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CHANGE -
IT IS UPON US!
In this historic election year, the talk is all about change and a new vision
for the future. Sounds a lot like FSA since this certainly was a year of change
for us with a move to 27th Street from 54th, where we had had our office for 35
years. Mrs. M, our first floor neighbor at 54th Street, has been reading palms,
tea leaves and tarot cards for longer than we had been in the building but even
she hadn't foreseen the purchase of the building and it's probable conversion
into million dollar condo apartments - or at least she hadn't tipped us off.
 We moved at the end of May, just before the Orchestra League Conference and the
season at Marlboro, to the Greater Chelsea area and were delighted to find an
illustrious musical neighbor in our building - The Leonard Bernstein Office. So,
we look forward to welcoming you to Suite 703 at 121 West 27th Street (betw. 6th
& 7th Avenues) with a fine view of the Empire State Building and to exploring
the many fine restaurants hereabouts.
Despite the traumas that moving presented for all of us, 2008 and the whole
season offered innumerable artistic triumphs and discoveries. Here are just a
few: Sir Simon Rattle with the
Philadelphia Orchestra introducing us to Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri
and to the remarkable mezzo Bernarda Fink, whom we engaged for a solo
recital in the Peoples' Symphony Concerts
series that we manage.
 Our friendship with
Leon Fleisher began at Marlboro in the early 60's (including some
all-night poker games), so it was a thrill to have him join us at FSA and to
share in all his great happenings - Academy Award-nominated documentary; Kennedy
Center Honors; 80th year-young celebrations and appearances as
conductor or soloist including the Baltimore Symphony, Boston Symphony at
Tanglewood, Chicago Symphony at Ravinia and so much more coming up.
 As violinist and conductor,
Jaime Laredo is one of today's masters
which he showed once again: conducting the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie
Hall with Bronfman and Watts as soloists and some of the country's most talented
young musicians; playing Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat in Alan Alda's
production at the 92nd Street Y; and in his inspiring concerts with
today's leading piano trio, The
Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio.
 Richard Goode's
multiple-event residency at the South Bank Centre in London; his truly memorable
recitals on both sides of The Ocean; and, coming in January on Nonesuch, his
first recording of the Five Beethoven Concertos.
Our wonderful next generation pianists were also making
news. Alon Goldstein played an
acclaimed Beethoven No. 1 with Blomstedt and the Israel Philharmonic and has a
new concerto being written for him by highly-regarded Israeli composer Avner
Dorman. Lise de la Salle continues
to amaze, (garnering her second 'Recording of the Month' from Gramophone
Magazine before her 20th birthday) for her Naïve recording of
first concertos of Liszt, Shostakovich and Prokofiev - the latter performed at
her Hollywood Bowl debut in September. |
 Our other Richard -
Stoltzman, that is - also had a memorable season with a stunning Corigliano Concerto with the Dallas Symphony under
Peter Oundjian and memorable
reunion performances of TASHI, after
thirty years, to help celebrate the Messiaen centenary.
 I had the great pleasure of hearing Peter conduct a
stunning Turangalila in one of his five sold-out concerts in the New
Creations Festival - one of his many innovations and triumphs as Music Director
of the Toronto Symphony, which launched a new record label with Elgar/Mussorgsky
and Bruckner discs and will make their first Carnegie Hall appearance in years
in October with Shostakovich No. 11.
 Another conductor who is creating a buzz with orchestras
and audiences around North America - who all invite him back - is our favorite
Scot, Douglas Boyd. In fact, the
musicians in Colorado were so excited by his electricity that, after his first
rehearsal, they asked if he would consider becoming their Principal Guest
Conductor, which happened this January with a thrilling performance of Sacre.
 One of the most encouraging discoveries of 2008 was the
number of commissioning groups that seem to be springing up all over the
country, in places from Green Bay to Seattle. It seemed a wonderful valediction
for the special project we put together with the Guarneri Quartet and our own
Johannes Quartet, commissioning new
works for quartet and octet from Bolcom, Salonen and Bermel. The performances
in Urbana (premiere), Ann Arbor, Boston, and at Penn State drew raves from Mike
Ross, Ken Fischer, Amy Lam and George Trudeau - and there are more performances
to come this season. Speaking of new works, we're all excited about the new
concerto that Sergio Assad has written for the Grammy-winning
Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, a group
that consistently sells-out whether in recital or with orchestra.
 It certainly isn't a new work but Bach's Art of the Fugue was a fascinating vehicle for
Windscape and the Orion Quartet. Our marvelous wind soloists also astound with their fascinating contextual programs. There is another FSA group that has inspired audiences to cheers - at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, Town Hall in New York and in their San Francisco debut in April. It's what happens whenever the exciting conductor-less orchestra
ECCO (East Coast Chamber Orchestra) comes to town.
"The secret is a sense of joy" was the way one Chicago critic described
Musicians from Marlboro. Each summer in Vermont, it's a thrill to discover a new group of extraordinary young artists and when they go on tour, each new ensemble reflects that special Marlboro spirit.
 In other happy news, two months after his beautiful Brahms concerto with the Vancouver Symphony, violinist
Scott St. John married violist and fellow Canadian Sharon Wei. It's a vintage year for weddings with our Marlboro colleague Tessa Chermiset tying the knot with Chris McIntire, an architect who kindly helped design our new office space.
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  I
can't end a Diary without mention of our adorable grandkids. Meghan, who will be
5 in November, just started kindergarten in Oakland but earlier in the summer
she came to visit in Marlboro, as much to participate in the annual Festival
square dance with musicians and staff as to see Martha and me. She also got a
chance to play with her London cousin Emily Watkins (Jaime Laredo's
granddaughter) with the incredible dollhouse that Martha (with a little help
from me) built for our little girls 30+ years ago. Griffen, who celebrated his
3rd birthday in August in Jackson Hole, is at the stage of trying to decide his
life's work - it seems to change from day-to-day - fireman, guitarist, Olympic
swimmer...They are both a joy, but that's what we lucky grandparents always say.
Happy new season from all of us at Frank Salomon Associates,
Frank |
