World class music delights and informs

Shandelee reaches out in more ways than one

By RICHARD A. ROSS

HARRIS, NY – For the past 14 years The Shandelee Music Festival has brought some of the world’s finest young musicians to Sullivan County to play on the Steinway grand piano in the Sunset Concert Pavilion, delighting concertgoers with a caliber of music they would otherwise have to travel far and wide to hear.

But given the constraints imposed by ticket prices, seating availability and the mobility needed to get to the festival site, many people have never heard such performances locally, something that has greatly concerned festival president Daniel Stroup and his longstanding artistic director Lana Ivanov.

So for the past four years, the festival has sought to reach out to the community in a variety of ways to access segments of the population that would otherwise never get to hear the sounds heard at Shandelee. To that end, the Shandelee Music Festival’s Outreach Program has offered a concert for area school students each spring, replete with a chance to meet and interact with young rising artists who answer questions about their piano studies and the works they are performing. They make the experience up-close and personal for the host of fifth- through 12th-graders who listen attentively to every note and word.

In addition, each summer, festival public relations director Barbara Konvalin has brought several young virtuosos to the Skilled Nursing Unit at Catskill Regional Medical Center (CRMC) to perform for the patients there in a program arranged with CRMC Community Relations Director Jodi Goodman.

On August 6, the patients were transfixed by the music of arguably the best group of young musicians to visit the hospital since the Outreach Program began.

Elena Maraztchyska began with a stunning and emotional rendering of Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy. Born in Bulgaria, she was a 2007 winner of the MNTA National Prize Auditions and won a Steinway grand piano. She has spent the last three years living in Las Vegas.

She was followed by Violetta Koss of Manhattan, whose mother works here in Sullivan County. The 16-year-old attends LaGuardia High School. She performed the Intermezzo No. 2 in B-flat Minor by Brahms.

Rodion Efremov emigrated to the United States at age six. He is currently a freshman at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD. Efremov played Chopin’s Etude Opus 10, Number 4 and Rachmaninoff’s Etude Tableau Opus 39, No. 1. The patients sat and listened to his performance, as to the others, with a degree of attention previously unobserved by this writer in former years at the Skilled Nursing Unit.

Doris Lee delighted her rapt listeners with Beethoven’s Sonata Opus 31 No. 2 and Franz Liszt’s Grande Etudes de Paganini S15, No. 5. The 15-year-old world-traveling artist is a name that piano audiences will hear more of in years to come.

Anna Fedorova played Ravel’s Albrada del gracioso with fervor and pizzazz. Miraztchyska and Radion then accompanied her for a delightful trio performance on one piano of Johann Strauss’ Kunstlerleben.

This past spring, following an enthusiastic reaction to the student concert at the college for area kids, Stroup and Ivanov decided it was time to implement the third part of the outreach program, namely opening the festival’s facilities, teachers and classes to student pianists to offer them lessons every other day; the practice cottages, each with its own Steinway; master classes; and a chance to perform in concert.

On August 13, the five students, who have spent the first of two weeks immersed in the festival experience, came to WJFF to be interviewed on Monday Afternoon Classics with Gandalf, which aired at its regular time of 12:00 noon to 2:00 p.m.

Dana Burkart, a recent graduate of Fallsburg High School, is bound for RIT in the fall. The 18-year-old pianist has been studying for the past six years. Like the other four students from Sullivan County, he has been acclimating himself to the rigors of practice that requires not only time, but focus.

Jessica Nesin, an eighth grader from Robert J. Kaiser Middle School, has studied with Ann Trombley for the past seven years. Nesin, a veteran of NYSSMA competitions in piano (three years), violin (two years) and voice (one year) was born in Tbilisi, in the Republic of Georgia. Asked about her experience with the Shandelee Festival this summer, Nesin noted, “I hope to improve my technique.” She has found the teachers to be most helpful and encouraging.

Ruby Hong will be entering her freshman year at Monticello High School this fall. She described her first week at the festival as “different, unforgettable and unique.” Learning to practice by concentrating on parts that need work rather than running through the entire piece has been helpful, as has the opportunity to have a lesson every other day instead of once a week.

Ryan Cerullo is entering his senior year at Liberty High School, and is looking forward to attending college to study music education, perhaps at Ithaca, Potsdam, Fredonia or Eastman. Cerullo also plays the bassoon and other woodwinds and has performed with the Liberty High School Jazz Band at Bethel Woods for the past two years.

Stephan Gagnon recently graduated from Monticello High School and is interested in composing. He is strongly moved and influenced by the music of Chopin. “I love this place,” he said, referring to the Shandelee Music Festival. It is the first opportunity he has had to avail himself of personal lessons. Gagnon notes that the practice regimen is something he will continue once his summer program is over.

Cerullo and Nesin are performing at a sold-out concert in the Sunset Pavilion on August 13. Gagnon, Hong and Burkhart will perform on August 18. Some seating is still available for that concert. Call the box office at 845/439-3277.

Given the efforts of the Shandelee Music Festival to share its fine musicianship with audiences, students and the infirm, it is clear that the world-renowned concert venue is also becoming a treasured resource for Sullivan County.

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