Valentin Radu
Speaks Candidly About VoxAmaDeus
Past … Present … Future …
Dear Friends of VoxAmaDeus …
Please consider this to be like a partial "shareholders' report" for a musical organization that I founded 27 years ago and that I love and which you support through your concert attendance, ticket purchases and/or financial donations. I'll break this report down into four major areas:1) My satisfaction with the tremendous growth of the Camerata Ama Deus chamber orchestra from a dream of mine to a full-fledged ensemble which, at its last performance, played to a standing-room-only, capacity audience in Daylesford Abbey on September 15;
2) My artistic vision in programming combinations of (pardon the expression) old warhorses like the Messiah or the Mozart Requiem with lesser-known works - musical gems that are "new" to the audience, even though they are centuries old;
3) Developing and continuing the concept of conducting from the keyboard; and
4) Performing "outside-the-box" repertoire, as we began to do with our Gershwin and More concerts starring the fabulous British virtuoso Peter Donohoe on the piano.
The Camerata Ama Deus
Now in its seventh season, the Camerata Ama Deus began this 27th VoxAmaDeus season with a "big bang" on September 15 at Daylesford Abbey. In the program were four of the six Bach Brandenburg Concertos. I guess it was a seven-year itch of sorts, because the Camerata's first concert in October 2007 also featured these concertos. The Brandenburgs are joyful and masterful works, a fusion of two musical genres: the concerto grosso developed by Arcangelo Corelli and the solo-instrument concerto fathered by Antonio Vivaldi. The Bach concertos are music that lives forever—timeless masterpieces of Baroque classical music. Click here for tickets.Over the last seven years the Camerata Ama Deus has established a firm footing in the Philadelphia area with performances at the Kimmel Center, Daylesford Abbey, Bryn Mawr College's Thomas Great Hall and the Church of Saint Martin-in-the-Fields in Chestnut Hill.
There are several distinctive features of this ensemble of which I am very proud. First, Camerata is a small-sized group that is appropriate to performances of music of the Baroque and early Classical eras; it is the type of ensemble for which Bach, Vivaldi and Mozart composed, and also led. Next, the artists all stand as they perform, as they did then (with the exception of the cellists, theorboist and harpsichordist, of course!). Third, all of the soloists are drawn from within the ensemble; each player has soloist capabilities, and I want each, in turn, to shine. But above all, although every player is a fabulous soloist in his or her own right, each can also perform as a member of a unified team.
For me Camerata is a happy renewal of two other ensembles I founded and conducted in years past. First, there was Juvenes Musici (Young Musicians) in my hometown of Bucharest, Romania, when I was an undergraduate student at the Academy of Music while still in my late teens. Then, when I was a graduate student at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, I founded and conducted the Juilliard Bach Players, performing in concert halls of New York City's Lincoln Center.
And I must give an appreciative nod to one of my predecessors in Philadelphia, whose chamber orchestra helped establish a similar tradition in this region. This was Marc Mostovoy and his ensemble in its incarnation as the Concerto Soloists. This chamber orchestra stood to play, and drew its soloists from the ranks of a steady, unified ensemble. His chamber orchestra offered Delaware Valley audiences a then rare opportunity to appreciate Baroque and Classical music in a format that history tells us was the way the composers intended.
In Europe about 50 years ago, one of my mentors, the great conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and his Concentus Musicus, led the way. What Maestro Harnoncourt boldly invented is what Camerata Ama Deus does today, as it grows from strength to strength with each performance. And I must gratefully acknowledge that from the first performance, my dream for the Camerata Ama Deus was funded by the generosity of the PGP Foundation, without whose support the Camerata would not exist!
And finally, the Camerata Ama Deus permits me to do something I was inspired to do by Leonard Bernstein. This is my "Live Notes" commentaries about the composers and each piece of music on the program.
I first saw Bernstein and his Young Peoples' Concert Series in Romania. I was fascinated to see a famous, world-class maestro speak to the audience. This was not done in Europe! He was like a great professor. What a concept! How informative and funny and witty he was as he spoke about composers, the pieces of music, about performance practices and other details that would have remained unknown to the public had not Bernstein spoken to his audience with such personality and clarity.
My "Live Notes" follow the same idea; and I’ve gotten great responses from VoxAmaDeus audience members who tell me they appreciate hearing these bits of information, and who tell me they are better able to understand and enjoy the music because of them.
Combining Old Warhorses with the Lesser Known
As the Artistic Director of VoxAmaDeus I wear the hats of conductor, performer and "programmer-in-chief." It is my duty and pleasure to balance the repertoire for individual concerts while keeping the entire year's season of music in mind. As much as I am a traditionalist, I also strive (as part of my—and Vox’s—educational mission) to bring to audiences "old gems" that are new or seldom performed around here. For example, this would include balancing Vox's yearly tradition of performing Handel’s Messiah with such lesser-known gems as J.S. Bach’s Saint John Passion, or Paganini's First Violin Concerto, or Beethoven's Ruins of Athens (all of which we did last year), and this season, for example, Mozart's Grand Mass in c minor, Rossini's Stabat Mater, and even several Gershwin gems this coming January 3, 2014.My job is filled with a lot of balancing of many ingredients. For instance, I need to consider the season of the year (fall vs. winter, winter vs. spring), the theme of the season (Advent and Christmas vs. Lent and Easter). These are not easy decisions to make as to what pieces of music are best to present during a specific time frame. Other considerations include what music will fill seats by attracting an audience. Some famed composers (such as, sadly, Haydn) do not, surprisingly enough, attract sizeable audiences. What manpower forces will the budget allow? Who will be the best soloist for the music I've selected? How do I attempt to balance the performance of "traditional" works versus lesser-known "old music" selections? In short, it is a difficult juggling act. These are tough decisions, but somebody's got to do it (said with a smile!). And in the end I know that I will never be able to please everybody. As the saying goes, "It’s lonely at the top!" (ditto the smile!).
