowned violinist Hilary Hahn, whose playing has been described as nothing short of emotional and pianistic pyrotechnics. The program will include Chopin’s Barcarolle in F-Sharp Major and some preludes by the late-to-the-Romantic party Rachmaninoff, including Opus 3, No. 2, the “Bells of Moscow,” but the emotional core of the program is Liszt’s transformative B minor Sonata, one of the titanic pieces in the piano repertoire, famous both for its passion and the terrible technical demands it makes. Apparently the Mozart Fantasia, (D minor, K. 397) has been dropped. A pity. It’s an interesting piece, a little gem with unusual rhythms and constantly changing tempos. And seeing her perform at the The Carriage House, a lovely space with amazing acoustics, well, folks should be leaving that intimate space feeling pretty jazzed.

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Deak: Big Bad Wolf got a big bad rap

OK, we’re not naming names, but Jon Deak has seen a lot of the clips of people performing his “B.B. Wolf” and, frankly, some of them make him ... well, cringe. Because the piece for double bass and narrator, which he will perform at this year’s Newburyport Chamber Music Festival, is cool and funny and seems easy enough to handle and “open” to interpretation, especially once you finesse the haunting, sublime sound of the Kabloona wolf in the wild. Which is no mean feat in itself. Just ask NCMF artistic director David Yang, who still remembers the first time he ever heard the sound. “I simply had never heard anything like this before,” he says. “How can someone make a bass sound so convincingly like a wolf howl that the hairs raised uncomfortably on the back of my neck?”
But, to make “B.B. Wolf” work, you have to resist the impulse to mug for the cheap seats, to play it for laughs, says the composer. This takes  focus and discipline, because you’re talking about a piece for solo bass and narrator that is, essentially, an apologia by the Big, Bad Wolf, one of the original bad guys, the “star” of all the fairy tales we grew up with, a huffing-puffing, Grandma-eating baddie whose rep is just above Eden’s serpent on the Richter scale of literary evil — and whose real-life counterparts are just as hated. And that is the subtext for the 10-minute piece. It’s funny, but it’s not a joke. Personalizing it, incorporating cutesy quirks or ad-libs, has the same effect as adding “meep-meep,” the roadrunner’s eternal response to the coyote, a wolf for all practical purposes. Improvising in what is pretty much a set piece, “sinks it to a comic level,” he says. “It becomes just a cartoon.”

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Talking music: NCMF finds its voice

Yeah, sure. He admits that he’s “probably pushing it” a little — fessing up that, unlike previous years, there’s no immediately obvious overriding theme unifying the music of the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival this year. But David Yang, the guy behind the programming at the festival since its inception nine years ago, isn’t quite ready to give up the musical ghost: He’s starting to warm up to the subject after cautiously playing the theme. He’s thinking of the lyrical nature of music — not in the sense of the always- breathtakingly “singing” quality of Yo-Yo Ma’s playing. He’s thinking about non-verbal communication that actually approaches conversation. You hear it in the Kodaly (Duo for violin and cello, Opus 7), where, Yang says, the composer seems to be interested in striking up a dialogue, having the musicians talk — and, at times, spar — with each other. And the Mendelssohn (String Quartet in F minor, Opus 80), which was published posthumously, a piece he wrote after the death of his beloved sister, after which he just could not go on. It is “desperate communication,” says Yang, “a terrible cry of anguish … so intense.” And the two Jon Deak pieces (“B.B. Wolf” and “Sherlock Holmes and The Speckled Band, Scene I,” take the Yang theme to its limit, with the composer actually telling the stories.

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Now, about the new 'guy' in Epomeo ...

Got so wrapped up in the Ensemble Epomeo’s program for “Music and the Manse” and our new appreciation for the Italian language, that we forgot to talk abut the new guy. And the old guy. But it turns out that the last time we saw Byron Wallis — during Ensemble Epomeo’s Port debut last year, when the trio rolled out, among other things, a magical performance of Schnitke’s String Trio, the piece that brought the group together in the first place — will likely be the last time we ever see him. The Paris-based violinist is no longer performing with Epomeo. He’s been replaced by Carolyn Chin, a rising classical star who with a packed resume that includes leading the conductorless String Orchestra of New York City, performing as concertmaster with the Paragon Orchestra and touring the United States and Japan with the tap dancer Savion Glover.

