Tag Archives: talent

Melissa Errico’s Spectacular Show at Bay Street

Melissa Errico’s Spectacular Show at Bay Street

Photo from www.melissaerrico.com

Photo from www.melissaerrico.com

Ron and I had the tremendous pleasure last night of seeing Melissa Errico, actress and superb singer, in a one-woman show at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor entitled “Funny! I’m a Woman with Children…“. Ron had seen her perform here in the Hamptons previously, but I had only heard her CD entitled Legrand Affair which was a spectacular collaboration with Michel Legrand, one of Melissa’s lifetime musical idols.

I was excited to see her in person as I have met her husband, Patrick McEnroe, a number of times through our mutual friend, Monte. Melissa and Patrick share a loving twenty year marriage and they have three beautiful girls – all of whom Melissa talked about in the show with great love and devotion.

Photo from www.melissaerrico.com

Photo from www.melissaerrico.com

To see Melissa in person was an absolute gift: sharing her warm personality, the intimacy of her stories about dating, romance, falling in love, motherhood, the importance of her girlfriends, marriage, career challenges, and so much more. She is tremendously talented and, in the words of Stephen Holden of the New York Times, “Melissa has the power to take a sumptuous Broadway ballad to the moon and back!” Her selection of songs was spectacular and we’re hoping that she records them on a CD in the near future so that we can savor the lyrics, the music, and her beautiful voice over and over again.

The Perlman Music Program

The Perlman Music Program Summer Music School, founded in 1994 by Toby Perlman, is an immersive seven-week program for exceptionally talented string musicians ages twelve to eighteen. They host concerts, masterclasses, open rehearsals and events all summer long.

We were finally able to attend a FREE Chamber Music Masterclass at the Clark Arts Centre on Tuesday night which featured Kim Kashkashian, Grammy-winning Armenian-American violist, who currently teaches viola and chamber music at the New England Conservatory. She worked with two quartets on movements from Claude Debussy, String Quartet in G Minor, Op.10 and Gabriel Faure, Piano Quartet in C Minor, Op. 15.

Kim Kashkashian working with her students

Kim Kashkashian working with her students

The talent of these young adults was astounding and watching Ms. Kashkashian work with them to improve their performance and their understanding of the material was inspiring. The format was that the quartets would each play their prepared pieces in their entirety, then Ms. Kashkashian would break it down phrase by phrase, line by line, and constructively critique and draw the very best from these young artists.

Hailed as one of the best violists in the world, Ms. Kashkashian has been hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “an artist who combines a probing, restless musical intellect with enormous beauty of tone.” The New York Times has joined in these accolades, praising her “rich, mellow timbre and impressive artistry.”

There were similar workshops conducted on Wednesday and Thursday nights which featured two other artist/faculty masters. The culmination of this week is the Chamber Music Workshop Celebration Concerts, matinée and evening, on Friday and Saturday.

These young adults are brilliant musicians and the Perlman Music Program offers unparalleled musical training to young string players of rare and special talent from all over the world. It is a privilege to be able to hear and observe these gifted young people and their instructors who possess such extraordinary talent. They are truly the leaders in the future of classical and chamber music and we are grateful to have been able to watch them perform in such a positive and nurturing learning environment.

View through the trees on the Perlman Music Program grounds

View through the trees on the Perlman Music Program grounds