
Florestan Comes to Portland
ArtsWatch was able to quiz the Florestan Trio’s founding cellist, Hamilton Cheifetz, about the origins of the Trio and its romantic name. “When we first came to Portland in 1977,” he remembered, “it was difficult to think of a name. We thought of a bunch of names that were kind of stupid, so we were nameless for a while.” Finally, their friend, the conductor Jacob Avshalomov, suggested they consider “Florestan.” Cheifetz admits that Beethoven’s political prisoner was not the real hero of Fidelio (it was Leonora), and that Schumann’s alter ego, the dynamic opposite to his other one, the dreamy Eusebius, was better suited to their Trio.
Cheifetz also holds the title of “Florestan Professor of Cello” in Portland State’s School of Music & Theater. He explains this kind of title as a professorship where a private donor funds an increase in salary for a faculty member whom the donor particularly appreciates. These honors are usually named after the donor, but in this case the donor wished to be anonymous, so Florestan was a handy label.
Back in 1974, Cheifetz and violinist Carol Sindell were playing in a piano trio in Milwaukee, Wisconsin when he received a phone call from his long-time teacher and friend, Janos Starker, asking him in his thick Hungarian accent, “How is that Trio?” It happened that their relationship with their pianist was not going well, so Starker had welcome news. Portland State University was looking for a violinist and a cellist to go with a pianist they had selected to form a trio. Pianist Harold Gray was teaching in Illinois at the time, so the three of them flew to Portland and auditioned together. It took a full year for PSU to find the funding for the three positions.
Janet Guggenheim
After Gray retired in 2005 Janet Guggenheim became the Trio’s pianist, but Cheifetz and Sindell have been members of the same trio for 50 years. “That’s unheard of in the music business,” he acknowledges, “that the same two people stay in a chamber group that long!” Cheifetz reports that Guggenheim used to play with several great cellists, like Pierre Fourneir and Yo-Yo Ma, and that she would often fly down to Burbank at the drop of a hat to have lunch and rehearse with somebody for the Tonight Show. “In fact,” he recalls, “that’s where I first saw Janet – on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson!”
János Starker
Cheifetz speaks very warmly of Janos Starker. He describes his relationship with Starker as a godsend. “I auditioned for him when I was 15 years old and went to study with him at 16, and that was in 1966.” Starker died in 2013 at the age of 88, and Cheifetz stayed in touch with him until then. “He was not just my cello teacher, he was like a second father.”
Not only had Starker written a letter of recommendation for him to Portland State, but Cheifetz attributes his good health and posture to Starker’s teaching. “I don’t have the issues of a lot of people my age or younger with their shoulders, elbows, and hands. He taught us how to play in a natural way, how to relax and avoid injuring ourselves. He taught us a whole approach so that after we were no longer physically with him and things came up, we would have a strategy about how solve them. So every time I pick up the cello, he’s there.”
Cheifetz reports that Starker had a reputation for being emotionally cold, but he ascribes that to the fact that Starker “played better than anybody else, so they always had to find some fault. They said the same thing about Jascha Heifetz,” Cheifetz points out, “which was absolutely ridiculous.” In his memory, Starker was very kind to his students and did a lot to help them, ever after they were no longer studying with him. “He was a brilliant teacher — an absolutely unbelievable teacher.”
Friends of Chamber Music
For the past few years the Trio has not played extensively in Portland, although they have been traveling to the San Francisco Bay Area every June to play several concerts. Cheifetz is now Emeritus Professor at PSU but still teaches full time, as does Sindell as a private teacher, and Guggenheim has been a celebrated musician for many years. He reports that some people have even asked if the Trio has disbanded. His friend Anya Royce, who was also close friends with Starker, has encouraged the Trio to play more concerts in the Portland area, and offered to underwrite some concerts. The Trio put forward the idea to Friends of Chamber Music, which accepted enthusiastically and is presenting the three concerts this season. Because the musicians’ fees are underwritten by Dr. Royce, the ticket revenue will be split between Friends of Chamber Music and a program that Cheifetz has developed called SECO, or “String Ensemble Community Outreach” (described below).
Hungry for Something Beautiful
No stranger to the concept of community outreach, Cheifetz has been presenting concerts in prisons for several years. Sometimes he goes alone and at other times he brings students. This past September he drove out to Pendleton to present a solo concert at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution with his very special French cello and played for about 70 inmates. “I was concerned before starting this that they wouldn’t care about hearing some Haydn or Mendelssohn, but it’s just the opposite. They were hungry for something beautiful.” He describes these experiences as life changing, not only for himself, but for his students. In May he will bring a string trio of students from PSU to the prison. “It really changes your perspective about what music can do, and also about what you sometimes just take for granted in your life.”
SECO
A cellist friend who had gravitated toward the finance industry once joined Cheifetz in a dress rehearsal of the Brahms Fourth by the PSU Orchestra. He was so impressed by the behavior of the student musicians — that they are so serious and well behaved, they don’t talk while the conductor is talking, and they play so well! He asked Cheifetz if they ever play chamber music in the community and if so if they get paid. Cheifetz’s answer was “yes” and “no” respectively. So he asked Cheifetz what if he provided $25,000 to start a program and would Cheifetz send him a proposal. The answer was, “that would be unbelievable” and “yes,” respectively, and that was the origin of the “String Ensemble Community Outreach’’ program or SECO. The donor is happy that the program continues.
Subud
One of Cheifetz’ most precious resources is his relationship with Subud, a worldwide association of people involved in deepening their spiritual connection. His brother and sister, with whom he is very close, are also members of Subud. When he first became a member, he remembers a pivotal experience: “I felt as though I was completely enveloped by a loving force. It changed me.” Now he feels he has a clearer understanding of life, a way of coping with its vicissitudes, and he can be relaxed as he gets up on stage. About Subud, he explains, “It’s easier to say what it isn’t than what it is — not a religion, not a technique, but something experiential and spontaneous.”
Several years ago he was diagnosed with cancer, which necessitated chemotherapy and radiation. After the diagnosis he reports that he was upset for only two days, and then he asked himself a question: “How should Hamilton be feeling about this experience?” And the answer was laughter!
Five years later he is healthy and well. There are Subud members all over the world, including a group here in Portland. Undoubtedly, this way of life has a profound effect on his relationship with music, and we are the beneficiaries.
Thank you both for reminding me what a gift music is.