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Save the Dates!
Festival Mozaic's
Summer Festival
July 16-26, 2009
Tickets on sale to selected donors and subscribers on March 1. | |
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Greetings!
We hope you enjoy this edition of SoundPost, with information on this month's WinterMezzo weekend, a preview of the extraordinary summer Notable Encounter event at Hearst Castle, musician profiles, and more!
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January 30 & 31 WinterMezzo Series - "Bandits"
The last WinterMezzo Series of the season offers two events to satisfy your winter musical cravings before the Summer Festival begins in July:
- An evening Notable Encounter, where wine country, culinary craftsmanship and the Festival's virtuoso musicians converge in a casual café-style 'musical tasting menu.' Enjoy a fine dining buffet dinner from Phoenix Fine Catering (see menu), award-winning wines from the acclaimed Tablas Creek Vineyard and a one-hour 'insider's perspective,' as our guest artists play, talk and engage with you. This event is on Friday, Jan. 30 at 6 p.m. at the END of the LINE Cafe in San Luis Obispo. Tickets are $80.
- The full Concert delivers the dynamic force of these great works performed in their in their entirety by the Festival's nationally-acclaimed guest artists. The concert is on Saturday, Jan. 31 at 8 p.m. at the United Methodist Church in San Luis Obispo. Tickets are $22-$47.
 The January program, "Bandits," showcases outright musical larceny in astonishing musical sleights-of-hands by master musical thieves. In the sincerest form of flattery, talent copies but genius steals.
(Click on music notes below for audio samples from Classical.com)
 Francis Poulenc - Trio for Oboe, Bassoon and Piano
Anne Marie Gabriele, oboe; Tariq Masri, bassoon; John Novacek, piano
Filching forms from Haydn and Saint-Saëns and melodic structures from Beethoven and Mozart, this most famous of Poulenc chamber music works is a lively and lyrical musical dialogue of tonal color.
Ludwig v. Beethoven - Magic Flute Variations for Cello and Piano, Wo0 46
Trevor Handy, cello; John Novacek, piano
Variations from one musical giant written on the theme of another. The duet "Bei Mannern, welche Liebe fuhlen" from Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute, becomes the basis for these lively variations. George Sviridov - Piano Trio
Scott Yoo, violin; Trevor Handy, cellos; John Novacek, pianoCompleted in just 12 days, this piano trio by one of Shostakovich's finest students borrows directly from Shostakovich's own Piano Trio (composed one year earlier), adding further stylistic touches that echo Tchaikovsky.  or call (805) 781-3009. |
Festival Mozaic Teams Up with Friends of Hearst Castle for a New Concert Series
Sponsored by Friends of Hearst Castle in collaboration with Festival Mozaic, this summer will begin a Notable Encounter at Hearst Castle, offering musical masterpieces at the Enchanted Hill® as part of the Festival's new Notable Encounter Series. The new series is a shortened (one-hour) concert format in which the musicians give a casual and interactive commentary in conjunction with the performance, in the style of the popular radio program, St. Paul Sunday. Four Notable Encounters will be offered this summer in various venues across the County. The Notable Encounter at Hearst Castle will create an intensified experience of two works composed during the period that W.R. Hearst was in residence at the Castle (1919-1947), performed in one of the most intimate and exclusive settings imaginable, William Randolph Hearst's private theater.
The event will include wine and hearty hors d'oeuvres before the performance, and will allow guests to take in a spectacular sunset over the Pacific from the Neptune Terrace.
The event is limited to 100 patrons and will be available to both Festival Mozaic and Friends of Hearst Castle subscribers on a first-come basis. |
WinterMezzo Series Musician Profiles
Anne Marie Gabriele and Trevor Handy
Oboist Anne Marie Gabriele and her husband, cellist Trevor Handy, met as students at Juilliard in 1985, where their courtship progressed by working together in the school's library, giving each other the New York Times Quiz of the Week and through long chats at Pat's Bar on Amsterdam Avenue. Despite professional engagements that later pulled them across the country from each other - Anne with the Honolulu Symphony and Trevor with his chamber group in New York - they both won positions with the Columbus Symphony, with which they played for many years. They relocated to LA when Anne won her current position with the LA Philharmonic and where Trevor is an active freelancer and member of the LA Chamber Orchestra. They are both avid cyclists, hikers, wine lovers and travelers, spending summers in Italy visiting with Anne's family.
