Me and Misha...
Maestro
Wolff's
Blog
Sept. 30, 2011
Many of you have asked about my experience working with Baryshnikov, and it's not easy to put into words.
It was at a private showing of a modern dance company in NYC that I first met Baryshinikov. At the time I may have been even more interested in the relationship between music and dance than in music itself. I wondered if a language of eternal gestures could translate one artform to another with the simplicity of an elegant mathematical equation. I even dreamed music in dance sometimes, although to this day you'll find no more ackward dancer on the floor (!).
That night the piano music being danced to crossed beyond the edge of common virtuosity (Ravel's dreamy but merciless Gaspard de la nuit), and it was all that I could do to play it with my eyes trying to follow, anticipate and lead every gesture of the intricate dance.
At the end of the program a somewhat height-challenged but distinguished gentlemen comes over to me and we begin discussing Ravel and dance and Paris and Diaghilev. For the first minute, I didn't think it could actually be him, but it was - the legendary Mikhail Baryshnikov. And he wanted to work with me, then a wide-eyed 25-year-old. I walked all the way up Broadway afterwards, floating on air. Sure enough, he contacted the choreographer and asked her to choreograph something for the two of us to perform. About a year or so later I flew in from Rome, where I was living, and we all met to rehearse in a Manhattan dance studio for a few days.
To my amazement, he wanted to collaborate with me on the interpretation as if it were chamber music. We were doing three movements of Schumann's Fantasiestucke, which he had chosen. I would play, he would dance, stopping and starting. We discussed the phrasing, the movement of energy, the points of climax and repose, the mood shifts, each of us gesturing and singing to each other and to the choreographer, occasionally arguing and jesting. Then I would play and he would dance again, each gesture eternal and breathtakingly beautiful. And his command of the space! He seemed a giant to me, like Michelangelo's David, living, breathing, dancing marble.
I've had the privilege of working with countless amazing artists, but if there's one that inspires me to greater humility and to a tireless pursuit of perfection and beauty, it's Misha.
As many of you know, I'm terribly fearful of releasing recordings, but today I came home to find my mancave reorganized and beautified, which sent me into my closet to look for what I might have forever lost. Instead I found these pictures of Baryshinikov and several old live recordings of mine from the late 90's in NYC. You'll find below a link to recordings, for example, of the Ravel Ondine from Gaspard mentioned above, Gershwin's first of Three Preludes, and the first movement of Beethoven's Sonata "Appassionata," the latter two of which I'm performing this Sunday, Oct. 2, 4pm at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church (1601 Raeford Road, Fayetteville). Join me for a solo piano recital.
Also on the program is Liszt's Mephisto Waltz, in honor the 200th Anniversary of his birth-month, Oct. 1811.
Click here to listen.
David Michael Wolff
Sept. 21, 2011
Our Fayetteville Season kick-off is just 10 days way - Sunday, Oct. 2, 4pm - and I must admit, it's sneaking up on me. I'll be giving a solo recital in Fayetteville for the first time in a few years, at our home Fayetteville venue, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church (1601 Raeford Road).
The program is scintillatingly beautiful, and after this Friday's Gala in Pinehurst, I plan on locking myself up in a practice room for a final week of intense preparation. Repertoire includes Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, and Gershwin (his Three Preludes for Piano...).
I look forward to seeing many of you there!
David Michael Wolff
Sept. 20, 2011
Nessun dorma... I remember the first time I heard it. "You've GOT to listen to this!" my cellist friend exclaimed as he pressed play. We were at a summer music festival in Canada similar to Tanglewood. I listened to the famed aria from Turandot that the Three Tenors later brought to unprecedented international popular acclaim, in a recording of Franco Corelli. I listened over and over, equally moved by Puccini's music as I was by Corelli's singing, some say greater than all three tenors combined in his prime. Incidentally, several years later I got to know Corelli a bit in person playing and occasionally translating for lessons out of his Manhattan apartment. That was when one of his students had just broke out onto the scene - Andrea Bocelli...
This Friday our Gala audiences will hear both Nessun dorma and a surprise selection made famous by Bocelli, both sung by three amazing singers - one tenor and two sopranos - backed up by myself and members of the Carolina Philharmonic.
If you're inclined to sing on stage, perhaps you might decide to bid on one of our incredible auction items - singing on stage with the Four Freshmen on Oct. 9 (plus 8 preferred seats, signed cd's, etc.). Whether you're able to come or not, you can view and bid on all auction items here. And you can still make reservations to come. Last year I was so busy that I barely had a chance to savor Mark Elliott's delicacies, a mistake I plan not to repeat on Friday :)
Most proceeds from the Gala will go towards our Educational Outreach Program, STAR (Students-Teachers-Arts-Resources), which works in partnership with Conservatory International. I hope you'll help me support Arts Education locally.
David Michael Wolff
ps If you've never heard Nessun dorma or want to re-experience it, listen to this Three Tenors live video.
Sept. 15, 2011
Community Arts Center and PPAC Box Office in Pinehurst Village...
