Samuel Barber Centennial

Composer Samuel Barber's hometown of West Chester, Pa., intends to present a concert of his music every month through 2010. His 100th birthday is in March.

Programs will be held at Chester County Historical Society, West Chester University and the First Presbyterian Church of West Chester.

The schedule from January to May is already available at http://www.chestercohistorical.org/.

Barber left lots to choose from -- particularly art songs and chamber music, as well as orchestral work and several operas. His famous Adagio for Strings is, as his biographer Barbara Heyman put it, the tip of the iceberg.

The Barber family home is on Church Street, though Sam spent his adult life in New York and Europe. He was the son of a local doctor, and was the second student to enroll in the Curtis Institute of Music. His baritone voice was good enough that he studied singing as well, which accounts for his prolific vocal literature.

His maternal aunt, Louise Homer, was an acclaimed operatic contralto and sang Barber's songs in recitals while he was still a teenager. He also played the organ at First Presbyterian.

Copeland String Quartet at Church of the Holy City

The Copeland Quartet gave a moving account of String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Opus 13 by Felix Mendelssohn.

In the fugal section of the second movement, the voices entered with just the right dynamic and articulation. Eliezer Gutman’s control of the high notes over the pizzicato in the Allegro di molto made the melody soar through the church. When the final fugue of the fourth movement wound down and the quartet ended, the audience was hushed for a brief moment before they burst into applause.

The Haydn String Quartet No. 62 in C Major, opus 76, No. 3, the Kaiser, the other piece on their program, proved their prowess. The Allegro, which has a sudden dive into a Scottish bagpipe drone by viola and cello, showed their ability to smoothly transition back to the original theme. The Poco Adagio, Cantabile requires each player to play the tune we now know as the German national anthem, which Haydn wrote for Kaiser Franz Josef of Austria. The cascade of themes and harmonic decoration of the variations was thrilling. And the culmination was the ensemble of the accelerando in the last movement.

The Copeland Quartet has a new web site and they have also recorded a new CD which should be out by early next year.

See www.copelandstringquartet.com

Bringing it All and Bringing it Beautifully: Fringe Wilmington

Our first Fringe Wilmington was, in many ways, a real success: we attracted some fabulous artists and performers to the area, and we showcased some of our local stars. A four-day event, running from October 1-4, the Fringe took advantage of some of Wilmington’s most exciting and also underused spaces. The New Wilmington Art Association, which occupies abandoned or empty venues, made an appearance in a warehouse on Market Street. City Theater Company, Writing Man Productions and others found themselves in OperaDelaware’s intimate black box theater. It was thrilling to see the arts spilling out everywhere!


Among the offerings were performances by a Brazilian Capoeira troupe, a poetic monologue on the closing of Newark’s Chrysler plant, a comedian’s riotous account of self-rediscovery, presentations of two Word Premier operas, a concert of Indian classical dance and music and several original dramatic productions. Perhaps we were too ambitious on our first attempt at a Fringe? Though it was well-publicized, attendance at the festival wasn’t quite what we had hoped it would be.


Michael Dutka’s opera Black Horses and The Stronger were commissioned by OperaDelaware, and performed at Saints Andrew and Matthew Episcopal Church. A winning array of singers handled Dutka’s daunting scores with ease. In Black Horses, soprano Elizabeth Zell sang beautifully and clearly the libretto adapted from Luigi Pirandello’s short story. Tenor Jeffrey Halili sang with a warm tone and possessed a natural comic talent. Alexis Cregger, in her operatic monologue in August Strindberg’s oddball play, was a pure pleasure to watch and hear. Her glorious soprano and prodigious musical talent are sure to lead her far. Martha Koeneman played Dutka’s beautiful, yet difficult music with ease, grace and musicality.


Usiloquy Dance designs brought their colorful exotic presentation to the baby grand at the Grand Opera House, The Bharatanatyam dance is a lyrical, poetic classical Indian art form that is thousands of years old. The dances are performed to original compositions, with costumes created by troupe member and costume maker Michelle Yeager. As an extra treat, Maitrayee Patel and Surya Nakella performed several songs in the Indian classical style. Their selections included compositions in Raag Bheempalasi. The duo performed their intertwining, often imitative melodies to the backdrop of a steady synthesizer beat.


If I had to pick a favorite performance, it would be Robin Gelfenbien’s My Salvation Has a First Name: A Wienermobile Journey. Not only was Robin hysterical with her physical comedy, her riotous imitations of her frat-boy Wienermobile partner and doting aunt, she was also touching with her poignant tale self-rediscovery. She carried this solo show beautifully with her observational talent.

See www.fringewilmingtonde.com