Ravinia 2021 - Issue 4

“The idea is to push the boundary of what a classical music video can be, working with lighting designers and writing narratives to bring to this music.” Hersh returns to Ravinia on Sep- tember 9 with his ensemble NEXUS Chamber Music to perform a pro- gram of works by women composers of various eras. The centerpiece is a world premiere, Upon Wings of Words, a piece for soprano and string quartet by composer Augusta Read Thomas. Hersh was initially fascinated by the double bass but was “an abnor- mally tiny little kid” and his parents had to explain that double basses did not come in his size. They suggested cello. “Turns out,” he remembers wryly, “they didn’t make cellos that small either. My first cello was a viola with a pin on the end of it.” His future with the instrument was sealed at the age of 5, however, when his father took him to Tower Records. (Those of a certain age may want to check the greys in hearing his description of the much-missed music distributor as “this place that no longer exists”). His father gifted him with Pablo Casa- ls’s legendary recording of the Bach cello suites. Hersh was stunned at the beauty of the prelude to the first. “I wanted to be able to do that. I was involved in Suzuki, and my teacher heard me trying to play the prelude. He was touched and wrote the music out in a way I could read. That was the first piece I ever learned. It is very special to me. Every time I come back to it, I have all those memories, and it is amazing to have a piece so rich that you keep digging into. I have been playing it for 23 years.” Hersh attended the Academy of Music Institute of Chicago (his classes took place on Ravinia’s grounds) then the New England Conservatory for his bachelor and master’s degrees. Along the way he won a slew of awards, debuted as soloist with the Boston Pops while still in his senior year, and subsequently studied with Nicolas Altstaedt at the Hanns Eisler University of Music in Berlin. Hersh has appeared as soloist with the Hous- ton Symphony and has performed an eclectic repertory of music at major festivals worldwide. While conversation with Hersh re- veals the insight and wisdom of an old soul, he is very much a contemporary thinker who recognizes the potential for information technology to expand the classical music audience. When the pandemic torpedoed live concerts, he seized the opportunity to create his own channel on YouTube. “The idea was to push the boundary of what a classical music video can be. I started working with lighting designers and writing narratives to bring to this music that I love and want more peo- ple to love as I do. The internet is an incredible tool to transmit great art. It has its cons—the age of social media has shrunk our attention spans—but at the same time, its power is amaz- ing. One post can reach so many people and that is really exciting if you are spreading a message of art and inspiration. I am a huge believer. The culmination was the release of my first EP. I did a presale where all proceeds went to Asian Americans Advancing Justice and the Colorado Healing Fund. It was empowering to take one’s art and raise support for people in need. Yo-Yo Ma is a huge inspiration for me, he has transcended what it means to be a cellist—he is an ambassador for goodness. We can’t all be Yo-Yo Ma, but we can learn from that.” A visit to Hersh’s YouTube channel reveals glorious traversals of music by Debussy, Webern, and many others, all presented with cutting-edge cre- ativity and impeccable musicianship. That same resonance to contem- porary consciousness infused the creation of NEXUS Chamber Music, which Hersh formed with violinist Brian Hong as co-artistic directors. Endearingly, the ensemble emerged as the result of an argument in col- lege, when Hong blasted the Takács Quartet recording of Bartók’s Fourth String Quartet on his CD player, “obnoxiously, for all the dorm to hear,” as Hersh recalls. While slugging it out over the merits of the recording, the two men discovered that their musical philosophies were entirely simpatico, and they began to work together, eventually forming NEXUS. “We initially had the idea of starting a summer chamber music festival in downtown Chicago. We partnered with Guarneri Hall, which was being built at the same time. Now, NEXUS is a group, a roster of artists from all around the world who are deeply passionate about chamber music and convene to present projects. It has expanded to do things throughout the year, with tour dates and stuff. We are interested in breaking down barriers that separate artists and audiences, and in collaborating with filmmakers and directors to make high-produc- tion things that might reach a new audience. The big thing we love is challenging audience expectation.” The September program for Ravinia is illustrative of the NEXUS creativity. “It has no intermission. We were interested in the idea of a shorter program of female composers from different eras. All these pieces have a distinctive poetic flow. The Amy Beach is gorgeous, the Alma Mahler, so lyrical. We thought it would be cool to pair all these things in one concert. We are so touched that Gusty [composer Augusta Read Thomas] RAVINIA.ORG • RAVINIA MAGAZINE 19