Clara Schumann Celebration

It’s been just over a month since our celebration of Clara Schumann at St. Thomas’s Church. This was the first mainstage event of the Confluence Concerts 2019-2020 season and we were so pleased to see so many in the audience. Our pre-concert chat with Tom Allen, Patricia O’Callaghan and me was full of interesting insights into the music, career and life of this fascinating woman. Thoughout the planning process, I felt very strongly that I didn’t want to fall into the trap of telling Clara’s story in relation to the men in her life (her father, her husband, her husband’s prized student), the way it had been told countless times before. This proved more difficult than I thought, because her diary entries and letters are chock full of passionate, supportive, heartfelt descriptions of the work of Wieck, Schumann and Brahms. So, the discussion with Tom and Trish did not try to shy away from her challenges and struggles with the men in her life.

But what a joy to get into the concert and hear her superb music! Pianist Angela Park gave us a generous sampling of her solo piano music. Patricia O’Callaghan and pianist Chris Bagan provided a feast of Clara’s wonderful lieder repertoire. And what a treat to start the second half of the program with the young violinist Ellie Sievers and Angela Park playing Clara’s Romances for violin and piano. The program was narrated superbly by Tom Allen, with his customary warmth, intelligence and generosity. And Alison Beckwith really lit up the stage with her readings from Clara’s letters and diaries.

I hope people came away with a fuller sense of who Clara Schumann was and of the very high level of her compositional skills. It was lovely to have the audience join the artists afterwards for a reception and carry on lively discussions.

Our next event is AN EVENING WITH MARION NEWMAN on November 26 and 27 at Heliconian Hall. I will write a preview posting about this program very soon and hope that it will be filled with Marion’s descriptions of what she has in store for us. She is a formidable artist and a very thoughtful human being. We’re all looking forward to hearing her speak and sing at the end of November!