Thoughts from the Artistic Director: A Great Big “Thank You”

On a recent visit to Seattle, I came across a wonderful quote of Aaron Copland, carved large into the upper facade of Benaroya Hall, the home of the Seattle Symphony: So long as the human spirit thrives on this planet, music in some living form will accompany and sustain it and give it expressive meaning. As we come to the close of Rush Hour ’07, we hope that the music of our weekly series has sustained and inspired each of your spirits.

As we top off this season with the whimsy and hilarious genius of Peter Schickele‘s P.D.Q. Bach, we remember thirteen weeks of a remarkable journey with you through world cultures, Bach and poetry, six cellists, and the Third Coast Percussion Quartet, to name a few of this season’s programs. We have felt your presence as active, engaged listeners at each concert and, on behalf of all the artists and staff of the Rush Hour series, I thank you!

An encore of thanks is in order: to all who have contributed financially at any level to help us meet our yearly operating budget and guarantee that these weekly concerts continued to remain free and open to all; to all the Rush Hour staff and our wonderful crew of volunteers who have worked tirelessly all summer to produce the Rush Hour experience at the level of comfort, ease and stimulation you have come to expect; and finally, to my colleagues, who brought you the music of this season in all its richness.

As the “winter season” approaches, let me recommend a few notable local series to you, where you can find great chamber music and continue your own journeys into this wonderful art form.

Cathedral Concert Series – St. James Cathedral

Don’t wait until next summer to hear more great music at St. James Cathedral! Bruce Barber, music director of St. James Cathedral, crafts a wonderful series on the third Sunday of each month, September through May. For more information, please pick up a flyer on your way out or visit saintjamescathedral.org .

The Chicago Chamber Musicians (CCM)

Many of the outstanding artists you heard this summer are members of the Grammy-nominated Chicago Chamber Musicians, now in their 21st season. Considered “one of the indispensables of classical music in Chicago” by the Chicago Tribune, CCM offers free, noontime concerts on the first Monday of most months at the Chicago Cultural Center and the ensemble’s ticketed subscription series performs in Evanston and Chicago September – May. Special $15 tickets are available: just mention “Rush Hour” when you call (312) 225-5226. For more information about upcoming CCM concerts, please visit chicagochambermusic.org .

Dame Myra Hess Concerts

The Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert series provides free concerts 52 weeks a year, every Wednesday at 12:15 p.m. at the Chicago Cultural Center. These concerts present talented young musicians early in their careers and are broadcast live on WFMT. The highlight of the series will be their 30th anniversary celebration at 12:15 p.m. on September 19 with a concert by the Vermeer Quartet in their final Chicago appearance before they disband.

Fulcrum Point New Music Project

Fulcrum Point New Music Project is “where popular culture collides with classical music and sparks fly.” Many of you heard their outstanding brass quintet here at RH in June – now hear the whole ensemble in their upcoming season, beginning with a multimedia performance presented as part of the Chicago Humanities Festival on October 27. Please pick up a season brochure on your way out for the opportunity to receive complimentary tickets to a Fulcrum Point concert. More information can be found at fulcrumpoint.org.

Finally, I hope you will stay in touch with us. Throughout the upcoming months, we will continue to post information, discussions, podcasts, and interviews on our website. Please visit us regularly to share your comments and thoughts, and learn of new RH developments.

I wish you all a happy and healthy “winter season” and look forward to seeing you all again next summer at Rush Hour!

–Deborah Sobol

8/21 – Paris Mornings, Havana Nights

Thanks to everyone who visited us on Tuesday! More than 400 of you came to Rush Hour – we hope you enjoyed Quintet Attacca‘s awesomeness and the yummy pre-concert treats. We have just one more concert left in the season, and we hope to see all of you (plus many more) at St. James next Tuesday for a bit of Bach and whimsy.

Jeremiah, Collin, and Barbara warming up before the concert.

Jennifer and Erica warming up.

Blondies, grapes, cheese and crackers…

Rush Hour volunteer Phil and Concert Manager Hannah preparing wine before guests arrive.

Rush Hour volunteer Peg serving drinks. Thanks, Peg!

Quintet Attacca in action.

