The Well-Tempered Ear

Classical music education: The Green Lake Festival of Music opens the 17th year of its Chamber Music Camp, with FREE public concerts, this week.

By Jacob Stockinger

The Ear’s friends at the Green Lake Festival of Music write to tell us about a program important to music education – which means a program important to the future of classical music:

Here is the press release:

On Sunday, July 5, at the Thrasher Opera House (below  bottom) in Green Lake, The Green Lake Chamber Players open the 17th annual Green Lake Music Festival Chamber Music Camp, as string and piano students (below top) from nine states, ages 11 to 20, convene at Ripon College for two weeks of stimulating music-making along with just plain fun.

Part of the fun includes a trip to Larry Miller’s farm and a shopping scavenger hunt at K-Mart.

The daily schedule includes coaching sessions by Thomas Rosenberg (Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition Director, cellist and the Camp’s Artistic Director); Samantha George, Associate Professor of Violin at Lawrence Conservatory of Music; Karen Kim, Grammy Award winning violinist; David Perry, Professor of Violin at the UW-Madison and first violin of the Pro Arte String Quartet; Renee Skerik, Instructor of Viola at Interlochen Arts Academy; Andrew Armstrong from the Amelia Piano Trio; James Howsmon, Professor of Instrumental Accompanying at Oberlin College Conservatory; and guest artists, including Shen Lu, 2014 Hilton Head International Piano Competition Winner, the Jupiter Quartet (below top), and the Bergonzi String Quartet (below bottom).

Jupiter Quartet at Studio Theatre, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. From left: Liz Freivogel, Nelson Lee, Daniel McDonough, and Meg Freivogel

Join us for the first of several Green Lake Chamber Players concerts on Sunday, July 5, at 3 p.m. This concert is a “BUY ONE, GET ONE” ticket concert. The Green Lake Chamber Players includes the Green Lake Festival Chamber Music Camp faculty and guest artists who will perform music by Alexander Scriabin, Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms. This is also the first concert in a series of matinees that offer a special package for bus pick up and ticket from Appleton, Oshkosh, and Beaver Dam. Call the Festival office for more details on this package.

The 2014 Hilton Head International Piano Competition Winner, Shen Lu (below) will perform Thursday, July 9, at 7:30 p.m. at the Thrasher Opera House, along with teaching a piano master class on Friday, July 10, at 10 a.m. John O’Conor, the Jury Chair from the 2014 Hilton Head International Piano Competition, says, “Shen Lu is a young Chinese pianist with an exciting future. His interpretations have great depth, his technique seems effortless and he communicates wonderfully with his audience.”

Students will attend master classes and five Festival concerts, and perform a variety of community service engagements in such facilities as nursing homes, service clubs, and libraries.

The program includes three public concerts – a Chamber Camp Student Recital on Saturday, July 11, and the popular “Circle of Sound” string orchestra concert at the Boston Barn on Tuesday, July 14, as part of the Boston Barn Concert package that includes appetizers and music by the Bergonzi String Quartet, and the final Chamber Music Celebration at Rodman Center for the Arts, Ripon College, on Saturday, July 18.

Please visit www.greenlakefestival.org for information about these and other artists performing throughout July at the Festival or to purchase tickets.  Tickets are also available by calling the office at 920-748-9398.  You can also stop by one of the following ticket outlets:  Green Lake Bank (Green Lake) and Ripon Drug (Ripon).

The Green Lake Festival of Music is supported in part by the Arts Midwest Touring Arts Fund, a program of Arts Midwest, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, with additional funding from the Wisconsin Arts Board, the Crane Group, and General Mills Foundation. Additional support comes from the Horicon Bank, Oshkosh Area Community Foundation, Agnesian Healthcare, Wisconsin Department of Tourism, Oshkosh Area Community Foundation, and private and corporate donations.

Chamber Workshop FREE Public Events

Get the inside story on the rehearsal process as you watch these artists work with talented students. All master classes will be held at the Rodman Center for the Arts at Ripon College.

• Piano Master Class with Shen Lu. Friday, July 10, 10 a.m.
• Cello Master Class with The Jupiter Quartet. Monday, July 13, 10 a.m.
• Violin Master Class with The Bergonzi String Quartet. Thursday, July 16, 10 a.m.

 Chamber Workshop Concerts

• Chamber Camp Recital. Join us for this FREE community concert at the Rodman Center for the Arts, Ripon, Wisconsin on Saturday, July 11, at 2 p.m. No tickets are need for this event; seating is first come, first served.
• “A Circle of Sound” Tuesday, July 14, 6:30 p.m. at the Boston Farm, Green Lake, Wisconsin. Be in the center of the music as The Bergonzi String Quartet, faculty and students encircle the audience in a historic Wisconsin barn. This concert is preceded with cocktails and appetizers with an Italian flair. This concert is offered only as a package.

• Chamber Music Celebration Showcase Performance. Saturday, July 18, 3 p.m., Rodman Center for the Arts (below), Ripon, Wisconsin. Hear the stars of tomorrow as the talented students perform in trios, quartets and quintets, concluding with their trademark Circle of Sound strings. A student-led preconcert conversation begins at 2:30 p.m.