MUSIC

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Conservatory Project

For the past four years, the Kennedy Center's Conservatory Project has showcased top student musicians from 18 of America's best music schools. The round currently underway appears to show that classical music's future is in promising hands. On Tuesday and Thursday, two of this spring's eight concerts by students from the Juilliard School and the New England Conservatory of Music drew cheering capacity audiences, and deservedly so: Both were superlative.

The students in the Conservatory Project are the cream of the crop. Ranging from freshmen to doctoral candidates, most of them have already appeared in major venues around the world. Some are working on double degrees -- Washington's Mark Meadows, a pianist at the Peabody Institute scheduled to play in a concert on Friday, also majors in medicine at Johns Hopkins.

These students face a performance world much more competitive than it was even 20 years ago, and these performances represent important real-world experience. Joel Krosnick, cellist of the Juilliard String Quartet and a Juilliard faculty member who had students performing here this week, praised the project for "providing the visibility these students need to win over managers and keep their ensembles going."

The term "classical music" is broad in scope. In the University of Michigan's program on Monday, Pius Cheung played two of his own etudes on the marimba. But the standard repertory was abundantly represented as well -- more than once, in the case of Ravel's Piano Trio in A Minor. On Tuesday, a performance by Juilliard's N-E-W Trio (cellist and Krosnick student Gal Nyska, pianist Julio Elizalde and violinist Andrew Wan), communicated a warm subjectivity, intensity, and consciousness of Ravel's shifting colorscape . On Thursday, it was offered by the New England Conservatory's Moet Trio (violinist Yuri Namkung, cellist Yves Dharamraj, another Krosnick student, and pianist Michael Mizrahi), who sounded lustrous, but a bit more distant.

The N-E-W also gave a ravishing account, of Mendelssohn's C Minor trio, Op. 66 . On the New England program, baritone John Kapusta gave drama and clear diction to Poulenc's "Chansons Gaillardes," accompanied by the pianist Brett Hodgdon, a responsive partner; and Dima Murrath, a violist, joined pianist Vincent Planes in a fluid, sensitive account of Beethoven's Variations on a Mozart Theme, WoO 46.

-- Cecelia Porter

American Youth Philharmonic Orchestra

The four American Youth Philharmonic ensembles do not constitute a conservatory, but the most advanced of them, the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, offers conservatory-quality playing. At George Mason University's Center for the Arts on Sunday, every section stood out as Music Director Luis Haza conducted three 20th-century American works.

In William Schuman's "New England Triptych," the timpani in "Be Glad Then, America" and the opening snare drums in the expansive and gentle "When Jesus Wept" were impressive. The finale, "Chester," was all skirling woodwinds and scurrying strings.

Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" found the AYPO stronger as accompanist than guest pianist Burnett Thompson was as soloist. The orchestra was bright and brassy, with effectively snarky yelps and fine handling of complex rhythms; Thompson was more urbane, his phrasing a little fussy. He played as if he knows the piece well but is not charmed by it.

The orchestra was both charming and intense in Bernstein's "Symphonic Dances From 'West Side Story.' " This 1960 suite is old music to the young players. But they got both the infectious dance rhythms and the melting sentimentality of "Somewhere" just right, staying on beat as they snapped their fingers and, later, jumped from their seats to yell, "Mambo!"

Some top AYPO players will soon move on to conservatories -- which should be glad to have them.

-- Mark J. Estren

Mary Wilson

Once you've been a Supreme, where do you go from there? Mary Wilson, a founding member of the Motown supergroup, has evolved into everything from ambassador (a cultural one) to actress, author, grandmother (eight times over) and, most recently, political activist, stumping the campaign trail for Hillary Clinton. And on Thursday night at Blues Alley, she put on a show that, she promised, would "tell my life story through songs."

It's a great story, and the show -- titled "Mary Wilson Up Close" -- made for a warm, relentlessly optimistic evening, with the singer in fine voice and clearly having a good time. And yet, as a personal statement, it felt a little cliched, especially from someone who's lived so fully. Opening with that old Shirley Horn standby "Here's to Life," Wilson churned through familiar love songs, ballads and standards from the past half-century, digging into everything from Nat King Cole's "Smile" to Norah Jones' "Don't Know Why."

Things got a bit overcooked at times, and there was a wearying amount of smiling through the tears. But when it worked, it worked beautifully: A heartfelt cover of "I Am Changing," dedicated to her friend and Supremes colleague, the late Florence Ballard, was one of the high points of the set.

Even if the glitz tended to outweigh the depth, Wilson's still a treat to listen to. Looking at least a decade younger than her 63 years, she exudes capital-G glamour from every pore, and her deep, rich voice can reduce a room to adoring silence in a matter of seconds. Her five-piece backup band never really shone, unfortunately -- assembled from bits and pieces, they were playing together for the first time -- but Wilson revved things up with Jorge Ben's "Mas Que Nada" and Billy Joel's "New York State of Mind." Still, it was only when she finally broke out the old Supremes hit "My World Is Empty Without You" that Wilson seemed completely at home -- back where the story of her professional life began.

Wilson performs at Blues Alley through tomorrow.

-- Stephen Brookes