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THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, dEcEmbER 18, 2021
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
DERRICK DePLEDGE
Editor
Founded in 1873
SHANNON ARLINT
circulation manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production manager
CARL EARL
Systems manager
WRITER’S NOTEBOOK
Playing in three dimensions
I
was ready. And a little nervous. But
mostly ready.
They were waiting, there to listen.
I began to play.
This was my end of semester viola
jury performance. I was a freshman at
Linfield College.
While I don’t remember everything,
I do remember the elated feeling after
playing the last note in a
movement from one of
the Bach suites.
I had practiced dili-
gently, though I still felt
a little like a tribute in
“The Hunger Games,”
proving my skills.
JONATHAN
The most rewarding
WILLIAMS
part? The feedback.
Years later, I still have
the pages of notes from jury members
rating my playing and providing feed-
back on things like tone, technique, musi-
cianship and presentation.
As a young person, it was
nerve-wracking going before professors
at the top of their field. Their feedback
was generous, sharp and honest. I am
a better player because of it. Feedback
is something we all deserve. It helps us
strive for better.
Young musicians will have the chance
to get this kind of feedback — and win
prizes — at the new Astoria International
Chamber Music Competition.
The brainchild of cello main-
stay Sergey Antonov, the competi-
tion will be held next June as part of the
Third Dimension festival at the Liberty
Theatre.
His goal? To bring a new, younger
generation to the Liberty stage. And to
make Astoria one of the important places
in the Pacific Northwest for classical
music.
This is big. Many of the world’s lead-
ing classical music competitions take
place in large U.S. and international cit-
ies. I have no doubt this will put the
North Coast on the map.
Antonov is no stranger to music com-
petitions. He’s competed in and won
many, including gold at the Interna-
tional Tchaikovsky Competition in Mos-
cow, Russia. Pianist Ilya Kazantsev and
violinist Misha Keylin, colleagues with
Antonov in the Hermitage Piano Trio,
which played at the Liberty in November
and will lead next summer’s festival, are
also veterans of prestigious competitions
and top players.
Jonathan Williams/The Astorian
The Hermitage Piano Trio during a concert at the Liberty Theatre in November. From left,
cellist Sergey Antonov, violinist Misha Keylin and pianist Ilya Kazantsev.
HOST A MUSICIAN
Liberty Theatre homestay host
application: bit.ly/3dZWNNq
Antonov’s focus for the competition is
innovative: the musicians invited to per-
form in the festival will judge the com-
petition, allowing the young musicians to
see them perform.
Who can compete? Musicians ages
18 to 30. Ensemble sizes can range from
three to five players, such as an instru-
mental/woodwinds duo with piano;
piano/string trios; piano/string quartets;
piano quintets; and mixed ensembles up
to quintet.
To participate, performers will submit
a live, unedited 15 to 20 minute video
with two compositions of different styles.
Ten ensembles will advance to the semi-
final round at the Liberty, with three
ensembles advancing to the final round.
There will be cash prizes for the top three
selected by the jury, with $4,000 as the
top prize and an invitation to perform at
the festival next year. An audience favor-
ite from the finals will also receive a cash
prize.
Performers will get written feedback
from the judges. Panelists will consist of
members of the Hermitage Piano Trio,
Jennifer Crockett, the executive direc-
tor of the Liberty Theatre, and four other
musicians.
Many Astorians know Antonov from
his days as a leading cellist in concerts
with the Astoria Music Festival. While
that festival has not been active in the
past few years, this one is fresh. New.
Exciting.
“I love Astoria. It’s been more than 10
years of me coming here, and I just love
the people, love the music, love the the-
ater,” Antonov said of his inspiration for
starting the festival and competition.
Speaking at his trio’s performance
last month at the Liberty, Antonov was
fun, instructive and easy to understand in
describing musical ideas.
This is what classical music should be.
The concert was terrific. The trio
played with power, passion and a deep
command of the music. They were
vibrant.
Who was turning the pages for
Kazantsev on piano? Crockett. She is
also helping put on the festival competi-
tion with Antonov.
She said they will be promoting the
competition at regional colleges and
through websites, newsletters and local
papers beginning in January. Performers
will have until May 1 to submit their per-
formance video.
She sees the competition as not being
as high stakes as others in the beginning.
“I think the first couple of years it’s about
building this competition,” she said.
Crockett noted the benefits of playing
under some pressure. “The more you can
do that as a performer, not really the eas-
ier it becomes but the more you’re able to
manage it,” she said. “And I think being
able to receive feedback and look at your
performance critically, I think those are
all really useful skills.”
