Known for its innovative programming with a Pacific Northwest twist, the Siletz Bay Music Festival enters its 12th season with a special mission to honor its former Music Director and founder, Yaacov “Yaki” Bergman, who passed away last year at about this time (read Angela Allen’s tribute here). Bergman was noted for putting his heart and soul into the festival, and his untimely death sent shockwaves through the festival community.
Taking up Bergman’s banner is Mei-Ting Sun who has collaborated with Bergman every year almost from the first year of the festival. As Interim Artistic Director, Sun has carefully planned the concerts as a tribute to Bergman’s legacy. This season, ten unique programs will take place at venues located in Lincoln City and Newport August 16-25.
Mind-meld
After earning Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Mannes College of Music and a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the Juilliard School, Sun, age 43, has enjoyed an international career as a pianist and teaching at the Royal Academy of Music in London, England.
“I still can’t believe Yaki is gone,” said Sun over the phone. “I would like to honor him in continuing the festival. I met him in 1991. So, I’ve known him for 33 years. He took me to my first opera performance ever. It was Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers at New York City Opera. It was a great opera, but perhaps not the best one for a ten-year-old kid with minimal English and French skills. A couple months after that, we worked together for the first time. He was the conductor of the 92nd Street Y Orchestra, and I played Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto with him.”
“In planning the programs for this year’s festival,” said Sun, “I consulted with Joan, Yaki’s wife, who gave excellent advice.”
The festival’s opening reception and recital August 16 will celebrate Bergman with Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony in a special transcription that Sun has created for two pianos. He will perform that with his wife Michelle Chow at the Lincoln City Cultural Center.
“Yaki was always extremely support of my transcriptions,” noted Sun. “This is my first transcription for two pianos, and it will be the North American premiere, because the world premiere took place in Finland where it was well-received. I’ve made some minor improvements since then, and am looking forward to playing it with my wife. We have a terrific mind meld.”
Sponsor
Also on the program are Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 31, Opus 110, and his Piano Sonata No. 32, Opus 111. These are the last two piano sonatas that Beethoven wrote. Both will be played by Sun, who sees a special connection between them and Bergman.
“Opus 110 expresses the trials and tribulations of living,” explained Sun, “and 111 for me is a path to heaven.”
Saturday’s “Soiree” (August 17) at the Lincoln City Cultural Center offers two Theme and Variations. The first, by Amy Beach, who is considered the first successful American female symphonic composer, will feature flutist Amelia Lukas and a string quartet consisting of violinists Mimi Jung and James Stern, violist Miriam English Ward, and cellist Nancy Ives. “The Beach is a lovely and easily approachable piece,” noted Sun.
The second Theme and Variations, by French composer Olivier Messiaen, will feature violinist Jung and pianist Chow. “Yaki loved how Messiaen communicated the human emotions,” said Sun.
Sun and Chow will team up for Mozart’s Sonata for Piano 4 Hands, and the concert will conclude with Beethoven’s youthful and exuberant Piano Trio in C Minor with violinist Emily Su, cellist Katherine Schultz, and pianist Sun.
On Sunday afternoon (August 18) festival-goers can imbibe in annual “Musical Tapas” program at the Lincoln City Cultural Center.
“This is a musical party,” remarked Sun. “Everyone has fun. Yaki started the idea with little tidbits of music and everyone gets dinner with plenty to drink.”
Sponsor
Short pieces like Dudley Moore’s Beethoven’s Colonel Bogey and Paul Schoenfeld’s Cowbird Quartet will accent the humorous side of the program. Violinist Stern will do a Crab Canon of J. S. Bach in which he will play one part and sing it in reverse. The program also offers pieces by Oregon composers Nancy Ives, Kenji Bunch, and Jasnam Daya Singh.
Muss es sein? Es muss sein!
The festival continues Monday (August 19) at the Lincoln City Cultural Center with Brahms’ Cello Sonata No. 1 with 16-year-old soloist Isaac Ward, the son of Miriam Ward, in his festival debut. “This is especially fitting,” said Sun, “because Yaki loved to promote young artists.’
The concert includes Haydn’s Piano Trio in D major and Debussy’s Sonata in G minor for Violin and Piano. It will draw to a close with Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 16, Op. 135, his last string quartet. Beethoven wrote cryptically in the quartet’s finale movement, “Muss es sein? (Must it be?) and Es muss sein! (It must be!)”
On Tuesday (August 20) the festival moves to Lincoln City Congregational Church for a free concert with Brahms’s Sextet No. 2 in G major and Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, which he wrote while a prisoner of the Nazis during WWII.
“The Messiaen is the greatest musical experience we have ever had at the festival,” said Sun. “When we first performed it, everyone was crying when it ended, including Yaki.”
On Wednesday (August 21) the festival comes to the Pacific Maritime Heritage Center in Newport. According to Sun, Bergman loved the music of Richard Strauss and Brahms. So that concert delves into Strauss’ Sonata in E-flat major for Violin and Piano and Brahms’ Piano Trio No. 2 in C major. It also offers Francis Poulenc’s Sonata for Flute and Piano. The most unusual piece is Boy with a Makeshift Toy by Armenian-American composer Mary Kouyoumdjian, which she wrote for kids who live in a war-torn world.
A night of Latin Jazz on Thursday (August 22) at the Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City will be highlighted by clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera and an all-star quartet consisting of trumpeter Diego Urcola, pianist Daniel Freiberg, bassist Kevin Deitz, and drummer Jason Palmer.
Sponsor
Families can take advantage of the free concert on Friday afternoon (August 23) at the Regatta Park Bandshell in Lincoln City. Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate (Chickasaw) has written Spirit Chief Names the Animal People with movements for coyote, bear, salmon, and eagle.
That evening at the Chinook Winds Casino, Deanna Tham, Associate Conductor of the Oregon Symphony, will lead the Siletz Bay Music Festival Orchestra through A Walk to Beethoven by contemporary Swedish composer Britta Byström, Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, which will feature Emily Su.
“Emily is a violinist from the Royal Academy of Music, where I teach,” said Sun. “She just finished her masters, and she is the only violinist who scored a perfect 100 for her final exam and recital. She will go back to Australia next year to finish her medical degree. She intends to combine musical and medical research and practice.”
The final concert of the festival (August 25) at the Chinook Winds Casino promises to be an extra-special event with Tham and the festival orchestra. On tap is Daniel Freiberg’s Latin American Chronicles, a jazz clarinet concerto that was written for Paquito D’Rivera. Gabriella Smith’s Rust and Nancy Ives’ Celilo Falls: We Were There. OAW’s Angela Allen reviewed the world premiere of Ives’s work here, and it should be noted that the Oregon Symphony has scheduled it for June of next year.
