14 minute read
A Final Wave of the Baton
Windham Festival Chamber Orchestra Founders Bid Farewell
By Sarah Beling
Whether you’re new to the Catskill Mountain region, a regular visitor, or a longtime local, it’s likely that you’ve heard tell of the sublime sounds of the Windham Festival Chamber Orchestra, led by conductor/composer Robert Manno and violinist Magdalena Golczewski for over 25 years. The Metropolitan Opera alums and beloved members of the area’s artistic community will appear in their last WFCO performance this summer in a concert entitled Windham Festival Chamber Orchestra: Tchaikovsky, Scott Joplin, and Robert Manno, playing The Orpheum Performing Arts Center in Tannersville on August 17 at 7:00 pm. An open rehearsal will take place earlier in the day starting at 10:30 am, and a pre-concert talk will take place at 6:45 pm.
“This is our swan song,” said Bob, who, along with Magdalena, expressed gratitude for their long partnership with the Catskill Mountain Foundation. Their final concert promises a mix of classics from Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence for string orchestra and a new arrangement of Scott Joplin’s Three Rags for chamber orchestra to the premiere of Bob’s own pieces—including Portrait of Millay for soprano and string orchestra and Fern Hill, adapted from the poem by Dylan Thomas for baritone and chamber orchestra.
Members of the CMF team and Catskills audiences at large mourned that it would be the last official concert appearance by the pair. “It’s a loss for us that they are not going to do it anymore, but I understand the decision,” said CMF co-founder Peter Finn, “and we’re still open to them changing their minds!” added CMF co-founder Sarah. Peter and Sarah met Bob and Magdalena back in 1998, shortly after the pair had founded the Windham Chamber Music Festival. Bob and Magdalena “were bringing world class musicians to Windham for classical music performances, and their performances were selling out!” said Peter. “Bob and Magdalena were doing exactly what I hoped to do, but they were doing it in Windham, which was already a prosperous village, unlike the Village of Hunter and the Hamlet of Maplecrest,” he added in a passage of his upcoming book chronicling CMF’s history. “Sarah and I started going to their performances, and very soon we were talking about our mutual interest in the arts. Eventually, they brought great musical programming to the Foundation’s venues in the Town of Hunter.”
For Bob and Magdalena, the meeting was just as fortuitous. “In 1998, there was an article on the front page of the Windham Journal [stating] that Peter and Sarah Finn were forming a foundation in Hunter, and were going to start presenting concerts,” said Bob. “We had them over for lunch with us, and started talking about possibly collaborating and coordinating concerts so that we didn’t split the classical music audience,” said Bob. “Our friendship grew, and we started doing chamber workshops in the Red Barn before the Doctorow was ready—all while we were still working at the Metropolitan Opera,” he added. “It was a divided schedule, which was pretty hard,” added Magdalena. “The traveling, having a place here, many night hours—coming here and basically getting out of the car, and, as we say, ‘cutting the grass’, meaning doing concerts right away.” They spent “about four years where we were kind of between New York City and here,”she added, until they officially fully retired from the Metropolitan Opera in 2000 and 2001.
Asked about Bob and Magdalena’s impact on the region’s musical landscape, Sarah stressed that the pair managed not only to create and curate years of exciting programming, but also to develop a sterling reputation for forging new classical music fans. “I think that they were really liked and respected in the community—really, on the whole mountain top,” she said. “They did outreach beyond, it wasn’t just Windham. They were really pulling people from the region who liked the music they were presenting, and really appreciated what they were bringing to the mountaintop.” CMF’s Director of Performing Arts Pam Weisberg agrees. “There was a lot of excitement when they moved to the mountaintop, because of course, they immediately began to meet everybody involved in the arts in the area,” she said. “Bob has an extraordinary love, a really deep knowledge, and a very special point of view about music as a composer and as a singer [who has spent his whole life] involved in the world of music.”
At their first concert, “many people had never been to a classical music concert, and it was a novelty—‘What is this thing happening here in Windham?’” said Bob. “And I’m sure that it was the same in Hunter when Peter and Sarah started concerts at The Doctorow. Classical music was foreign to many people,” he added. “I remember more than one couple would tell us, ‘You’re educating us—this is all new for us.’ It’s great to know that you’ve had that kind of an impact—that’s gratifying. Over the past 10 years on the mountaintop, things have really blossomed, and it’s just amazing what CMF is doing,” said Bob, “certainly not just with classical music, but with all the arts.”
