Orchestral and classical music is a big part of what we do at the Palladium. And I’m thrilled when we find partners who share that passion for this incredible musical legacy.
Starting with one concert last year, we have embraced The Chopin Project, a performance and educational effort of my old friend Fred Slutsky. This year three concerts are coming to the Palladium mainstage and the first one is Tuesday night (Nov. 13) when pianist Matthew Graybil and violinist Rhiannon Banerdt appear in a concert they are calling Musical Nationalism and Exoticism. Since The Chopin Project is about much more than one composer, this program includes music by Chopin, Dvorak, Ravel, de Fall and Saint-Saens.
I was lucky enough to catch Matthew in a solo recital and got it all – great musical abilities and a winning personality. His comments between pieces really bring the concert to life. People love this guy.
In anticipation of Tuesday’s concert, I asked Fred to talk about these two young performers and about his passion of his now 10-year-old musical project.
PALLADIUMPAUL: Tell us a little about Matthew and Rhiannon.
FRED SLUTSKY: Matthew Graybil and Rhiannon Banerdt — exceptional young musicians, well-trained from early-on with an added measure of thoughtfulness about the music they choose to play. At once represent the best qualities of committed musicianship and also very warm, engaging and caring people I’m pleased to call my friends. Their spirit and our collective enthusiasm about the Project makes our time together really fun.
The concert program includes works by Chopin, Dvorak, Ravel, de Falla, and Saint-Saens. It has been thoughtfully prepared and balanced, offering a variety of themes and styles. At a minimum, there’s “something for everyone,” but I think it will resonate much more fully.
PALLADIUMPAUL: I know how passionate you are about The Chopin Project and these concerts. But can you talk about that a bit more for our audience?
FRED SLUTSKY: I’m passionate about producing our Chopin Project concerts for a few reasons but two are closest to my heart:
1) to share the music I love to hear with others who already share the same musical sensibilities . . . in the same way as you might enjoy going to a movie you’ve already seen and really want to see again, and taking a friend who hasn’t seen it yet but whom you think will enjoy it as much as you did the first time. Your own anticipation of your friend’s likely enjoyment (as well as any realized enjoyment) really heightens your own experience because it was shared. In our case, we’re new to the Palladium audience but I already feel a positive response to the programming we’ve begun to establish.
2) In a more particular expression, my (now 10-year) passion for the Chopin Project is connected to our offering access to young students (not just music students) to the music we produce at NO CHARGE — both at live Palladium-like concerts AND to our program of live student outreach at schools in the communities we serve. My personal story of how I came to love “classical” music, is too long to share now, but it has meant a difference in my life for the better that could probably not have been realized in any other way. I’d love to replicate this result in others’ lives and I’m trying different ways to accomplish the purpose. I feel our Chopin Project was successful if even a few young people could hear a musical gem that was so hauntingly beautiful or otherwise moving that his exposure to it transforms his musical sensibilities and his life in a powerfully positive way.
For tickets to this 7:30 p.m. performance on Tuesday, Nov. 13, you can call our box office at 727-822-3590 or follow this link for on-line tickets and information.
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