Otterbein Granville residents organize classical music series
The residents of Otterbein Granville have arranged a nine-month-long classical music series featuring exceptional musicians who represent the top of their various fields.
The Sunday Chamber Music Series will offer a cavalcade of talent that would be the pride of a major metropolitan music hall – not to mention the Amelia Gathering Room at Otterbein Granville.
It all started with Max Rabinovitsj, who with his wife Mary Trevor moved to Otterbein in 2021, bringing to the community a lifetime of musical experience. It didn’t take Rabinovitsj – a professional conductor and musician himself – long to discern a way to make an extraordinary gift to his and Trevor’s new community. They saw an opportunity to tap their many friends, contacts and musical networks to draw to Otterbein world-class talent that would delight the residents and give Otterbein Granville a unique artistic asset.
Rabinovitsj shared his vision and its possibilities with a few Otterbein friends, who last spring formed the new Otterbein Classical Music Committee under the Otterbein Granville Residents Association. Since then, the committee have been collaborating with Rabinovitsj to work through the myriad details involved in setting up the monthly artists’ series. Rabinovitsj himself has been busy recruiting the musicians, aided by committee member Larry Murdock, who has served as the committee’s liaison to the Denison University Music Department. Of the nine concerts in the series, three feature artists whose careers have brought them appointments at Denison.
There will be one Sunday concert per month. Performances are planned for about an hour and 15 mintues, and a reception will usually follow. At this time, attendance at the concerts will be available only for Otterbein residents and their family members due to capacity restrictions.
The series’ inaugural concert was held on Sunday, Oct. 16, and featured Israeli-American pianist Dror Biran, an award-winning musician who is associate professor of piano at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. Biran performs internationally with major orchestras as well as with smaller ensembles. At Otterbein, performed Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1, I-XII (BWV 846-857).
In November, acclaimed American violinist Isabelle Ai Durrenberger will present a program of works by Clara Schumann, Grażyna Bacewicz, Maurice Ravel, Edward Elgar, and Edvard Grieg. Durrenberger has collaborated with many American orchestras and has performed at Carnegie Hall as a member of the New York String Orchestra Seminar. She will be joined onstage by pianist Hana Chu, who frequently performs with multiple chamber groups in various parts of the globe including Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Thailand and South Korea. She has recently joined the piano faculty at Denison University.
"Otterbein Granville is a resident-driven retirement community, where the residents plan and execute all of the activities and event," said Derik Kroeze, director of marketing at Otterbein Granville. "We believe this has created our unique culture, with a level of engagement and enrichment that cannot be found at other places. The residents saw a need for this Sunday Chamber Music series and worked hard to make it a reality."
The Sunday Chamber Music Series promises to be a treasure for music lovers and a mark of distinction for Otterbein Granville.
Information submitted by Otterbein Granville.
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Otterbein Granville residents organize classical music series
