Russian pianist Ilya Yakushev.
Is it destiny — or déjà vu?
In the summer of 2014, Isthmus published two articles about the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Madison’s flagship chamber ensemble. One article featured Mark Cantrell, WCO’s chief executive officer, and the collective bargaining agreement he helped negotiate for the ensemble’s musicians. The other featured Russian pianist Ilya Yakushev as one of WCO’S star performers that season.
The CEO and the award-winning classical pianist cross paths again as the WCO prepares for an evening of Russian-inspired jazz with Yakushev, and Cantrell leaves to become president and CEO of the Florida Orchestra.
Andrew Sewell, WCO music director, calls Cantrell a “visionary” who will go on to do good things in Florida. “Mark will be sorely missed,” says Sewell. “We’ve bantered and bounced ideas off of each other, and it has been a joy to work with him.”
Alan Fish, WCO’s board chair, will serve as interim CEO while the organization searches for a replacement.
As Cantrell departs, the Masterworks concert series continues on Feb. 22, as the WCO presents a rare mix of jazz and Mozart in Overture Center’s Capitol Theater.
The concert is bookended by Stravinsky’s lighthearted Suite No. 2 for small orchestra and Mozart’s mighty Symphony No. 40. Between these polar opposites are Alexander Tcherepnin’s Ten Bagatelles, Op. 5 for Piano and Orchestra, featuring Yakushev, Stravinsky’s Ragtime, and Alexander Tsfasman’s Jazz Suite for Piano and Orchestra.
This program has a few unfamiliar features and names, including Tcherepnin, who is mainly known to piano teachers because he wrote flashy, atmospheric works that fit smaller hands nicely. And while Stravinsky is familiar, Ragtime uses the cimbalom, a Hungarian dulcimer rarely heard on the concert stage.
But probably the least familiar name on the program is Tsfasman, a 20th century Soviet jazz pianist, composer and conductor who Sewell came to know through Yakushev.
“Tsfasman was the inspiration for putting this program together,” says Sewell, calling Tsfasman the “Russian version of George Gershwin.” But, adds Sewell, Tsfasman never got his due outside his native Soviet Union. “It was even challenging to get the orchestral parts.”
Tsfasman’s suite is a toe-tapping whirlwind, and Yakushev, a powerhouse of speed and precision, will be in his element.
