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Classical Music
Janelle Gelfand on the classical music scene


Janelle's pen has taken her to Japan, China, Carnegie Hall, Europe (twice), East and West Coasts, and Florida. In fact, Janelle was the first Enquirer reporter to report from Europe via e-mail -- in 1995.

Janelle began writing for the Cincinnati Enquirer as a stringer in 1991 while writing a Ph.D. dissertation in musicology at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She joined the Enquirer staff in 1993.

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she graduated from Stanford University, Janelle has lived in Cincinnati for more than 30 years. In her free time, this pianist plays chamber music with her circle of musical friends in Cincinnati.

She covers the Cincinnati Symphony, May Festival and Cincinnati Opera, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, chamber music ensembles, and as many recitals and events at CCM and NKU as possible.

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Wednesday, October 26, 2005

On the Road with a Bunch of Musicians


On Tuesday night, after a long day of travel from Shanghai, the orchestra arrived in Singapore, a lush tropical paradise. After all the difficulties of traveling in China, Singapore was a haven of spotless order. In what has been a trying tour for all of us, we were ready to be pampered, and upon arrival, we were greeted with fruit drinks and gorgeous rooms in an upscale new complex of shops and theaters.

Thank heaven we all made it on the plane to Singapore. It was touch and go for a while, when it appeared that several of the extra family members traveling along with the group had had too many flight coupons ripped off at the last flight to Shanghai, and were stopped at the gate. For a while, I thought that I might have to spend some extra time in Shanghai, too, but I was allowed to board.

Gabe Pegis' whole family, however, was stopped. Wife Annette and adorable daughters Julia and Jackie (of Milford) had to wait two hours, while gate agents tried to get them to pay for new tickets -- even though the computer clearly had their ticket information. Finally, after two hours of haggling and a heated exchange (er, yelling match) between someone who spoke Chinese and the gate people, they got their boarding passes and literally flew to the gate and made it!

For many of the musicians, trying to communicate in a country where few people speak English had sometimes humorous results. When violinist Darla Da Deppo Bertolone complained that she wanted a non-smoking room to the manager of Shanghai's grand old Broadway Mansion Hotel, he sent someone to remove the ashtrays from her room! He just looked at her, wagged his finger, and said, "No smoking!"

Here are some of my impressions of traveling with a bunch of musicians:

-- Instead of T-shirts, their kids will be getting musical instruments from China -- Erhus (Chinese stringed instrument), Chinese cymbals and half-sized violins.

-- Musicians eat, shop, sightsee and hang out together according to their orchestra section: all the violas, all the bassoons, all the trumpets, all the French horns...

-- Your hotel sounds like a conservatory of music

-- Because concert times are always at dinner time, you see them eating meals at odd times of the day and night

-- 100 players = at least 200 knockoff Rolex watches sold in China


Monday, October 24, 2005

44 Hours in Shanghai

On Sunday, we all flew via China Eastern Airlines from Beijing to Shanghai for a concert in a sports stadium -- an 8,000-seat venue sort of like Fifth Third Arena, next door to what looked like Paul Brown Stadium. For most of us, this whole experience has been surreal, starting with a "press conference" in each city announcing the orchestra's arrival, then seeing thousands of people streaming into these enormous venues, sitting politely and intently until the end, when they stand and cheer.

I can't believe I'm in Shanghai -- what a beautiful, jumbled, fantastic city!

Because so few people speak English, it's been interesting getting to know China, and doing things like shopping and ordering in restaurants and even communicating in our hotels.

Shanghai, a port town, reminds me of my hometown, San Francisco. Its character is richly diverse, because the colonial period after the first Opium War brought Americans, French and British, who all built enclaves.

Because the concerts are always during dinner time, I didn't eat a real dinner for the first three nights in China. So Sunday night, I was determined to find a decent restaurant! I found M on the Bund -- a fabulous contemporary Western restaurant owned by an Australian -- where I bumped into other players who had discovered it too. (Violinist Anna Reider, who is a vegetarian, was especially happy to find a restaurant where she was able to know what she was eating. Most everything in Beijing had been cooked in pork fat, she said.)

