Notable book signing in Atlanta this Wednesday, June 24

An Atlanta resident, musician, and Spivey Hall patron, Zhanna Dawson, is the focus of a recent book by her son, journalist Greg Dawson, entitled Hiding in the Spotlight. Her story is truly extraordinary. As described in a review by Publisher's Weekly:

In this remarkable recreation of the WWII years, Dawson, a columnist at the Orlando Sentinel, writes about his mother, pianist Zhanna Arshanskaya in an account reminiscent of Wladyslaw Szpilman's The Pianist. As a child in the Ukraine, Zhanna was offered a scholarship to the Moscow State Conservatory.

Her life changed in 1941 when Nazis grouped her Jewish family with thousands to be executed; Zhanna and her sister, Frina, escaped to roam the countryside as fugitives, hiding and surviving. With a new name and a non-Jewish identity, Zhanna performed for unsuspecting Nazis. Arriving in New York in 1946, the sisters enrolled at Juilliard on scholarships. Zhanna married violist David Dawson, and the couple moved in 1948 to Bloomington, Ind., joining the music faculty at Indiana University.

To research his mother's homeland, Dawson traveled to Ukraine, including Dorbitsky Yar, where 15,000 Jews were murdered, among them Zhanna and Frina's parents. On a memorial listing the dead, Dawson was shocked to find his mother's name: “I had come that close to nonexistence.” With italicized selections from his mother's own writing, Dawson skillfully weaves the story of her life and music into a vibrant tapestry, tattered and torn, yet triumphant.

Greg and Zhanna Dawson will be at the Buckhead Barnes & Noble (2900 Peachtree Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30305, 404-261-7747) this Wednesday, June 24, at 7:00 PM for a special booksigning event. I imagine not a few of Spivey Hall's pianophile patrons will recognize Zhanna; she was also featured recently in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in relation to the book's release. I look forward to seeing them there, and encourage you to attend as well!

More about Greg, Zhanna, and Hiding in the Spotlight: http://www.hidinginthespotlight.com/

mezzo Magdalena Kozena...and violinist Julia Fischer

The extraordinary Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozena returns to Spivey Hall Friday night (May 8 at 8:15 PM), an event I've long awaited. In her last appearance, she sang operatic arias by Gluck and Rameau with Les Violons du Roy and Bernard Labadie. This time, she performs a recital of songs by Purcell, Schumann, Duparc, and Berg.

The Robert Schumann songs are his cycle Frauenliebe und -Leben, the centerpiece of her 2006 New York recital. Here are excerpts of what Anthony Tommasini had to say in his New York Times review, "Clear Views on Life and Love" (Nov 21 '06):

You might think that for an important New York recital a noted mezzo-soprano would be wary of performing a chestnut like Schumann’s “Frauenliebe und Leben.” This classic song cycle tells the story of a young woman in love, from first crush to wedded bliss to motherhood and, in its despairing final song, widowhood.

On Sunday afternoon at Alice Tully Hall, the Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozena. . .made this cycle the major work on her much-anticipated recital. Her vocally elegant, emotionally direct and stylistically aware performance recaptured the poignancy and originality of this inspired Schumann work. [. . .]

She brought Mozartean clarity to her account of the Schumann, a refreshing break from the weighty, overly emotive performances this intense cycle often receives. Ms. Kozena boasts a true lyric mezzo-soprano voice, with dusky colorings that stem from her low register yet carry through into her shimmering high notes.

She sang the first song, “Seit ich ihn gesehen,” in which the protagonist tells of being blinded to everything but the image of her beloved, almost as a confessional. The tenderness she conveyed as the character’s progress through womanhood continued was undercut by intimations of tragedy. . . .

Her Purcell set (in Benjamin Britten's edition) includes favorites such as "Music for awhile." I'm also looking forward to the colorfully atmospheric French songs by Duparc (more familiar music that retains its freshness when sung with spirit), as well a work that will be an important discovery for some: Alban Berg's amazing Seven Early Songs, which close her formal program with Czech pianist Karel Kosarek. I last heard the Seven Early Songs last September in Milano -- they require "active listening" (attention and energy) from the listener, but can evoke an incredibly beautiful, soulful, ethereal yet deeply personal world -- as an artist the stature of Kozena can summon up. Come hear Kurt Zeller's pre-concert talk at 7:15 PM and you'll gain a great understanding of what to expect. I predict the effect will be magical.

The last of our visiting guest artists for the 2008/09 season is the phenomenal young violinist, Julia Fischer, who makes her Spivey Hall debut on Saturday, May 9 at 8:15 PM. For someone still in her 20s, she is exceptionally accompished. Her recordings wins prize internationally (she's now exclusive to Decca). She's a faculty member of a distinguished music school in Frankfurt -- one of the youngest ever to be so appointed. She enjoys huge popularity worldwide. She's invited to perform with the world's leading orchestras and conductors. She's an avid chamber musician. And if this weren't enough, she also made her concerto debut in Frankfurt as a pianist in the Grieg Concerto. The mind boggles....

