Jon Kimura Parker and Jamie Parker, percussionists? - photos by Derk Jager

We need to have a quiet talk about pianists and their closet desires to be percussionists. In fact, we already are: by any rational definition, the piano is a percussion instrument – we hit a key, which in turn causes a hammer to hit a string, and sound is produced. But most pianists spend their entire professional lives trying not to make a piano sound like a percussion instrument. Our greatest inspiration in this endeavor is Chopin, whose music invites an approach more akin to singing.

But every once in awhile, the urge to be percussive takes over. My colleague, the great artist Emanuel Ax, took tympani lessons which culminated in a cameo performance in a Beethoven Overture with the Toronto Symphony. My approach is less subtle: I just work in percussion instruments whenever they’re handy.

When our program annotator Jeff O’Kelly wrote, of Gershwin’s piano duet arrangement of his Cuban Overture, that “one cannot help regretting the loss of the exotic percussion instruments,” Jamie and I took that as a personal challenge, and not only were the congas very handy (yes, on rare occasions, I can multitask…) but Jamie used his wedding band to great effect in the quiet, middle section of the overture as well.

The Cuban Overture was the beginning of a program that went in many directions. Coming up with program titles is great fun. As Artistic Director, Aloysia often has an idea and makes the music fit. This program sprung from several requests from the artists themselves, and from the beginning was clearly about global variety, featuring not only the Cuban rhythms, but Czech bravura, Russian ballet, German Lieder, and Argentinian Tangos. As we were fussing about the title, I was simultaneously booking flights for an upcoming tour. On the Continental web site, I departed “Round Trip” mode and clicked on “Multiple Destinations” and thought, “Aha, there’s our title!”

Martin Chalifour in Suk's "Burleska"

Martin Chalifour, fresh off the plane at 5pm from having performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl the night before, dazzled with a Kreisler Caprice, the Ysaÿe Ballade, and two pieces by Joseph Suk.

We were, honestly, a bit concerned about the tight turnaround time and the lack of comfort time to rehearse, which we solved by having a quick pre-festival rehearsal last April when I was in L.A. with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

Yizhak Schotten and Katherine Collier

Following Chalifour, the viola/piano duo of Yizhak Schotten and Katherine Collier took us to Prokofiev’s Russia with their own customized arrangement of Five Pieces from the Ballet Romeo and Juliet.

Schotten has a prodigious repertoire of viola jokes, and then proves them all false whenever he plays. Collier had more notes than the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra.

Yizhak and Katherine have directed festivals and chamber music series across the country for over 30 years – it’s a pleasure to welcome them to Orcas this year.

Multiple Destinations took a turn towards Germany for a selection of Hugo Wolf songs which I performed with baritone Philip Cutlip in his farewell performance at this year’s Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival. This was my first experience with Wolf.

The Gryphon Trio performing Christos Hatzis' "Old Photographs"

What utterly gorgeous music! Never one to give you the harmony you expect, Wolf, in his fanatic devotion to mirroring the text, surprises constantly. Philip was a joy.

The Gryphon Trio (Jamie Parker, piano, Annalee Patipatanakoon, violin and Roman Borys, cello) presented the beautiful multimedia work Old Photographs by Christos Hatzis, and rounded out Multiple Destinations with a set of tangos by Astor Piazzolla.

Multiple Destinations was performed on August 19th at 7:30pm and August 20th at 5:00pm. In case you’re wondering how I prepared for the 5pm concert – I got up early and baked 5 peach/ginger pies so that I’d have dessert ready when all the musicians came over for dinner…

The Gryphon Trio - Annalee Patipatanakoon, Jamie Parker, Roman Borys -photo by Derk Jager

Program 2 of the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival – “The Archduke” – featured two trios, the romantic Spanish-flavored Trio of Joaquin Turina, and the weighty gravitas of Beethoven’s mighty Archduke Trio. With the presence of the Gryphon trio, Artistic Director Aloysia Friedmann had the choice of who should play what… and wisely chose first to invite Chee-Yun, Desmond Hoebig and I to play the Turina, a work where last-minute rehearsals, a sense of urgency, and a willingness to indulge each other’s spontaneity complemented the music exactly as it was written.

