6811.american ensemble 11/1/06 10:26 AM Page 28 AmericanEnsemble Life Story A kernel of autobiogra- “My father was focused on classical music, where Folk Musiqa was found- 4,000 kids file into Zilkha Hall, phy is at the core of he was very open-minded—anything from early ed in Houston by many of them getting their first every piece Jeff Haas music to Xenakis,” Haas says. “He was not Wisdom five composers— taste of live music. The event turns writes. The pianist and open-minded outside the classical realm.” The Karim Al-Zand, concert-going from a realm that composer blends three Haas kids weren’t allowed to listen to jazz or pop Anthony Brandt, might seem forbidding into some- different influences in at home; Jeff’s sister hid a John Coltrane/ Shih-Hui Chen, thing friendly and approachable. his works: European classical music, traditional Thelonious Monk album under the mattress. Pierre Jalbert and Rob Smith—with the “The Hobby staff greets the Jewish music and African American jazz. The But when, as a teenager, he got his first exposure express aim of serving contemporary children warmly,” says Brandt, amalgam reflects Haas’s life story. He’s the son to the music of Coltrane, Monk, Charles Mingus music. Its programs are dotted with names Musiqa’s cofounder and president. of the late Karl Haas, a co-founder of the and Miles Davis, he became entranced. like Rochberg, Lutoslawski, Andriessen “They get to sit in a beautiful, Chamber Music Society of Detroit and host of Haas saw jazz not so much as a departure and Dallapiccola. Which is why some of its wood-paneled space. We’re up the long-running, nationally syndicated radio from the music of his childhood as an extension adult audience might be surprised to find there doing something that’s obvi- program “Adventures in Good Music.” The of it. “What I heard was very similar to the Musiqua’s players leading a group of ously very well-prepared. They can elder Haas taught his son a love of European Jewish music I heard in the synagogue,” he says. schoolchildren in a rendition of “She’ll Be tell that somebody really cared for The composers of Musiqa masters, and by bringing the boy with him to “It spoke to the human condition, full of hope Comin’ ’Round the Mountain.” But in them.” and despair at the same time.” fact, one of the group’s most important For all of its reliance on folk Karol Bennett soothes a caterwauling Given the diverse strands woven into Haas’s endeavors is a program presented in the songs that children can recognize, the pro- Jeff Haas Sesame Street Ernie doll with a lullaby by music, it’s little wonder that he and his epony- spring to thousands of fourth-graders. gram isn’t the naive romp that it might Shih-Hui Chen, written in a distinctly mous quintet have become virtual ambassadors Starting as a pilot education program, appear at first glance. “She’ll Be Comin’ modern, Asian-influenced idiom. “We take of diversity. The group has given over 500 for the last two seasons “Around the World ’Round the Mountain” becomes the basis them step-by-step to stuff that even cultured “diversity workshops” in Detroit schools. Haas with Musiqa” has taken place at the Hobby for Al-Zand’s theme-and-variations, “Red adults wouldn’t be listening to every day,” helped develop a program in Traverse City, MI, Pajamas”—and an opportunity says Brandt. which brought high school kids together for ten for Brandt to point out how Four out of Musiqa’s five principals are weeks, rehearsing an original composition for a Soprano Karol Bennett and pupils music can be varied and aug- parents—a factor that adds significance to Martin Luther King celebration. mented. “Children are used to the project. (Brandt’s daughter attended Recently, Haas’s quintet played a performance hearing the same performances this year with her fourth-grade class.) In in Sheboygan, Wisconsin—a city where, as Haas over and over again,” says future seasons, Musiqa plans to expand the says with only slight hyperbole—“There are no Brandt. “When you introduce program to the neighboring school district Jewish or African American people.” After the them to the idea of trans- of Spring Branch, and the group hopes to show, an older man walked up to the group, formed, rather than literal, rep- create other child-friendly programs, such and as Haas relates: “He looked like he had etition, you introduce them to as an hour of fables and folktales, with each had a bit of a rough life. He said ‘I don’t like the idea that music is alive and composer contributing a 10-minute narra- black people; I have never met a Jew—but I love developing— it doesn’t have to tive piece. “This is such an important part your music!” Needless