- [Narrator] Funding
for this program
has been provided by
the FS Foundation,
bringing together adults of
all abilities and backgrounds,
as they pursue passion,
prosperity and purpose.
Linda and Alvaro Pascotto.
(soft classical music)
The Carol Franc Buck Foundation.
(soft classical music)
Additional support
provided by these funders.
(upbeat classical music)
- It absolutely would
not have been possible
to take even 40 players and
distance them for health
and be able to have
a full orchestra.
That was not gonna happen.
It was really advantageous
to already take our
chamber music idea,
which has always been
part of the festival,
and make that the centerpiece.
- With all of the
challenges of a pandemic
and trying to get people
safely to play together.
I mean it's the only
thing this summer
that is able to do that.
- Health was first and foremost.
Of course because
of Joel's passing
as a result of COVID,
everyone had a
heightened sensitivity
to how we must keep
each other safe.
- I know difficult
this is right now
and I know how
careful we have to be.
And I know there's
so much concern
and I've appreciated
all the thought
that's gone into this
to keep everybody safe.
- And so we had to make sure
that the performers can be safe.
We had to make sure that
our audience could be safe,
and outdoors made
the most sense.
- I think that I
could recite to you
every CDC recommendation
for events and gatherings,
everything that was
needed to do this safely.
And it brought some anxiety.
I mean there was no guarantee
along with everything
in this year
that this was the
right thing to do,
until we were doing it.
- When I got the call to come
and you know I heard
it's gonna be different.
It's going to be chamber music.
It's gonna be a smaller group
of audiences to be here,
and we're gonna
be really careful
and we're going to try our best
to minimize all the
risks and everything.
I mean, I just thought, wow,
like these guys are
thinking out of the box,
and really pivoting at a
time when we need it most,
and really giving a service
to the community
here at Lake Tahoe.
I was so overjoyed that not only
that classical Tahoe
was doing this,
but that I could
be a part of it.
- In normal times
a chamber ensemble
typically performs the
best the closer you can
see the musicians for being
able to hear each other.
I know for my own
string quartet,
just sometimes
pushing in six inches
on the part of each player
can make a huge difference.
And right now we have to
think about am I too close?
Am I properly distanced
from that person?
I'm lucky in
tonight's performance
that it's my wife to my left.
So we're not distancing
from each other,
at least unless I do something
really bad at home (laughs).
- It's a good example of how,
if you really spend
the time figuring out
how to cross all your
T's and dot all your I's,
you can do something
safely for everyone
that is important
for mental health.
We're all looking out
for our physical health,
but there's a lot
to be said here
for people who are needing
some mental health,
and some place to find
some relief and hope.
- Classical Tahoe is
one of the only places
that I actually play
in an orchestra.
And I feel pretty lucky
because my colleagues
are principals of the
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra,
the LA Phil, San Francisco
Symphony all over the place.
And I just, most of what
I play is chamber music.
So this is actually kind of
my jam (laughs) this summer.
And it's pretty fun to be
able to play chamber music
with these great players in
ways that have collaborated
with them before
in bigger groups,
but to be in a small group
together is pretty amazing.
- One of the pieces
we're performing tonight
is a Bach Concerto
for oboe and violin,
listening to the two soloists
trade back and forth,
it's just amazing.
Nathaniel and Daniel are
both excellent musicians,
and you're really
in for a treat.
(upbeat classical music)
- What's interesting
about this Bach piece
is that it is an accompanying
role that we're playing
to the two soloists and so
there's an oboe solo with Nathan
and a violin solo with Daniel.
And there were two of us
playing the sort of baseline
in the Baroque period that
would be called a continual.
So what it means is
it's a continuous line,
but the two of us
are playing it.
And historically
probably a harpsichord
would also be
playing it with us.
So it would be
sort of a triangle
but when it's only
the two of us,
we sort of have to negotiate
who is gonna play
a little bit more,
and who can shadow
the other one,
so that we can more
seamlessly play together.
There was a point at
which we were talking
about plucking versus bowing,
and we ultimately
decided to pluck
most of the second movement,
all these tiny little decisions
that go into making the bigger
piece of music come alive.
(soft classical music)
(crowd cheering)
- If I had to be on
the desert Island
with only one music with me,
I would choose the piece I'm
playing tonight actually.
the Debussy Danses.
So Claude Debussy in the
beginning of the 20th century,
was commissioned by a
harp maker for a new piece
for harping string orchestra.
And so he wrote these two danses
so first is Sacree Danse
the Danse Sacree in French.
Second one is Profane
Danse, the Danse Profane.
And so they are very beautiful
diptyque you can say that,
like two pieces of music.
They are very contrasting,
and it's amazing music.
Of course, he was very inspired
at the time in France there
was a whole fascination
for Ancient Greece.
So there is a lot of things
that are like the modes used
in this music are Greek modes.
And I think being brought up
by a specialist of
French literature
and my mother and my father
taught Greek and Latin
in high school,
I add fascination
for the Greek myth.
So I guess that's also why
this music touched me so much.
(soft classical music)
(crowd clapping)
- I get to play music that I
really love to try to play well
which is Liszt
Transcendental Etudes.
I'm playing one of them
which is number 10.
And so this music
is really virtuoso
to the point of almost
verging on histrionic, right?
It's like, there's
even a great moment
in this piece where
Liszt marks disperato.
Absence of hope right in this,
like just like
operatic intensity,
and you're almost trying
to break the piano
when you play this music.
It's very fun to play
if you can play it.
(dramatic classical music)
(crowd cheering)
- The COVID pandemic
is so front and center
in all of our minds.
And I think that this
week performing in Tahoe,
at the moment stands out almost
over anything in my career
really after having
not only not performed,
but not even played or rehearsed
in front of another human
being for five months,
really I honestly
had some anxiety
about being in front
of people again.
And it's not really a self
doubt of can I still do it,
but you kind of lose
contact with the immediacy
of what it's like to
do the work we've been
so accustomed to
doing in my case
for almost a quarter century.
So being out in front
of people again,
it was almost cathartic.
It really does
stand out like the,
you know, cause after this week,
I think none of us who
are here right now,
really know when the
next time will be.
(dramatic classical music)
The difference between
an audience of 25
and an audience of 3000,
is smaller than the
difference between
no audience and
an audience of 25.
Is if you're in front of people
and it's live and in real time,
then music exists the
way it's meant to be.
Where it's experienced
in real time and space.
Whereas when it's all virtual,
it doesn't mean that
the art isn't there.
It doesn't mean that the
communication isn't there,
but it feels just
completely different.
The more we can
feel and understand
that it's a two
way sort of giving,
the more we feel
that it's vital.
(somber classical music)
(upbeat classical music)
(somber classical music)
(dramatic classical music)
(crowd cheering)
(upbeat classical music)
- [Narrator] Funding
for this program
has been provided by
the FS Foundation,
bringing together adults of
all abilities and backgrounds,
as they pursue passion,
prosperity and purpose.
Linda and Alvaro Pascotto.
(soft classical music)
The Carol Franc Buck Foundation.
(soft classical music)
Additional support
provided by these funders.