Musical retreat spawns performances

Marlboro, a small town lost in the midst of Vermont’s Green Mountains, blue lakes and ““ of course ““ maple syrup, is an oasis.

It is an oasis not for the wandering traveler, looking to escape from the blistering heat, but for the musician looking to escape the pressures of a fast-paced, career-oriented world. At this oasis, string and wind players, as well as vocalists and pianists of all ages, gather to share in a learning experience beyond the span of practice rooms and private lessons.

Tonight at 8 p.m. in Schoenberg Hall, a chamber ensemble made up of these musicians and known as the Musicians from Marlboro will perform the music of Zoltán Kodály and Ludwig von Beethoven.

The Marlboro Festival, a seven-week-long program, is a more than 50-year-old musical tradition that takes place on the campus of Marlboro College each summer. Musicians of all ages, abilities and career stages are welcome, and each person participates in approximately six performance ensembles each week. If artistic directors Richard Goode and Mitsuko Uchida decide a performance is simply too spectacular to go unshared, the artists go on tour. This is how the Musicians from Marlboro have landed on our doorstep here at UCLA.

The festival, which has hosted such prominent artists as Pablo Casals, Joshua Bell and Yo-Yo Ma, is meant to allow participants to intensify their experiences with chamber music on a personal and cooperative level.

Marina Piccinini is a flutist for Musicians from Marlboro.

“It’s a haven where you can retreat for several weeks in the summer to get away from making music to make money and have a career and instead involve yourself very deeply and profoundly in chamber music while working with great colleagues without the pressure of having to perform.”

Piccinini is a Peabody Institute professor and 15-year participant in the Marlboro Festival. She has also performed as a soloist worldwide, is the recipient of the Avery Fisher Prize among other award and was named Musical America Young Artist to Watch. Yet in her eyes, the learning process is always continuing.

Part of gaining wisdom for any musician is, naturally, performing. Even though the pressure to do so for the sake of making or breaking one’s career is lacking, the artists’ love of music is manifested by sharing their live contributions with audience members.

“Eventually come performances, and they are very dynamic ones because you have the luxury of spending a lot of time with certain repertoire, whereas in the real world you just have to get it together and get it done,” Piccinini said. “It is sort of an idealistic retreat … because in the world we live in things are so fast and so goal-oriented that it’s fantastic to have something about making music of the highest caliber possible.”

The creation of “fantastic” music is due in part to the wide range of musicians who partake in the Marlboro Festival. Each person comes from a different musical background, has a different level of experience, or is at a completely different stage of life age-wise, and the mutual efforts coming from all ends of the spectrum create a more dynamic experience for all.

There is so much to be gained from interaction with other musicians that, in fact, there are no instructors at the Marlboro Festival.

“There are people who are just starting to get orchestra jobs and join string quartets; there are people who are in the middle of their careers and all over the world; there are people who have retired from a quartet and are still playing, so ages range from about 20 to 90,” Piccinini said. “Of those people in that age group, no matter where you are in your life, you are a colleague. You are never a teacher, you are never a student. You are all students, you are all teachers. It’s a collaboration.”

For Piccinini, continuous erudition is just part of being a musician, and the Musicians from Marlboro provide the mechanism for her to continue in her development.

“It keeps giving me greater and greater insights into artistry on different levels using just daily communication with colleagues. You constantly learn more and more about music and about music making, and you’re also constantly given new perspectives by people,” Piccinini said. “You are constantly developing and getting newer and deeper insights. Of course you learn a lot about yourself and a lot about the things you play, and it’s something you keep growing in throughout the years.”

The alliances in learning experiences are directly shown to the audience during a performance. The interactions between each member of the ensemble change with each concert, reflecting the effects learning to work off each other’s contributions has had on the musicians.

“We are all on stage together, we are always reacting to one another, and nothing is preset,” Piccinini said. “Although we play the same music, it can change moment to moment depending on the input of each person, so the intensity of the performance really comes from this spirit of communication.”

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