Summer festival brings big names

IU's School of Music is famous for its talent, but it's now showcasing world-famous talent of epic proportions.\nThe IU Summer Music Festival is a concert series that features world-renowned professional musicians and ensembles playing alongside IU musicians.\nAlain Barker, director of marketing and publicity for the School of Music, emphasized the festival's importance to the Bloomington area.\n"(The festival) is a unique opportunity to showcase the School of Music in the community and region with performances that can be enjoyed in most metropolitan centers," Barker said.\nThough the musicians featured already are quite talented and highly-rated, the true fire of the Summer Festival is yet to come. The upcoming concerts feature two performances of the Penderecki Quartet.\nThis quartet is famous for exploring both contemporary music and classic, centuries-old works. Its history has much to do with the nature of its repertoire. Founded in Poland in 1986 at the urging of the pre-eminent Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, the quartet became the authoritative performer of his modernistic works while still performing works of the old masters - Brahms's quartet works are particular specialties of the ensemble.\n"It is a phenomenal ensemble that has also been involved in teaching at IU's String Academy," Barker said of the Penderecki Quartet.\nOn June 28, the Penderecki Quartet will be performing string quartets by the Soviet Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) and the Pole Witold Lutoslawski (1913-1994). They will then be joined by IU violist Atar Arad in performance of the Mendelssohn quintet.\nAnother world-renowned ensemble playing in the Summer Music Festival is the Beaux Arts Trio. This ensemble was founded in 1955 and consists of founding member Menahem Pressler on piano, Daniel Hope on violin and Antonio Meneses on cello. The trio has performed all over the world.\nOn June 30, their showcase piece at the IU Summer Music Festival will be Beethoven's Triple Concerto, Op. 56, a unique work that features a string trio in a concerto form normally used for a solo instrument. The orchestra will be led by new IU professor Jaime Laredo. On July 1 and 2, the trio is performing other works by Beethoven as well -- three piano trios -- to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Trio.\n"We are honored to have the Beaux Arts Trio celebrating their 50th Anniversary with us," Barker said, "especially since Menachem Pressler is a faculty member."\nBarker also emphasized the weight that the trio's presence gives to the festival.\n"The Beaux Arts Trio's performance makes this year's festival exceptional on an international level," he said.\nOther upcoming events on the Summer Music Festival program include performances of Mahler's Symphony No. 2 (Roberto Abbado conducting) on July 21, Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 (Leonard Slatkin conducting) on August 4 and the Gilbert & Sullivan light opera "HMS Pinafore" on July 29.\nA taste of the talent in upcoming performances can be seen in those that have already taken place. The festival kicked off on Sunday with a performance by the American Chamber players. The Chamber Players were joined by IU pianist Jean-Louis Haguenauer in performance of works by Frank Bridge (1879-1941), Bohuslav Martinù (1890-1959), Beethoven and Brahms.\nConcerts following the opener included performances by violinist Sarah Kapustin and pianist Jeannette Koekkoek on Monday night, pianist Alice Rybak on Tuesday night. Wednesday night featured two IU musicians, Atar Arad, professor of viola, and pianist Chih-Yi Chen. Featured on last night's program was a work by Arad himself.\nFor more information on upcoming concerts and tickets, call 855-2255.