Mimir, Fine Arts chamber music festivals favor Beethoven

By SCOTT CANTRELL / The Dallas Morning News
scantrell@dallasnews.com

July is chamber music month around here.

The Mimir Chamber Music Festival begins its annual concert series tonight at Texas Christian University's PepsiCo Recital Hall. The all-Beethoven program includes the String Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 133, and the Grosse Fuge, plus the piano trio variations on "Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu."

Sunday afternoon, Dallas' Fine Arts Chamber Players moves its annual Basically Beethoven Festival to a new venue: Rosine Hall at the Dallas Arboretum. After a 2:30 p.m. prelude performance by young artists Jimmye Ahn (clarinet) and Rira Lin (piano), the 3 p.m. concert will feature violinist Ivo Ivanov, violist Cornelia Demian and cellist Gayane Manasjan in string trios by Beethoven (in E-flat major, Op. 3) and Ernst von Dohnányi.

Here's a look at both festivals – how they came about and what happens onstage and behind the scenes.

Mimir Chamber Music Festival

The Mimir festival is both a concentrated summer-study program for outstanding young musicians and a concert series. Named for the Norse god of wisdom, it was begun in 1997 by violinist Curt Thompson, who was newly appointed to the TCU faculty, and pianist Johan Fröst.

"We were classmates at Rice University," says Dr. Thompson, who holds a doctorate from Rice. "Initially, we wanted to start it in Sweden, where he was from. But when I got the job at TCU, we decided to start it here."

Although other summer programs for young musicians offer concentrations in chamber music, Mimir's exclusive focus was inspired by similar festivals at Marlboro, Vt., and Taos, N.M.

In addition to Dr. Thompson, director of the festival, faculty and performers include members of the Chicago Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra and the Cavani Quartet. Pianists include Alessio Bax, John Novacek and TCU's José Feghali.

Although assembled only for the 12-day festival, Mimir's faculty regularly blends into some of the best chamber music performances to be heard around here. And they venture beyond well-worn hits of the repertory: This year's concerts include lesser-known string quartets by Verdi, Grieg and Janácek, plus a piano quintet by Dohnányi and a piano duo by the late Witold Lutoslawski.

"Programming is something we spend a lot of time on," Dr. Thompson says. "I'm excited about this season because it has so many composers that are well-known, but probably not for these particular pieces."

This summer's Mimir festival has 18 "young artists," as the students are called.

"We typically have high-school kids as well," Dr. Thompson says, "but they're all college students this year. The oldest is about 28, in a doctoral program."

TCU, Southern Methodist University and Rice are leading sources for this summer's students, but six have come from the Cleveland Institute of Music, two from the University of Southern California and one from the Manhattan School of Music. All are given free tuition.

"Most festivals can't do that," Dr. Thompson says. "It is something we're proud to be able to do for them at no cost other than their transportation here and their housing."