(Photo courtesy of HDMC)
On Friday, February 14, High Desert Chamber Music’s 17th season will continue with our Annual Valentine’s Day Concert featuring violinist Frank Almond. I had the opportunity to speak with Frank about his love of music, community outreach initiatives, and the legendary Lipinski Stradivarius.
Frank began studying violin at five years old. He wasn’t particularly attracted to the violin itself, telling me he quit at one point. “But apparently I was good at it and eventually wound up at Juilliard.” Things have a funny way of working out sometimes! At 17 years old, Frank became one of the youngest prizewinners in the Nicolo Paganini Competition and five years later became one of two American prizewinners at the 8th International Tchaikovsky Competition.
Frank plays on the “Lipinski” Stradivarius, a violin crafted in 1715 that has direct ties to great musicians like Giuseppe Tartini, Johannes Brahms, and Robert Schumann. There was a lot of news coverage around the theft of the violin in 2014 as Frank was coming out of a concert. He told me, “I didn’t really enjoy the theft; that’s a well-documented saga that was both incredibly painful and very unusual in every way possible. I hope no other musician ever has to experience anything like it.”
In demand as a soloist and a chamber musician, Frank enjoys both. “They’re sort of two different animals with certain similarities, I suppose. I really enjoy the conversational aspects of chamber music, as well as the camaraderie. But it’s fun to step out as a soloist once in a while as well, especially since there’s so much great solo repertoire for the violin.”
Frank is very involved in community outreach and mentoring in Milwaukee. He runs a chamber music series called Frankly Music, which is connected to the Milwaukee Youth Symphony (MYSO). “MYSO is one of the largest youth arts programs in the country, with roughly 900 kids of all ages and abilities, many from underprivileged or difficult socio-economic backgrounds.” Frankly Music gives these young musicians opportunities to hear and participate in arts activities from musicians all over the world that come for the concerts, from open rehearsals to master classes and everything in between. As Frank puts it, “it’s a life-changing experience for some of them. Imagine being a kid from the inner city who gets to play in a master class with the Principal cellist of the Vienna Philharmonic.”
As with most musicians, the question of “favorite repertoire” is not an easy one for Frank to answer! However, the Brahms violin concerto and his violin sonatas hold a special place in Frank’s heart. Frank had the privilege of playing the Brahms concerto with the Juilliard orchestra the night before many of his friends were graduating. Frank also told me, “there is so much great music for solo violin (or violin/piano) that it’s really hard to narrow down. The Bach Sonatas and Partitas are also pretty special for pretty much any violinist, in my opinion.”
Please join us on Friday, February 14 at 7:30pm at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Central Oregon for a love and romance-themed program featuring special guest Isabelle Senger. There will be a pre-concert talk at 6:45pm. This concert is brought to you by German Master Tech. Tickets are available through High Desert Chamber Music by phone or online.