Most memorable performance: Anne - performing Mahler's 4th Symphony with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Simon Rattle; Trevor - last summer's performance at Festival Mozaic of Messiaen's Quartet for the End of TimeWhat we like most about Festival Mozaic: The high quality music-making in a beautiful setting (and let's not forget the great wine and biking opportunities!)
John Novacek
Pianist John Novacek is musical chameleon, bringing an effortless style and a sly sense of humor to his playing and composing. John's entertaining personality has lead to radio broadcasts worldwide, including NPR's Performance Today, St. Paul Sunday and A Prairie Home Companion. A globe-trotting performer, he has graced the stages of the BBC Proms, London's Wigmore Hall and Barbican Centre, as well as most of the major concert halls of Japan, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Theatre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, Salle Gaveau and Musée du Louvre. John's pianistic talents can be heard on over 30 CDs. Last summer, Festival Mozaic audiences leapt to their feet for a performance of John's Ragtimes, where he was joined by St. Paul Chamber Orchestra Concertmaster Steve Copes.
John lives in New York City with his wife, violinist Airi Yoshioka, with whom he loves to hike, eat and travel. In addition to joining the January WinterMezzo events, John will be a featured guest artist this summer with the Festival Orchestra in Grieg's Piano Concerto.
Most memorable performance: I was playing an outdoor concert at another festival, and just before I went onstage for the second half of Rachmaninov, a stray kitten jumped up on the piano keys and ran up and down the keyboard, sounding a lopsided glissando and eliciting audience laughter. Naturally, I couldn't resist opening the second half with a strain of the Zez Confrey's great American post-ragtime classic, "Kitten on the Keys."
What I like most about Festival Mozaic: The people! Airi and I have become quite close with our SLO host, and rendezvous with her frequently on her numerous visits to our home in New York City. And I can always count on exciting music-making with Scott Yoo. Airi and I have fallen in love with the whole County, maybe our favorite in the States -so much so that we married in a Central Coast winery! |
What Happens to the Arts in an Economic Downturn?
It's happening all over the country: fundraising events are being cancelled due to dismal participation; corporate sponsorships have dried up; foundation funding, as a result of stock market declines, has dramatically decreased; state, local and federal governments are scrambling to cover their own budget shortfalls, especially in California, with little if anything left over for the Arts; and contributions by individuals, which can cover up to 50 percent of operating expenses in some organizations, like ours, are down as portfolios tumble. Even worse, organizations that have spent years building endowments have seen operating dollars wiped away as endowment investments hit the principal, a figure past which many endowments may not draw.
Though attendance at cultural events historically increases in economic downturns, an increased audience base simply cannot replace this lost revenue needed to support programs and the people who make them happen. In this climate, performing arts organizations must make unprecedented budget reductions and sadly, many have already permanently closed their doors. (Listen to the PBS program, Arts Funding Feels Squeeze of Economic Downturn, aired on Jan. 2, 2009.)
Festival Mozaic is positioning for survival in an unprecedented time - many 40-year veterans of the industry say they have never seen this kind of steep challenge faced by arts organizations.
Individual contributions to the Festival are currently down by 30% over those of last year. With vastly fewer support dollars coming in, the Festival's administrative budget has been slashed, staff reduced, salaries frozen, and the number of concerts, venues and musicians reduced, all in the hopes of cutting the operating budget by 40% over that of last year.
What does this mean for Festival Mozaic's patrons? Well, not all is gloom and doom. Like the formal constrictions Shakespeare labored under to create his transcendent sonnets, having to work under extreme constrictions can often produce something of singular impact. "Though we may be fewer in number this year, I actually think the 2009 Festival may be one of the strongest artistically," says music director Scott Yoo. An All-Mozart concert is planned, as are All-Bach Baroque concerts, and a smorgasbord of chamber music from Beethoven and Brahms to Bartok, Stravinsky and Golijov will give Festival-goers a variety of musical experiences. Sensitive to the economic squeeze felt by many music lovers, the Festival's new Notable Encounter series will offer some bargain-basement prices to experience the world's greatest chamber music in unusual venues across San Luis Obispo County. The complete season will be unveiled in March.
"Though we must reduce the scope of the Festival in terms of quantity," explains executive director Curtis Pendleton, "we remain uncompromising in the quality of the experience. With people potentially limiting their cultural participation this year, quality counts more than ever."
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