No, there’s nothing particularly nasty going on. Just the usual “creative differences,” which often, just below the surface, are about personalities, plus the fact that working with someone who lives and performs thousands of miles away from the Center of the Universe — that would be New York — makes the whole trio thing just a little too complicated. Wallis, who frequently performs with the Orchestre Nationale d’lle de France, “is a terrific guy, one of the sweetest and gentlest guys I know,” says Epomeo violist David Yang. “We just had different approaches. We are still good friends so I think I can say the parting was mostly mutual”

Yang, who is also artistic director of the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival, performed with Chin a couple of years ago at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, always liked her and her playing. “In addition to being a truly impressive musician with outrageous chops she is also an unusually honest person, and that is important,” says Yang. “She has a core of steel, too. By this I mean she is a real leader — a strong personality in the group. A trio is so small that everyone needs to hold their weight, but even in the more democratic form of a trio (versus string quartets, in general) you need a violin who likes to lead. So personality is really important. I mean, look, we just spent two weeks together rehearsing, I kid you not, eight hours a day. You think that is going to work for very long if we don’t know how to get along? You don’t have to like one another, but you have to respect one another. We have had disagreements, but the amazing thing is how non-personal it is.

“The stakes, while they may seem small outside, can feel enormous in a group,” says Yang. “Differences in interpretation, in pitch, timing. A small disagreement can feel very personal - can you play that note a little higher? No, why would you want that? It sounds terrible? Well I think your way sounds terrible? Who are you calling terrible? How dare you? And so on. It is important to me to play with people I admire as players and also as people.”

Epomeo, which also includes Kenneth Woods, founder of the Taliesin Trio and the Masala String Quartet as well as principal guest conductor of the Stratford-upon-Avon-based Orchestra of the Swan, takes its name from the non-active volcano that dominates the landscape of the small, sun-drenched Italian island of Ischia, where the trio is currently holed up. The group is the resident ensemble of the island’s Festivale d’alla Musica da Camera d’Ischia‚ a 10-day chamber music festival and intensive study retreat. They’ll have little time, just four days, between Ischia and the Port performance, which, itself, is part of the Newburyport Preservation Trust’s weeklong festival. The program will include “Thrice blest,” a world premiere by Kile Smith that is based on music by 17th-century Newbury composer John Tufts that came from a hymnbook discovered by NCMF executive director Jane Niebling. Also on the program will be the Sitkovetsky transcription of Bach's Goldberg Variations for string quartet and Beethoven's String Trio in D major, which Yang says is the “core” of the program for the trio.

JUST THE FACTS, MAN: Ensemble Epomeo will perform at “Music and the Manse,” a benefit for the Newburyport Preservation Trust, May 21 at the 18th-century Henry C. Learned House, 190 High St., Newburyport. The program includes the Sitkovetsky transcription of Bach's Goldberg Variations, Beethoven's String Trio in D Major and “Thrice blest,” a world premiere based on music by West Newbury composer John Tufts. The event, which runs from 5:30 to 9 p.m., also includes a tour of the historic home and a wine and hors d’oeuvres reception. Tickets are $75. Reservations are required. For more information, call 978.463.9776.
 