So on Monday morning, after having enjoyed a fabulous dinner -- that included a wonderful and inexpensive Chinese chardonnay -- I felt like exploring. A group of us decided to take a boat cruise of of the harbor, where we could see the new modern side of skyscrapers that has just sprung up in the past decade, opposite the "Bund" along the water, which dates from mid-19th century. Walking around, all of us have been distressed at the beggars and street people that include toddlers and amputees. One wonders how well these people are cared for, if at all. With shantytowns crammed between high-rises in each city, there seems to be, as violist Paul Frankenfeld noted, abject poverty underneath the glossy new veneer.

At noon, Nanjing-born conductor Pu Qi Jiang, formerly at CCM and an assistant at the CSO, arrived to take me to the old traditional part of town. It was a lovely day, and ended all too soon! I think everyone wants to come back here!

Today: We're on another plane, leaving China for Singapore! Stay tuned...


Shopping in China


Every now and then, a girl has to splurge. So when I was shopping in Beijing at the Silk Market, I spotted a place that makes custom suits and dresses in 24 hours.

Up to that point, I had been grabbed, pulled, pushed and cajoled by the aggressive shopkeepers at this famous market, where one is supposed to bargain. But there is a real art to bargaining, and we Americans are mere amateurs. Therefore, I hired a "tour guide" -- a student friend named Judy -- to take me around. The trouble is, I like to stop and look, and as soon as you stop -- forget it, they've got you. I was not planning to buy pashminas, but I have three... pink, blue and white!

But when I saw the dresses, I had to have one. For this, they would not bargain, and Judy assured me it was the best tailor in Beijing. So, they measured me over my jeans, and then said they'd be at my hotel at midnight for a fitting! (It's a 24-hour operation, of course.) I was getting a bit skeptical at that point... but they appeared, we did the fitting in hallway, and they disappeared, saying it would be delivered at 4 p.m. the next day.

Sure enough, a little package arrived for me -- my folded up silk dress. It's very short, powder blue brocade and a perfect fit, even on my Western body. Some things they do very well in China!


Sunday, October 23, 2005

A Road Less Taken

While most Cincinnati Pops players were trundled into a bus and delivered to Badaling, about an hour from Beijing, to traipse along the Great Wall of China, a small intrepid group struck out on their own for the hike of a lifetime.

French hornist Robert Schauer organized a group of eight players to go to the Jinshanling section of the Great Wall, 86 miles north-east of Beijing. The portion for their 11K hike (6.8 miles) was built in 1368-89 during the Ming Dynasty, and has remained largely unrepaired since 1570.

"Where we were, you could see probably as many as eight or nine peaks that we were about to hike to, and feel a progression of the wall going from mountain to mountain," says flutist Kyril Magg. "In its small way, compared to the length of the whole thing, it gave a tremendous impression of how much of that 11K is up and down. Very little was flat."

Added flutist Susan Magg: "It was much more strenuous than any of us expected. It was truly an incredible experience."

The path on this section was treacherous, with lots of loose rocks, and more like a mountain path than the paved section with steps that most tourists see. All agreed if one looked at the spectacular scenery without stopping, it would be easy to take a bad fall.

Schauer, who had gotten the idea from a TV show and then researched it on the Internet, was elated with how successful the trip turned out. But he was not nearly so elated as he was on Friday, when, a few hours earlier, his third grandson, David Benjamin Schauer, was born in Portland, Oregon.

Americans abroad: Cincinnatians in the audience at Saturday night's concert in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, included: Chris, Jan and Norma Petersen, Lou and Myra Chabut and Rick and Vicky Reynolds.

Next: My 24-hour custom-made silk dress and the flight to Shanghai


Friday, October 21, 2005

The Cincinnati Opera Connection and the Great Wall

A soprano who once sang the role of Madame Butterfly with Cincinnati Opera was instrumental in issuing the invitation to the Pops to tour China, said conductor Erich Kunzel Wednesday, at a press conference held shortly after the orchestra arrived.

Yan Yan Wang, who is a friend of the tour presenter, heard the orchestra rehearsing in Music Hall while she was performing the role of the geisha Cio-Cio San in "Madame Butterfly" at Cincinnati Opera in 1996. The singer, who was present at the press event and welcoming banquet, said she knew then that she had to bring the orchestra to Beijing.

On Thursday, our first full day in China, the musicians began to appreciate the immensity of Beijing, a city of more than 13 million, where epic streams of cars throng eight-lane highways alongside swerving bicycles and where the gray skyline is dotted with construction cranes in every direction.

