Jacobs talent prepares for music series

German conductor and composer Matthias Pintscher arrived to lead the Summer Music series Festival Orchestra’s first rehearsal Tuesday after taking in Bloomington sights from his car window.

As part of the Summer Music series at IU’s Jacobs School of Music, the orchestra will perform its first concert at 8 p.m. Friday in the Musical Arts Center.

“We began working right away,” Pintscher said. “The primary goal is to listen to what others do to create a contrast and respond. It’s not about individual sound but about how to support others in the group. That’s the point of an orchestra: trying to sound better together.”

A mix of IU faculty and students from the Jacobs School will join musical guests from symphony orchestras across the United States.

Mark Jackobs, fourth chair viola of the Cleveland Orchestra and principal chair for the viola section of the Festival Orchestra, said Pintscher has conducted him in the Cleveland Orchestra before.

“He is one of the most sought-after young composers of this time,” Jackobs said. “He is a well-known and respected composer at the highest level, and it’s a real treat for the students to be able to work with him.”

The performance will feature three pieces, including Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5,” Igor Stravinsky’s “Petrouchka” and one of Pintscher’s original pieces, “Towards Osiris.”

Bill Ludwig, IU professor of music and chair of the woodwinds department at the Jacobs School, said the Festival Orchestra is realistic because of the number of rehearsals performers were allowed before the show. IU students are normally allowed about 12 practices before a performance, but professional orchestras only allow three
or four.

“This gives them a good combination between being professional where they’re preparing on their own island and where they’re in a teaching situation,” Ludwig said “That’s an important element of what this summer’s about.”

The Summer Music series will offer two other Festival Orchestra concerts, on June 29 and July 13.

IU alumna Adrienne Taylor returned to Bloomington for the summer to take cello lessons from Distinguished Professor of Music Janos Starker. However, Taylor received an even greater opportunity in the Festival Orchestra.

As she rehearsed with the other cellists, Taylor said she noticed an air of seriousness among the musicians.

“To prepare a program in such a short time is a useful experience because having been in the professional world, that’s how things work,” Taylor said. “You have to be able to learn music very quickly and bring it to a high level in a very short time.”

She graduated from IU with a bachelor’s degree from the Jacobs School in 2003 and a performer diploma in 2004.

“It’s always interesting to get to work with different conductors who bring their own interpretation on the pieces and how an orchestra should work together,” Taylor said. “Getting that different perspective from someone is always a musically valuable experience.”

As a member of the 2009 Festival Orchestra, she was able to work with Eric Kim, IU professor of music.

A repeat participant, Kim sits at the head of the cello section for Friday’s concert.

“It’s really important for us to constantly have fine artists from the nation’s best orchestras be here and help the kids,” Kim said. “They are able to expose them to a wide range of views on how to interpret music. That’s something they don’t get the opportunity for out of school, and summer music festivals don’t usually come to Bloomington for that kind of experience.”

Pintscher said that, as conductor, he works to help the performers detach themselves from the music.

“It’s important for young musicians to find the music inside it,” Pintscher said. “They have to forget the notes and make it something alive and human and beautiful.”

After one day of rehearsal, he said the performers still had a long way to go.

“Tomorrow is the day we will come back and see how everything has grown and come together,” he said. “We’ll see what we digested and transformed into listening. It’s not an instant process. They’ve been thrown together for a couple weeks, and we’re here trying to create the spirit of ensemble.”