Epomeo: Now, that's Italian

Our Italian vocabulary word of the day is "aliscafo," as in "Oggi David Yang e a cavallo di un aliscafo." And, you may well ask, just what is David Yang, the artistic director of the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival, and a fellow comfortable enough with Italiano to order, properly, insalata, fusilli con formaggio e piselli and prosciutto crudo e mozzarella di bufala, doing in a hovercraft? Answer: Barely touching the surface of the Mediterranean in a mad dash to the island of Ischia, home of the Festivale d’alla Musica da Camera d’Ischia in Italy, a weeklong chamber music festival where he has been a resident coach for years and where Ensemble Epomeo will be settling in for its second year as the festival's ensemble-in-residence. That’s what he’s doing. And he's getting a just a little sick to his stomach (solo un po 'malato al suo stomaco) from the choppy seas as he blasts across the Sea of Napoli, taking questions about Epomeo’s May 21 show at the historic Henry C. Learned House, a benefit for the Newburyport Preservation Trust. We see the sea sickness as a kind of penance for totally blowing off a certain arts writer a couple of days earlier. No, no, no. E solo uno scherzo. Just joking.

No, Yang’s a tough guy to get ahold of under the best of circumstances. In addition to playing with Epomeo, he’s a member of Auricolae, a Philadelphia-based storytelling troupe, as well as a performer with Poor Richard’s String Quintet. He’s also director of chamber music at the University of Pennsylvania and coach at Swarthmore and, well, you get the idea. And this time of year, with Epomeo doing its usual globetrotting spring schedule, with tours on the East Coast, including a live radio broadcast, as well as shows in England and Wales, before retuning to Ischia, its home-base — and, four days after they put the lid on the intense Italian music festival, parachuting into Newburyport for “Music and the Manse,” as the program is being called.

The ensemble will also have a new look, with Caroline Chin, leader of the String Orchestra of New York City and artistic director of Musica Reginae, replacing Byron Wallis on violin. Cellist Kenneth Woods, another guy with a resume — Taliesin Trio and the Masala String Quartet, principal guest conductor of the Stratford-upon-Avon-based Orchestra of the Swan, and author of the entertaining and informative View from the Podium blog — returns on cello.

They’ll will be taking a comparatively lighter program around the block: Instead of piling on, emotionally, with Krasa’s "Tanz," which opens with a waltz and ends with oblivion; or Hovhaness’ mournful, ethereal Trio, they’ll be playing Sitkovetsky’s transcription of Bach's Goldberg Variations for string trio, Beethoven's String Trio in D major and "Thrice blest," a world premiere based on music by Newbury composer John Tufts.

The Variations, of course, were written for keyboard by Bach and forever seared into the collective musical imagination by the admittedly idiosyncratic performances by Glenn Gould, much to the dismay of purists. Yang confesses to sacrilege, saying the piano version is, well “a little, um, boring” ... and is immediately rewarded with the crash of a huge wave against the aliscafo, raising a collective moan from passengers.) “I think what is so interesting about this piece is its hybrid nature. It is a period work but played on modern instruments Also, since we can sustain with string instruments vs. a harpsichord (no sustaining) or a piano you can get a very different effect so that harmony, instead of having to be implied can really be just, well, played,” Yang says. Because of time restraints, the trio will be doing only two-thirds of the variations.

The Beethoven is “the core of the repertory for us,” says Yang. “What is neat about this is the slow movement which is written in an Italian feeling style (Yes, of course, affettuoso). By that I mean it is less contrapunctual, with parts playing off one another and more... like an opera, with arias and accompaniment. But since it is Beethoven it is incredibly beautiful but also complex, although I hope you don't hear the complexity as much as just feel it deep down in the animal part of your brain.”

The final piece will be a world premiere by Kile Smith, who is a bit of a classical star in Philly. He has his own radio show and runs the legendary Fleisher Collection of Music. He’s also been resident composer for the Jupiter Symphony in New York. Yang asked him to do something based on a local hymnbook that Newburyport Chamber Music Festival founder Jane Niebling found. He used a melody from Tufts who was from 17th-century Newbury. The composition has three sections — the hymn, then an agitated quick and rhythmic middle section and then back to the hymn. “The piece, I am sure, will be very popular with the audience,” Yang says. “It is lovely, the kind of stuff people will ask for again.”

