{"id":710,"date":"2008-11-13T02:57:55","date_gmt":"2008-11-13T02:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2008\/11\/13\/chamber-music-in-delaware\/"},"modified":"2012-07-01T20:08:27","modified_gmt":"2012-07-01T19:08:27","slug":"chamber-music-in-delaware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2008\/11\/13\/chamber-music-in-delaware\/","title":{"rendered":"Chamber Music in Delaware-"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tomorrow night I\u2019m playing in a concert that is part of the Master Players chamber music series at the <\/span>University<\/span> of <\/span>Delaware<\/span> in <\/span>Newark<\/span>. This is the fifth year of this series, which was founded by violinist and U of D faculty member Xiang Gao, and it\u2019s become quite a starry affair. Later this year, they\u2019ll be hosting the Guarneri Quartet in one of their final concerts. <\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019re doing an interesting program, where every piece has a different instrumentation- the Mozart Duo for Viola and Violin, the Mozart E-flat Major Piano Quartet, the Saint-Saens Duo for Harp and Violin and the Beethoven Piano Trio op 70 no 1, sometimes called the \u201cGhost\u201d trio. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Given the range of instrumentations, every group is, of course,\u00a0playing together for the first time, although most of us has worked together before in some capacity. I\u2019ve worked with two of my colleagues, our host, Xiang Gao and violist Hong-Mei Xiao as soloists when I\u2019ve conducted, so it is lovely to get to know them as chamber music colleageus instead of as soloists. Julie Nishimura, the pianist, is an artist-in-residence here- she and I played together once ten years ago. She’s a fantastic player and so easy to work with.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The story of that performance is a bit ironic- it was an audition recital for the position of professor of cello here at the <\/span>University<\/span> of <\/span>Delaware<\/span>. I didn\u2019t get the job! I think that\u2019s hilarious, because here I am ten years later coming in as a guest artist. Returning to the scene of my past triumph! I kept expecting some bright light in the adminstration to remember that they’d turned their noses up at me ten years ago and call Gao and tell him to find another cellist.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Last month when we played the Schubert C Major Quintet in Pendleton I joked with the audience that you could by hundreds of copies of my Chinese cello for the price of Parry\u2019s Lupot. This week, I\u2019m playing on my posh Italian cello, but, fancy schmancy as it is, I think you could still buy hundreds of it for the price of the most expensive instrument on stage- Gao\u2019s Stradivarius. He\u2019s playing the \u201cLady Tennant,\u201d worth about 3 1\/2 million bucks, on loan from the Stradivari Society. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

My new colleague this week is Kermit Poling, who is playing violin on the Mozart Piano Quartet. Kermit is the concertmaster of the Shreveport Symphony and a very accomplished conductor. His violin is interesting in a completely different way- we were complimenting him on it at dinner and he said it was made by a chap in <\/span>Cincinnati<\/span> named Damon Gray<\/a>. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Now, Damon is\/was a cellist and we were classmates at CCM before he got the instrument building bug. He\u2019s more known for his cellos- I almost bought one several years ago- and his violas. \u201cI\u2019ve only seen one of his violins before,\u201d I told Kermit, \u201cwhich he made for a friend of mine.\u201d That one belonged to Eric Bates, who is an associate concertmaster in the Cincinnati Symphony- he came and did the Tchaikovsky concerto with us in <\/span>Oregon<\/span> several years ago on a violin made for him by Damon. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Kermit then told me how he came to own his Damon Gray. \u201cI bought if off\u00a0an associate concertmaster of the <\/span>Cincinnati<\/span> Symphony who studied with me before he went to college\u2026His name is Eric Bates.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Now that’s what I call a small world moment.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

So, I\u2019ve still only seen one of Damon\u2019s violins- this is the very same one Eric played the Tchaik on all those years back in La Grande and <\/span>Baker<\/span>City<\/span>\u2026.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n