Tag Archives: Kelsey Burritt
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.

Read more
Symphony
, , , ,

Institution hosts 6th Annual International Humanitarian Law Dialogs

August 25, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

After the atrocities of World War II and the Holocaust, the Nuremberg Trials were established as an attempt to bring the orchestrators to justice. Although the trials took place more than 65 years ago, their impact endures as a milestone in legitimizing and actualizing international humanitarian law.

H.W. William Caming is the only representative from the Nuremberg Trials who will be present at the 6th Annual International Humanitarian Law Dialogs being held at the Chautauqua Institution Aug. 26 to 28, sponsored by the Robert H. Jackson Center. Jackson was a lead prosecutor during the Nuremberg Trials, and the center’s mission is to keep his legacy alive through education, exhibits and dialogue.

Read more
Community
, , , , ,
The Lettermen

Lettermen to serenade audience with classic love ballads tonight at the Amp

August 23, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 1 Comment

In almost 50 years of performances with The Lettermen, Tony Butala has received a standing ovation every single show. But when the popular vocal group was formed in 1958, the members were paid $125 a week for 14 performances, and nobody knew their name.

“We could have been called The Three Ashtrays,” Butala said. “It meant nothing, absolutely nothing.”

Having recently completed their 76th album, The Lettermen are certainly more than nothing. The group became a hit in the 1960s, known for its love ballads such as “The Way You Look Tonight,” “When I Fall In Love,” and “Goin’ Out of My Head / Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.” Overall, the group has 16 Top 10 singles and five Grammy nominations.

The Lettermen will perform at 8:15 p.m. tonight in the Amphitheater as part of the evening entertainment series.

Read more
Evening Entertainment
, , , , , ,

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.

Read more
Symphony
, , ,
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.

Read more
Symphony
, , , , , ,
Thursday Morning Brass performs earlier this season in the garden behind Smith Wilkes Hall. Photo by Greg Funka.

Thursday Morning Brass and more to raise funds with annual Lenna concert

August 20, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

On a Thursday morning in the Hall of Christ, trumpet player Paul Weber stood from his chair to conduct the brass ensemble he started almost 14 years ago, snapping his fingers to keep up their tempo. Joe Prezio, co-founder of the ensemble and other Chautauqua Amateur Music Program groups, called out, “Italians don’t march to 120.”

It was another Thursday morning rehearsal and another march rehearsed for Chautauqua’s Thursday Morning Brass, the first amateur music group founded on the grounds, whose spirit has added a whimsy and lightheartedness to the season that impacts the members as much as the Chautauqua community.

Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. in Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall, the Thursday Morning Brass will perform their annual concert, but this year, the ensemble will also feature its fellow amateur music groups the Summer Strummers and the Dixie Lakesiders, as well as a tuba-euphonium quartet that has never performed before.

Read more
Chamber Music
, , , , , , , , ,
A Far Cry

A Far Cry makes Chautauqua debut with Mozart, Britten

August 20, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

A Far Cry is the Goldilocks of the Logan Chamber Series this season — too large to be a quartet, too small to be an orchestra, but just right in their 16-member, self-conducted string ensemble.

“We end up being like the elephant, like the behemoth in a lot of the series that we go to, just because of the sheer number of people,” said Sarah Darling, a violinist in the ensemble. “The idea is that anybody in the group — they’re in the group because they love leading and they love following, and you have to be able to do both.”

For the concert today at 4 p.m. in Elizabeth Lenna Hall, A Far Cry will perform three pieces: Last Round by Osvaldo Golijov, Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik, and Benjamin Britten’s Variations on a Theme by Frank Bridge, Op. 10.

Read more
Chamber Music
, , , , ,
Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra principal cellist Chaim Zemach plays in Thursday’s CSO concert in the Amphitheater. Photo by Lauren Rock.

CSO principal cellist, inspiring musician, man of the world, retires

August 18, 2012 by The Chautauquan Daily 0 Comments

Chaim Zemach said his 44 years of coming to Chautauqua, watching people come and go, observing the changes in the community year after year, have been like an ongoing novel. For any who have met and spoken with Zemach, it could be argued that his life is a bit like a novel itself.

Zemach has been the principal cellist of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra for 44 years. Zemach will retire at the end of this summer, his 45th season playing with the CSO. Zemach has become an indisputable legend at Chautauqua and a source of admiration from within and outside the orchestra.

Read more
Symphony
, , , , , , , ,
Older Entries