Director’s View: A piano trio coup

Since we announced the extraordinary presentation of the first performance as a piano trio by Emanuel Ax, Itzhak Perlman, and Yo-Yo Ma, I’ve been asked many times how I managed to attract these world-renowned artists to Eisenhower Auditorium? The answer involves many elements coming together at the right time.

During my career I’ve been fortunate to work with these incredible artists on many occasions. I’ve presented Ax and Ma in recital twice and in a quartet performance with Isaac Stern and Jamie Laredo. I’ve presented Perlman in recital four times and with several outstanding Klezmer groups in a tour called In the Fiddler’s House. Our paths have crossed on other occasions when I’ve had the opportunity to attend concerts by the artists in New York City and elsewhere. I experienced some of those concerts alongside the artists’ managers, with whom I’ve formed close professional relationships.

The artists have also performed separately at Penn State. Perlman has appeared four times in recital, first in 1971 and most recently in April 2008. Ax and Ma have visited Penn State twice each. Ax first appeared here in 1978 and returned ten years later. Ma made his Penn State debut in 1986 and returned in 1991 to perform as soloist with the German Youth Orchestra.

Since coming to Penn State in 2004, I’ve worked to bring them back to the Center for the Performing Arts, not knowing, of course, I would have the opportunity to present all three at once. Fortunately, I’ve known their managers for more than twenty years, but it takes awhile to work dates into their busy professional lives. So, when the call came in May 2007 asking if we would want to present the first performance of these three artists as a trio prior to their Carnegie Hall concert, I was thrilled. Perlman initiated the idea several years ago out of his desire to explore some of the great trio repertoire with Ax and Ma.

My personal and professional relationship with the artists and their managers was certainly a factor in the decision to come to the University. However, I believe the stellar reputation of the Center for the Performing Arts and the reputation our staff has in providing visiting artists with the best service and attention—combined with the knowledge that Ax, Perlman, and Ma would enjoy performing in a wonderful hall filled with an appreciative audience—were also major factors in the decision. It also doesn’t hurt that our relative proximity to New York City enables the musicians to comfortably return for their Carnegie Hall concert the night after performing in State College.

So, on March 30 we’ll be the beneficiaries of what can only be characterized as a coup for the Center for the Performing Arts. It will be a concert to remember for some time to come, a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Here are some thoughts about two other exciting presentations at Eisenhower in March.

I had the opportunity to see the Japanese drumming ensemble KODO perform some years back at Cornell University. I’ve hoped for an opportunity to bring the drummers to Penn State and am thrilled they’ll be performing here on March 18. The experience of seeing and hearing a KODO performance is truly unique and moving, right down to the impact of their largest drum as its resonance radiates through your body.

One of the most individual and creative dance companies of our time, MOMIX returns to the Center for the Performing Arts March 26 with a full-length work called Lunar Sea. Highly creative artists have the ability to take audiences on astonishing journeys, routes that allow us to escape into another world. In Lunar Sea the creative minds and dancers of MOMIX take us to a world of fantastic fluid imagery as they float and morph through one mind-boggling tableau after another. How do they do it? That’s part of the magic of MOMIX. See it for yourself and be amazed.