Outside-the-Box
My love for American music began while growing up in Communist Romania. But this sort of music was considered decadent and dangerous. Its performance in public, or broadcast over TV or radio, was forbidden. But I (and many of my contemporaries) were fascinated by the rich palate of colorful sounds and rhythms George Gershwin was able to compose in the "symphonic jazz" style he created. Also, he combined traditional and jazz instruments to produce his musical diversity. I became familiar with Gershwin via smuggled, bootlegged tapes and LPs brought home by the few Romanians allowed to travel during the—now almost forgotten—Cold War. In addition, I heard this exciting new music thanks to broadcasts over Radio Free Europe and The Voice of America.I am very proud to note that the first officially allowed performance of Gershwin took place under my baton on December 21, 1998, in the Bucharest Philharmonic Hall with the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra, with my teacher and mentor, Maestro Dan Grigore, at the piano. On that program there were such gems as American in Paris, Rhapsody in Blue and a suite from Porgy and Bess. This concert came symbolically at the end of the Gershwin centennial year. It was attended by the Romanian President, Dr. Emil Constantinescu, and his governmental entourage, along with many of my "musical" Cold War sufferers, who had smiles and tears on their faces during the performance.
That performance started a series of concerts of Gershwin, coupled with other American composers, conducted by me in Bucharest and several Romanian cities. These gave me a keen appetite and desire to do similar concerts with my Ama Deus Ensemble (the largest of the VoxAmaDeus performing troupes).
That opportunity came about thirteen years later on April 22, 2011, with the inauguration of the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA). In the Kimmel Center, VoxAmaDeus produced a concert we called Rebels in Paris—the music of Fauré, Stravinsky and Gershwin. This concert was the perfect opportunity (or "excuse," if you will) for Vox's first ever "outside-the-box" concert (our "box" being music of the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and early Romantic eras, as per our mission statement). It was artistically a stunning success with our audience, as well as with several major patrons to whom I am indebted for their continued support of our "outside-the-box" concerts!
What followed over the next years were two all-Gershwin concerts in January of 2012 and 2013. These concerts brought to our stage a phenomenal British artist, Maestro Peter Donohoe, one of the very top pianists in the world.
Incidentally, in June 2012 I took Maestro Donohoe with me to Bucharest to perform two all-Gershwin concerts under my baton on the stage of the Bucharest Philharmonic Hall with the Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra (whose players I had conducted many, many times).
I am so happy that Peter Donohoe is coming back to perform his trademark Rhapsody in Blue and the Second Rhapsody (as well as several more Gershwin delights) on January 3, 2014. Also on this concert, Peter and I will perform the famous, complex and Jazz-influenced Piano Concerto in G by Maurice Ravel. This work is a luscious, melodic, jazzy concerto that is fiendishly difficult for all the orchestra musicians, and of course for the solo pianist, Peter Donohoe. It was selected by Maestro Donohoe as a perfect counterpart to the Gershwin he will also perform.
And speaking of "old vs. new": in addition to Gershwin and Ravel, the Ama Deus Ensemble orchestra will perform four movie themes by John Williams as part of this extraordinary concert. Please don’t miss it on January 3, 2014, in the Perelman Theater of the Kimmel Center. It is a perfect way to kick off the New Year!
Continuing to speak of "old" and "new" traditions: For ten uninterrupted years beginning in 1997, VoxAmaDeus and I created a tradition of concerts with piano solo. This began when I invited my famous Romanian professor and mentor, Maestro Dan Grigore, to come to Philadelphia and perform under my baton major piano concertos—those by Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann and Grieg.
But in June 2008 this tradition took a slight turn when Maestro Grigore could not return. So, with the Camerata Ama Deus, his student (that’s me) played and conducted from the keyboard in a Mozart concerto. While this feat may seem strange to many, it is an historic fact that it was common for composers, such as Mozart and Beethoven and Haydn, to perform their piano works with orchestra while they also conducted from the keyboard. It was also common in the Baroque era for composers, such as Bach and Handel, to play the harpsichord (or organ) continuo music as part of their orchestras. This is a Baroque and Classical era tradition I have continued. Not too many pianists venture to do this, partly because conductors don't allow them to, although Bernstein, Ashkenazy and Barenboim did so.
But this VoxAmaDeus tradition is going strong. For instance, just three weeks ago I performed (and recorded with the Ama Deus Ensemble orchestra) Mozart's 24th Piano Concerto in the Kimmel Center's Perelman Theater. Previously I have performed, conducted and recorded three other Mozart concertos—the 20th, 21st and 23rd. And this wonderful tradition will be continued in following seasons, even this coming May 16, when I will—for the first time—play and conduct Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 (the Empress) at the Kimmel Center!
And speaking of recordings, I think it is fair to say that the ensembles of VoxAmaDeus can boast of having the largest number of live recordings for commercial compact discs in the Delaware Valley, with a total of 28 albums (and more on the way). Visit our CD store here.