By Eileen Wingard
LA JOLLA, California — Exploring the theme, Self and Sound, this year’s Summerfest once again bears the stamp of the creative vision of Inon Barnatan, the music director of the La Jolla Music Society. The concert pianist/head organizer has put together a 16-concert festival, with many ancillary free events, that promises to be pleasurable and challenging for its listeners.
Concerts at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center at 7600 Fay Avenue include a strong component of original chamber music: July 30, opening concert, Mendelssohn’s Octet; July 31, Dvorak’s Viola Quintet; August 1, Debussy’s String Quartet and Mozart’s Quintet for clarinet and strings; August 4, Brahms’ Piano Quartet in C minor; August 5, Shostakovitch’s String Quartet #8, Smetana’s String Quartet in e minor; August 7, Copeland’s Appalachian Spring Suite; August 10, Tchaikowsky’s Piano Trio; August 11, Enesco’s Violin Sonata in A minor, Janecek’s String Quartet, Franck’s Piano Quintet; August 15, Korngold’s Quintet for Piano and Strings; August 19, Mozart’s Grande Sestetto Concertante in E-flat major, Chausson’s Concerto for Violin, Piano & String Quartet; August 20, Finale, Brahms’ Sextet for Strings in G major.
The other works, about half of the festival fare, are by contemporary composers, as well as arrangements, e.g. opening July 30, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy arranged by Franz Liszt for two pianos, Mozart Piano Sonata in C major, arranged by Grieg for two pianos; August 5, Sibelius En Saga, reconstructed for octet by Jaako Kuusisto; and all the movie scores August 15, in suite arrangements. There are several premieres: August 7, Gabriela Lena Frank’s Contested Eden; August 19, Tamar Muskal’s Facing the Automaton; August 12, the West Coast Premiere of Marc Neikrug’s Chamber Opera, Mahler Song, co-commissioned by the La Jolla Music Society; and August 15, Aaron Zigman’s Rhapsody for cello and piano. Zigman is a San Diego native.
Gabriela Lena Frank, composer in residence for the Philadelphia Orchestra and head of the Creative Academy of Music in the Bay area, will curate the two concerts at the JAI, featuring her own works: August 15, Selections from Songs of Cifar and the Sweet Sea and El Mundo from El ultimo sueno de Frida y Diego, August 17, Zapatos de chinch from Hios and Milagros, and compositions by some of her budding composition students.
August 15, 3 p.m. The Silver Screen will feature movie score music by Max Herrmann, Philip Glass, John Corigliano, Samuel Barber, Nicholas Britell, John Williams and Aaron Zigman.
An interesting concert, July 31, Goin’ Home, will feature American composers Florence Price, Cecil Burleigh, Wynton Marsalis, as well as Dvorak, the Czech composer who, while in the USA, encouraged American composers to use their Native American music and Black Spirituals as inspiration. His New World Symphony and his Viola Quintet, written in Spillville, Iowa, are such examples. The Quintet concludes the July 31 program.
All evening programs begin at 7:30 p.m. with Sunday matinees beginning at 3:00 p.m. There are prelude programs, both musical and lectures preceding each festival offering, free to ticket holders. The two fellowship ensembles, a string quartet and a trio, will be performing. For further information, call the La Jolla Music Society 858-459-3724 or visit their website: https://ljms.org
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Eileen Wingard, a retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. She may be contacted via eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com