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Chamber Diplomacy: A Musical Ensemble Contributes to Peace
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11110 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
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10 / 1993 |
1,699 Words |
| Author
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Tom Pniewski
Tom Pniewski is a musicologist at Hunter College in New York. |
It all began twenty-two years ago with some dilapidated New Hampshire farm buildings, a few cabins, and a handful of musicians who didn't want to compete in the traditional arts establishment. While coaching at a summer music workshop in New England, a group of conservatory graduates discovered an unusual rapport and decided to found a summer music school of their own. Following what one member calls "a post-sixties counterculture commune kind of impulse," the Apple Hill Chamber Players bought a farm in the New Hampshire hinterlands, living there in a semicommunal arrangement. The members of this idealistic ensemble, however, did not drop out: They made their dream a reality. Over the past two decades, their professional concerts and recordings have won them worldwide acclaim, their summer music workshops have grown to a half-million-dollar enterprise bringing together an amazing diversity of students of all ages and abilities, and--perhaps most significantly--they have created a special role for themselves as artistic ambassadors, using music to bridge gulfs of international distrust and hostility.
Eric Stumacher, pianist and guiding spirit of Apple Hill, recalls the philosophy that brought the players together. "We were all fresh from traditional conservatories--Juilliard, the Manhattan School, Oberlin, and so on--the kind of places where competition is fierce and people listen outside your practice room to see how well you're playing that Chopin cadenza. We wanted to play music at the highest level, but not compete in that rat race. We also felt that every person has an ability--and a right--to hear and play great music. The conventional concert and conservatory scene wasn't meeting that need."
Stumacher, fellow pianist Robert Merfeld, and violist Betty Hauck bought the run-down farm in tiny Nelson, New Hampshire, in 1971. (It's so tiny the mailing address is nearby East Sullivan.) The musicians saw the farm as a haven in which they could experiment, refining their musical skills and philosophy of teaching. In time they were joined by bass player Richard Hartshorne, cellist Beth Pearson, and violinist Mowry Pearson, residing in the barns and cabins in which their students now live and rehearse. Thus the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music was born. Pearson was later replaced by cellist Paul Cohen, and other members have taken time off for various projects. But the instrumentalists, who officially became the Apple Hill Chamber Players in 1973, maintain a closeness unusual even in chamber groups--an affectionate enthusiasm and rapport that has deepened over the years, manifesting in every note they play.
In February 1973,
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