As curators of WFCO’s concert programs, “they had exquisite [musical] taste,” said Pam, “and I think people really responded to that.” Their concerts with CMF, which have frequently sold out, have been successful “partly because of who [Bob] and Magdalena are, and because of their [Metropolitan Opera] backgrounds, but also because they relate very directly to people in the community,” she added. “When they had a concert coming up, they would go out all over the community and distribute materials and talk to people about who the guest artists were, what the performance was all about—it was very, very personal on their part, and they’re both lovely people, so I think that people were really motivated for so many different reasons to want to come to their concerts,” she added. Audiences returned time and time again to their concerts “because the music that was chosen, reflected, I think, who they are,” added Pam. “If you’ve heard Bob’s own compositions, he’s a wonderful composer, and the work is exquisite—it’s beautiful, it’s very moving, it’s very moody, and it’s really affecting,” she said. “The music that he chose for his performances for his concert followed in that vein—in other words, it was music that you really enjoyed hearing,” said Pam. “Audiences have confidence that every year each of his concerts was going to be something that they were going to thoroughly enjoy — and that’s very unusual.”
“They have been, I think, a good example for everybody who’s come in contact with them—including their audiences, myself and other people working at CMF that have worked with them,” added Pam. In working with different artists and collaborators over the years, “they did everything with the greatest respect for everybody, with the greatest professionalism, which was really admirable—and they had to do a lot of the work themselves,” said Pam. “They have had to build up their own group of volunteers and support. It’s really not easy to do in a small community, where everybody is busy with the Fire Department and the rescue squad and the school and their church and don’t have much extra time to give.” Bob and Magdalena didn’t just have to “perform and curate, but get everybody together. It’s not easy,” added Pam. “It was a lot of work.”
Peter agrees, adding that the orchestra’s eventual move from the Doctorow to the Orpheum reflected the immense growth of the ensemble over the years. “It was crowded onstage,” said Peter. “We always sold out, but it was crowded onstage. Eventually, we moved them to the Orpheum, which is a larger stage. I think Bob and Magdalena liked performing there because it’s not so crowded. And we still either sold out, or [were] somewhere close to selling out, even though it has more seats.” Another secret to WFCO’s success has been the continuation of Bob and Magdalena’s long relationships with former Metropolitan Opera colleagues into their work with the Windham Festival Chamber Orchestra, said Sarah. “I think one thing that they have done over the years is bring Met orchestra musicians,” she said. “It was nice that there were familiar faces every year of the key performers who they brought in from the Met orchestra.” Magdalena agrees. “I had a real connection [in the process of] ‘re-meeting’ with my ex-colleagues,” she added.
Both new and veteran collaborators spoke of the pleasure of working with the Windham Festival Chamber Orchestra. Frequent soloist and principal cellist David Heiss first played with the ensemble when “it was brand new, back in 1997!” he said. “When Bob and Magdalena asked me to perform on their chamber music series, I jumped at the chance! The concert included Schubert’s magical C Major cello quintet and was a joyous experience!” David, who has now played with WFCO almost every year since its inception, feels “very fortunate indeed,” to be a part of their legacy, he added. “A few years ago I soloed in Dvořák’s Silent Woods for cello and orchestra and that certainly was a highlight. Bob has been a total delight to work with: he, of course, is passionate about music, but he also lets the orchestra play without the tightly wound-up constraints of some conductors.” And while he’s not a soloist this year, David “certainly looks forward to making music with long-standing friends and colleagues,” in their final WFCO appearance, said David. “We musicians also rely on the audience to bring a level of excitement to the proceedings—it will be a ‘hot’ ticket and a great show!”
Melissa Wimbish, a vocalist appearing for the first time with WFCO at this year’s concert, “first heard about WFCO when Bob reached out to me in December 2022 to ask me about being part of the festival,” she said. Prior to meeting for rehearsals for Portrait of Millay, in which Melissa will sing the soprano part first originated by fellow soprano Emily Pulley, Bob sent her “a biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay which I’m reading as I prepare his piece Portrait of Millay. I get the impression that he is thoughtful, supportive, and that he trusts his artists,” she said.
