BEETHOVEN, BACH AND LENBERG
Ukiah Symphony's musical director discusses upcoming concert
“We're really lucky with this concert. We're performing two concertos. Usually there's just one.”
Ukiah Symphony's musical director Phillip Lenberg will be conducting on Saturday and Sunday, April 6 and 7. The upcoming concert will feature three guest soloists and four pieces- Johann Sebastian Bach's Concerto for 2 Violins in D minor, Clara Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor, Richard Wagner's Siegfried Idyll and Ludwig Van Beethoven's Symphony Number 2.
The guest soloists for the concert are pianist Dr. Daniela Minerva and wife/husband violinists Anna Washburn and Aaron Westman.
Dr. Anna Minerva is a professor of Music and Director of the Keyboard Studies Department at Cal Poly Humboldt. The New York Times hailed Minerva as a “vibrant and expressive performer who could steal the show in every concert.”
Born in Bulgaria, Minerva graduated from the Sofia Music Academy with the Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting. She also holds a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance and an Outstanding Graduate Diploma from the University of North Texas, as well as an Artist Certificate from Northwestern University, a Doctor of Music Arts degree, and the Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music.
A teacher, composer and chamber musician, Minerva has served as the president of the International Society for Pianists and Composers in the USA from 2011-2016. She has appeared as an orchestral soloist, chamber music collaborator and solo artist at some of the most prestigious venues throughout Europe, Asia and the US.
Minerva has been the winner and finalist in numerous international and national competitions including the Jean Francaix piano competition in Paris and the Steinway International Piano Competition. She is an avid proponent of new music and has collaborated with new music ensembles including Speculum Musica, Twenty One, OSSIA and the Eastman School of Music.
More locally, she has been the Artistic and Executive Director of Arcata's Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop. She is Co-Director and faculty member for the North Coast Piano Festival and Competition, and also organized the Humboldt Chamber Music Concert Series.
Anna Washburn holds a M.M. in performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as well as a B.M. in performance from Boston University. She performs with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Bach Collegium of San Diego, Agave Baroque, and the Oregon Bach Festival as a Baroque violinist.
As a modern violinist, Washburn has performed with Symphony Silicon Valley, Monterey Symphony, Stockton Symphony and the Merced Symphony. In addition to her passion for period performance, Anna also appears on stage with a variety of ensembles- recording and performing with the pop- orchestra Magik*Magik Orchestra,
which performs with a variety of artists such as Sting, Chicago, Third Eye Blind, The Dodos, Hauschka and Dustin O'Halloran, as well as the hip hop/opera group Ensemble Mik Nawooj. She has participated in the Commonwealth Club's series “Music Matters” in a multi- part lecture series on Mozart.
Aaron Westman began his musical journey as a “metal head” in Santa Rosa. Today, he holds degrees from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and Wesleyan University. In 2021, he became a faculty member at Sonoma State and also directs the Santa Rosa Symphony's Young People's Chamber Orchestra.
Westman is a Grammynominated violinist/violist who has performed since 2005 as a chamber, principal player, or soloist with all of California's major gut string ensembles. He works with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, Ars Minerva, Bach Collegium San Diego, the California Bach Society and El Mundo, and has toured with Orchester Wiener Akademie, including for four seasons with actor John Malkovich. He plays in the Oregon and Carmel Bach Festival Orchestras, and has worked with the Mark Morris and Martha Graham Dance Companies.
Westman is co- director of the chamber ensemble Agave, whose 2021 album American Originals was a nominee for the 64th Annual GRAMMY® Awards. Their latest release, AGAVE: In Her Hands features music by thirteen women composers. J.S. Bach's Concerto for 2 Violins was heavily influenced by Vivaldi, says Lenberg. “It's the one piece on the program that's just strings. It's an absolutely gorgeous piece- short and beautiful.” It's thought that Bach composed the piece around 1730 and it is considered by critics and scholars as one of his most successful works. Clara Schumann's Piano Concerto was composed when she was 13, prior to her marriage to Robert Schumann. “She was the classic underachiever,” smiles Lenberg. Schumann did not need to bask in the limelight of her husband, as she had a successful career prior to her marriage. She changed the entire concept of piano recitals and continued a decades-long career as a performer long after Robert Schumann's tragic and early death.
“Siegfried Idyll was a private piece that Richard Wagner wrote for his wife's birthday. He never intended to publish it, but money got tight, and he had to sell it,” says Lenberg, noting how some aspects of the musician's life hasn't changed over hundreds of years. “It's an absolutely beautiful introduction to Wagner.” His wife, Cosima wrote to her children after she was presented with the piece for the first time: “When I woke up I heard a sound, it grew ever louder, I could no longer imagine myself in a dream, music was sounding, and what music! After it had died away, R. came in to me with the five children and put into my hands the score of his `Symphonic Birthday Greeting.' I was in tears, but so, too, was the whole household.”
Beethoven wrote his 2nd Symphony as he was grappling with the reality of losing his hearing.