Like the construction boom here over the past 30 years, culture is also booming. Glossy concert posters with images from "The Lion King," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" "Harry Potter" and "Star Wars" advertise the Cincinnati Pops concerts in subways and kiosks throughout the city. While the Pops is in town, Beijing is also hosting the eighth annual Beijing Music Festival through Nov. 5, to include the first performance in China of Wagner's complete "Ring Cycle," violinist Joshua Bell, the Labeque Sisters (duo pianists) and the Berlin Philharmonic.

But on Thursday, it was soul-satisfying for the musicians to get out of the big city and into the country (albeit a tourist area in Badaling), where the most enduring symbol of ancient China – the Great Wall – snakes steeply through scenic mountains.

"You've seen it in your history books and you've read about the Great Wall and here we are climbing it. I never thought I would ever be here," said Lois Reid Johnson, violinist.

"It's magnificent, just the grandeur, and what it took to build this is mind-blowing," said baritone Daniel Narducci, tour soloist and a graduate of Indiana University, as he surveyed the expansive view.

The wall is so enormous, that one lost track of all of the musicians as they fanned out among its different sections, some more strenuous climbs than others. The weather was chilly, and a stiff wind whipped up suddenly as we were climbing down the precipitous steps. Along the way, there were the ubiquitous hawkers, selling souvenirs, watches and offering camel rides – it's true – on portions of the wall.

Principal second violinist Gabriel Pegis, of Milford, brought his whole family along, and his two daughters, ages 6 and 8, were enthralled with the toys the vendors were selling. Others, such as violinist Darla Bertolone, posed for pictures on a camel.

But most were simply awestruck to be there. Trumpeter Christopher Kiradjieff, 32, who was climbing the wall with his wife, Amy, 30, a violinist, called it "breathtaking."

"I really can’t believe I'm here. It's a place I've only thought about," said Kiradjieff.

Next: An adventuresome group strikes out for an 11K hike on a secluded portion of the Great Wall, and what other players did on their only day off.


Thursday, October 20, 2005

Pinch Me: I'm in Beijing

Ten ways to know you're in China:

10. Chinese people want to have their photo taken with you.

9. Your hotel provides bottled water to brush your teeth.

8. Visibility is less than 2 miles because of a thick pall of haze and smog.

7. Steven Rosen's Peking Duck dinner (248 Yuan or $31) cost more than a new bike.

6. Dumplings for breakfast, dumplings for lunch, dumplings for dinner.

5. You never pay the asking price for anything.

4. Traffic lanes are only a suggestion.

3. A driver must use the car horn at least every two minutes to a) change lanes or b) push everyone else out of their way.

2. Kite flying is encouraged on freeway overpasses.

1. You're wide awake at 4 a.m.!


Wednesday, October 19, 2005

The longest day

Nobody slept much on the 14 hour flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong early Tuesday morning at 1:30 a.m.

It was a surreal experience to see most of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra materialize out of the gloom of the International Terminal Monday night at San Francisco Airport. I was meeting up with the musicians for the long flight to Hong Kong on Singapore Airlines, then connecting to Dragonair for the final leg to Beijing, our destination.

At San Francisco, the musicians, who had started out in Cincinnati at around 6 p.m. earlier, looked relatively fresh. Between flights, they broke into their usual orchestra sections to hunt for food, drink and smoking lounges -- all violas, all brass players, all clarinets, the percussion section...

Onboard the 747 also (albeit mostly in Business Class) were Maestro Erich Kunzel, his wife Brunhilde, associate conductor John Morris Russell, tour soloist baritone Daniel Narducci, as well as symphony management.

The flight over the Pacific was choppy. Despite everyone's general good spirits, toward the end, signs of weariness showed on everyone's faces. The players all had different ways of coping with a travel day that would end up being 32 hours. Percussionist Dick Jensen confided that he had visited a chiropractor right before the flight. Violinist Eric Bates was listening to books on his iShock and clarinetist Jonathan Gunn was watching Tour de France DVDs on his PowerBook.

Violist Paul Frankenfeld was sipping Singapore Slings, a concoction invented at Raffles in Singapore, he informed me. It wasn't until principal violist Marna Street noted, at 11 a.m. Cincinnati time, that it was actually 11 p.m. Beijing time -- on Tuesday -- that we realized somewhere along the way, we had lost a day.