On the other hand, it was wonderful to have the Gryphon Trio (Jamie Parker, Annalee Patipatanakoon and Roman Borys) play the Archduke, with their wealth of performing and recording history with this massive work. Sometimes it’s a great idea to call in the professionals…! It was rather a surprising tribute to their performance that many audience members wished that the 45-minute work had lasted longer.

Baritone Philip Cutlip played multiple characters in Carl Loewe’s Ballade “Archibald Douglas”, taking us back to an era of vocal storytelling and musical accompaniment that struck me as a precursor for silent film music! Cutlip took his listeners on a tale of reconciliation in the Scottish Highlands. His diction is astounding, but most of all, he drew his listeners in to his world.

He followed with Barber’s Dover Beach, which brought chills to me sitting backstage and listening during rehearsal. Philip has a sensational voice, and the kind of artistry that allows him to alternate between an operatic character and a lieder advocate, a story teller, and a poet.

Martin Friedmann, Philip Cutlip, Chee-Yun, Roman Borys, Aloysia Friedmann in rehearsal.

Desmond Hoebig and I opened the program with the Debussy Cello Sonata, a work that strikes most listeners as modern rather than impressionist. Des and I are both Professors at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, and performed the Debussy there last year; it was wonderful to revisit this quirky and exquisite work.

Earlier in the week, we presented our Annual Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival Children’s Concert, and treated them to everything from composer Dan Sedgwick’s creative music to Goodnight Moon to a few selections from Dichterliebe. Rachel Buchman kept a room full of young ones very engaged!

Singer/guitarist Rachel Buchman leads the annual Children's Concert

Aloysia Friedmann opening Season 14.

A Poet’s Love took its audience on a musical journey so extraordinary that when I polled concertgoers at the post-concert reception and asked “So, what traditional element of a chamber music festival concert was missing?!” nobody came up with the answer. (More on that later.)

Artistic Director Aloysia Friedmann eschewed the usual pre-concert amble and went straight into a solo Telemann violin sonata, then switched to viola backstage for the Mozart Kegelstatt Trio with clarinetist Owen Kotler and myself. I am personally in awe of this ‘switching’ thing. Imagine playing the piano your whole life, then sitting down to a piano where every key is 7 millileters wider…

Baritone Philip Cutlip then took the stage and joined me in a presentation of Schumann’s Dichterliebe. Philip is incredible, and provided the emotional center of the program. Aloysia worked with Philip in the Houston Grand Opera’s production of Jake Heggie’s opera Dead Man Walking. As Joseph DeRocher, he was terrifying. I’ve also seen him charm a full house as Mozart’s Papageno. But Dichterliebe is something else entirely. Both performances became emotional confessionals, and when the last notes of the postlude died away we almost didn’t make it back to ‘reality.’

On the 2nd half of the program, Owen Kotler and I were joined by violinist Chee-Yun in a slinky version of Gershwin’s Summertime. Given that we’re all classically trained, this gave us a chance to get our toes wet in the world of jazz improvisation. I suspect that this short addition of programmatic spice was at least a few people’s secret favorite moment in the concert.

Owen Kotler relaxing backstage

Chee-Yun and I concluded with the Fauré A Major Violin and Piano Sonata. What can I say? This is why I love being a musician. My impression was of riding a roller coaster and taking turns steering.

Oh, yes…that thing that was missing?

Aloysia put together this brilliant program without a cellist.

Not to worry. Desmond Hoebig and Roman Borys have just arrived…

Philip Cutlip, Jon Kimura Parker, Chee-Yun, Aloysia Friedmann, Owen Kotler

Composer/broadcaster/speaker extraordinaire Bruce Adolphe surveyed these questions with dizzying intensity in a 2-hour encounter last Wednesday, and this past weekend I’ve participated in the musical response, in everything from Haydn’s Gypsy Rondo trio to Hungarian Dances of Brahms, Slavonic Dances of Dvorak, and the glorious C Major Trio of Brahms.