I announced it officially this morning on Billy Bag o' Donuts'... PPAC is becoming a permanent fixture in the Village, two doors down from Dugan's: 5 Market Place. We'll operate both the PPAC Box Office as well as a Community Arts Center with a Performing Arts Library. Once we have our official ribbon-cutting sometime in the first half of Oct., we'll invite the public to come in anytime during office hours. Learn, listen, watch, chat, sip java, hang out. Curl up on our plush leather couch and read a book from our Performing Arts collection, listen to cd's or watch dvd's (concerts, arts documentaries, etc.) at our multimedia center, join us for opera/concert/musical and other "live" and recorded media events on our flat-screen TV in our Boardroom, sign up to attend free lectures on music and the arts. Or just come by and chat with fellow arts lovers while enjoying some free coffee -- $.25 cent donations accepted to keep the beans aflowing :)
This will be your corner of the Village, a community meeting space. I've donated my complete cd and dvd collection to the cause, and one of our patrons has already offered to do the same. We look forward to further donations to build up a repectable collection for the community. Do you have a DVD, like the 30th Anniversary of Les Mis, or Horowitz in Moscow, a CD of Karajan conducting the Berlin Phil in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, or a book about the history of the Boston Pops that's collecting dust on your shelf or in a box? Perhaps you'd like to either lend or donate it to the Performing Arts Library collection? Just bring it in.
As always, I'm eager to hear your input - please email ideas to carolinaphilharmonic@gmail.com. If you believe in this project and would like to support it financially, mail in a tax-deductible check of any amount to Carolina Philharmonic, earmarked "Community Arts Center" (mail to Carolina Philharmonic, 460 Midland Rd., Pinehurst, 28374).
We will also need volunteers to commit weekly blocks of time to help run the box office and library. Please consider joining our volunteer staff.
Finally, the Gala is just around the corner, on Friday, Sept. 23. We have nearly 45 tickets still available. Click here to make reservations. And our Gala auction is incredible. To read about all our auction items, or to submit a proxy bid, click here.
David Michael Wolff
Aug. 31, 2011
I'm freshly back from the other side of the world. My thanks to our staff and over 100 volunteers for carrying on tirelessly in my absence!
In fact, as my friend Paul pointed out to me yesterday, it can be unnerving to discover that things often run just as smoothly, if not even smoother, in the absence of a leader!
The orchestra works the same way, and it's a lifelong lesson to discover when to do nothing and let them freely make music. Ask most orchestra musicians and they'll tell you the same thing. When things go well, they'll say, "She let us play." And when things don't go so well, they'll counter, "If only he would have just gotten out of our way! "
Herbert Von Karajan, one of the great dictators of the orchestra, once said something curiously zen-like to an up-and-coming conductor: "If at any point during a rehearsal or concert, you realize that the orchestra's interpretation is superior to your own, adapt theirs and don't interfere." Ultimately, the leader gets the credit, which is supremely unfair!
... why I smile at the thought though, I can't explain ;)
So again, to all the Philharmonic, Conservatory and Performing Arts Center staff, volunteers, teachers, and the virtuoso musicians that make up the orchestra, my admiration and thanks for doing your best work when I disappear.
David Michael Wolff
Aug. 8, 2011
Yes, I'm on vacation in Korea... but I was finally able to finalize our invitation to The Four Freshmen. Over the Summer, I've been asking you all who I should bring out and ten different people suggested The Four Freshmen, more than any other act. They put on a first-rate concert and I'm excited to be able to be in the audience!
David Michael Wolff
Aug. 5, 2011
What an incredible night! With over 1,000 in attendance, an orchestra of over 40 musicians, a chorus of 25, and instrumental and vocal soloists performing some of the greatest Pops music ever written, it was so much fun! The overwhelming response from both the audience and the musicians onstage has helped shape the Pinehurst Pops Series 2011/12 we're launching today.
I used to be afraid to tell my piano professors that I enjoyed Andrew Lloyd Webber as much as Bach (God forbid !), but the secret's out. I would repeatedly listen to Les Mis long before I cared much for La Boheme. Now it brings me most pleasure to hear them side-by-side. This season I look forward to presenting the finale of the Pines of Rome next to a marvelous suite from Miss Saigon, of placing Fiddler on the Roof next to Prokofieff's classic Peter and the Wolf. And I promised to repeat last year's standing room only performance of Handel's Messiah (Sunday, Dec. 18, 4pm, Robert E. Lee Auditorium), which will be a purifying, joyful experience for all.
But before I even start thinking about our pre-season Gala at the Fair Barn on Sept. 23, I'm going to enjoy a few weeks of vacation with my family. Greetings from Korea!
David Michael Wolff
July 23, 2011
This Friday night at 7pm, I'll be leading 40 musicians from the Carolina Philharmonic together with the Philharmonic Chorus in a Pops Extravaganza at Robert E. Lee Auditorium. Thanks to your support, we're growing the Philharmonic into a full, first-rate symphony orchestra.
What's the difference between "pops" and "classical"? Most of my conductor colleagues deride the one and revere the other, but I prefer not to put up artificial barriers. If it's great music, whether rock, gospel, jazz, classical, movie music,world music, banjo, or whatever, I want to experience it and share it. I only care about quality - the quality of the music and of how it's performed. I put some of the great Italian film composer Ennio Morricone's music, for example, on a par with Puccini or Verdi. Is there a more eternal melody than Gabriel's Oboe, from The Mission?
This concert is jam-packed with timeless scores, from My Fair Lady to Star Wars, Porgy and Bess to Phantom of the Opera, Gabriel's Oboe (as well as Nella Fantasia) and much more. And I'm looking forward to sneaking in a few classical bonbons, like the Overture to Marriage of Figaro, the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana, and Puccini's Humming Chorus, from Madama Butterfly. Great melody is really the theme that draws the concert together.
After this grand finale, I'm looking forward to escaping to Korea with my family for a few weeks of vacation.
David Michael Wolff
Four Freshmen