Road warriors
From Newburyport, Epomeo will pack up and head north to Portland before calling it a wrap — a hectic time that has the favor of a rock tour. “Well, it has felt a little like that recently,” Yang says. “But I stay in one place usually for a few days. I like traveling but am torn, as I really miss my little daughters. When I am home I spend as much time with them as I can. I also really like my home. Philadelphia has been good to me, and I live on a leafy little city street where all the neighbors know each other and have dinner together and stuff like that. It is a treat to be home. (And now we are rolling side to side - oooh nooooo! I really have to stop now.)”


JUST THE FACTS, MAN: Ensemble Epomeo will perform at “Music and the Manse,” a benefit for the Newburyport Preservation Trust, May 21 at the 18th-century Henry C. Learned House, 190 High St., Newburyport. The program includes the Sitkovetsky transcription of Bach's Goldberg Variations, Beethoven's String Trio in D major and “Thrice blest,” a world premiere based on music by West Newbury composer John Tufts. The event, which runs from 5:30 to 9 p.m., also includes a tour of the historic home and a wine and hors d’oeuvres reception. Tickets are $75. Reservations are required. For more information, call 978.463.9776.

Lazarus rises to vocal challenge

This weekend Penny Lazarus will perform a selection of art songs in "for the love of singing,” an aptly named program, at Governor's Academy. Which may seem like a strange place for her to be if you only know Lazarus from her other roles — as a piano teacher or opening night arm candy for Port playwright Joshua Faigen or even as "the well-known creative mind," as the Nock School newsletter puts it, behind the transformation of the Nock courtyard. But the May 2 recital with Amesbury singer Louise Cramer actually represents something of a creative plateau in a long process

The Merrimac Street resident has been singing all of her life, but the piano won the musical argument early on because ... well, because as much as Lazarus loved singing, as much native talent as she had, she didn’t have the chops, the combination of clarity and athleticism needed to get over the top — to get beyond good. That didn’t happen until Dr. Gerald Weale, the guy with the baton at the Newburyport Choral Society, got ahold of her at a workshop/coaching session and taught her some tricks of the trade, and then pushed her on to what would become five years, so far, of private studies with one of the area's leading vocal coaches. And, of course, none of that would have happened if her hubby hadn't tipped over the family cart, about a decade ago, taking a job in Massachusetts, presenting the move from Pittsburgh as a fait accompli. He wasn't a playwright then, just a type geek — er, typographer. The whole playwright thing wasn't on anyone's radar until they settled down next door to local theater mucky-mucks Ron Pullins and Leslie Powell.

Lazarus, who grew up in Pittsburgh, “was heartsick” at the idea of leaving her friends and family, her turn-of-the-century Victorian home and garden. The first thing she did (after cooling down, of course) was research what would become her new stomping ground — and found the Newburyport Choral Society. It was, as far as she was concerned, “the only carrot” in the whole deal. Faigen accepted the job in the summer, the family settled into their new home on Merrimac Street, and Lazarus started rehearsing with NCS, and launching the Northeast edition of her piano studio, in September. She credits Weale, professor emeritus at Boston University who, in two decades-plus as NCS conductor, has developed a reputation for shaping the emotional and dramatic content of singers' work, for taking her singing to the next level ("I was hitting two Cs above middle C — and it was easy," she says) and encouraging her to work with a private teacher, which brought Lazarus to Martha Peabody — a singer, educator and lecturer for the past 25 years. Since then Lazarus has found her way to the stage as a singer, playing the Widow Corney in the Anna Smulowitz production of “Oliver” last year and in the last two Theater in the Open productions of “A Christmas Carol.” (The Dickens story mentions music, but productions rarely play up what should be an obvious opportunity to play to the audience. Background carolers had already been incorporated into the TITO production. In last year’s show, Lazarus sang “Lulay” as Christmas Future is dishing out the bad news to old Scroogie, although you might not have known that unless you were paying attention to the program notes: A group of singers is gathered around the grave, all dressed in black.) And just last week she sang an arrangement of Emily Dickinson's “Love Stricken, Why?” during the Your Favorite Poem event at the Firehouse.