Concert Manager’s Report: Creating a Community

Lately it has become harder and harder to squeeze through the double doors out onto the sidewalk after Rush Hour. True, our audience has grown in the past few weeks; we had a record-breaking 461 attendees on August 14th! However, what’s really causing the back-up is the Whole Foods coupons handed out at the exit. Volunteer Bob Friedli and I can barely keep up distributing them to all the waiting hands!

Whole Foods Market Gold Coast, which provides fresh-picked strawberries and many tasty scones, cookies and squares, is only one of our community sponsors. Bijan’s Bistro, Argo Tea and Trader Joe’s have also generously donated time, money and effort to ensure Rush Hour is successful.

Bijan’s Bistro offers 20% off to all attendees after every Rush Hour concert. It is one of the liveliest spots in the neighborhood on Tuesday nights, full of concertgoers, and often the Rush Hour performers. Our artistic director, Deborah Sobol, can be found there nearly every Tuesday after the concert.

A new flavor of Argo Tea is served at every concert, from their healthy and light tea grappa to their smooth Mate Late. In addition to supporting us in person each week, Argo Tea also offers 10% to Rush Hour attendees anytime. Lastly, Trader Joe’s recently donated almost 35 pounds of Brie to Rush Hour for one of our pre-concert receptions!

Although the main reason people attend Rush Hour is certainly to hear the music, the receptions are an important part of the evening. Whether one comes each week in anticipation of the new flavor Argo Tea is offering, or whether one comes just to socialize, the receptions free up some time to transition out of the workday mentality. Without our community sponsors, the receptions would not be feasible, and a part of the experience of Rush Hour would surely be lost. While the community sponsors are important from a financial standpoint, they are also invaluable for the sense of community they help create. Fostering a welcoming atmosphere on a small scale during the reception and on a larger scale out in the community is one of Rush Hour’s main tenets. Our community sponsors help to make Rush Hour more than just a concert series, but a mentality that extends beyond the entrance of St. James Cathedral and out into the neighborhood as well.

Introducing…Quintet Attacca!

Rush Hour is excited to welcome Quintet Attacca! QA is an exciting Chicago-based wind quintet that won the prestigious Grand Prize at the 2002 Fischoff Music Competition – one of two wind quintets ever to be awarded the grand prize in the competition’s history. QA is currently part of the Chicago Chamber Musicians’ Professional Development Program and we are thrilled to have QA in the Rush Hour 2007 season!

Rush Hour: When was Quintet Attacca formed and what motivated you all to form it?

Quintet Attacca: QA was formed in the summer of 1999 to play a concert at Saint Xavier University on Chicago’s south side. We had so much fun playing together, we pursued more gigs and ended up staying together!

RH: Finding the perfect group name can be tricky – how did you all decide on Attacca? Were there any other names that were serious contenders?

QA: We decided on Quintet Attacca after a three-hour session of brainstorming! We came to the conclusion it had a nice ring and could have multiple meanings for the group. The name also had a forward momentum to it that we thought was great to get the group going.

The key meaning for us, though, is attacca’s definition: connected. We seek to be connected to each other, the music, and the audience. We strive for this in every performance and chamber music is a great vehicle for making those connections.

Other contenders were Segue Winds, Quintet Vivo, and Quintet-a-tete. (I think we chose well, don’t you?)

RH: You all undoubtedly see a lot of each other (especially Erica and Collin). What are some bonuses or challenges of working so closely together?

QA: There are many bonuses – we are honestly good friends. We always have fun, no matter what mood we’re in. We get to see our friends and talk to them on a regular basis because four of them are in a quintet! And Erica and Collin get to work with their spouse all the time. Seeing each other so often, it is much easier to get business things done as well.

What are the challenges? Well, because we are good friends, we often get off topic in rehearsals or meetings because we just want to talk. And perhaps we know each other too well? But probably not.

RH: Surely musical disagreements arise during rehearsals – how do you all work through each of your different musical ideas (without losing tempers)? (Or how do you make amends after losing tempers?)

QA: We really strive for consensus and have faith in the consensus. What does that mean? We are open to any and all ideas, no matter how crazy they seem, and will try many ways of interpreting passages. We then pick the one that works best for the piece at that time based on everyone’s opinions. Nothing is taken personally and we have no fear of giving our opinions and we all have our crazy ideas! And no two performances are alike – we may perform a piece a few years later and take a totally different outlook that may have been one of the ideas we didn’t like before.

