Date: Fri 15-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Illustration: C

Location: A-11

Quick Words:

CT-Performers-Series

Full Text:

Classical Music Views-

The Performers of Connecticut And The Cost Of A Free Lunch

By Vadim Prokharov

There is always a positive side to any negative occurrence.

As Mario Cuomo said recently, it is good that we [Democrats] lost: at least

now everyone knows how much free lunches cost.

Indeed, the more Congress cuts cultural funding, the more people understand

what it costs to keep orchestras playing and shows running. The arts industry

in Connecticut, said John E. Otrout, executive director of the Connecticut

Commission on the Arts, exceeded the half-billion dollar mark last year in

annual economic impact and supplied over 12,000 jobs. But a 40 percent cut in

the National Endowment for the Arts' budget for next year, approved by the

Senate Appropriations Committee in July, made many Connecticut arts groups

jittery about their future. Though more and more people donate money to local

cultural organizations, it is still not enough to fill the gap and to make

executive directors feel safe.

However, Millette Alexander, president of the Performers of Connecticut (POC),

who lives in Fairfield, is encouraged. People call, she says, and offer their

support. In addition, the organization received a substantial grant from the

Exxon Corporation, whose Volunteer Involvement Fund Program encourages

volunteer services that directly improve the quality of life in the community.

Different music organizations do this differently. Some try to bring to the

community the best artists from all over the world. Some present only

Connecticut musicians. POC's work, however, is totally dedicated to exposing

young people to quality music, as Ms Alexander put it. "We have to develop

audiences as well as young artists. It has to be both." The organization gives

a unique opportunity for young people to play professionally on the stage.

Some programs, such as the Renee Fisher Piano Competition and the Leon Tec

Showcase Concert, are paid for by their sponsors, but POC does all the work to

produce them. There is, however, an annual event for which POC is responsible

in full. It is the Heida Hermanns International Young Artists Competition,

which this year will be held in December.

The competition was founded 23 years ago by Heida Hermanns, who did a lot for

this community and whose life is a novel in itself.

She was a distinguished concert pianist who won the Bluthner (a legendary

German piano maker) piano competition in Germany at the age of 18. Her career

was cut short by the outbreak of World War II, and she came to America with

her husband, who was a writer for a Jewish daily newspaper in Frankfurt. They

got out of Europe before it was too late.

Heida Hermanns was co-founder of POC and the competition for young artists

which bears her name. Originally, the prize was area performances and a debut

at Carnegie Recital Hall, but later it was decided instead to give the winners

an equivalent in prize money.

This year's prizes total over $7,000, which has to be raised. For this

purpose, on September 16, well-known local pianists will participate in a

benefit for the Performers of Connecticut at the Westport Arts Center. Six

teams of area piano duos will present a program called "Duos and Dances."

Pianists Natalie Maynard of Westport and Helene Wickett of Wilton will play

"Gazebo Dances" by composer John Corigliano, whose opera The Ghosts of

Versailles was produced by the Met in 1993.

"The Dances" are dedicated to Heida Hermanns, whom John Corigliano Jr. knew

from his childhood. His father was violinist and concertmaster of the New York

Philharmonic from 1943 to 1966, and Heida Hermanns was his piano partner in

their violin-piano duo. Fairfield County has always been arts-oriented, and

people here understand what it takes to get to the top. So both the

competition and the benefit continue the tradition of creating the artistic

atmosphere the area is so famous for, as well as by helping young musicians to

find their way in life.

All but one pianist participating in the benefit are from local towns.

Rowayton's David Allen Wehr and Eve Dillingham, of West Redding, will play

Dvorak's Three Slavonic Dances . David Wehr is an internationally-known

pianist and professor at Ouachita University in Arkadelphia, Ark. Eve

Dillingham was a member of Concorde, the resident chamber music ensemble

before it was disbanded last year, and the Hanover Chamber Players. For over

20 years she has taught at the Westport Music School.

Also on the program is the Silvermine Duo, which consists of Sandra Shaw of

Fairfield and Rita Lapcevic of Stamford; Linda Maranis and Elizabeth Lauer,

who live in New Canaan; Genevieve Chinn Brings and Allen Brings of Wilton; and

Millette Alexander and New Yorker Frank Daykin. The latter duo will make their

New York debut at Carnegie Recital Hall in September.

The POC's benefit certainly will not have a problem finding an audience, nor

will its concerts and competitions, since there are clear indications the

organization's ideas reach young people more and more. POC has expanded its

outreach program to include inner-city Bridgeport school children.

"The response has been overwhelming," says Ms Alexander, "not just from the

grateful school administrators, but also from the children."

"I want to thank you for coming and singing," wrote one fifth-grader to POC.

"It was great. I loved it. Now that is what I call singing. I saw when you

sang you had to use a lot of breath and you had to open up your mouth real

wide."

Dear fifth-grader: the artists open their hearts, too.

(For more information about this program, call 227-8998)