But why? Why would someone steeped in the fields of music and education, with decades of experience with the piano, take such a creative left turn as an adult to reinvent herself as a vocalist?

"The piano is a wonderful instrument," she says. "You can let a lot of emotion go with it. I’ve performed and taught the piano for 30 years, but when I sing, I am the instrument — and it’s the most intimate musical experience one can have.”

This weekend, Lazarus's musical journey brings her to the gorgeous, acoustically pristine Moseley Chapel at The Governor's Academy for the recital with Cramer, a soprano. Cramer will tackle the work of modern French composers like Eric Satie and Francis Poulenc, and Lazarus, a mezzo-soprano with a dark, chocolaty voice, will perform the dark, soul-searching Mahler — really emotional, deep stuff there. Everyone should recognize the Copland ("It's a Gift to be Simple," "Hush a Bye"). Lazarus will also perform a comic duet with a Governor's Academy student, Kim Uggerholt — Irving Berlin’s “You're Not Sick, You're Just in Love,” with its still-mysterious reference to a red velvet glove. Barbara Flocco will accompany the singers on piano.

JUST THE FACTS, MAN: Louise Cramer and Penny Lazarus will present "for the love of singing," a celebration of the human voice, at 4 p.m. May 2 at Moseley Chapel at The Governor’s Academy in Byfield. The concert is free. Donations will be taken for Our Neighbors’ Table. A reception will follow the performance. For more information call 978.462.4720 or visit www.pennylazaruspianostudio.com. The photo of Lazarus is courtesy of Rebecca Wish Esche.

PORT PICK: A Little, a lot

You can never be sure just what George Little will be throwing at you, musically: The former folkie from Amesbury, known for funny tunes about love and loss, like “Mr. Donuts” and “The Girl from the Guitar Center,” is a classically trained guitarist equally at ease with Renaissance music as he is with Django-inspired, um, djazz? — and this week he’ll be doing both. Little and violinist Elizabeth Burke, his New Boston Duo partner, will provide the soundtrack for a production of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” at the Waring School. The show, which runs March 6 and 7, will be directed by Holly Little — yup, George’s sister and a Port stage regular until she started teaching at Waring a couple of years ago. Then Little will double up with a program of Renaissance music featuring Primal Polyphony on Sunday in Newburyport. Primal Polyphony (that’s them on the left) is an a cappella vocal trio featuring soprano Wilhelmina Bradley, mezzo soprano Annie Philips and tenor Charley Bradley. The program will include “William Byrd’s Mass for 3 Voices.” He’ll also perform a set of songs by John Dowland. The concert starts at 4 p.m. March 7 at Central Congregational Church, 14 Titcomb St. Suggested donation is $10. “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead” will be staged 7:30 p.m. March 6 and 7 at the Waring School Theater, 35 Standley St., in Beverly. For more information, check out mynameisgeorgelittle.com. For more mouthy recommendations, check out PortPicks.

PORT PICKS: A Romantic 'Rain'

RAIN, I DON’T MIND: Nobody, not even TMZ *really* knows what, if anything, went on between Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann, the wife of Robert Schumann, Johnny’s dear friend, mentor, the guy who put his name on the map, musically. He was crazy in love with Clara, but she, alas, merely loved him, like (words no guy ever wants to hear) a dear, dear friend. Even after Schumann died, he apparently struck out, romantically, as Clara, playing a 19th-Century Jackie Kennedy, made sure the big man’s legacy was secure. But, while no one knows what went on inside their heads, it’s pretty clear the dude was hurting big time. You can hear it in Sonata in G Major, op. 78 — the so-called Rain Sonata — in which the yearning is palpable, almost overwhelming. And Mrs. S got the message. In a letter to Brahms she confessed to “bursting into tears” on hearing it. We’re hoping that modern-day audiences can hold it together when violinist Gabriela Diaz and pianist Lois Shapiro play the Rain Sonata during “Eloquent Expressivity: The Violin Sonatas of Johannes Brahms,” the final program of this year’s Jean C. Wilson Music Series at the Unitarian Universalist Church, which takes place this weekend. Diaz, a New England Conservatory-trained musician who acted as concertmistress under Pierre Boulez at the Lucerne Festival Academy, is noted for her polished technique. Shapiro is a founding member of the Triple Helix piano trio. Also on the program will be Brahms’ Sonata #2 in A Major, Sonatensatz in C minor and Sonata #3 in D minor. The concert takes place at 4 p.m. March 7 at the Unitarian Church, 26 Pleasant St., Newburyport. Tickets are $15, $10 for seniors. Children and students can listen for free ... if they promise to behave.