Honestly, though, violist Paul Neubauer stole the show (yes, that’s right, I did just say that a VIOLIST stole the show…) with his spectacular renditions of Gypsy Serenades, Czardas and the most unusual canary you’ve ever heard.

To see Paul’s spectacular stage entry, and to get a little taste of the concert, check out Music@Menlo’s latest video, Alla Zingarese!

Music@Menlo is a unique festival. I’ve been here two days and already their video team headed by Tristan Cook has shot, edited and posted this teaching portrait. This kind of frenetic behind-the-scenes activity is emblematic of what makes this festival stand apart: you can go online and truly experience Music@Menlo from afar, and I suggest you check it out for yourself!

I came here with at least a few expectations. I had known in advance from my colleagues to beware the infamous ears of producer and engineer Da-Hong Seetoo, who never misses an incorrect note, and has been known to suggest better fingerings to nonplussed violinists. (More on that later…) But I hadn’t been so aware of how extensive the educational aspect of Music@Menlo would be.

When cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han started Music@Menlo, their aim was to connect professional musicians, music lovers, and music students alike. The Menlo school campus facilitates this interaction beautifully. In my first day here I rehearsed the Brahms C Minor Trio with David and with violinist Elmar Oliveira, gave a master class to gifted students aged 13 years old to mid-20s, strolled across the lawn (OK, it’s a little too idyllic, it’s actually Astroturf) to the cafeteria and had lunch with colleagues and students, went to a different campus building to speak to the music students as a group, then rehearsed piano duets with Wu Han. (We are having way too much fun with the Dvorak and Brahms Dances!)

Another distinguishing feature of Music@Menlo is the extraordinary recorded output of their concerts. This is where 6-time Grammy Award winning  Da-Hong Seetoo comes in. For selected concerts, the “dress rehearsals” are essentially full recording sessions, produced by Seetoo. This accomplishes multiple results: an otherwise wonderful concert performance with just a few live flaws can be corrected after the fact, and the festival can produce limitless numbers of CDs of live performances. Furthermore, Seetoo’s keen ears polish our performances in advance and act almost as a last-minute coaching from a trusted colleague.

My program tonight and tomorrow is All Zingarese, and features everything from the Haydn Gypsy Rondo Trio to Brahms Hungarian Dances to Ravel’s Tzigane. Expect some fireworks!

Taichung: between us is media celebrity Susan Yeh

I’ve played in Taiwan before, but only in Taipei. This tour also includes stops in Taichung and Tainan. According to Jimmy, the preponderance of “Tai-“ as a city prefix is a point of pride, and is indeed related to “Tai-“ as the country name’s prefix.

On Wednesday Cho-Liang “Jimmy” Lin and I played our first recital in Taichung. It was an evening concert, and although it was billed as an educational concert, it wasn’t like any educational concert I’ve played before. I love giving school concerts, but typically much of my energy is devoted to simple crowd control. This audience had kids of all ages, but they were spectacularly attentive, silent during the performances, and demonstratively cheering after each piece.

On Friday, after a blazingly fast bullet train trip, we played in Tainan. The hall had marginal air conditioning and we pretty much dripped through the whole thing, but the acoustics were wonderfully warm and live, and the audience most appreciative.

This isn’t the worlds’ most user friendly violin-piano recital program. For starters, there’s no Beethoven, Brahms, Fauré or Franck. The program begins with Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne, a work I’ve always admired from afar but never played. We then veer into French territory, with two works of Ravel: the Habanera, and the Sonata.  I love playing the Ravel Sonata, a work that traverses almost haunted territory in the 1^st movement, jazzy elements in the 2^nd, and violinistic fireworks in the finale.  Should I start the finale too fast, any violinist would find themselves in hot water immediately. Consequently I find that violinists are always very nice to me when we’re playing the Ravel!

The 2^nd half of our program starts with Debussy’s Beau Soir, an encore really, and then the terminally weird sonata by Poulenc. In memory of Garcia Lorca, the work is puzzling in the extreme, featuring biting rhythms alternating with what sounds a lot like lounge music. We’ve spent hours debating the meaning of the finale’s marking “Presto Tragico.” Firstly, it’s not in the nature of most prestos to be tragic; secondly, some of the music, while always compelling, sounds a bit silly. At any rate, the ending features Garcia’s death and is suitably somber. I’ve grown to love this work, but I’m not sure that I yet understand it.

