Music Academy of the West
by Steven Libowitz
Horn of Plenty: Merkelo on Trumpet
W
hile many in the world of academics enjoy two or three months of vacation, the 140-something fellow at the Music Academy of the West’s (MAW) eightweek summer festival undergo a grueling schedule filled with private lessons, public master classes, orchestral or other rehearsals, chamber music performances, symphony concerts, and more. Nearly all profess their love for the jam-packed schedule, but it wouldn’t be surprising if they needed a breather or some encouragement in the stamina department every once in a while, especially as the season winds down this weekend. For that, they could do a lot worse than to turn to Paul Merkelo. The trumpeter, who has served on the faculty since 2005, not only weathers a demanding schedule as the principal player for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra for the last 20 years, he couples that with an exercise regimen than includes running – lots of running, over long distances. The product of Champaign, Illinois, ran in the 2012 New York City Marathon, all 26.2 miles of it. “I’ve always been athletic,” Merkelo explained in a recent interview. “It’s a great balance to the stress and rigor of playing an instrument, and a good way to release that tension and the isolation of spending time in a practice room, alone for hours every day. It’s nice to get out into nature and breathe and move.” Merkelo also allowed that his running practice also probably has more direct applications to his instrument, helping to increase his breath work for long and challenging passages on the trumpet. “If it’s a hard workout and you breathe deeply, it has to expand your lung capacity, so it helps,” he said. That stamina came in handy this MAW season, as Merkelo found himself front and center for three consecutive Festival Artist Series concerts at the Lobero in Weeks 6-8, where he played MAW alumnus James Stephenson’s Vignettes with percussionist Michael Werner, blew his horn for four of the Brandenburg Concertos under Nicholas McGegan’s leadership, and closed out the MAFAS concerts just this last Tuesday with Joseph Turrin’s Fandango, with the New York Philharmonic’s tuba player Alan Baer performing the trombone part alongside MAW faculty pianist Margaret McDonald. But for all his own performance opportunities at MAW, Merkelo most-
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ly focuses on working with the fellows, the young pre-professional students who comprise the purpose of the summer festival. “My number-one priority is commitment to the students to get them to the next level, to go beyond what they’re already doing,” he said. “They’re at such a high level – just by the fact they got in here – in some cases it’s only a few little things to get one level up. We’re very committed and focused to becoming not only teachers but mentors to these young musicians who are at the top of the class of conservatories around the world. We want to be the bridge to take them from the training to what it takes to win an orchestral audition, and to be leader in the world of classical music.” Merkelo is pretty clear how that translates in trumpet master classes – the final session of which takes place this Friday, August 7, at 1 pm in Weinman Hall. “I’m really listening intently, my ears are hypersensitive to what’s coming out the end of their bell,” he explained. “What can I say? Do I need to demonstrate? What creative concept can help them get to next level? We can always improve. Even the greatest players on the planet always want to get better. My role is to expedite that, maybe give them a few ideas to focus on in the practice room to peel back the layers and find potential, not only as a trumpet player, but as a great artist.” To that end, Merkelo tries to imbed in his students the axiom to always “Tell a story when you play,” meaning do more than execute the notes perfectly but give them meaning and shape. “What we do is physical, based on vibration and projecting our sound through this metal brass instrument. But I’m also always listening to singers and other instruments to get ideas. The trumpet can change colors of sound quite incredibly. In jazz alone, you can have a smoky bluesy sound or Doc Severinsen lighting up the upper register, really brilliant, or something lighter and more elegant. There are so many pallets we can use.” Those colors are also explored via the orchestral concerts where the administration has programmed a plethora of pieces aimed at variety. Merkelo – as with all the appropriate MAW faculty members – also coaches his fellows on orchestral sections, attending all the rehearsals of the Academy Festival Orchestra and working with the trumpeters to fine-
Paul Merkelo offers his final session of trumpet master classes on Friday, August 7
tune their playing of each week’s pieces. For Saturday’s final AFO concert – conducted by the legendary Christoph von Dohnányi, the former music director of the Cleveland Orchestra – Merkelo is focusing on the final selection, Brahms’ meaty Symphony No. 2. “It’s been great to go to Mahler 5 to the Bartok concerto to Brahms 2 this season,” he said. “It pushes the fellows to explore the different colors of sounds and styles. What are the stylistic complexities in Mahler, and what do you need to do in Bartok technically to make it work? I’m proud to say we have in house at MAW rotary valve trumpets, which are used often on Brahms in major symphonies around the world. We have two here now available to the students, and they’ll use them on Brahms 2. It’s a very unique sound and a wonderful opportunity for the students.”
Cabaret: Short & Sweet End to Season
The annual opera performances were moved up by a day for 2015; perhaps in an effort at balance, Cabaret – the big gala benefit concert at the DoubleTree Resort that also represents the vocalists final opportunity to sing in public – has been pushed back to Friday. But fear not, Gerald Sternbach – the veteran music director of stage, cabaret, and TV – is returning for his seventh turn conducting the evening of music under the stars. Over Sternbach’s tenure, MAW’s Cabaret has shifted from an exclusive focus on the Great American Songbook, often a single composer or two, to something more personal for the singers, he said. “We used to do a whole evening of Irving Berlin, with the singers on risers holding their songbooks, like a show choir. But they asked me to try
• The Voice of the Village •
something different, and I came up with the idea of talking to the fellows and finding out what they love to listen to. I’d ask where they’re from, what their parents like, things like that. We came up with a soup-to-nuts thing that has done very well. It’s not going to be a ‘best of’ anybody anymore, at least not on my watch.” The approach is undergoing changes again for Friday’s event, said Sternbach, who received an Emmy nomination for last year’s Mel Brooks Live at the Geffen. Gone is the staging that had the whole ensemble sitting and watching one another perform “like they were in a great big living room,” he said. Instead, the fellows will be making entrances and exits from the side. “We designed a set that works for the show that’s quite different. It’s a much shorter show,” Sternbach explained. “It used to be all 23 fellows and the show ran close to two hours, which was pretty long. Now it’s down to under an hour, with more ensemble numbers, and duets and trios, and far fewer solos, as well as some comedy. It’s a real mix to keep things spicy.” Among the songs are a quartet from Kismet, which Sternbach described as “classical with a sexy bent” and said was one of his favorites. “It gets that sense of the crossover between great musical theater and great opera.” Three female vocalists will offer “Sing for Your Supper” from The Boys of Syracuse by Rodgers & Hart, while others will perform the duet “Falling Slowly”, from Once, which won the Academy Award for best original song. “There are lots of great pop songs,” Sternbach said. “We’re trying to keep it contemporary.” While Sternbach will still play piano for most of the selections, he won’t be the only musician on stage. “We are incorporating more of the instrumentalist fellows into the program, so they’ll be in on the finale,” he explained. “There’s even a big percussion number, and four cellists are doing an arrangement of ‘Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)’ by The Eurythmics, plus we have a surprise at the end. So I guess it is still soup to nuts.”
Gardens Variety
Saturday’s AFO symphony concert marks the end of MAW’s 2015 summer festival, but thankfully the local classical music scene gears back up again the next day. The West Coast Symphony Orchestra will play its 46th Annual Old Spanish Days Fiesta Concert at 3:30 pm in the Sunken Gardens of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse. Admission as always is free. For details, visit www. CieloPerformingArts.org. •MJ 6 – 13 August 2015