Two down, two to go.
The popular, Music in the Mountains pre-concert talks by Linda Mack Berven have already filled the Lyceum at Center of Southwest Studies twice. There are two more: July 28 and July 30.
Chances are Mack Berven will arrive bewigged, bejeweled, begloved and full of mischief as she decodes the music to be performed on the evening program.
Last week, she introduced her fans to Vivaldi’s Concerto in B minor for Four Violins wearing a neon-orange wig, her signature violin earrings and piano-key scarf. Then Mack Berven peeled down to a crisp white shirt, red suspenders and a flower wreath in her hair to evoke early Romanticism for Schubert’s “Unfinished Symphony.” Finally, she put on some eye-dazzling Americana – a red, white and blue baseball cap, bow tie and flashing gloves – for a discussion about Gershwin and his Concerto in F.
If you go
WHAT: Music in the Mountains pre-concert lectures by Linda Mack Berven.
WHEN: July 28 and 30, one hour before performance time.
WHERE: Lyceum, Center of Southwest Studies, Fort Lewis College, 1000 Rim Drive.
TICKETS: Free.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.musicinthemountains.com or call 385-6820.
For her well-seasoned protocol, Mack Berven unspools short composer biographies, the circumstances of the works in question and things to listen for. Her 15-minute mini-lectures are akin to a trio of TED Talks enhanced by creative costuming to stimulate the visual learners in the audience, not to mention engaging everyone’s sense of humor. Miraculously, Mack Berven concludes her 45-minute pre-concert lectures with just enough time for music lovers to wander over to the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, find their seats and settle in for opening announcements.
A lot of preparation goes into these talks, Mack Berven said. Once she gets a new summer schedule, sometime in the middle of winter, she begins planning and dreaming.
“February. That’s when I usually start to work on the lectures,” she said. “It’s fun. It’s always a challenge. Some people are visual learners, and that’s why I’ve chosen to dress up the talks with costumes and props.
“I find treasures everywhere, especially in the toy bin at the Methodist Thrift Shop, from friends and, of course, there is good old Amazon.com,” she added.
That’s just the look of the lectures. Ultimately, Mack Berven shapes content with a scheme she’s used through the decade or so since she began her talks.
“I’ve used the same format, more or less, over the years,” she said. “It seems to be effective. I have three anchors: something about the composer, usually a short bio, something about the circumstances surrounding the composition on the program. And I conclude with some musical tidbits to watch or listen for.”
Years ago, Mack Berven happened to make an aside when noting an achievement or challenge a composer faced: “What a guy,” or “What a gal.” Her followers picked that up, and it has become a mantra, an interactive, audience response. She signaled at least seven mantras at last week’s talk. Her audience responded on cue: What a guy!
After concerts, you’ll see people approach Mack Berven and thank her for highlighting something in the music of the evening. Last Sunday, it may have been John Pennington’s emphatic timpani solo at the beginning of Gershwin’s Concerto in F or the main melodic line in Schubert’s “Unfinished Symphony.” Mack Berven highlighted both of those and sang the latter to her fans with a catchy lyric.
Two more to go.
Last Sunday night, Music in the Mountains Conductor Guillermo Figueroa and pianist Avi Reichert surprised the audience with an impromptu conversation before performing Gershwin’s Concerto in F.
“We were just talking about Gershwin and Schubert, and we decided to bring our conversation out on stage,” Figueroa casually said.
During intermission, the two men had fallen into a natural dialogue about both Gershwin and Franz Schubert, whose “Unfinished Symphony” the Festival Orchestra had just played. Both composers died at young ages, Gershwin at 38 in 1937, and Schubert at 31 in in 1828. In both cases, Figueroa said, a promising career abruptly stopped, and one could only wonder what might have followed.
Figueroa handed the microphone to Reichert, who shifted to Gershwin’s Russian-Jewish heritage. The composer was born Jacob Gershowitz and Americanized his name later. That remembrance morphed into a discussion about Gershwin’s rich mixture of musical genres, rattling off different influences from jazz to the great tradition of Russian classical music. At the end, Figueroa smiled and quickly tossed in: “a little touch of Rachmaninov.”
Then both musicians took center stage – Figueroa with his baton and Reichert at the piano.
From the dramatic, sit-up-and-listen opening to the powerful ending about 35 minutes later, the orchestra and soloist delivered a high-octane performance of Gershwin’s only concerto. At the end, the mesmerized audience erupted into shouts and applause. After three call-back bows, Reichert returned with a smile to play an encore. He sat down, leaned forward, and cupped his hands around his mouth as if to whisper a secret. “More Gershwin.”
He played the first movement from Gershwin’s “Three Preludes for Piano.” Thank you, Avi, and welcome back.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