Our recital finale is another oddity, the Grand Duo Concertante for violin and piano by Franz Liszt. One of only two works by Liszt for violin (the other is a short wedding ditty) this virtuoso showpiece fits the piano like a glove and the violin like a…hmmm. It’s a theme and variations framed by an introduction and a finale, and both parts are dazzling and fillied with technical tricks. I’m a bit surprised it’s not played more often; we’re having a blast with it.

Looking up at Chiang Kai-Shek National Concert Hall

•    •    •    •    •    •    •

Today we’re giving our last performance of this program on this tour, in Taipei. The National Concert Hall in the Chiang Kai-Shek Cultural Center is a wonder. I recall playing here 21 years ago, shortly after the hall was built, and I’ll never forget the experience of being asked to choose my piano.

For me, a typical piano selection means dashing out onto stage between orchestra rehearsals, trying the two Steinways very quickly, and picking one for the concert. Of course, this is only when I actually have the luxury of choosing between the two. Here at the National Concerto Hall there is a Piano Selection Room, and at all times there is a minimum of 6 concert grands to choose from, including Hamburg Steinways, and at least one each of Yamaha, Bösendorfer, and that special Venetian handmade wonder, the Fazioli. I am drawn to the Fazioli immediately, partly on the basis of its looks: it’s a 10-ft piano (the largest ever made by anyone) and the lid has two supporting sticks instead of the traditional one. It also has a way cool bench. I love this particular piano, and if I was playing a solo recital I would have chosen it. But given the color and combination of sound that Jimmy and I are used to, I finally opt for one of the German Steinways.

The First Lady of Taiwan - a true music lover

Tonight’s recital feels somehow a little more formal than the others; the hall is more opulent, the audience more experienced, and the stage much bigger. But we’re thrilled with the result, and we have a few tangos up our sleeve to play as encores – the ubiquitous Albeniz charmer, and the fiery Libertango of Piazzolla.

Our first backstage guest is the First Lady of Taiwan, a music lover very pleased to have a casual night out to listen to our recital.

The next 200 backstage guests all want autographs, so we camp out in the autograph room, and the whole process takes almost an hour.

Should I really be autographing a violin case?!

At long last, our tour is over, and our presenter Mr. Niu has located – what else?  – a late night restaurant for one last meal together before I head home. I have to say I’m looking forward to coming back to visit this extraordinary country.

Jackie and Jimmy with Chris and Sue Fan

Apparently you can ask most Chinese in China where to find the best Chinese food, and be told “Taiwan.” Over a one week period I have learned this to be true!

What percentage of skin vs. meat, sir?

On our first free night in Taipei, Jimmy Lin and I were treated to dinner by our friends Chris and Sue Fan. I’ve been assured that I’m about to experience Peking Duck so good that it’s been informally renamed “Taipei Duck.” I have to agree. It was the meatiest Peking Duck I’ve had, and full of flavor, giving the Dadong Duck House in Beijing a real run for its money.

On Thursday, after rehearsal, we were treated to an extraordinary wine tasting hosted by Taiwan’s Wealth magazine.

Jimmy contributes tasting notes from time to time, so I suppose you could argue that this was actually “work”, but any wine lover who sees the labels in this photo will understand that it was more like insane pleasure.

I can't believe we drank the whole thing...

For oneophiles, I should mention that the bottle that lost its label is a Lafite Rothschild ’96. You might just be able to make out the Lafite relief stamp on the neck of the bottle, an authenticity measure begun that year. The secondary proof was the cork once removed from the bottle, and of course the final proof was in the tasting. Still, it was hard to overshadow the ’91 La Tâche that we tasted earlier. That was truly perfection in a bottle, as was the ’95 Guigal La Mouline that finished us off (literally…)

The real DanDan noodles in Tainan

Taiwan isn’t exactly a large nation, but in southern Taiwan they are protective of their culinary renown for DanDan noodles. This aggressively flavored dish features a highly garlicky meat sauce over a small bowl of noodles. (Not to be confused with DanDan noodles, Shanghai style, and certainly not to be confused with the bland Americanized versions that appear in Pei Wei!)