Bob’s composition “has been floating around my piano, various backpacks, and suitcases for two years now. I steal time here and there to look at it when I have downtime, and of course, the closer we have gotten to the big day, I have spent hours with it— I’m really looking forward to finally getting to rehearse it and hear it and share it,” she added. “I’m honored to be a part of celebrating Bob’s career.”
In addition to preparing for their final concert, Bob and Magdalena have spent the last several months reminiscing over some of their favorite WFCO moments. “We did quite a number of Peter and the Wolf performances at the Doctorow—we were doing Columbus Day weekend concerts there and Thanksgiving weekend concerts in addition to summer concerts in Windham,” said Bob. “It was a pretty, pretty hefty schedule for us. We really enjoyed doing Peter and the Wolf concerts over at The Doctorow—[it’s] a great score ” said Bob. Many of their concerts have also been recorded for posterity by public radio stations, allowing them to relive the “great acoustics” of various performing venues, said Magdalena. “Our concerts are still being heard on NPR’s Performance Today; that’s huge,” added Pam.
And as they finalize preparations for their last time on the Orpheum stage, Peter, Sarah, Pam and the entire CMF team emphasized that Bob and Magdalena would leave a tremendous void in the area’s creative community that would be hard to fill. “There are many friends and audience members who are grateful to them for the many concerts they’ve created, presented, and we wish [them] the very best for the future,” said Peter. “We haven’t figured out how to fill that gap yet. We’ll want to have some other great orchestra perform every year with us!”
“These kinds of transitions in life are really tough,” added Pam. “They’re very tough because we don’t want our artists to leave. We want them to be able to perform forever, and to be creative forever; and I think both Magdalena and Bob will continue to be creative. But we’re not going to have the pleasure of hearing them perform again, and it’s really hard.” She added that Bob and Magdalena’s work with the WFCO “has been life changing for people who live up here. I think it’s had an extraordinary impact on the community,” she said. “It’s a small community up here on the mountaintop: it’s about 10,000 people that live up here. When you live in a small community like this, there aren’t that many electricians, there aren’t many plumbers, there aren’t that many carpenters, and there certainly aren’t that many conductors and performers. Here are these two people who have performed on one of the world’s greatest stages, who’ve come into our community and they have shared their creative lives with us,” she added. “We are now, in a way, connected to the Metropolitan Opera and to what that means.” The ensemble created by Bob and Magdalena is “not just any orchestra, but a really top quality orchestra,” added Pam. “Their legacy is that they have moved the arts in a really positive direction in this area, and that they have created an audience that will look to future opportunities to hear classical music.” While no ensemble can exist in perpetuity, and “nothing is forever,” added Pam, what Bob and Magdalena “have done is they have created fertile ground for future artistic ventures,” she said. “Everybody I know who knows them feels like we were so lucky that they chose the mountaintop to retire. We really, really lucked out.”
As Bob and Magdalena look ahead to their closing night performance, “There’s going to be a certain amount of nostalgia,” said Bob, “but I already feel like this is the right time to do what we’re doing.” They’ll “miss performing,” he added, “but I have my composing, which I plan on concentrating on for the rest of my—I hope—relatively long life, and we want to travel as well.” They still plan on doing some consulting for CMF, and have been “thinking of how we can have someone take over from what we did over with CMF,” he added. No matter what, “we’re very much involved in music—we always will be,” said Bob, noting their plans to engage as audience members at concerts in venues across the New York City and Catskills region at large. “We’ll take trips to New York City, trips to Bard, trips to Maverick and Woodstock, and yes, trips to Hunter and Tannersville, to be part of the music scene—by being active listeners.”
The Windham Festival Chamber Orchestra presents Music by Tchaikovsky, Scott Joplin and Robert Manno on Saturday, August 17, 2024 at 7:00 pm at the Orpheum Performing Arts Center, 6050 Main Street, Tannersville, NY 12485. A free Open Rehearsal will take place the same day at 10:30 am, and a pre-concert talk will begin at 6:45 pm. Tickets purchased ahead are $25; $20 seniors; $7 students. Processing fees apply. It is likely that this concert will sell out, so reserve early at catskillmtn.org or by calling 518 263 2063.