“He wrote what was essentially a suicide letter to his brother, basically saying he was unable to go on- that he nothing left to live for. He said the only reason for not killing himself was that he had more to say with his art. He took up the mantle and wrote that symphony the same year.” Lenberg describes the symphony a transitional piece- considered to be a gateway from Beethoven's earlier “classical” work toward the more dramatic pieces he is associated with. “It leans toward Beethoven's next phase, with lots of sudden shifts and interruptions.”
Lenberg notes that like jazz and rock musicians of today, classical musicians were expected to improvise.
“It was a skill all musicians had to know. Keyboard parts in Baroque music were just numbers. The keyboard player knew that when a certain symbol occurred, it was their time to improvise.”
As a conductor, interpretation of a piece is fundamental to its performance. “If you listen to 10 different recordings of a sonata, you'll hear 10 different versions.”
It takes Lenberg about a year to construct the Symphony's program- choosing the music, locating the soloists, putting together the schedule. “The other main work is rehearsals. That's where we shape the music, focus our energies, figure out what works for this orchestra, and focus the strengths of the group you're working with. Our symphony plays with a lot of energy, so Beethoven's symphonies are perfect for our group.”
Remarkably, the musicians don't spend much time together prior to performing.
“We have exactly two rehearsals,” Lenberg notes. “We come together a week before the concert. I might work a bit with local strings, then winds, brass and percussion the week before. Everyone has to be ready for the concert. People get their music in the mail or online and then we come together.”
“The Symphony is such a great model of a democratic community. Everyone has to do their part. And it's a great pedagogical environment for students. We all share common goals we're trying to reach. Plus the benefit of young players sitting next to experienced players- that raises everyone's game.”
Lenberg “didn't always know” he was destined to be a conductor. Or a lover of classical music.
“My parents were Russian, so I grew up around classical music, Russian music, opera and jazz. I started playing by ear. My parents gave me violin lessons when I was 5. I hated practicing so much I would cut the bow hairs,” he smiles. “I took piano on and off, but like most kids, I hated practicing. In middle school I was in a band. We played rock, blues and funk. We were together for 7 years.”
“It wasn't until I was in high school that I realized I was going to major in music.” Lenberg lived in the Midwest, where there were more established, larger music programs for young people. “California music education is definitely more privatized.”
He went to college on a jazz scholarship and ended up transferring to classical guitar and composition.
He remembers the time and the album that changed everything for him.
My instructor at Grand Rapids Community College played me Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. That album came out right in that time before other musicians started going into free jazz. It blew open the door for me. I listened to everything possible by Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Ron Carter. I had vinyl, so I'd read the liner notes, look at who was playing on the album and get their records.”
Phillip pursued his bachelor's degree at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music, and SUNY Stony Brook, where he studied classical guitar and composition. He holds a Master's and Doctoral degree in orchestral conducting from the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, where he received a Most Outstanding Graduate Student award. He has performed as an instrumentalist at Notre Dame Cathedral, The Glenn Gould Studio of the CBC, Herbst Theater, Nourse Theater, and SF Jazz. He has participated in the Atlantic Music Festival, Nextet New Music Festival, and worked as an assistant at The Conductors Retreat at Medomak.
Lenberg was the Assistant Conductor of the Las Vegas Philharmonic and the Henderson Symphony Orchestra from 2007—2011, as well the assistant conductor of orchestras, opera productions, and parttime conducting teacher at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, where he worked as the assistant conductor for Itzakh Perlman, as well as the rehearsal and cover conductor for concerts featuring Hilary Hanh, Sarah Chang, The Manhattan Transfer, and many other internationally renowned artists. From today's vantage point, Lenberg sees the importance of recruiting young people who become the future of the non-profit Symphony. “I've been talking with Paul Yarbrough, who was a member of the Alexander String Quartet and now lives in Mendocino County. We've been talking about a Strings in the Schools program. Part of our Symphony outreach is to help support the development of music education in Ukiah. So we're performing 3 shows on the Friday before this concert for busloads of kids from Mendocino County. We'll have a few hundred kids at each show. We'll do something from Harry Potter, the Nutcracker and Beethoven. They might not know it yet, but they need Beethoven,” he grins. He is also working with the college on the development of a Mariachi ensemble. “It might happen in about two years.”
Lenberg offers pre- concert talks before each of the scheduled performances. “I'm hoping we can interview each of our soloists about the pieces they're playing. We'll also be announcing our next season at this concert, which is going to be fantastic.”
Saturday's concert begins at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday's is at 2 p.m., with preconcert talks at 6:30 p.m. at 1:30 p.m.. The concert takes place at the Mendocino College Center Theater. Tickets are available at https://www.ukiahsymphony.organd if available, at the door. The Center Theater box office opens at 6 p.m. on Saturday and 12:30 p.m. on Sunday. For information email info@ ukiahsymphony. org or leave a message at (707) 510-1793.