Of course, DanDan noodles need a little accompaniment, and soon I found myself in what was to become a familiar scene in Taiwan: surrounded by delicious food!

Tainan post-concert snack

I shouldn’t forget to mention breakfast. The Landis Hotel breakfast included everything from customized omelets to shu mai dumplings. But one morning Jimmy takes me out for a local Taipei breakfast.

Breakfast: fried bread, dumplings, warm soy milk

This has to be the ‘whitest’ breakfast I’ve ever eaten, at least in appearance! The items on the left are fried bread in a roll; a true carb lover’s dream. There are many kinds of dumplings and warm soy milk, which I can see is bringing Jimmy right back to his childhood.

Could this be lunch?

Today, a part of our extraordinary experience at Chin-Ai Elementary School in Aowanda National Forest was lunch. In fact, we were served lunch shortly before performing. I can’t speak for all musicians, but most of us eat lightly before concerts, and heavier afterwards. (I’ve been known to break both rules, however…)

This lunch was enormous, but filled with so many local goodies that we had to try everything at least twice!

How are we going to finish this before our recital?

Taiwan is unquestionably food paradise. Dieters be forewarned!

First, a little background: Our recital tour is sponsored by Mercedes-Benz Taiwan.  Outreach and education are as important to them (and to us!) as traditional concerts, so that was always built in as part of the tour. In the meantime, Mercedes G-Class (4 wheel drive) owners have formed a club, wherein the members get together every few months and take an adventurous driving excursion somewhere in Taiwan.

Enter Aowanda National Forest, nestled in the mountains in the center of Taiwan. It’s home to a largely aboriginal community, with a school uniquely appropriate for Cho-Liang Lin to make an appearance (more on that later.) There’s also a lodge for the enthusiastic Mercedes G-Class owners to stay.

Our trip to Aowanda entails meeting up with about a dozen black Mercedes G-Class drivers (most with families) at the base of the mountain at one of Taiwan’s ubiquitous 7 Eleven stores. From there we caravan on switchbacks, past deep gorges and verdant hills, up the mountain.

We arrive, and step out of the car into a swarm of paparazzi. I gather that about half of them are Taiwanese media, and the other half the Mercedes owners, who appear to have spent as much money on camera equipment as on their cars. (One of the club members is the Taiwanese rep for Leica, I later discover.)

Paparazzi in the mountains!

Jimmy Lin and I are seated outdoors at a large school field. There are drums everywhere (familiar looking to me from Japanese Taiko) and a lot of middle school kids in beautiful traditional uniforms. This is Chin-Ai Elementary School, and we are about to be welcomed there.

Spectacular drumming performance at Chin-Ai School

These kids have unbelievable rhythm, and play the drums with joy and precision. I had no idea that they would be putting on anything resembling a musical performance for us, prior to our performing for them. I’m not sure what I expected at a school in such a remote location, but not this.

Meeting our page turner with school Principal looking on

We’re all escorted into the school gym for a feast. On the way in, the wild pig splayed over a flame hints at the treat in store. Almost everything served is locally grown, including mushrooms that grow on tree stumps in the area, a green leafy vegetable that nobody could translate, several varieties of fish, chicken and taro root. And then there is the pork, served with a sticky rice that they can only harvest once a year – they had saved the last of this year’s supply for our lunch. Once they see how much I am enjoying the pork, one of the school teachers runs out periodically to slice pieces from directly over the flame and whisk them to my plate.

Made on premises!

I’m about to discover why it’s so perfect for Jimmy Lin to be here. Chin-Ai Elementary school has a unique approach towards woodworking. The kids start out learning to carve figures from wood, but once they’ve reached a certain level of proficiency at this (say, by about age 10) they graduate to apprenticing at making violins.

They have professional molds for violin parts and expert instruction, and all of the students are expected to make, and decorate, their own violins. Naturally, they all play as well.

