The AFO with Goosby

Violinist Randall Goosby, the first Mosher Guest Artist of the summer, will have already performed his MAW recital by the time this issue hits newsstands, but there’s still an opportunity to hear the 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient – which he was awarded at age 25 – in the June 28 Academy Festival Orchestra concert at the Granada. 

Goosby will perform as the soloist for Chausson’s “Poème, Op. 25,” which he called one of his favorite pieces of music, between Valerie Coleman’s “Seven O’Clock Shout”and Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.”

“It’s not a piece that’s performed often, especially in its orchestral rendition and it’s a great change of pace from the rest of the program,” Goosby said of the work written for Ysaÿe and partially inspired by the 1881 romantic novella The Song of Triumphant Love by Russian writer Ivan Turgenev. “I discovered it when I was very young, and I thought it was absolute magic. There’s so many incredibly vivid moments where everybody can find something of their own experience. It’s pretty dark, and the story behind it is a little twisted. I didn’t know that until later on in my high school years when I came to really study the piece. But I love that it’s super dynamic, beautifully lush, and full of virtuosity.”

Also, importantly, it’s a feast for the orchestra, which, he said, the fellows will likely enjoy playing. 

“There’s a lot of juicy, meaty, fun stuff going on for them, which was part of my thinking in wanting to play it here.”

The orchestra concert is the closing moment of his residency at an institute for pre-professional musicians that Goosby said is a big part of his career.

“It’s just as important as diversifying the repertoire and the field in general. Since I was 13, I’ve been playing in schools and interacting with young people who may not even have had any prior exposure to classical music. It’s an incredibly fulfilling and gratifying experience to introduce people to something that I know can be a really magical experience. It’s the least I can do to give back by sharing as much as I can as often as I can.”

The MAW fellows are no neophytes, but Goosby still hopes to be an inspiration, especially since he’s only a few years older than almost all of them.

“It’s rare for me to have a chance to perform and collaborate with students who are sort of already on that track, and certainly not at this level,” he said. “It feels weird for me to say, but for young pre-professional students to be around someone who’s kind of where they might be trying to get to makes a difference. Hopefully I’ll be able to consciously or unconsciously impart a little bit of wisdom or inspiration.” 

Thursday, June 26: Four masterclasses power up your MAW afternoon today, including the final one in bassoonist Dennis Michel’s long Music Academy tenure (1 pm; Weinman Hall; $10). See next week’s issue for an interview with Michel to preview the x2 Series concert in salute on July 8… Violinist Glenn Dicterow, who isn’t yet retiring, but is also the subject of a specially-curated concert two days later (July 10), leads his single 2025 MAW masterclass (1 pm; Lehmann Hall; $10)… The 3:30 pm slot pits the vocal emcee with co-vocal institute director John Churchwell (Hahn Hall; $10) against the debut public coaching session in Trombone & Tuba with new faculty member David Rejano Cantero, principal of the LA Phil (Weinman Hall; $10). 

Tonight, the first Teaching Artist Showcase of the summer, the latest incarnation of what was once known as the Tuesday@8 series at the Lobero, features the final 2025 festival appearance of Takács Quartet, who take on Mozart’s “String Quintet No. 4 in G Minor, K. 516,” with violist Cecile McNeill. The Prometheus Quartet, the inaugural foursome of the new Emerging Quartet program, team up with pianist Jeremy Denk, mezzo-soprano and co-Lehrer Vocal Institute director Sasha Cooke, clarinetist Richie Hawley, and three fellows in clarinetist Simon Gregory Bakos and flutists for Ravel’s engaging “Trois Poèmes de Stéphane Mallarmé.” Denk then joins new faculty cello member and 1998 MAW alum Julie Albers for Poulenc’s “Sonata for Cello and Piano, FP 143.” (7:30; Lobero; $45-$65)

Friday, June 27: The Lehrer Vocal Institute fellows were so charmingly introduced eight days ago at Hahn Hall via the Origin Stories in Song event that had each singer – along with the unsung vocal pianists – performing an art song that had history or other personal meaning in their lives. Tonight is the first chance to see all 21 of the vocalists supported by the pianists in a more dramatic setting with Opera Scenes, in its second year back after being swapped out for a Cabaret show. The fellows will feature selections from most classic works including Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and Lucrezia Borgia, Verdi’s Falstaff and Luisa Miller, Mozart’s Cosí fan Tutte, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly,and Barber’s Vanessa, plus two scenes from Kevin Puts’ 2002 adaptation of The Hours. This year’s single performance is also the first chance for Lehrer Vocal Institute’s 2025 directing fellow Vanessa Ogbuehi to helm an event on a MAW stage. See the website for which fellows sing which roles in advance. (7:30 pm; Hahn Hall; $45-$70)

Daytime, it’s another masterclass debut from new faculty folk, this time featuring Chicago Symphony Orchestra principal double bass Alexander Hanna. (1 pm; Weinman Hall; $10) Also on tap: Oboe with Xiomara Mass (1 pm; Lehmann Hall; $10), and the legend-in-our-time McArthur Fellowship-decorated pianist Jeremy Denk, who in mid-July will be playing five of Beethoven’s revolutionary piano sonatas in three successive evenings of performance and insightful commentary. (3:30 pm; Hahn Hall; $10)

Tuesday, July 1: New faculty violinist Erin Keefe, the concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra (the position previously held by late MAW faculty member Jorja Fleezanis), makes her MAW debut alongside cellist Albers and piano fellow Min Joo Yi, anchoring an X2 concert that also features three fellows on Haydn’s “Piano Trio No. 43 in C Major,” and three fellows joining faculty violist Richard O’Neill (also a member of Takács) and cellist Alan Stepansky for Mozart’s “Quintet for Horn and Strings in E-flat Major, K. 407.” (7:30 pm; Hahn Hall; $45-$70)