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Guest conductor Noam Zur, making his North American debut, leads the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra through its final performance Tuesday evening in the Amphitheater. In 2013, the CSO will play its third summer under the batons of guest conductors as a search begins for a permanent music director. Photo by Eric Shea.

CSO looks forward to third season of guest conductors

August 25, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

This was the second season without the presence of a music director for the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, but based on the performances from the orchestra and the feedback from its audience, the absence is hardly noticeable.

While it is a challenge for the orchestra to perform under a new conductor almost every single concert — with the exception of a handful of conductors who joined the CSO for two performances — the orchestra has risen to the occasion.

“It keeps them on the edge of their seat, keeps things charged, keeps things interesting, and the majority of the orchestra likes that — they like that challenge,” said Marty Merkley, Institution vice president and director of programming.

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Mac, Jolie and Tom McShane. Photo by Lauren Rock.

In Chautauqua, pair of rising stars find a place to find themselves

August 25, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

“There is just something about Chautauqua at 6 a.m. that cannot be described,” said Mac McShane, 16-year-old circulation manager of The Chautauquan Daily. “My route is my way to relax. It’s just me, the cool morning air, and a list of houses.”

The kid everyone calls Mac spends his summers working at the Daily, along with waiting tables at Intermezzo at Chautauqua.

En route, he delivers the paper on his scooter to people all throughout the grounds, including to Institution President Tom Becker.

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Community, School of Music
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Sasha Janes, Rebecca Carmazzi and family. Provided photo.

For NCDT’s Janes, Carmazzi, dance life takes backseat to family life

August 25, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

After a long day in the studios with the dancers of North Carolina Dance Theatre, Sasha Janes just wants to go home, crack open a beer and have his face painted like a butterfly.

The NCDT associate artistic director and choreographer’s 3½-year-old daughter Jaidyn would paint her parents’ faces everyday if they’d let her.

Face painting, trips to the park and riding around with three kids on one bike are now as much a part of Janes’ life as ballet classes and rehearsals.

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Dance
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Chautauquan brings ‘Trio’ of monologues to Fletcher Hall

August 23, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

Chautauqua resident David Zinman is an aspiring playwright at 81 years old, and he has debuted his plays on the Institution’s grounds annually for the past 10 years.

“It’s almost impossible to explain how wonderful that feels: sitting in the dark listening to people say your words and other people sitting and enjoying it,” Zinman said. “Writing is a lonely experience, and playwriting gives you immediate feedback.”

Zinman will again see his work performed at Chautauqua when he debuts staged readings of three monologues, WHIMPs, Bedtime Story and Love Insurance, in one event: Trio at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in Fletcher Music Hall.

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Theater
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Guest pianist Daniil Trifonov, a rising 21-year-old superstar, performs Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 21, in F Minor with the CSO.

Trifonov ‘terrifically exciting’ in guest spot with CSO, Zur; Zemach receives dignified send-off

August 23, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 1 Comment

It was a night for beginnings and endings in the Amphitheater on Tuesday. This being the final Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra concert of the season, Institution President Tom Becker was on hand to offer his thanks to the players and also the players’ gratitude to the audience. He drolly introduced himself as “Marty Merkley’s yes man,” which got a nice laugh.

Merkley had a good night, mounting a valedictory program that included two Chautauqua debuts: of the young Israeli conductor Noam Zur (making his North American debut); and of Daniil Trifonov, a pianist whose appearance was a consequence of winning the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition.

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Guest Critic Reviews
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Crosby to present film on legendary dance teacher Graham

August 23, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

Though many came before her, Martha Graham is credited as the mother of modern dance.

Graham’s staggering influence has made her perhaps the most significant dancer in the 20th century, and Chautauqua Dance Circle’s co-founding president Bonnie Crosby trained at her school of contemporary dance in the 1960s.

With that in mind, Crosby wanted to share the film “Martha Graham: A Dancer’s World” at the final CDC program at 3:30 p.m. today in the Hall of Christ.

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Dance
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CSO’s biggest fan reflects on a lifetime of music

August 22, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

Warren Hickman’s earliest memory of listening to a musical group in the Amphitheater was in 1926, when his father brought his family to see John Philip Sousa and his band.

“It was such a crowd that we were about the third row of standees,” Hickman said. “I’ll always remember that he put me on his shoulders so that I could see over the crowd, and one of the percussionists for one of the marches took out a black pistol and shot it in the air three times.”

Sousa’s band was a memorable moment, but the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra has been the epicenter of a lifetime of memories at Chautauqua for Hickman and his family.

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The Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra performs its penultimate concert Saturday evening in the Amphitheater. The CSO closes the 2012 Season with its 21st performance at 8:15 p.m. tonight. Photo by Eric Shea.

CSO wraps up 2012 with final performance featuring Trifonov, Zur

August 21, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

During a safari in South Africa, guest conductor Noam Zur sat helplessly in a Jeep when a rhinoceros came hurtling toward the vehicle. In that moment, he knew the next time he told an orchestra to play dangerously, he would draw on that moment to remember how real danger felt.

The Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra will perform its last concert of the season tonight at 8:15 p.m. in the Amphitheater. The concert will feature Zur conducting and guest pianist Daniil Trifonov performing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Trifonov won the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in 2011, the only first-prize winner since Alexander Gavrylyuk in 2005.

Zur and Trifonov worked together last year, performing the same Chopin concerto, which they chose again for tonight because of the CSO’s notoriously fast rehearsal time.

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Symphony
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