Chestnut Hill pianist competes with Chestnut Hill soprano

By MICHAEL CARUSO

Chestnut Hill and Chestnut Hillers continue to be at the center of the local classical music scene, so much so that local music lovers may wish to split themselves in half this Sunday afternoon so that they can enjoy two concerts taking place at virtually the same time. Settlement Music School opens its Alumni Recital Series at 3 p.m. in its main branch in the Queen Village section of Philadelphia with Chestnut Hill Academy pianist Sheri Segal Melcher joining violinist Richard Amoroso. Only an hour later, at 4 p.m., the local baroque instruments ensemble, Philomel, opens its 2004-05 season with a concert featuring soprano Julienne Baird in the St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church here in Chestnut Hill.

Fresh from a tour of the Boston area, Philomel founders/directors -- and husband and wife -- Bruce Bekker and Elissa Berardi were back in town to launch their group's local concert season, as well as report on several pieces of good news. Philomel will be featured on seven radio broadcasts this year, the first on WHYY and the subsequent six on WRTI. Philomel will also be seen on WHYY/TV in short spots taped during rehearsals at St. Martin-in-the-Fields. "We're hoping that Chestnut Hillers will enjoy seeing us working in one of their most beautiful churches," exclaimed Bekker discussing the life of Ben Franklin and the music of colonial Philadelphia, with Berardi's favorite being a rehearsal with Baird.

"We've been working with Julienne for 20 years now," she said, "and the amazing thing is that she just gets better and better. No one can touch her artistry when it comes to technical agility and musical expressivity. And we've chosen a program that includes selections that are perfect vehicles for her singing."

Baird will be heard in Monteverdi's Exulta filia Sion and Laudate Dominum, Vivaldi's In furore giustissimae irae and arias "Rejoice greatly," "How beautiful are the feet" and "I know that my Redeemer liveth" from Handel's Messiah. Eager to sing excerpts from the beloved Handel oratorio, Baird said, "This time of year I'm criss-crossing the country singing Messiah. I thought this would be a wonderful opportunity to share a few of my favorite arias with listeners at home."

The program also includes Torelli's Christmas Concerti. "Torelli is best known for his trumpet concerti," explained Bekker, "and they're certainly beautiful but very stately in character. For the string concerti, like the two selections we're performing, Torelli moved into a more virtuosic style, quite a bit like Vivaldi's. And they're really not heard all that often in concert."

For ticket information call 215-569-9700 or visit www.philomel.org.

A native Philadelphian with musical degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore and Temple University's Esther Boyer College of Music, pianist Sheri Segal Melcher's ride to musical maturity took her through Settlement Music School and study with Sandra Carlock.

"I was quickly placed in a trio that included violinist Richard Amoroso and was coached by Charles Forbes," she said. "We played a few wonderful recitals together during our three years in a trio. I recall playing on WFLN, Mozart on the Square and at Peabody." When she returned to Philadelphia and Temple following her undergraduate work at Peabody, Melcher contacted Amoroso for her chamber music audition and he asked her to accompany him at a recital at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall. They've been playing together ever since.

Melcher teaches full-time at Chestnut Hill Academy, working with students in all three divisions of the school. She co-directs the boychoir with music department head Roland Woehr and teaches sixth-grade music history, seventh-grade music theory and conducts the middle and upper school handbell choirs.

"My daughter, Kayla, attends Springside School and just started taking piano lessons at Settlement Music School's Germantown Branch with Linda Reichert. I taught at this branch for a few years after graduate school before coming to Chestnut Hill Academy 10 years ago. I'm thrilled that Kayla has the opportunity to study at Settlement, where her talent is clearly being nurtured."

Melcher and Amoroso will perform Prokofiev's Sonata in D major, Tchaikovsky's Melody & Waltz Scherzo, Brahms' Sonatensatz and Debussy's Beau Soir. For more information, call 215-320-2686 or visit www.smsmusic.org.

CONCERT REVIEWS

My two concert-going experiences this weekend involved two local musical organizations that see their music-making in the context of something bigger. Singing City choir, throughout the 57 years since it was founded by the late Elaine Brown, has dedicated itself to bringing people of diverse backgrounds together through the miracle of music. Although Astral Artistic Services is still in its first decade of existence, Vera Wilson's brainchild continues to achieve its goal of launching young musicians on their way to successful national and even international goals.

Singing City's Saturday night concert, conducted by Jeffrey Brillhart, was particularly impressive on two counts. First, it successfully took place in the visually appalling and acoustically unsympathetic setting of the Episcopal Cathedral in West Philadelphia; second, it brought together as diverse a roster of music as one is likely to encounter from any local ensemble and gave performances of those pieces that not only showed them to work individually but enabled them to triumph as a whole.

Less efficacious was the choreography that accompanied the singing. Mainly the work of Amanda Miller and danced by her and Rick Callendar, its most memorable moment occurred when Callendar knocked the music out of the hands of soprano soloist Anne Hess during a poorly placed turn, and Hess continued to sing quite beautifully as though nothing at all had happened. Otherwise, it did little to offer a deeper understanding of the meaning of the poetry.

Astral Artistic Services presented "Spencer Myer & Friends" on Sunday afternoon in the visually beautiful and acoustically supportive Trinity Center for Urban Life in center city Philadelphia. The recital proved that a traditionally conceived program, when performed with consummate artistry, can still be an exhilarating event for an audience that fills its venue.

Spencer Myer is a pianist who counts among his friends some of the most talented young musicians in contemporary America.

It was after intermission that the most memorable music-making took place in two of the loveliest scores Johannes Brahms composed in the latter part of his life when almost all of his output glowed with a nostalgic autumnal beauty that almost takes the breath away. His Two Songs for Contralto with Viola & Piano, Opus 91, and his Trio in A minor for Clarinet, Cello & Piano, Opus 114, are exquisite examples of a composer experimenting with the darker vocal and instrumental timbres to communicate emotions and moods that well up from profound reserves of dreams and memories.