Photo: Festival City Symphony - festivalcitysymphony.org
Stefan Kartman
Stefan Kartman
Stefan Kartman, the principal cellist of the Festival City Symphony, will be featured in the orchestra’s performance of Antonin (German publishers Germanized his Czech name to Anton) Dvorak’s Cello Concerto, op. 104 in B minor. Brahms, a master of orchestral composition, corrected the proofs of Dvorak’s score and supposedly said, “If I had known that it was possible to compose such a concerto for the cello, I would have tried it myself!” Needless to say, the concerto is a technical challenge and a listeners’ delight. The statements by the solo cello will remain with you long after you return home.
The Festival City Symphony Orchestra, formerly the Milwaukee Civic Orchestra, has been here for almost a century with a current mission of extending the reach of classical music throughout the Milwaukee area. Thanks in part to Franklyn Essenberg’s generosity, all of their concerts are free to the public. Carter Simmons, the current music director, will be on the podium. The program will also include Franz Schubert’s Overture to Rosamunde, D. 644 and Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations, op. 36.
Stefan Kartman is a professor of music at UWM and his wife Jeannie Yu is a concert pianist. Together they perform as the Florestan Duo. I know firsthand the love of music found in this family. Their son, Jonah, plays the violin and I pester them continually to invite me to their “rehearsals.”
I talked with Kartman about music, tradition, and the preparation necessary as a soloist and for this concerto in particular which is full of technical challenges.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
His own parents met while at Julliard as did he and his wife. Kartman’s father, Myron, studied with Karl Döll, a student of Joseph Joachim, Brahms’ friend and advisor for violin compositions and chamber music. And Brahms was Dvorak’s mentor. There is thus an intimate and immediate connection of Kartman back more than 100 years to the composer and performers of that time.
Kartman refers to this tradition and coaching as “Passing it on.” It’s a subtle way of helping others to find the sound closest to what the composer had in mind when the music was first performed. The premiere performance of this concerto was on March 19,1896 in Queen’s Hall, London, with Dvorak conducting and Leo Stern playing the cello.
“Passing it on”—how you hold the bow, attacking a chord at the frog (bottom) or the tip of the bow, or the angle the hair makes with the strings. All of that and more is heard and adjusted as musicians strive to find the sound the composer wanted. A musical memory heard and then shared with the next generation. Something that he and Jeannie do with their son and their students.
Kartman shared his connection back to Brahms and Dvorak. It was Brahms who encouraged Dvorak to go to “The New World” along with Franz Kneisel, a student of Joachim. Dvorak served as the head of the National Conservatory of Music—later the Julliard School (small world). Kneisel taught chamber music and violin and played in a quartet with a cellist by the name of Willem Willeke. Willeke was the teacher of Harvey Shapiro, one of Kartman’s teachers. Passing it on and passing it on.
Which brings us fast forward to this concert. Kartman first studied this piece in the ‘80s with Harvey Shapiro. As with other performances, months before the concert date, the practice begins in earnest—hours each day. And for this he rehearses with Yu (orchestral scores are transcribed for piano) plays online for his father, for Jonah (his son), and for his students—a wise man learns from all.
The Festival City Symphony is Milwaukee’s oldest professional symphony orchestra. Kartman reminded me that this ensemble is one of Milwaukee’s best kept musical secrets. He hopes that one and all from the Milwaukee area can share with him and the other musicians in the orchestra their performance and participate in the act of passing it on.
Further information, including tickets, can be found on the symphony’s web site: festivalcitysymphony.org.
There is also a preview video on Stefan’s website: cellokartman.com.
This will be an exciting concert in a wonderful new venue, a way to make a Saturday afternoon very special. Enjoy.
Festival City Symphony Orchestra performs 2 p.m. Saturday, April 9 at the Bradley Symphony Center.