We landed in Hong Kong as dawn broke at 6 a.m. Wednesday, 24 hours into the journey. "The good news is, we get another breakfast on the next leg," Frankenfeld said.

Groan. They were definitely feeding us often, in regular intervals.

In Hong Kong, we all gravitated to the next gate en masse, and there it was, an Airbus A330 with a huge pink dragon painted down its entire side. We took off over mountainous terrain in the morning haze, not able to see much more than a blur of the spectacular Hong Kong skyline. I must come back to this place!

The plane landed on schedule in Beijing. We were bused to our very posh, year-old hotel on a huge street of massive skyscrapers, where a large red banner welcomed the orchestra -- and CCM violin prof Kurt Sassmannshaus, who has started a summer music festival near the Great Wall, made a surprise visit. (He was in town planning next year's festival.)

But we had less than 90 minutes before we were shuttled for an hour on another bus to a "press conference" and a welcome banquet, courtesy of the presenter, Zhang Wu, who is also on the 2008 Olympics committee. The press was there in full force, an obvious buildup to what Zhang says will be an "unforgettable concert" two days from now.

Next on my agenda: Sleep! And tomorrow, Pops musicians take a field trip to the Great Wall of China.


Monday, October 17, 2005

The Adventure Begins

This evening I'm meeting up at San Francisco Airport with about 75 musicians of the Cincinnati Pops, along with Pops maestro Erich Kunzel and several members of symphony management, for the Pops' first-ever tour to China. Although we all are veterans of many international tours, this one is bound to be grueling. For most of the musicians, today's travel plans began at 6 p.m. in Cincinnati on Monday, and will end around 3 p.m. on Wednesday in Beijing!

A few left earlier. On my plane to SF on Sunday, I was sitting with stage manager Tom Thoman, who was flying to Seoul, S. Korea, and on to Beijing, where he was meeting the 22,000 pounds of instruments and equipment being shipped separately via cargo plane.

Other musicians in the party of 117 left earlier so that they could begin a hike on a secluded part of the Great Wall.

Travel with me as the Cincinnati Pops becomes the first American pops orchestra to tour the mainland, with two historic performances in the Great Hall of the People this weekend, tours to the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, banquets and much more.

We'll also travel to Shanghai, where the orchestra performs in a theater seating 8,000 and lastly to the island country of Singapore.

P.S. Cincinnati is being represented in China another way this week. I just received an e-mail from Steve Kleykamp of Mason, whose son Benjamin is traveling in China, Taiwan and Singapore with the famed Vienna Boys Choir. They just finished two concerts in Beijing at the 21st Century Theater, with visits to the Great Wall at Badaling (same section as the one President Nixon visted in 1972), he writes. Benjamin's choir will travel to singapore on Nov. 1 to perform at the Esplanade (same place the Pops will be performing).

The world gets smaller every day!


Apocalyptic Adams

On my way to Beijing with the Cincinnati Pops, I stopped in San Francisco to see the world premiere production of "Doctor Atomic" by John Adams and Peter Sellars (who also directed) at San Francisco Opera, in the beautiful War Memorial Opera House on Sunday.

The doctor in question is J. Robert Oppenheimer, who with Edward Teller and other scientists in what was called the Manhattan Project, developed the atomic bomb. The setting is Los Alamos, New Mexico, which to this day still has eerie echoes of what occurred there in 1945, when the test with the code name "Trinity" took place.

"Doctor Atomic" is Adams' third opera, after his 1987 opera Nixon in China, which is coming to Cincinnati Opera in 2007, and The Death of Klinghoffer (1991). Musically it is his most sophisticated score, a swirling, churning, tumultuous canvas that finds inspiration in Stravinsky, Holst, Wagner and of course, the minimalist John Adams, who is, himself, an American icon.

(Adams, who lives in the Bay Area, delighted Sunday afternoon's packed house by appearing onstage for a bow.)

True, it's another entry into the category of opera "ripped from the headlines," but this one has resonance to those of us baby boomers who grew up in the Cold War era and were led to believe we were under imminent nuclear threat, as well as to everyone living in a post 9-11 world.

In one of the most chilling scenes, the bomb is hanging over a baby's crib (symbols abound here – life and death, frailty and power), and Teller (sung by Richard Paul Fink) postulates whether they might set off a chain reaction that will encircle the globe in a chain of fire.

