By Medina Photography
For the second year, a chamber-music festival is held in San José, with the participation of prominent musicians from the area. Concerts of the Silicon Valley Music Festival are scheduled June 16-22 in various venues.
The event was founded by Ray Furuta, a 24-year-old flutist from San José, who is now a Stony Brook University doctoral candidate. Furuta's aim was to provide both veterans and young, aspiring musicians with performance opportunities, while giving the public affordable access to a wide range of music genres.
"I grew up in East Side San José," says Furuta, "and although my family faced financial struggles, they always sacrificed their time and money so I could enjoy many musical projects such as the San José Youth Symphony and the Independence High School music program. Having grown up here, I know that Silicon Valley is this amazing hub for cultural fusion and young talent and I strongly believe we should nurture that."
The 2013 festival opens on June 17 with a "Cabaret Collective" at 7:30 p.m. in the Hoover Theater, and continues the week with works by contemporary composers such as Andy Akiho, Jake Heggie, and Toshio Hosokawa, along with classical works from Fauré, Debussy, and Brahms.
The series concludes at 7:30 p.m. on June 22 at the Hoover Theater, with a program of Fauré's Piano Quartet No. 1, Schoenfield's Sonatina for Flute, Clarinet, and piano, and Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde in an unusual arrangement with soprano (Susan Narucki), instead of a tenor, and mezzo (Ryu-Kyung Kim). I take back "unusual," it must be unprecedented, and probably not a good idea. At least, Mahler would have thought so, having specified "Symphonie für eine Tenor- und eine Alt- (oder Bariton-) Stimme und Orchester."