For more mouthy recommendations, check out Port Picks.

The Big Three at Governor's Academy

Symphony by the Sea pulls into The Governor's Academy on Sunday for its second performance of the season, with a program of Romantic works by the Big Three of 19th-20th-century England — Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten and Edward Elgar. But the interesting thing about "Fantasia: Gems from the British Isles" is not the program itself, as impressive as it is, but how it demonstrates the versatility of the 30-piece orchestra, which practically reinvents itself for every piece. Britten's "Simple Symphony, Op. 4," as the name implies, is a pretty straightforward piece, but in Williams' "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
," the orchestra incorporates a separate string quartet. And in Elgar's "Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47," the quartet remains, but the orchestra will split in two pieces, with the smaller part, roughly 10 players, echoing and adding detail to the first. The program also includes Gerald 
Finzi's "Interlude for Oboe and Strings, Op. 21," with its uncommon instrumentation, reaching back to the Baroque, despite its Romantic pedigree, and a piece perhaps destined to be lost in the long musical shadows of his contemporaries — or, as Symphony by the Sea music director Donald Palma puts it, "exquisite, unique and unknown, which, paired with the three big names, seemed like the right piece" for the program.


Jonathan Knox, principal oboist with Symphony by the Sea since 1985, is the soloist for the Finzi. Conspiro Quartet, which comes out of New England Conservatory, where Palma is a faculty member, will perform with the orchestra in the Williams and Elgar. The man with the baton, a native New Yorker, started out on double bass and has built a serious resume: Juilliard School of Music, Leopold Stokowski's American Symphony Orchestra at 20, Los Angeles Philharmonic at 24. In addition to his regular duties at New England Conservatory and Symphony by the Sea, he is also a faculty member at the Yale School of Music and a founder and regular performer with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. "Yeah," he says, "I'm pretty busy." Palma was named Symphony by the Sea conductor in 2008, replacing Jonathan McPhee at the podium. He had been special guest conductor for Symphony by the Sea six years ago, leading a program that included Mozart's "In Nomine Domini" and Tchaikovsky's "Rococo Variations," so making the new gig was a no-stress event. "I felt very much wanted," he says. "I didn't feel nervous taking over, I didn't feel like I had to prove anything. It was like coming back to a friendly family. "

The work bridges the 19th and 20th centuries. It's late Romantic and is "very accessible, very lovely," says Palma, but the musical touchstones come from Central Europe, not England. (Think Dvorak, Suk, Martinu). Then as now "someone writes a good piece and everyone jumps on the bandwagon," says Palma. "Music is not made in a vacuum. Influences come from all over the place. Of course, it was a much slower assimilation. You couldn't just pop onto YouTube and see what was happening. England really took off with it. They made it very personal ... with its own kind of sounds. It's very British (and) evocative of all things English."

JUST THE FACTS, MAN: Symphony by the Sea will perform "Fantasia: Gems from the British Isles," at 8 p.m. Jan. 23 at First Universalist Church, 211 Bridge St., Salem, and at 3:30 p.m. Jan. 24 at The Governor's Academy's Performing Arts Center, Center Street, Byfield. The program will include Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
," Edward Elgar's "Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47;" Gerald 
Finzi's "Interlude for Oboe and Strings, Op. 21
," featuring Jonathan Knox on oboe; and 
Benjamin Britten's "Simple Symphony, Op. 4." A pre-concert talk with conductor Donald Palma will begin at 7:15 p.m. in Salem and at 2:45 p.m. in Byfield. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased at the door or on the symphony's web.