Given that "Trinity" was the seed of the nuclear era, it's no surprise that the creators attempt to get into the minds and hearts of the characters, who grapple with the moral issues and potential consequences of their deeds. Oppenheimer, who is brilliantly portrayed by Canadian baritone Gerald Finley, dreams of falling into an abyss, and sings words of John Donne as he contemplates the bomb, "Batter my heart, three person'd God."

Sellars' poetic libretto has drawn upon texts including declassified government documents, Baudelaire, Muriel Rukeyser and the Bhagavad Gita. Some of Adams' most gorgeous music is found in a rapturous love scene for Oppenheimer's wife, Kitty, magnificently portrayed by Kristine Jepson. Later, she sings an soliloquy of intensely sweeping lyricism, showing her agony with a drink in her hand.

Indeed, the women of this opera are the voice of caution. A Navaho nursemaid sings a low wail to her charge as the test is about to unfold.

Yet, much of the opera is a waiting game – there are some moments that are static and sagging. Eric Owens, portraying Gen. Leslie Groves, commander of the Manhattan Project, frets a great deal about the weather and his ongoing problem with weight.

But there is also the chilling realization that few knew then about the medical consequences of fallout and radiation. In one scene that has a kind of black humor, Teller passes out suntan lotion just before the nuclear test, and instructs people to "pass it around."

The chorus, who are the workers of the Manhattan Project, sing Greek-chorus style, and a fantastic ballet corps echoes the action with all the energy of subatomic particles. (The choreography by Lucinda Childs, who has also collaborated with Cincinnati Opera, is scintillating.)

In the pit, Donald Runnicles led this amazing score that sparks, glints and dances with wonderful energy. When the test finally happens, the audience is surrounded by an unbearable shriek as the set – a silhouette of the Sangre de Christos Mountains – is bathed in red and we hear the sounds of a woman speaking in Japanese.

Watch for more in the Enquirer about this opera, when I discuss it with Cincinnati Opera artistic director Evans Mirageas, after the China tour!


Sunday, October 09, 2005

How much do you really know about Erich Kunzel?

Test your knowledge on the Pops conductor with this trivia quiz.

1. Kunzel's first soloist for his first Eight O' clock Pops concert in 1965 was who?
2. How many recordings has Kunzel made with the Cincinnati Pops for Telarc?
3. According to Kunzel, what was the price of a glass of beer the first year he conducted in 1965?
4. What is Kunzel's favorite drinking song?
5. Where were his parents born?
6. Does he own lederhosen?
7. What German food can he not live without?
8. Name some of Kunzel's favorite symphonies.
9. What new brew was named for Erich Kunzel?
10. Where did he go to college?
11. Who was his conducting teacher?
12. During one weekend in 1970, Kunzel recorded with three jazz greats. Who were they?
13. When triplet baby white Bengal tigers came to Cincinnati Zoo in 1996, Kunzel was asked to name two. What were their names. (Bonus point if you can name the third, named by zoo staff)
14. What kind of car does Kunzel drive?
15. Where does Kunzel like to unwind or take guest stars after Pops shows?

Answers are below under "comments."

10-15 correct: You win the Popsmeister award
5-9 correct: You are probably not from Cincinnati
0-5 correct: You are definitely not from Cincinnati


Thursday, October 06, 2005

A pianist for the ages

I always knew Cincinnati was a piano town. On Sunday, I attended the 25th anniversary recital by CCM professor of piano Eugene Pridonoff in Werner Recital Hall. The place was packed.

Part of it has to do with the respect for Pridonoff's artistry, and part because he carries on the revered -- but endangered -- tradition of his legendary teachers Rudolf Serkin, Mieczyslaw Horszowski, and Lillian Steuber.

I say endangered, because few pianists today could tackle Liszt's blockbuster B Minor Sonata with such power, such monumental sense of architecture and such knuckle-breaking precision of the fiendishly difficult passages, and never sound a harsh note.

This was not only a spectacular feat, but a performance of genuine honesty, in which Pridonoff captured the majesty and the emotion with any trace of ego. And how he summoned such huge, orchestral sonorities, and then commanded even more as he scaled each peak, I'll never know.

The B Minor Sonata concluded a concert of all sonatas, that began with Scarlatti and included Mozart, Prokofiev and Ravel's charming Sonatine.

In the crowd: Awadagin Pratt, who makes his debut recital as CCM faculty member on Dec. 1. Don't miss it!



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