Pianist Sarah Bob, whose New Gallery Concert Series closed its 25th season in May. Diego Escalante photograph
What constitutes audience identity? Is there such a thing? If a group of humans has a character—not a cause, or a similarity, but a personality—it may be palpable, but indescribable.
Let’s try. Pianist Sarah Bob’s New Gallery Concert Series finds inclusion in every aspect onstage, and its audience reflects it. It feels tautological: inclusive programs beget inclusive audiences. The grace and empathy exhibited by Bob and her new music stage-mates, in a room (Pickman Hall at Longy May 10, NewGal’s 25th–season closer) filled with introspective photographs of Michelle Schapiro, found itself reflecting from the audience as well, witnessing themselves.
Define it? Beyond me. Palpable though.
Empathy always provides gateways for artists. Come in please, the door is open. Sit down, stranger. Tell me what you do. We’ll figure something out together.
Not posturing, not jeering or condescending, not participating in artificially fueled exchanges of slogans or exhaustive bickering—any guileless welcome breeds inclusion. Results are never predicable, part of the process and the point.
Dans la mesure où cela est possible, j’aurais être un écrivain objectif. J’appelle objectif un auteur qui se propose des sujets sans jamais se prendre lui-meme comme objet.
These words, from Camus’s essai L’Enigme, strikes at the above theme, selfishly. Which seems anti-inclusive. But as a writer, inclusion would follow Camus’s idea—write about things, but never about yourself. Or your things, maybe.
A challenging notion—Camus also posits in the same breath that nobody tells themself as they are. I might say everyone tells themself as they are, and everyone is capable of that only. Camus would agree, sans doute, contrarily with himself.
The biennial Boston Early Music Festival opened last weekend, with Reinhard Keiser’s 1705 Octavio the centerpiece opera. I’m forced to miss the entire beloved, sprawling BEMF. Go to one of the late night concerts for me, or go hear the Camerata, or Amanda Forsythe in one of her appearances. The chamber operas (Telemann: Pimpinone, Ino) subsequently travel to Great Barrington and to Caramoor.
Dover Quartet? Yeah, that’s them. Joel Link, Julianne Lee, Camden Shaw, Bryan Lee. Roy Cox photograph
Don’t throw away last year’s photo of the Dover Quartet. The Rockport Chamber Music Festival opens tonight, with Angela Hewitt performing the Goldbergs. Sold-out, for sure, as is Dover Quartet’s appearance Sunday, with Roberto Dìaz.
Stay with me: in 2023 violist Julianne Lee joined the Dovers, leaving (temporarily) her seat as assistant principal second violin at the BSO. After one year, she decided to return to the BSO, and give up Dover’s (likely) challenging schedule. No announcement about replacement.
Then Dover’s first chair, Joel Link, is named the Cleveland Orchestra’s concertmaster. Curtains for Dover? Au contraire: not only is Link staying, but Lee changed her mind, and the quartet (mainly based in Philly) will figure it out.
So save that photo. The quartet’s Sunday program includes Schumann and Tchaikovsky, and Dìaz joins for Brahms second 5tet.