We also do a lot of jabbing and pretending to be mean to each other – it keeps the mood light. We are serious about our goals musically and organizationally, but we never take ourselves too seriously. Chamber music is fun and we always have fun in rehearsals!

RH: The members of the Pacifica Quartet said they had to practice about eight hours a day when they first started playing seriously together – lots of scales and careful string tuning – just to get to know each other’s playing and eventually find a sense of sound and intonation as a string quartet. Can you please let us know the kind of hard work and dedication you each had to put forth order to come together as an accomplished group?

QA: As wind players, we are limited with the number of hours we can rehearse. While we would love to be in quintet all the time, we have to have shorter, highly productive rehearsals. As far as getting to know each other’s playing, we were very lucky to find 5 people who had similar ideas about what music and quintet music in particular should sound like. We clicked both musically and personally. We have taken a journey as a group through different phases of the quintet, from a few gigs to where we are now, performing every week together. We have all had previous quintet experience and other music jobs and we have brought that together to form as very cohesive unit.

RH: Is flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn the traditional composite of a wind quintet? What are some of your favorite pieces and composers to perform as a group?

QA: That is the usual instrumentation, but some composers will call for some players to double other members of their instrument family (flute on piccolo or alto flute; oboe on English horn or oboe d’amore; clarinet on bass clarinet or piccolo clarinet; bassoon on contrabassoon; and on the rare occasion, horn on Wagner Tuba). On occasion we also add instruments to the group, most often piano.

Our particular favorites for quintet are Eric Ewazen‘s Roaring Fork, Heitor Villa-Lobos‘ Quintette en forme de choros, and John Harbison‘s Quintet (to be performed later this year on our second installment of Q & A with QA – April 28th, 2008 at the Music Institute of Chicago‘s Nichols Hall.

RH: Many people’s minds jump to string quartets when hearing the words “chamber music”. How does Quintet Attacca wish to set itself apart from the many great chamber ensembles that are active today? How about your work as part of Chicago Chamber Musicians’ Professional Development Program?

QA: We seek to change the misconceptions about wind quintets and chamber music. Often people think only of the string quartets, but have not yet heard a wind quintet. There are so many different and unusual sounds in a wind quintet simply because our instruments are so different. We are attempting to set ourselves apart through our connections with the audiences and our ties to Chicago. We are a Chicago community-based ensemble seeking to primarily serve that community.

Our work with the CCM Professional Development Program has really helped us look for ways to make those bonds stronger and our goals more attainable. We have tools now that we had no idea we even needed!

RH: Deborah Sobol, your mentor at the Chicago Chamber Musicians, mentioned Quintet Attacca’s great tag line: “What will your question be?” What is behind this question? And it’s only fitting that Rush Hour turn the question around to you all: What would your question be?

QA: The question came from a desire to include the audience in a more concrete way at our big concert last spring. We came up with the idea of an interactive intermission that included a question and answer period. We then played off our initials to create the “Q & A with QA” concept that developed into the tagline “What will your question be?”

Our questions for the audience are: Have you heard Quintet Attacca lately? Have you heard the fascinating sounds of a wind quintet before?

Think you know Chicago?

Tell us where this photo was taken and win a free Rush Hour t-shirt!

Email Hannah at hannah@rushhour.org by Thursday, August 23 with the location (please be as specific as possible).

 The winner will be randomly drawn from the correct answers submitted via email and at the Ensemble gift table. The winner will be announced on the blog on Friday, August 24, and also contacted by phone or email. The t-shirt will be available for pick-up at the next concert.

Where do you wear your Rush Hour t-shirt in Chicago? Take a picture in your Rush Hour t-shirt and we’ll feature it here and at the Ensemble gift shop at the concert.

Email hannah@rushhour.org with your picture, or drop it off on an upcoming Tuesday at Ensemble.

8/14 – Baroque to Modern

Wow. Everyone. Wow.

Rush Hour history was made at this Tuesday’s concert: 461 of you packed St. James Cathedral! That is the all-time high for us – who knew St. James’ little green organ has so much crowd appeal! Thank you all so much – we truly wish you all enjoyed the event, from the wine to the brownies to the music.