Fujit Fiat Vox: Latin, sort of, for eclectic choral

Fujit Fiat Vox's concert next week at the First Religious Society will be the debut for the chamber choir and a homecoming, of sorts, wrapped into one, and we're going to talk about that, we really are, but, first, what's the deal with the name, Music Director Joshua Anand Slater? Like how do you pronounce "Fujit," which looks like a first declension Czech verb or something vaguely Japanese, and what does it mean? Well, bit of a story here: Slater pronounces it "foo-jeht," but leaves the pronunciation up to individuals. There's no correct way to say it since it's not a real word. He made it up or, rather, adapted it from Tempus Fugit, Latin for "time flies," the name of a colleague's ensemble several years ago, back when he was teaching at the Sparkhawk School. He changed Fugit to Fujit ("for the profound reason that I think it’s prettier spelled that way") and tacked on Fiat Vox ("my hubristic Latin motto") lifted from the Vulgate Old Testament: the let-there-be-light business being transformed into 'let there be voices,' more or less — "silly, probably," Slater says, "but I think it's fun."

Yeah, he's a down-to-earth guy with a quirky sense of humor who thinks classical musicians are a little too full of themselves sometimes, the kind of guy who leaves possibly embarrassing tidbits in his online bio, like the reference to his nickname, Butterfingers. That came when Slater — a singer, an organist and conductor — got "roped into" filling in on bass drums for a performance of Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man." He figured, how hard could it be? Just whomp the drum, right? Famous last words: Stick went flying, face went deepest shade of scarlet possible and then he got "the Indiana Jones look," the one from the final scenes of "Raiders of the Lost Ark," when faces melt. And then there was the egg ocarina incident at Sparhawk, where Slater taught from 2004 to 2007: "They break pretty easily," he says. That was the end of his percussion career ("probably best for everyone involved," he says), and right about the time that Tempus Fugit timed out. Slater, who had been talking about starting a chorus for years, picked up the musical ball and ran with it, but the project stalled without ever getting to the point of performance. Then this spring, when Slater was "running my notoriously large mouth" about choral music, a friend called his bluff, told him, essentially, that he should put up or shut up. He started collecting singers from around Boston "who can sing anything, any time and sound fantastic doing it" and rehearsing through the summer.

The program for the Newburyport debut will be eclectic, from the medieval (Antoine Busnoys’ "Missa L’homme Armé," French sacred music from the 15th century) to the Baroque ( Johann Sebastian Bach’s "Lobet den Herrn") to the modern (Ralph Vaughn Williams' "Mass in G minor" and Heitor Villa-Lobos' "Bendita Sabedoria"). "Maybe in that order," says Slater. There is, plainly, no overarching theme — a deliberate choice. "Sometimes themed shows work too hard to be cohesive," he says. He selected the material because the music is worth doing for its own sake. There will be 15 voices in the Port program, which will be repeated the next day in Boston, but the number is not fixed and will number 12 to 24 people, depending on the program. Slater chose Newburyport, in part, because his wife has family in the city — "guaranteeing," he says, "that we'll sell at least 10 tickets."

As long as they're not expecting comps.

JUST THE FACTS, MAN: Fujit Fiat Vox performs at 7 p.m. Nov. 14 at First Religious Society, 26 Pleasant St., Newburyport. The program features Johann Sebastian Bach’s "Lobet den Herrn," Antoine Busnoys’ "Missa L’homme Armé," Ralph Vaughn Williams' "Mass in G minor" and Heitor Villa-Lobos' "Bendita Sabedoria." Suggested donation is $20 adults, $15 students/seniors. The ensemble will also perform at 3 p.m. Nov. 15 at Church of Our Savior, 25 Monmouth St., Brookline. There's more information on Fujit here.