Atlanta audiences applauded her performances of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto a few seasons back. Spivey Hall audiences will hear her perform Mozart, Prokofiev, Beethoven, and Martinu sonatas for violin and piano with her recital partner, Milana Chernyavska (also making her debut). We may expect to be dazzled.

Sunday at 3 PM, we welcome the Georgian Chamber Players for their spring Spivey Hall concert (a late addition to our season), featuring two heady Russian Romantic works: the lyrical Arensky Piano Trio in D minor, and Taneyev's G-minor Piano Quintet (Taneyev was the soloist who premiered Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1). Ukraine-born pianist and GCP member Valentina Lisitsa takes the spotlight in both pieces, and the GCP members are joined by guest violinist Maria Bachmann, a highly accomplished soloist, chamber musician, and recording artist. Tickets are $30 (not $40 as our postcard erroneously stated -- apologies!). If mom likes chamber music, come celebrate Mother's Day at Spivey Hall.

Next weekend: the Spivey Hall Children's Choir annual spring concerts...and the season will draw to a close. It's been a great one, with immensely rewarding performances, several of which will stay with me for years to come.

More soon on other topics, including next season, already announced, with subscriptions coming in steadily. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, loyal Spivey Hall patrons!

Springtime chamber music...and ducklings

Spring is truly here and the weekend weather will be wonderfully sunny and warm. Our Spring Bach Festival continues on Sunday (April 23) at 3 PM, when three outstanding instrumentalists -- Emmanuel Pahud (flute), Trevor Pinnock (harpsichord) and Jonathan Manson (cello) -- perform Bach Flute Sonatas; their EMI recording of these works was released back in October. Each musician takes a solo turn as well, so we'll also have the pleasure of hearing Bach's First Suite for Unaccompanied Cello, Telemann's flute Fantaisie in D major, and a Purcell Suite in A minor for Harpsichord. (It's been long time since we've heard solo harpsichord in recital at Spivey Hall. ) I love the program's mix of works. This promises to be an utterly delightful performance.

Mr. Pahud, an EMI recording artist and principal flute of the Berlin Philharmonic, has performed at Spivey Hall to critical and popular acclaim in past seasons. We gladly welcome him back. Mr. Pinnock -- a leading figure in historically-informed performance, as well as founder and long-time conductor of The English Concert, with which he made many superb recordings -- makes his Spivey Hall debut, as does Mr. Manson, who is principal cellist of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and active in other early-music circles and ensembles. Clayton State University Music Department faculty member Dr. Kurt-Alexander Zeller gives the pre-concert talk at 2 PM, which never fails to give patrons effective ways of enhancing their appreciation and understanding of the music to be performed.

I do believe this Bach Festival program will suit the mood of our springtime Sunday afternoon very well. As much as I love Mahler's Sixth Symphony, which the Atlanta Symphony is performing with Donald Runnicles this week, I confess that I'm just not ready to contend with its anguish, darkness and angst when the weather's this fine and my mood is up.

Weather was an issue for the Atlanta Chamber Players earlier this season -- their March 1st Spivey Hall concert got SNOWED out...! Thankfully, schedules in April somehow meshed, so the rescheduled performance takes place tomorrow (as I write), Saturday, April 25, at 8:15 PM. Theirs is a program of three beautiful works. Beethoven's Serenade for Flute, Violin, and Viola features ASO principal flute Christina Smith, with her ASO colleagues violinist Justin Bruns and violist Catherine Lynn; more woodwinds in the spotlight, with Poulenc's delightful and very effective Trio for Piano, Oboe, and Bassoon, in which ACP artistic director and pianist Paula Peace is joined by ASO principal oboe Elizabeth Koch and principal bassoon Carl Nitchie. After intermission, and with the participation of ASO players John Meisner (violin) and Brad Ritchie (cello), the program concludes with the Piano Quintet in E major, Op. 15, of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, known for his fabulous film scores from the golden days of Hollywood, but also the opera "Die tote Stadt." His musical language is richly Romantic, his textures embrace the voluptuous, and his melodies can be very shapely indeed. I've only ever heard the Korngold Piano Quintet on CD, so I'm looking forward to hearing it performed live.

Another sign of spring: the waterfowl around Spivey Hall who call Swan Lake home have been nesting, and ducklings are in evidence! I know I'm something of a broken record on this topic (and I guess that phaseology dates me a bit), but the ducklings are my favorites. They always make me smile. One of the swans on the lake has been especially aggressive in chasing away the Canada geese from a specific area, so it's likely they're expecting, too. Cygnets always draw special ooohs and aaahs from Spivey Hall patrons, who enjoy strolling lakeside before performances and during intermission, particularly on bright afternoons. So perhaps a ballet of the newly-hatched chicks (pace Mussorgsky and Pictures at an Exhibition) may also entertain us on Sunday.