TIME TO EXHALE

After the last three weeks of intense performance activities by regional actors, directors, dancers and musicians, this week’s Calendar, with a much smaller list of attractions, seems to suggest that it’s time for all of us to withdraw into our own private worlds of families and close friends. After all, we have to gear up again for First Night, which will dominate our Calendar next week.

STRADIVARI’S SPRUCES

There is almost no musical culture on earth that doesn’t use the violin, or its regional equivalent. The iconic Italian model has permeated sophisticated classical musical traditions across the planet. Nothing inhibits the violin from being welcome no matter where you go. And no name is more emblematic than that of Antonio Stradivari (pictured.)

The spruce forests of the Fiemme Valley, about 120 miles northeast from Cremona, was where the luthiers of legend, the Stradivari, Amati and Guarneri clans found “Il bosco che suona,” the ‘musical woods’ with which they worked their magic. Thanks to a serendipitous combination of climate and altitude, the Fiemme trees have become almost as sacred as the violins made from them. To read more, click HERE.

STRAD V. GUARNERI

You would not be alone to admit that you can’t tell the difference between a Strad and a Guarnerius. But those who play on them can. French violinist Renaud Capuçon explains the difference, and why he traded one for the other. Click HERE.

BEGINNING OF POLYPHONY EARLIER THAN THOUGHT

Put two independent melodies together at the same time and you’ve got polyphony—in practice called counterpoint. It was not always thus. Or, if so, it was not written down. That story has unexpectedly changed. Click HERE.

PERFORMING ARTS PEOPLE

Chamber music maven Amy Anderson, the visionary behind today’s Chamber Music Monterey Bay, and a dedicated performer of the music she loves and sometimes commissions is profiled by Susan Meister. Click HERE.

PAMB GIVES THANKS

Mark Burger and I wish to express our gratitude for the good faith, solid encouragement and increasing numbers of subscribers who depend on PAMB each week to stay in touch with the performance activities of our theater, dance and music presenters and producers. We also thank them for what they do because it makes what we do so much more urgent and, frankly, easier.

Best Holiday Wishes to all of us!

Scott MacClelland, editor