Many classical musicians work for years at their craft in relative obscurity by People magazine standards, building their résumés, earning respect for their musicianship and inching toward stardom in their field. For Frank Almond, concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, artistic director of Frankly Music and artist in residence with the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, unwanted fame was thrust upon him when his Stradivarius was stolen after a concert this past January.
Stories on the theft of the violin (on indefinite loan to Almond from a local benefactor) appeared in virtually every major media organization in the world from “Good Morning America” to Al Jazeera. He laughs when asked about the impact on his career. “As bizarre and inexplicable as the whole saga became, it brought awareness to the orchestra and about what I’ve been doing,” he said. “There were people on my lawn [with cameras] for the first few days—it was overwhelming, traumatizing and despite all that, it was handled just about as well as it could be handled by everyone involved. And it had a relatively happy ending: We found the instrument.”
The theft had several silver linings. Almond’s Stradivarius has a big birthday on the calendar, turning 300 in 2015, and the violinist had already been working with an agency to line up out-of-town recitals and guest appearances in celebration. “Interest picked up exponentially after this episode,” he says, adding that the news coverage may also have raised the profile of classical music in Milwaukee. “On a local level many people had no idea that this instrument was being played Downtown every week and at my chamber music series.”
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That series, Frankly Music, returns for its eleventh season next Monday with a performance of Bach, Mozart transcriptions of Bach and a Baroque-inspired composition by 20th-century modernist Bohuslav Martinu. Almond makes the selections for each program, but “You can’t be deaf to what’s around you. Frankly Music has been successful because I learned early on that it’s good to know what the community is thinking and what resonates with people.
“It’s as much about format as repertory,” Almond continues. “The impetus for starting the series was my frustration with what the chamber music world had come to in format—you walk in, read the program notes, hear the music, the lights go up and you go home. It didn’t really connect with me—and I’m a musician!”
Frankly Music has been all about setting an inviting atmosphere for music performed at the highest level by a floating cast of players. “It’s not condescending or patronizing. There’s a social side to it,” Almond explains. “It’s great when everyone can hang around, have a glass of wine and talk to the musicians or have a friendly discussion about the music. This really makes a lot of difference to people. And there’s an intimacy to chamber music that lends itself to these kinds of events better than a symphony orchestra.”
For the 2014-2015 season, Frankly Music will perform two concerts at Wisconsin Lutheran College’s sonically superb Schwan Concert Hall, the site of the January Stradivarius theft, and twice at a new venue, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. “I felt comfortable with the setup and the acoustics are great,” says Almond of the historic church. “And it’s not too big a room—we won’t lose that intimate feel.”
Frankly Music opens its season with “Back to Bach,” featuring the Brandenburg Concertos Nos. 2 and 4, Mozart’s transcription for Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in F for String Trio and Martinu’s Three Madrigals for Violin and Viola at 7 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 29 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 914 E. Knapp St. Musicians include Almond on violin, Nicholas Cords on viola, Sonora Slocum and Jennifer Gunn on flute, and Mark Niehaus on trumpet.
For tickets and information, go to franklymusic.org.
A Violin's Life from Ryan Thomas Reeve on Vimeo.
