~ Author: Lili Tobias
Friday June 21st, 2024 – The opening night concert of the 2024 Chelsea Music Festival was held in by far the most surprising venue I’ve ever been to. It took place in Genesis House, which is a restaurant/car showroom/performance venue associated with the luxury car brand, Genesis. In fact, the audience walked into the building through the showroom, so we were surrounded by new cars as the event staff offered glasses of wine. We then descended down a flight of stairs, through a lounge area, to the performance space.
The stage floor was actually a large screen itself, as were the back wall and the ceiling. This concert featured not only music but visual art completely surrounding the musicians as they played. While I thought the visuals were beautiful and intriguing, I didn’t quite see how they were connected to each specific piece. I think both the music and the visual art could have stood on their own just as well as together!
The concert opened with two pieces by Augusta Read Thomas: Bebop Riddle V and Dancing Stars. Both were very joyful and bouncy! I particularly enjoyed the juxtaposition of staccato and legato moments in Dancing Stars. This piece was primarily staccato throughout, but there were brief moments when more legato phrases rose up and then dissipated. These moments got more expansive as the piece progressed, and culminated in one bright pluck, followed by its echo in the resonance of the piano strings.
Wooden Bodies, by Tebogo Monnakgotla, was next on the program, performed by the Aizuri Quartet. Beginning with a slow melody in the lowest register of the viola, this motif was then explored by the other instruments in turn. In general, this piece was very fugue-like with all the motifs that got passed around within the quartet. My favorite moment was when the two violins traded off short, choppy phrases, creating a sort of panning effect between them. As a nice contrast to the explorative nature of the previous piece, Augusta Read Thomas’s next piece, Clara’s Ascent, felt calmer and more relaxed. The music stayed slow and legato for most of the time, punctuated by a fun pizzicato solo for the cello near the very end.
Next was a beautiful string quartet arrangement of Clara Schumann’s song, Die stille lotosblume. Having played the original piano and voice version myself, I really appreciated the liberties Miho Saegusa took in adapting the music for strings. First of all, the vocal melody is traded between string instruments which creates fun contrasts within one performance of the piece. And second, Saegusa added some delicate arpeggios which don’t exist in the piano part. These added interesting variety to the texture which the piano part just doesn’t have, and the half cadence ending left me wanting more!
To end the first half of the program was the world premiere of Nicky Sohn’s wind quintet, A Night at Birdland. Despite being accompanied by images of birds, this piece has nothing to do with birds, but rather is inspired by Charlie Parker, who is known as “Bird.” It was a really wonderful piece, and WindSync performed it so well. The music traversed many different musical textures, often featuring a consistent bouncy rhythm and really lush chords.
Beginning the second half of the program were two solo piano pieces, first the theme from the 2022 movie, The Fabelmans, composed by John Williams. Melinda Lee Masur, one of the artistic directors of the festival, performed this piece herself. It was a beautiful progression of a melody through different accompanying textures. Next was Against Time, written and performed by 2024 composer-in-residence Ania Vu. Starting with a single barely-there note, the music evolved into an exploration of different piano textures and techniques: full chords vs single notes, clusters vs octaves, steady pulses vs filigree. I’d love to try out playing this one myself!
The concert ended with Poulenc’s Sextuor (1931-32, performed impeccably by WindSync and pianist Andrea Lam. After the music, the audience was invited back upstairs to the Genesis House Restaurant for more drinks and canapés. This opening night concert featured such a wide variety of artistic ideas, and I’m sure the rest of the festival will live up to that as there’s a full week of performances ahead—from Bach to jazz to Brazilian forró. Congratulations to the Chelsea Music Festival on their 15th season!
~ Lili Tobias
Oberon's Glade 
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