By Lisa Chan, Standard-Times correspondent
July 9, 2000 12:32 PM
If you have a penchant for classical music, you are in for a delightful treat this week. The fourth annual Buzzards Bay Musicfest is preparing a striking repertoire of compositions with which to enchant the audience this year. The free-admission musicfest, which includes orchestral and chamber music performances, takes place at Tabor Academy's Fireman Performing Arts Center in Marion Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and next Sunday.
"It's like a love affair of music that happens once a year -- same place, same time. Different music is played, but it's mostly the same players," said Russell Patterson, the conductor of the orchestra as well as founder of the Musicfest.
Maestro Patterson, who was educated at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, has had an illustrious career. He briefly played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra before accepting a job as a French horn player with the Kansas City Orchestra, which he went on to conduct.
While conducting the orchestra, Mr. Patterson formed a major opera company. Consequently, he chose to stop conducting the Kansas City Orchestra and focus his energies full-time on the opera company. He ran the opera company for 40 seasons before going into semi-retirement.
"Now, I'm primarily interested in the Buzzards Bay Musicfest and doing guest conducting," said Mr. Patterson.
Most of the musicians participating in the Musicfest are friends of the maestro. Mr. Patterson formed an orchestra for a music festival he organized years ago in Kansas, and the Musicfest's orchestra is made up of these same musicians.
"It is a crack group. Our principle cellist, Mark Tanner, is one of the best in the country," Mr. Patterson said.
Another participating cellist is Grace Mihi Bahng, an associate professor at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music and a member of the Blair String Quartet since 1984. She has performed recitals at the Library of Congress, Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall and on NPR, and has been in residence at the Aspen Music Festival, among others.
All of the musicians in the Musicfest's orchestra are of soloist quality, the conductor said. "Brian Lewis, one of our violinists, has played Mendelssohn all over the world. We are fortunate to have him," Mr. Patterson said.
During its first year, the Musicfest's orchestra performed primarily Bach, Handel and Haydn because the orchestra consisted of only a string section, a piano and an oboe. The next year some horns, another oboe and a few bassoons joined in. This year, clarinets were added to fill out the orchestra, which now consists of about 28 musicians.
"We are able to do music of a little more Romantic nature since adding the clarinets. We can do more Mozart, some Beethoven and even some Wagner," Mr. Patterson said. "Mozart fits chamber orchestras very well," he said.
Mr. Patterson's goal in putting the program together is to try to please the widest audience and to feature the most instruments. He also gets input from the musicians as to what they would prefer to play. This year's program features the works of Rossini, Mozart, Wagner, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Ravel and Haydn.
Jim Rivers, the piano soloist, chose to play Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12 in A Major. "The concerto is one of 27 concertos that Mozart wrote. Russ and I have done it before," Mr. Rivers said. A graduate of the Juilliard School, Mr. Rivers tours around the world as a concert pianist playing with renowned orchestras. He enjoys playing at the Musicfest.
"I'm one of the original members of the group and hope the Musicfest lasts forever," he said.
"We do masterpieces primarily," Mr. Patterson said. One of the masterpieces, Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, Op.64, is being played by Mr. Lewis, another graduate of the Juilliard School, who comes from a musical family. His mother, grandmother and great grandmother all played the violin.
"I started playing the violin when I was 4 years old. I thought everybody played the violin until I got to school," Mr. Lewis said. He has an amazing career as a violin soloist that has brought him much recognition.
"I tour 38 weeks a year playing concertos and recitals all over the world -- Europe and Australia," he said.
Mr. Patterson hopes that the audience, young and old alike, will feel uplifted from the musical programs. He has noticed many young people coming to the performances. Trudy Kingery, president of the Buzzards Bay Musicfest said, "Young children are welcome. The Musicfest is a good way to introduce children to classical music."
The Musicfest is hosted by the Marion Art Center. "The Marion Art Center has been wonderful," Maestro Patterson said. He credits Margot Foster, the chairperson of the Buzzards Bay Musicfest, with helping the festival get off the ground. "She gathered the people in Marion to help," Mr. Patterson said. "We've gotten great support from the residents of Marion," Mr. Rivers said.
The programs run about 90 minutes. The chamber music performances are at 8 p.m. Thursday and Saturday. Orchestral concerts will be presented at 8 p.m. Wednesday and 2 p.m. next Sunday. Patrons are encouraged to arrive at the Fireman Performing Arts Center at Tabor Academy on Front Street about a half-hour before the performances to ensure getting a seat, since the hall has been filled to its capacity at past festivals. The Buzzards Bay Musicfest is free to the public.