SPRINGFIELD – The more popular phrase to hear someone say is “no strings attached.”
But when the Springfield Chamber Players premiere “Broadway with Strings Attached” at 52 Sumer on Saturday, April 26, “strings attached” takes on a good meaning.
Showtime is 8 p.m.
“Our premise was ‘Broadway with Strings Attached’, showcasing musicals that had string players as characters, like ‘Fiddler on The Roof,’ ‘A Little Night Music’ – where a central character plays the cello – to ‘Sweeney Todd’ – where the fiddle player gets eaten,” said Mark G. Auerbach, who created the piece, wrote the narration, and is producer.
“We wanted to create a chamber music ‘pops’ program that would celebrate some of the incredible songwriters from Broadway. Film composer Max Mueklkler, who had written a piece for our horn trio, agreed to arrange the music for string quartet, narration, and vocalists,” he added. “We included ‘He Plays the Violin’ from 1776, and a song from Richard Rodgers called ‘No Strings, a musical he wrote with no stringed instruments in the orchestra. The show expanded to include music from musicals produced at area regional theatres… ‘Goodspeed’ (on) Hartford Stage, and Barrington Stage Company and others.”
The chamber music pops program features the Springfield Chamber Players’ Quartetto Mosso, narrators Auerbach and Marty Kluger, as well as vocalists Sarah Vincelett Dredge and Spencer Reese. Quartetto Mosso features violinists Ronald Gorevic and Beth Welty, violist Delores Thayer, and cellist Yoonhee Ko.
It all began one evening over pizza after a symphony rehearsal.
“I explained that timpani would not fit smoothly into our chamber music programs and since we would been singing musical theatre, suggested that we perform Broadway show music. Mark bought the idea and thought it could work as a concert program for the musicians of Springfield Chamber Players, and then developed a script for string quartet, narration, and vocalists. Beth Welty, a violinist, reached out to her nephew, a composer and arranger, who had previously composed ‘Triptych,‘a commissioned work for the Springfield Chamber Players Horn Trio. Along with Mark, we engaged two more vocalists, and selected the music, which Max arranged for strings and vocalists,” Kluger said.
Marty Kluger, principal timpanist of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, will narrate “Broadway with Strings Attached” at 52 Sumner on Saturday.Submitted
Kluger is principal timpanist of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, which he joined upon completing percussion and conducting studies at the Yale School of Music. He was also a Yale School of Medicine scientist and researched molecular pathways of disease. After leaving Yale, he turned to singing bel canto and barbershop with the Hartford Chorale and the Hartford Men in Harmony, and later, to singing-acting on stage.
Growing up in his house, Kluger noted he had some unusual living room furniture.
“We had two kettledrums, aka timpani, because my dad was a symphonic percussionist and my first teacher. The joy of performing music has been a constant in my life since age seven. Unraveling the mysteries of biology has a kind of excitement all its own, but I certainly don’t miss the kind of excitement I experienced commuting north from New Haven to Springfield in time for our conductor’s downbeat,” he said.
“In the context of a symphony orchestra, timpani provide a rhythmic foundation, a unique tone color and a powerful instrumental voice that works at times as an assistant conductor. They are less compelling as a solo instrument — and unlike say the audience response at a piano or violin recital, I find that solo timpani recitals are most interesting to other timpanists,” Kluger added.
But research did have its rewards, and Kluger’s work made a difference.
“For me, it was thrilling to visualize the architecture of human cells by microscopy and to follow molecules along their biochemical pathways. It is satisfying that I could train and mentor Yale undergraduates, medical students and postdoctoral fellows, some of whom went on to become clinical scientists. Scientifically, I advanced understanding of how human microvascular endothelial cells regulate adhesion molecules vital for mediating inflammation and interactions in blood with the human immune system that are crucial for fighting disease. More specifically, I published studies on E-selectin and the tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) and established an experimental model of vascular leak, a deadly pathological process in sepsis that for the first time emphasized the role of endothelial tight junctions,” he said.
Kluger noted that he is excited for audiences to hear what they have created for this weekend’s concert.
“Our audience will enjoy brand new arrangements of familiar, and a few less familiar, Broadway classics that mix together the rich tones and breathtaking precision of our professional Springfield-based string quartet with the clever, creative lyrics and expression one expects from a night at the theater,” he said.
Springfield Chamber Players Chamber Music Series is funded, in part, by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Tickets, available at springfieldsymphonymusicians.com or 52sumner.com, are $30 general admission and $10 for students.
