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PHSECTION 2 IX.C n n l f i i f n C m m n D H *%u25a0 V / u a i u v b Dofnm c For A Trihiitp l i a %u25a0 v r . # %u00bb 5 ! S U U I CPaula Robison (top) and Scott Nickrenz,co-directors of %u201cSpoleto Comes to B A M .%u201dBY GREGG STEVENSThe Brooklyn Academy of Music%u2019s annual chamber music series took on a new look December 13, as %u201cSpoleto Comes to BAM,%u201d with a tribute to composer Gian Carlo Menotti, founder of the international Spoleto Festival.The festival showcases emerging artists in music, dance and theater, and has proved so popular it has expanded from its home in Italy to spawn festivals in Charleston, South Carolina and Melbourne, Australia. The collaboration with BAM, codirected by violinist Scott Nickrenz and his wife, flutist Paula Robison, will not alter the chamber music format, as Robsion explains, %u201cthe new Festival is an outgrowth and enriching of BAM%u2019s long-established chamber series.%u201dNickrenz has been director of BAM%u2019s chamber series since its inception 13 years ago. He and Robison have also been involved with chamber music programming for Spoleto since 1977. The wedding of these associations, Robison says, %u201cis certainly related to the concerts Scott did here before, but this is different because it springs directly from the work we do at the festivals.%u201cWhat we want to achieve is adventure and informality in the concert experience itself.%u201d Although presenting young musicians and new music are important, she says, they are not ends in themselves. %u201cWe look for somebody who plays his or her instrument beautifully and can communicate with an audience, and somebody is able to have a really gooid sense of humor and is able to work with other artists. It means having fun and knowing how to laugh.%u201dIt is much the same, she says, with the music programming. %u201cWe present it because we hear a new piece that we love and we want to see how it works out with other pieces that we%u2019ve programmed. The trademark of the Festival,%u201d she concludes,%u201cis the mixing of modem music, which is the language we speak now, with the music of other centuries.%u201dMenotti, who is celebrating his 75th birthday and is perhaps best known for his opera %u201cAmahl and the Night Visitors,%u201d agrees. %u201cIt is wrong to have a concert of all contemporary works. It%u2019s like saying they belong in some special cage in a zoo. I think it%u2019s nice to have Mendelson, Schubert and then one young composer, to mix them with the classics and not always give them a special place as thought they were some kind of monster.%u201dMenotti says it is easier for contemporary composers to be played than ever before because there are more groups that play modem music, more foundations that support it and audiences who are becoming more curious. %u201cWhat is difficult is to break into the international music circle. That%u2019s why the Spoleto Festival is important,%u201d he says.%u201cThere is always resistance to foreign composers. Not by audience but by the press. New York is terrible %u2014 there is one paper and they either like you or they don%u2019t like you. In Rome or Paris or London you have at least seven or eight papers with different opinions,%u201d he says.The Spoleto spirit of reaching out was evident in Saturday%u2019s performance, co-hosted by Menotti and Robison. Their appearances on stage to introduce the program were marked by a feeling of informality and conversation with the audience. Problems with the height of the piano bench, for example, were an excuse for one liners on stage and an ovation for the bench from the audience at the end of the concert.Menotti%u2019s music also reflects this spirit of accessibility. The works performed ran the gamut of moods and emotions, were sensitive and intelligent, yet did not boldly break new ground or aspire to join the ranks of the immortals.Soprano Marvis Martin%u2019s soulful singing stole the show in %u201cNocturne%u201d and %u201cSteal Me, Sweet Thief.%u201d Playing behind the Ridge String Quartet and harpist Barbara Allen in the first piece, she filled the hall with feeling in front of the quintet%u2019s passionate and slightly dissonant score. In the second, an aria from Menotti%u2019s opera %u201cThe Old Maid and the Thief,%u201d she delivered the bluesy, balladic feel even in the upper register, and with a comedic timing that had the audience laughing, not a usual sight in a chamber concert.A performance of the %u201cCello Suite,%u201d a duet with Raimon Bolipata and Carter Brey, with piano accompaniment by JeanYves Thibaudet, was especially strong. The first two movements saw tension slowly build between the expressive strings, shifting from a sober opening to a relentless, layered attack. The second two movements brought resolution, the cellists playing melancholy lines in unison and a delightful, fast-paced, uninhibited finale.Barbara Allen and the Ridge Quartet returned for the Harp Quintet, a graceful work that ranged from plodding rhythms to soaring cadenzas, played with great sensitivity and dynamic balance by the ensemble. Mezzo-soprano Katherine Cieskinski delivered expressive dramatic interpretation but flat singing in the song-cycle %u201cCanti della Lontananza.%u201dWhile Menotti%u2019s compositions may not rank with the immortals, his contributions to the art world, which have now taken root at BAM, will help artists and audiences grow and blossom long into the future.SPOLETO AT BAM: Festival continues with performance of Beethoven, Terry Riley and Chausson, on January 17, at 8pm. At BAM%u2019s Carey Playhouse, 30 Lafayette Avenue. Tickets are $10 and $7.50. For reservations and information, call 636-4129.GIFTS GALOREBEFORE&AFTER HOLIDAY SALES!THAT GOES AltVUfHERElSOH-EMOQgRAPIDOGRAPH*Drawing Board No. 25233W .C . A R T & D R A F T IN G SUPPLY 357JAY ST. 855-8078Studio 14-A is Located at 14-A St. James PI. Between DeKalb and Lafayette.XMAS HOURS: Mon-Sal 12-7, Fri 'till 8Page 30, THE PH O EN IX, December 25, 1986Arts Groum and AOrganizationsFor Information on OurSpecial Arts Rates, CallThe Phoenix TodayAt 643-/400__