Thursday, November 05, 2009
Peoples’ Symphony Concerts are calling you
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
A heads-up call from Eadie Shanker of the Tilden Democratic Club brought on this column. She is the chair of Tilden's gift committee, directing the distribution of $1,400 a year from the proceeds of their annual Street Fair, the money going to some eight local civic groups. [This is also done by other clubs and such organizations as SPNA , the Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association, guardians of the well-being of the eponymous park. If my message be construed as a general "wake up and join your neighborhood preservation organizations" call, so be it.]
Back to Eadie, who is concerned with the continued well-being of Peoples' Symphony Concerts, our best people-oriented neighborhood music organizations, also the city's oldest concert series, founded in 1900 by Franz X. Arens, a German immigrant from Michigan, where at 15 he played the organ and led music in his church. He studied conducting in Europe, and returned to New York determined to bring concerts at affordable prices to students, teachers and workers . The first series in 1900 featured five orchestral programs at Cooper Union , the ticket prices ranging from five cents to 25 cents. Orchestra members worked for $9 (covering rehearsals and performance), soloists for $25. Cooper Union rental was $25 for performance (Carnegie Hall, used sometimes in later years, then cost $250), and each of the five concerts during the first year cost $430, guaranteed by Arens, who earned a living as a music coach. Soon wealthy givers came on board, including Salomon Guggenheim, William K. Vanderbilt, Isaac Seligman, Henry Clay Frick, and their ladies, Mrss. James Speyer and Otto Kahn. During the Great Depression PSC survived with the donations from attorney Severo Mullet-Prevost and a $50,000 bequest from contralto Annie Louise Carey Raymond. Since those early years hundreds of thousands of Peoples' Symphony Concert series' audience members have heard the world's foremost concert artists and ensembles, attending their performances at the lowest admission prices of any major series in the country.
What makes PSC such a unique institution is the generosity of the artists who play for a fraction of their normal fees, and an audience that truly communicates its love of music to the musicians. At the time my family joined, decades ago, subscriptions were unavailable, and we had to go on a waiting list. It worked out, and we were enraptured to hear, over the years, the performances of Gidon Kremer, Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Nathan Millstein and Gil Shahan, to mention the violinists alone. We heard them performing in the auditorium of the Washington Irving High School, Irving Place & 17th Street, home of the PSC since 1913.
Arens retired after WWI, and eventually in 1925 , a violinist, Joseph Mann, took over the management, succeeding in attracting even more musicians, followed by concert manager Frank Solomon in 1973, who continues, undaunted by recessions. The quality continues also; during the recent years I recall hearing the Guarneri String Quartet, Juilliard Quartet, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio and Music from Marlboro, the Tokyo and Orion String Quartets, almost yearly. Going a bit further back, there were pianists Garrick Ohlsson, Peter Serkin, and Emanuel Ax sometimes accompanying cellist Yo-Yo Ma; Janos Starker on cello; the clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, and James Galway, flute. Other legends heard of or seen were violinists Efrem Zimbalist, and Joseph Szigeti accompanied by Mieczyslaw Horoszowski, Wanda Landowska on the harpsichord, and pianist Daniel Barenboim .
Which brings us to current days. Whether through aging population or economics, PSC has subscriptions available . The PSC founding motto – bringing the best music to students and workers at minimum prices - remains at the heart of their mission. The orchestra seats on a six-performance series are still $32, or $5.33 a seat (unreserved), and young people, in particular, are encouraged to join. .
There are two series, all Saturday nights, 8PM, at the Washington Irving High School:
The Mann series:
17 Oct. Borealis String Quartet; 31 Oct. Juilliard String Quartet; 31 Jan. Musicians from Vermont
27 March Johannes String Quartet; 3 Apr. Yefim Bronfman, piano; 8 May Eighth Blackbird .
The Arens Series:
10 Oct. Parnas-Serkin Trio; 7 Nov. Musicians from Marlboro; 19 Dec. Goldstein-Peled-Fitterstein Trio; 6 Feb. Aleksej Gorlatch, piano; 24 Apr. Belcea Quartet; 1 May Richard Goode, piano.
Even though two of the six concerts have passed, buying the series is a value, at $32, since four individual concert admissions would cost $10. apiece, or $40.
There’s also a Festival Series, at Town Hall, , 23 West 43 Street, near B’way, Sundays 2:00 PM:
21 Feb. Takacs Quartet; 28 Feb. Artemis Quartet; 14 Mar. Leon Fleisher w/ Katherine Jacobson Fleisher; American String Quartet w/ Menahem Pressler; 18 Apr. Augustin Hadelich, violin;
9 May Ingrid Fliter, piano. Prices for this series are $56.for center and $37 for side rows (reserved).
Purchase tickets via www.pscny.org, or mail order to Peoples’ Symphony Concerts, 121 West 27 St, Suite 703, NY, NY 10001-6262., or telephone 212-586-4680, calls limited to Mo, We, Fri 11:00 AM-1:00PM (PSC must keep costs low). Send extra money; tax-free donations are matched by a foundation.
Fall in NYC is beautiful. Go check out the leaf bounty in Stuyvesant Square and other parks!