to say, a pregnant pause sound the same way twice. You of what Musiqa does,” says Brandt. “The ensued, as the quintet’s members—which also open up the door to all sorts of chance to do something for kids means so Detroit’s Temple Israel, where he was music includes a Filipino, a WASP, and two African music.” much.” www.musiqahouston.org director, he introduced him to the Jewish musical Americans—took in the import of what the man “Around the World with tradition. was saying. Musiqa” also gently leads the “I grew up on the organ bench,” Jeff Haas A response like that could prove daunting to Center for the Performing Arts in down- children toward modern music. Proceeding says. “My dad would point to the first note of even the most open-minded performer. But as town Houston. The program is provided from the basic folk songs themselves, the the service and let me play it. It was quite thrill Haas notes: “We certainly were not preaching free to schools, which sign up on a first- concert presents folk-song settings and for a little kid to press a note and make a sound to the choir in that situation!” After the dust come, first-served basis. Over the course of folk-influenced music by Bartók, Ives, for the twelve hundred people in the temple.” had settled, it was clear the Jeff Haas Quintet four days and eight performances in May, Crumb and Berio. At one point soprano The jazz came later—a passion that emphati- had accomplished just what it set out to do. cally began outside the bosom of the Haas family. www.jeffhaasmusic.com 28 december 2006 29 6811.american ensemble 11/1/06 10:26 AM Page 30 AmericanEnsemble Dowdall, David Miles and Boland, with composer Andrew Simpson (seated) The city is famous for blue crabs, the Orioles fessional lives, they lived the life of touring musicians, Lyric and the films of John Waters. But Baltimore is playing dates across the U.S. and abroad. But Iowa Impulses also home to a thriving classical music scene, was home base, and as their joint career advanced, with a top symphony orchestra, an opera com- so did their allegiance to the community. “We pany and a leading conservatory. And it’s the decided we wanted to bring back home to eastern breeding ground for the Poulenc Trio, a three- Iowa that wonderful music we heard when we were year-old oboe, bassoon and piano ensemble out and about,” says Dowdall. A CMA grant in quickly establishing an international reputation. 1987 helped them put together outreach programs, The trio’s genesis came when its members decided to explore the unexpected creating a community presence that paid off when combination of their three instruments. “We got together to see how far it could they founded Red Cedar Chamber Music. go,” says Bryan Young, the group’s bassoonist. Young is a principal with the The concert series is only the most visible of Baltimore Chamber Orchestra; both he and pianist Irina Lande serve on the fac- Red Cedar’s many activities. In a given year, the ulty of the Peabody Institute; Irina’s husband, Vladimir Lande, is principal oboist group will perform between 60 and 80 concerts in with the Baltimore Opera. The group’s name was a natural: Poulenc is after all schools, senior citizen homes and public spaces. the composer of the most famous piece written for these quirky forces. Through its Chamber Music Now program, the For Young, the group offers a whole new level of professional satisfaction. “I’ve organization works with talented high school and always loved chamber music over orchestral playing,” he says. “It’s more inti- college students, coaching them not just on musi- mate, more lyrical. As a bassoonist, I don’t always have to play the buffoon.” cal matters, but on their presentation skills. The ensemble has expanded the oboe/bassoon/piano repertoire through com- Local A concert series built around a Boland and Dowdall stage a summer festival, missions, and also broadens its musical possibilities through collaborations with guitar/flute duo might be unusual specifically for flute/guitar duos, and incorporate other musicians, such as the Jacques Thibaud Trio and violinist Hilary Hahn. Heroes enough in one of the world’s major training in the business aspects of performing. Last year the musicians achieved a new measure of local visibility when they musical centers. But Red Cedar Red Cedar’s Rural Outreach program stages became musicians-in-residence at Baltimore’s Walters Art Museum. The position Chamber Music, featuring the concerts in small towns within a roughly fifty-mile not only calls upon the Poulencs to perform but to serve as the museum’s music Boland-Dowdall Flute & Guitar Duo, is giving its radius of Cedar Rapids/Marion.