Special kudos to flutist Claire Chase, cellist Katinka Kleijn, and keyboard extraordinaire David Schrader for giving wonderful life to our Baroque to Modern program, featuring the music of Bach, Villa-Lobos, and Morel. Take a listen to these musicians discuss Tuesday’s program with Rush Hour Artistic Director Deborah Sobol here.

Claire Chase, Deborah Sobol, Katinka Kleijn and David Schrader during the podcast session.

Katinka Kleijn and David Schrader warming up before the concert.

Claire Chase warming up.

Many thanks to Argo Tea for providing iced drinks week after week here at Rush Hour!

Treats!

Well-deserved ovation for our artists!

Everyone was mesmerized by the dashing little Baroque organ.

Think you know Chicago?

 Tell us where this photo was taken and win a free Rush Hour t-shirt!

Email Hannah at hannah@rushhour.org by Thursday, August 16 with the location (please be as specific as possible).

The winner will be randomly drawn from the correct answers submitted via email and at the Ensemble gift table. The winner will be announced on the blog on Friday, August 3, and also contacted by phone or email. The t-shirt will be available for pick-up at the next concert.

Where do you wear your Rush Hour t-shirt in Chicago? Take a picture in your Rush Hour t-shirt and we’ll feature it here and at the Ensemble gift shop at the concert.

Email hannah@rushhour.org with your picture, or drop it off on an upcoming Tuesday at Ensemble.

Bruce Barber on the “Little Green Organ”

The organ being played on Tuesday by David Schrader is from the Netherlands. It was “built” by the Flentrop Organ Company – I say “built” in quotation marks because it as actually assembled by a long-time parishioner of St. James Cathedral some twenty or so years ago as it made its way to this country in the form of a kit. Much like the popular Zuckerman Harpsichord kits, Flentrop manufactured small organs (of up to 3-4 stops and usually without pedal) in kit form for “musical tinkerers” to assemble for their own pleasure! This organ is such an instrument.

This Flentrop organ as one keyboard and 3 stops: an 8′ Gedekt (flute), a 4′ Flute and a 2′ Principal (there are NO pedals on this instrument). Each stop has to draw knobs, one each on the right and left sides of the organ case (one must literally “hug” the organ to bring them on!), which cause each of the 3 stops to speak on the upper (right knob) and lower (left knob) halves of the keyboard. This is known as a divided keyboard – out-moded later in organ building by the addition of more keyboards.

This type of organ is a “remnant” of the Baroque Period in musical history and would surely have been known by organists and composers of the 16th century onward. Today, one sees this type of instrument used in performances of Buxtehude, Handel, Bach and even Mozart, both as a solo instrument and as a continuo / ensemble instrument.

Often times, the pipes are not located above the keyboard, rather they can be found underneath the keyboard thus making the instrument much more portable and easy to see over (this version is known as a portativ). Such small portativs can pack a partlcularly powerful punch and are as “at home” on the stage of Symphony Center as they are in much more intimate settings.

Please feel free to come up to the instrument to take a closer look following Tuesday’s concert!

8/14 – Brahms Horn Trio

Many thanks to all of you (~390) who came to the Rush Hour concert yesterday! Special thanks to Kuang-Hao Huang, Jasmine Lin, and Jeremiah Frederick, who provided the splendid Brahms Horn Trio for everyone’s enjoyment.

In concert -Kuang-Hao Huang, piano; Jasmine Lin, violin; Jeremiah Frederick, horn.

 First-time concertgoers Julian and Matija. Thanks for checking us out!

 Rush Hour volunteer Christian during the pre-concert reception.

Rush Hour volunteers Andrew and Phil preparing wines and juices for the pre-concert reception.

Fanfare Committee member Kristin  at the gift shop Ensemble after the concert.

Think you know Chicago?

Tell us where this photo was taken and win a free Rush Hour t-shirt!

Email Hannah at hannah@rushhour.org by Thursday, August 9 with the location (please be as specific as possible).

The winner will be randomly drawn from the correct answers submitted via email and at the Ensemble gift table. The winner will be announced on the blog on Friday, August 10, and also contacted by phone or email. The t-shirt will be available for pick-up at the next concert.

Where do you wear your Rush Hour t-shirt in Chicago? Take a picture in your Rush Hour t-shirt and we’ll feature it here and at the Ensemble gift shop at the concert.

Email hannah@rushhour.org with your picture, or drop it off on an upcoming Tuesday at Ensemble.