Summertime, and the concert-going is easy, beginning with the Golandsky International Piano Festival.
By: Susan Van Dongen
We assume that professional athletes endure high levels of pain
throughout their careers.
It might surprise some to know that a majority of professional
musicians live with some kind of playing-related fatigue as well. Some have even
had to curtail or end their careers because of tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome
or focal dystonia, a neurological condition characterized by a loss in motor control
of one or more fingers.
This ailment has been in the news lately, especially since the
principal oboeist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra had to let go of his position.
Legendary pianist Leon Fleischer also had to retire because of focal dystonia.
It was as though his hands weren’t getting the musical signals from his brain.
Fortunately, before the malady gets to these tragic levels,
many instrumentalists have discovered the Taubman Approach, a method of tuning
into the body’s natural sense of alignment. Invented by piano pedagogue Dorothy
Taubman, the technique helps musicians add strength as well as agility to their
playing, but most importantly, allows them to play pain-free.
Edna Golandsky, co-founder and former senior faculty member
of the Taubman Institute and leading advocate of the Taubman Approach
has taken the methodology even further, establishing the Golandsky Institute in
2003.
Envisoning a week of advanced study in the Taubman Approach,
as well as a number of eloquent piano performances, Ms. Golandsky is presenting
the Golandsky Institute 2005 Summer Symposium and International Piano Festival
at Princeton University July 17-23. The event returns to Princeton after a successful
week in Princeton last summer, and brings together stellar talent from the keyboard
performance world, with Latin jazz virtuoso Danilo Pérez capping the week
of concerts. In addition, a new work by American music iconoclast George Crumb
will be introduced.
Symposium participants will attend daily lectures on fundamentals
of the Taubman Approach, technique classes, pedagogy clinics, teaching sessions
and master classes with Ms. Golandsky and her world-renowned faculty, focusing
on the integration of technique and musical expression.
Ms. Golandsky, artistic director for the symposium and festival,
says, "in only seven days, many incredible transformations take place that make
a real difference in the musicians’ lives. We make it possible for them to play
music that they never dreamed themselves capable of playing."
Trained at Juilliard, Ms. Golandsky is not only a world-renowned
pianist and teacher, she has an intuitive knowledge of the body, at least as far
as making the most of the forearms, wrists and fingers, getting them to move as
best they can around the keyboard, organically and pain-free.
"It goes beyond physiology and medicine," Ms. Golandsky said
in a TimeOFF interview from 2004. "Dorothy understood the invisible aspect
(of playing the piano) the fact that there is a whole world of motion that
you cannot see. There really is no machinery for this but Dorothy Taubman figured
it out."
The Golandsky Institute 2005 Summer Symposium and International Piano Festival
will take place at Taplin Auditorium in the Woolworth Music Building, Princeton
University, Princeton, July 17-23. Performers include Michael Berkovsky, July
Father Sean Duggan, July 22; Danilo Pérez, July 23. All concerts are at
8 p.m. For detailed information about lectures and classes, visit the Golandsky
Institute Web site: www.golandskyinstitute.org.
All concerts and lectures are open to the public and cost $15; $5 seniors and
students. $100 gets admission to one day’s complete events (no private lessons).
Symposium fees: $1,275 per resident participant, $975 per commuting participant.
For information, call (877) 343-3434 or (212) 875-0034.
Here’s a sampling of classical music events happening this summer:
The Shanghai String Quartet, presented by Princeton Summer Concerts, performs
at Richardson Auditorium, on the campus of Princeton University, June 29, 8 p.m.,
in a special performance to honor the late Barbara Lourie Sand, longtime Princeton
resident, musicologist and music writer who founded the summer chamber concert
series in Princeton. Ms. Sand’s last book was Teaching Genius: Dorothy DeLay
and the Making of a Musician (Amadeus, 2000), a biography of the legendary
Juilliard violin pedagogue, who died in 2002. Tickets are free and will be distributed
at 6 p.m. the evening of the performance. For information, call (609) 258-5000.
On the Web: www.princeton.edu/richaud/evinfo.shtml
The Riverside Symphonia conducted by Mariusz Smolij presents the "quintessential
Bucks County, Pa., experience," with an outdoor concert at Tinicum Park, River
Road, Erwinna, Pa., July 2, 8 p.m. The program features works by Copland, Gershwin
and Tchaikovsky as well as a number of pop and patriotic favorites. Tickets cost
$15 adults, $8 children in advance; $18 adults, $10 for children at the gate.
Advance ticket sales are recommended. For information, call (609) 397-7300. On
the Web: www.riversidesymphonia.org
The Princeton Festival presents the Concordia Chamber Players at
the Kirby Arts Center, July 8, 8 p.m. The concert features music by Copland, Brahms
and Schumann. Based in New Hope, Pa., the ensemble was founded by New Hope resident
and cellist Michelle Djokic, who debuted with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age
13. For information, call (800) 595-4849 or (609) 537-0071. On the Web: www.princetonfestival.org
Marvin Rosen will perform The Ink is Still Wet, a solo piano recital
in Bristol Chapel, on the campus of Westminster Choir College of Rider University,
Princeton, July 7, 7:30 p.m. The works, by American and international composers,
have all been written in the last decade, including a piece composed expressly
for Mr. Rosen. Five of the compositions are American premieres. A true champion
of contemporary music from around the world, Mr. Rosen is host of WPRB-FM’s Classical
Discoveries, which is celebrating its 8th anniversary this summer. Free admission/free
will offering. For information, call (609) 921-2663. Mr. Rosen and Classical
Discoveries on the Web: ourworld.cs.com/clasdis/
The Metro Lyric Opera company presents its Summer Opera Festival 2005,
with a performance of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, at the Paramount Theatre
on the Boardwalk, Ocean Avenue between 5th and Sunset avenues, Asbury Park, July
9, 8 p.m. The Metro Lyric Opera will also stage Mozart’s Nozze di Figaro (The
Marriage of Figaro) July 23, 8 p.m. and Puccini’s La Boheme, Aug. 6,
8 p.m. Tickets cost $22-$55 and includes $2 to help the restoration of the venue.
For information, call (732) 768-4122. On the Web: www.metrolyricopera.org