Ed Klorman would love to see the chamber-music showcase he helped start, the Canandaigua LakeMusic Festival, continue growing in scope and reputation, so that it’s synonymous with a Canandaigua summertime.
“I would love to see the festival become even more of an integral part of summer in Canandaigua,” said Klorman, the festival’s co-artistic director with Amy Sue Barston. “... For me it feels only natural to pair the beauty of Canandaigua Lake with some really wonderful performing arts. I’d love to see us spread the word more.”
The word, it appears, is getting around, as Klorman and Barston prepare for the next installment of LakeMusic, set for Aug. 18 to 29 in various Canandaigua venues. The main theme this year is “Inspired By Moonlight,” with the idea of coupling Finger Lakes summer nights with music that somehow incorporates moonlight, such as Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata.”
Beginning in 2004, the festival has seen a steady rise in attendees — especially for the informal “Classical Blue Jeans” concerts, which have featured barbecues and unusual formats. Over the past three years, Klorman said, Classical Blue Jeans attendance has risen from 60 to 120 to 300, so this year there will be two of them — plus the usual schedule of themed concerts, master classes and more.
Opening up the festival will be the first Blue Jeans show, featuring the Anderson & Roe Piano Duo, at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 18, in the Wegmans Market Café on Routes 5 and 20. The ticket price includes a barbecue dinner.
The duo of Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe perform passionate readings of material ranging from Stravinsky to Radiohead — and once were asked on short notice to compose a concert based on “Star Wars” themes when composer John Williams canceled on a Lincoln Center appearance. They’ve been likened to Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers for their complex yet joyful interplay, particularly when sharing a piano — and indeed, watching them play is like watching a pair of really good, experienced and joyful dancers.
For Wednesday’s concert, they’re concentrating on dance music, from Strauss, Stravinsky, Piazzolla — and Michael Jackson. They’ve prepared an arrangement as a special tribute to Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” which helped propel the late singer to King of Pop status.
In their arrangements, the duo approach the material — whether classical or pop in source, or their own compositions — with a sense of finding the possibilities hidden within the work.
“I think Greg and I take inspiration from what we believe to be the spirit of the work — we’ll use the material as a springboard for our own ideas,” Roe said Friday in a telephone interview. “We especially enjoy taking the original material as a point of departure. ... A lot of times we’ll take a piece written for an orchestra or a rock band, and we try to make it just as exciting and relevant for duo piano.”
In addition to the Classical Blue Jeans concert at Wegmans, the duo will perform in the first of the LakeMusic Festival Series Concerts, at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 20 in Zion Fellowship. Those concerts at Zion are all keyed to the festival’s moonlight theme. They’ll perform their take on Saint-Saens’ “Carnival of the Animals,” along with work by artists like Brahms and Bizet — plus rock band Radiohead.
“We like to use the program to illustrate the vastness of the human experience,” Roe said. “We’ll tailor our program to the proper location, but in general, we just like to have a nice balance ... We want to take our audience on a journey with us.”
Roe and Anderson met as students at The Juilliard School. “It’s funny because as undergraduate students we had no ambitions to be a duo — it all happened very organically,” Roe said. “When you’re friends who happen to be musicians, your natural inclination is to play together.” Then one day in 2002 they decided to try a difficult piece, Brahms’ “Variations on a Theme” by Haydn. “Greg was surprised and happy because we played through that time and were so in sync, so completely out of the blue. That gave us an inkling as to how our duo would come to be.” (That piece will be part of the Aug. 20 concert.)
These days they play all around the world, while also self-producing music videos featuring their take on everyone from Mozart to the Bee Gees. (Check them out on YouTube.)
The second Classical Blue Jeans concert, on Aug. 25 at Steamboat Landing, will feature “The Amazing Athaydes” — Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Concertmaster Juliana Athayde along with her parents and siblings, all jazz and classical musicians.
The LakeMusic schedule
Wednesday, Aug. 18: Classical Blue Jeans #1 — Anderson & Roe Piano Duo, at 6 p.m. in Wegmans Market Cafe, 354 Eastern Blvd. (Routes 5 and 20), Canandaigua; showcasing musical dances from Strauss, Stravinsky and Piazzolla, plus tribute to Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” tickets $40 including barbecue dinner ($15 students under 18), advance purchase required at Wegmans, Finger Lakes Gallery and Frame or lakemusicfestival.tix.com.
Friday, Aug. 20: Chamber Music Master Class -- at 11:30 a.m. at Hochstein at Canandaigua, housed in Canandaigua Academy, 435 East St., Canandaigua, watch students from Hochstein at Canandaigua perform for and be coached by cellist Amy Sue Barston and pianist Jonathan Yates.
Friday, Aug. 20: LakeMusic Festival Series Concert #1 — Anderson & Roe Piano Duo, at 7:30 p.m. in Zion Fellowship, 5188 Bristol Road, Canandaigua, duo presents Saint-Saens’ “Carnival of the Animals,” plus music by Brahms, Schumann, Radiohead, Bizet, more, tickets $30 ($10 students), available at door or in advance at above listed locations. (Also 7:15 p.m. pre-concert chat.)
Sunday, Aug. 22: LakeMusic Festival Series Concert #2 — “Sorrows of the Moon” with Juliana Athayde and cellist Erik Behr, at 7:30 p.m. in Zion Fellowship; music by Mozart, Faure, Loeffler and Silverman, $30 ($10 students), tickets available at door or in advance at above listed locations. (Also 7:15 p.m. pre-concert chat.)
Wednesday, Aug. 25: Classical Blue Jeans #2 — The Amazing Athaydes, at 6 p.m. in Steamboat Landing, 205 Lakeshore Drive, Canandaigua; jazz and classical music by RPO concertmaster Juliana Athayde and her parents and siblings, $40 ($15 students under 18), includes barbecue dinner, advance purchase required at above listed locations.
Thursday, Aug. 26: “A Hair Affair — Free Family Concert” at 10:30 a.m. in Finger Lakes Gallery and Frame, 175 S. Main St., Canandaigua, performances by Amelia Piano Trio showcasing music from wild-haired composers like Beethoven and Brahms, recommended for ages 5-11, free, information at (585) 690-1220.
Friday, Aug. 27: LakeMusic Festival Series Concert #3 — “A Night Lit Only By Moonlight” featuring pianist Andrew Armstrong and the Amelia Piano Trio, at 7:30 p.m. in Zion Fellowship; Armstrong performs Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” and Schoenberg’s “Transfigured Night,” Amelia Piano Trio plays Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2, $30 ($10 students), tickets available at door or above listed locations. (Also: 7:15 p.m. pre-concert chat.)
Sunday, Aug. 29: LakeMusic Festival Series Concert $4 — “A Moonlit Romance” featuring Amelia Piano Trio and Elisa Barston, at 7:30 p.m. in Zion Fellowshio; Amelia trio performs Dvorak’s “Dumky” Trio; Barston performs Bach’s chaconne for solo violin; evening concludes with Schumann’s Piano Quintet; tickets $30 ($10 students), available at door or above listed locations. (Also 7:15 p.m. pre-concert chat.)