Jimmy visits the Chin-Ai violin workshop

Finally we crowd into a classroom where Jimmy and I play a recital for the very odd combination of teachers, parents, students who are all passionate about violins, national media, and the Mercedes G-Class Enthusiast’s Club.

This is great fun. I recall receiving an urgent message a week ago from my management, concerned at discovering that this concert would be played on an upright piano. I can’t imagine having said no to this kind of experience – I’m very glad I wasn’t being a ‘high maintenance’ artist that day…

For the encore, Jimmy picks a violin made by a 12-yr-old girl and plays Kreisler’s Liebesleid. I have to say that I was absolutely wiping tears off of my eyes so that I could read the music. I can’t imagine what the experience was like for this girl.

The music continues. Jimmy and I accompany a huge group of kids in the Pachelbel Canon, I accompany one girl in a student violin concerto by Seitz, a boy gifts his violin to Jimmy and he plays the Ravel Habanera on it. We seem to be constantly trading back and forth as to who is performing for whom! There is endless cheering.

Are you sure I should use a Sharpie?

We end the afternoon autographing absolutely everything – I am autographing programs, brochures, and even violins. I see that Jimmy is autographing hands, wrists and arms.

The kids are really, really excited and don’t want to see us leave. I’m also relieved to see that they’ve gone from being very disciplined in drumming, and very respectful in our performance, to just being…kids.

We leave feeling like something extraordinary has happened, a true cultural and musical exchange where all of us come away enriched by the power of music.

Jackie and Louis

I’ve been fortunate over the years to keep in touch with my Canadian pianistic colleagues, most notably through Janina Fialkowska’s founding of Piano Six many years ago. Although the main purpose of the project (and its successor Piano Plus) was for us to individually bring music to smaller communities in Canada, one of the most fun parts of that project was the occasional multi-piano Gala, in which the two of us shared the stage with Angela Cheng, Marc-André Hamelin, Angela Hewitt, and André Laplante.

This morning I was talking with my Artist Liaison in Taipei’s Landis Hotel lobby, and suddenly heard a “Jackie? Is that you?” I turned to see yet another Canadian pianist, Louis Lortie, talking with his Artist Liaison. The last time we saw each other, I had just performed with the Toronto Symphony and he had just played a Toronto recital, and we managed a quick post-concert dinner. This time our roles are reversed – I’m in recital mode and he is playing Mozart Concerto No. 21 with the National Symphony.

What a very nice surprise!

Jimmy Lin blushing at JKP's effusive compliments

Cho-Liang “Jimmy” Lin is a rock star in Taiwan. I had suspected this was the case even prior to our arrival here, but today’s press conference definitely proved the point.

I’ve been interviewed many times in my life, but it’s an entirely different ballgame to face a phalanx of reporters with cameras, video cameras, and digital recorders capturing your every twitch.

Each of us made a statement. A representative of Mercedes Benz spoke of an important part of this tour: educational and outreach concerts, including a special performance for aboriginal students at Chin-Ai Elementary School in Nantou County.

Taiwanese press in our faces...

Jimmy, unfailingly gracious, thanked me for joining him on this tour, and spoke of his recurring emotions at returning to perform in his home country. (I discovered later that his childhood home has been registered as a national landmark.)

I tell Jimmy how impressed I am that he commands this kind of attention. He modestly points out that it’s not entirely uncommon for any visiting soloist to give a press conference. And then I remember that one of the only times I gave one myself was here in Taipei, on the occasion of my first Taiwanese tour, about 25 years ago.

I have to admit that whenever I see this many people taking photos and videos of the same thing, I do wonder why they don’t just hire one photographer and one videographer and share the proceeds? This scene seems like such overkill. But maybe I’m missing the point. It’s a lot of fun being surrounded by this much camera equipment, and at one point I decide to turn the tables on them and whip out my brand new Olympus E-PL2 and take a shot of all of them!

My view of a room filled with expensive optics

After all of the questions and answers, we took to the piano and gave a brief performance. The piano and acoustics are of the hotel restaurant variety, but we play a little of Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne and call it a day.

A brief performance for the Taiwanese press

Our tour has begun!