LopezRocks - News and Views

Lopez music lovers are preparing for a double dose of musical sweetness, as the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival returns to Lopez for its 29th Festival Season this August.

Two concerts are in the works for Lopez Center's indoor and outdoor stages, the first a free Children's Concert on August 14 and the second a ticketed concert on the main stage on August 20.

Artistic Director Aloysia Friedmann brings a musical Love Triangle to the Lopez Center main stage at 3 PM on Thursday, August 20, illustrating the passion and conflicts of one of music history’s most complicated and enduring stories. The concert features the compositions of Clara and Robert Schumann, and their mentee, the young Johannes Brahms. Tongues have been wagging about this famous triangle for over 170 years, but the principals themselves offer only their beautiful music for interpretation.

In 1853, the blonde, brilliantly blue-eyed 20-year-old Johannes Brahms had become known among Hamburg musicians and teachers for composing, teaching, and performing with exceptional brilliance and sensitivity. His friendship with the equally youthful and visionary violinist Josef Joaquim led to invitations to perform all over Germany, meeting respected composers and musicians in concert halls and chamber music venues. On September 30th, fortified with letters of introduction from enthusiastic composers and musicians, and bearing a backpack full of his own music, Brahms stood at the doorway to Robert and Clara Schumann's home in Dusseldorf. He rang the bell, and the door opened to the now famous Love Triangle.

Before 1853, both Robert and Clara Schumann were well-known and greatly respected musicians; Clara had been recognized as a pianist and composer since the age of eleven. By the time Johannes Brahms arrived on their doorstep, Robert had been su`ering for several years from a mental illness that might be recognized today as bi-polar disorder. He embraced the youthful Brahms as a "young God… a messiah" and wrote everyone he knew to come hear him play his compositions. Brahms was invited to share their household, their library, their pianos, their publisher; and while the music of Johannes Brahms reached and astonished more and more people, Robert's mental health deteriorated. When after a suicide attempt Robert was isolated in an asylum, Brahms rushed back to Clara's side with sympathy and support for her and her seven children. Their friendship grew as did their appreciation and dependence on each other in their music. Even after Robert's death a mere three years later, Brahms and Clara Schumann never grew beyond mutual admiration and care… or did they? They remained friends and admirers throughout their lives.

OICMF Artistic Director Aloysia Friedmann has selected pieces reflecting several periods in the lives of the three composers: Clara's earlier compositions in a light romantic mode, Robert's challenging work prior to meeting Brahms, and the later work of a fully mature Brahms. Several OICMF artists return to the Lopez Center stage this 29th season, among them violinist Zachary DePue, violist Aloysia Friedmann, cellists Ani Aznavoorian and Lachezar Kostov, and pianist Jon Kimura Parker. New to Lopez are violinists Alexandra Preucil and Nathan Olson, violists Antoine Tamestit and Eric Nowlin, and the amazing mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke. The performances of all these artists are supported by individual Lopez sponsors, to whom we are all grateful. The concert will be followed by an outdoor wine and cheese reception. Lopezian Suzanne Trebnick is coordinator of this concert.

At noon on Friday, August 14, more wondrous musical adventures happen outside Lopez Center. Alexandra Preucil sings her musical children's story Harmony the Hare in a free concert for kids and kids at heart at the Center's outdoor Pavilion. Nicole Starker narrates the tale and a string quartet of Zachary DePue, Nathan Olson, Antoine Tamestit and Lachezar Kostov lends voices to the woodland friends who come forward to "help" Harmony the Hare put on a concert. The concert gets interrupted by a cast of musical animals - Beardo the brown bear, who loves the low cello and its roar, Sasha the very fast squirrel, Sammy the sleepy sloth, and many more. Through this joyful, interactive story young audiences enter into a colorful world of animal musicians who discover the power of listening, teamwork, and creativity through music. We are grateful to the Lopez sponsors of these musicians for the unusual opportunity they provide to Lopez families and kids.

Kids, dads, moms, grandmas, and grandpas alike are invited to bring a blanket or a chair and enjoy the harmony that each musical instrument sings. Don't forget your sunhat, and please enjoy some complementary summer refreshments while you watch and listen - and perhaps ROAR - to this colorful menagerie of sounds. Lopezian Micki Ryan is Coordinator of this free children’s concert.

All concert descriptions and indoor concert tickets are available online at oicmf.org. The outdoor children’s concerts are free with no ticket required.

The Love Triangle: Clara Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann, circa 1853