With a mix of strings, some of this summer’s Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra Fellows will offer pieces with demanding and intense undertones.
Three members of the 2024 CSO Fellows cohort — violinist Diego Diaz, violist Camila Berg and cellist Keeon Guzman — along with one of the newest tenured musicians in the CSO’s cello section, Samuel Pierce-Ruhland, will perform as part of the Chautauqua Chamber Music Resident Artist Series at 4:15 p.m. Saturday in Elizabeth S. Lenna Hall. The program for the afternoon is Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Trio in C minor, Op. 9 no. 3 and Anton Arensky’s String Quartet No. 2, Op. 35.
Diaz has never publicly performed either piece, which is why he’s looking forward to Saturday’s recital. The works are “passionate and very emotional pieces — also demanding,” he said. As an emotionally-attuned musician, he said he tends to follow the feeling that a piece brings.
Beethoven’s String Trio in C minor was described in the composer’s own words as “la meilleure de mes œuvres” — “the finest of my works.” There is a dramatic intensity conveyed through this piece, utilizing contrasts of key.
Berg and Guzman haven’t experienced these pieces before, either, and are especially looking forward to the Arensky. The composer dedicated the 1894 work to Tchaikovsky, as he had died a year earlier. Berg described it as uniquely free with long beautiful melodies, but still structured.
Berg, who grew up in Cuba, began violin at 8 and switched to viola at 18; she loves the instrument, in part because it enabled her to leave Cuba at the age of 21. Since then, she’s been a fellow in New World Symphony, principal violist in the Costa Rican National Symphony Orchestra, and now performs with the Florida Orchestra. Recently, she won second place in Sphinx Orchestra Partners Auditions; that opened up the path to Chautauqua. The CSO Fellows are selected from audition tapes from Sphinx.
Berg finds an introspective benefit to being at Chautauqua, due to the space that it offers for finding oneself.
“You can connect with some people, you cannot connect with others,” Berg said. “That’s important to realize — that’s where being alone is important because when you know yourself, you know what you want. You know what to offer to others and what you don’t want to offer to others.”
Violinist Diaz’s first instrument was the cuatro, a popular instrument in his native Venezuela. At 11, he switched to violin and felt like it was made for him. He kept playing as part of a program called El Sistema, founded in 1975 to promote humanistic development through music, and the program just “embraced” him.
“You enter this world where there are many people to meet and they inspire you — you just want to continue,” Diaz said.
Diaz, who was a 2021-2022 Chicago Sinfonietta Project Inclusion Freeman Fellow and now performs with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, plans to become a teacher, and he’s grateful to take what he learned from El Sistema and apply it to his future students. El Sistema, in the last 40 years, has expanded across borders and was endorsed by alumni Gustavo Dudamel, a world-renowned conductor. Diaz has even had the unique experience of playing with Dudamel — now music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
The musicians performing in Saturday’s recital noted how well they get along, and the immense mutual respect they have for each other. Diaz feels both pressure and relief in being a part of an ensemble of such caliber; there is a necessity to be on top of your game, as well as the conviction that the performance will be outstanding. There’s also the excitement of the intimacy and freedom of chamber music, just the four of them, rather than being four in a sea of 74 CSO musicians.
“You have to realize that in this field, you will always be a student,” Guzman said. “… There’s always a possibility to learn something, especially in chamber music. … It’s interesting to hear other viewpoints from your group members, and discuss why they may think (the performance should) go this way or the other way.”
Guzman grew up in Alaska and began playing the piano at age 5. Then, in sixth grade when deciding between band, orchestra or choir, he took a cue from his brother and sister, who played string instruments, and chose cello. He enjoys the fast-paced nature of the CSO, as most orchestras perform once or twice a week. Three CSO concerts a week keeps things fresh.
For Berg, the all-encompassing nature of Chautauqua has led to opportunities — being able to write, walk and be in the water are avenues through which doors of self-reflection have opened.
“I’m very far away from home, and I can recognize more of myself being here,” Berg said. “I also appreciate what I have at home, but I love being here.”