While Antonov wasn’t ready to dis-
close music selections for the festival yet,
he said they are planning for an exciting
lineup. “We’re always trying to impress
the Astoria community with our selec-
tions,” he said. “And again, there’s so
many ideas, so we’ll try to bring vari-
ety, we’ll try to bring interesting stuff, we
have some more serious ideas.”
A series of eight nights of concerts in
August with the trio served as a test run
for next year’s festival. Antonov said it
was “fantastic because it was one of the
first live performances that we did after
16 months of silence so everybody was
beyond excited about it.”
The festival title is telling. It was
born out of the coronavirus pandemic.
Antonov described it as “where the
whole world sort of switched to screens,
Zooms, and we lost the most important
thing, which is the human interaction in a
three-dimensional form.”
He noted how difficult the pandemic
has been on artists and musicians, and
still is.
“I think when we move further away
from COVID, thankfully, it’s still going
to be a celebration of us hearing live
music, hugging and shaking hands and
celebrate the most important part of liv-
ing, which is the human relationship and
interactions,” Antonov said.
Astoria will be the richer for this.
Locals, too, will have a chance to get
to know participants more closely if
they choose to offer their home up for a
homestay.
The benefits for the performers are
many. Besides performing in a beauti-
ful, acoustically rich venue and getting
to know Antonov, Kazantsev and Keylin,
they’ll have a chance to enjoy the town
and its concert patrons. “I think they’ll
be getting the chance to perform for an
audience that really wants to see them,”
Crockett said. “ ... And a lot of these
ensembles probably will eventually tour
in the future.”
Chamber music is the right choice
for the times we’re living in. It’s inti-
mate. Personal. Moving. I still remem-
ber the chamber music classes I took in
college. It makes you a better musician.
You listen more closely. Feel the music
more deeply. Understand your role more
clearly.
Antonov’s goal should be everyone’s
north star: giving more young people
opportunities in the arts.
Jonathan Williams is the associate
editor of The Astorian.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Priorities
Great paper!
Both our major political parties purport
to be for the working class, and yet both
seem to fall short in delivery.
I’m still a supporter of the Democrats,
because I feel some of their failures have
been the result of Republican obstruction.
What drives me into the Democratic
camp is looking at priorities. Republicans
always seem to prioritize tax cuts that dis-
proportionally favor the rich. Democrats
prioritize improvement in health care and
rebuilding the country.
That’s what drives my loyalty to the
Democrats.
JAMES HEFFERNAN
Tillamook
A holiday wish
The streets are wet. The day grim and
chilly with a misty rain. It makes you want
to curl up inside. But this is an average
autumn or winter day on the North Coast.
You push the wetness aside and go into
your day embracing it and the excitement
of the season.
To me, the season starts in September
with the first pumpkins on display. Even
though many days are sunny this time of
year, the expectations of the approaching
times are high. First comes Halloween fol-
lowed by the big holidays of Thanksgiving
and Christmas.
These past two years have been tough
with sickness from COVID, political divi-
sion and economic loss. The thought of
a third year with the virus is depressing,
however, even with all this most people
are optimistic and trudge on.
Most will survive as we have done in
the past. How we survive is up to us. Will
we bicker, trying to protect our own inter-
est, or will we try to do good for all of
society?
My holiday wish is for a kindness and
understanding of each other. I feel this is
the true spirit of the holidays and of life.
As surely as the rain comes and the
leaves fall, time will pass. My wish is to
carry on the holiday excitement and love.
Think of the precious children closest to us
and how perfect we want the world for them.
NORM HOOGE
Astoria
Pot calls kettle black
Concerning “Kotek scores several
big wins” (The Astorian, Dec. 14): For
state House Speaker Tina Kotek to pub-
licly state that she is running for governor
because “it’s time to get past the politics
of division” is the equivalent of me stat-
ing that “Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph are
parked on my roof right now, and there is
a big fat guy (politically incorrect descrip-
tion, but it fits my body type, also) trying
to go down my chimney.”
Kotek is the poster child of a super
hyperpartisan politician who has never
surrendered a chance to run over a polit-
ical opponent in the most public manner
possible.
See how ruthlessly Kotek used her
power as speaker to process the gerry-
mander issue. Kotek has removed the
word “compromise” from her spoken
vocabulary.
I must assume Kotek considers read-
ers of newspapers with opinions different
from hers to be clueless, when she makes
public statements like “… I’ve realized
we can only ‘get things done’ if we work
together …”
I am grateful that state Sen. Betsy John-
son has decided to run for governor of
Oregon as an independent rather than as a
Democrat.
Johnson understands multiple points of
view. More importantly, she understands
compromise, and seeks mutual ground for
all points of view.
If politicians continue to choose super-
partisanship over reasonable discussion
and compromise, democracy will continue
to degenerate into open confrontation with
ill will for all, and to all a good night.
SCOTT WIDDICOMBE
Warrenton