A heads-up call from Eadie Shanker of the Tilden Democratic Club brought on this column. She is the chair of Tilden's gift committee, directing the distribution of $1,400 a year from the proceeds of their annual Street Fair, the money going to some eight local civic groups. [This is also done by other clubs and such organizations as SPNA , the Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association, guardians of the well-being of the eponymous park. If my message be construed as a general "wake up and join your neighborhood preservation organizations" call, so be it.]
Back to Eadie, who is concerned with the continued well-being of Peoples' Symphony Concerts, our best people-oriented neighborhood music organizations, also the city's oldest concert series, founded in 1900 by Franz X. Arens, a German immigrant from Michigan, where at 15 he played the organ and led music in his church. He studied conducting in Europe, and returned to New York determined to bring concerts at affordable prices to students, teachers and workers . The first series in 1900 featured five orchestral programs at Cooper Union , the ticket prices ranging from five cents to 25 cents. Orchestra members worked for $9 (covering rehearsals and performance), soloists for $25. Cooper Union rental was $25 for performance (Carnegie Hall, used sometimes in later years, then cost $250), and each of the five concerts during the first year cost $430, guaranteed by Arens, who earned a living as a music coach. Soon wealthy givers came on board, including Salomon Guggenheim, William K. Vanderbilt, Isaac Seligman, Henry Clay Frick, and their ladies, Mrss. James Speyer and Otto Kahn. During the Great Depression PSC survived with the donations from attorney Severo Mullet-Prevost and a $50,000 bequest from contralto Annie Louise Carey Raymond. Since those early years hundreds of thousands of Peoples' Symphony Concert series' audience members have heard the world's foremost concert artists and ensembles, attending their performances at the lowest admission prices of any major series in the country.
What makes PSC such a unique institution is the generosity of the artists who play for a fraction of their normal fees, and an audience that truly communicates its love of music to the musicians. At the time my family joined, decades ago, subscriptions were unavailable, and we had to go on a waiting list. It worked out, and we were enraptured to hear, over the years, the performances of Gidon Kremer, Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Nathan Millstein and Gil Shahan, to mention the violinists alone. We heard them performing in the auditorium of the Washington Irving High School, Irving Place & 17th Street, home of the PSC since 1913.
Arens retired after WWI, and eventually in 1925 , a violinist, Joseph Mann, took over the management, succeeding in attracting even more musicians, followed by concert manager Frank Solomon in 1973, who continues, undaunted by recessions. The quality continues also; during the recent years I recall hearing the Guarneri String Quartet, Juilliard Quartet, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio and Music from Marlboro, the Tokyo and Orion String Quartets, almost yearly. Going a bit further back, there were pianists Garrick Ohlsson, Peter Serkin, and Emanuel Ax sometimes accompanying cellist Yo-Yo Ma; Janos Starker on cello; the clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, and James Galway, flute. Other legends heard of or seen were violinists Efrem Zimbalist, and Joseph Szigeti accompanied by Mieczyslaw Horoszowski, Wanda Landowska on the harpsichord, and pianist Daniel Barenboim .
Which brings us to current days. Whether through aging population or economics, PSC has subscriptions available . The PSC founding motto – bringing the best music to students and workers at minimum prices - remains at the heart of their mission. The orchestra seats on a six-performance series are still $32, or $5.33 a seat (unreserved), and young people, in particular, are encouraged to join. .
There are two series, all Saturday nights, 8PM, at the Washington Irving High School:
The Mann series:
17 Oct. Borealis String Quartet; 31 Oct. Juilliard String Quartet; 31 Jan. Musicians from Vermont
27 March Johannes String Quartet; 3 Apr. Yefim Bronfman, piano; 8 May Eighth Blackbird .
The Arens Series:
10 Oct. Parnas-Serkin Trio; 7 Nov. Musicians from Marlboro; 19 Dec. Goldstein-Peled-Fitterstein Trio; 6 Feb. Aleksej Gorlatch, piano; 24 Apr. Belcea Quartet; 1 May Richard Goode, piano.
Even though two of the six concerts have passed, buying the series is a value, at $32, since four individual concert admissions would cost $10. apiece, or $40.
There’s also a Festival Series, at Town Hall, , 23 West 43 Street, near B’way, Sundays 2:00 PM:
21 Feb. Takacs Quartet; 28 Feb. Artemis Quartet; 14 Mar. Leon Fleisher w/ Katherine Jacobson Fleisher; American String Quartet w/ Menahem Pressler; 18 Apr. Augustin Hadelich, violin;
9 May Ingrid Fliter, piano. Prices for this series are $56.for center and $37 for side rows (reserved).
Purchase tickets via www.pscny.org, or mail order to Peoples’ Symphony Concerts, 121 West 27 St, Suite 703, NY, NY 10001-6262., or telephone 212-586-4680, calls limited to Mo, We, Fri 11:00 AM-1:00PM (PSC must keep costs low). Send extra money; tax-free donations are matched by a foundation.
Fall in NYC is beautiful. Go check out the leaf bounty in Stuyvesant Square and other parks!
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 3:53 PM 
