Uniting Hearts Through Music: A Benefit Concert for Humanity
Welcome to the latest episode of Life Along The Streetcar’s podcast series! In this episode, join us as we sit down with the talented Elaine Rousseau, a board member and director of the Summer Concert series for the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music (AFCM). The AFCM, celebrating 75 years of musical excellence, is preparing for a special performance featuring the Ukrainian pianist Alexander Tenser, showcasing the works of composers from his homeland. This event aims to raise funds for humanitarian aid supporting Ukraine during these challenging times.
Listen in as Elaine enlightens us about the world of chamber music, its unique history, and how it differs from orchestral performances. With her passion for piano and music, Elaine shares her experiences as an amateur pianist and her journey with AFCM. Don’t miss this captivating conversation that not only embraces the joys of music but also highlights the power of uniting for a cause.
Tune in now to gain deeper insights into the enchanting world of chamber music and the wonderful initiatives undertaken by AFCM to make a positive impact on lives.
Join us on LifeAlongTheStreetcar.org as we discover the harmonious melodies and profound stories behind chamber music, resonating with passion and purpose.
Transcript (Unedited)
Tom Heath
Sunday in the old pueblo. You’re listening to Ktdt Tucson. Thank you for spending a part of your brunch hour with us on your downtown Tucson community sponsored rock and roll radio station. This week we’re going to speak with Elaine Russo. She’s a board member and a director of the Summer Concert series for the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music. The AFCM has been operating for 75 years and will be hosting a musical performance featuring Ukrainian pianist and featuring music from his home country composers. The event is part of an effort to generate funds to support humanitarian aid for Ukraine. Today is August 6, 2023. My name is Tom Heath and you’re listening to life along the streetcar. Each and every Sunday, our focus on social, cultural and economic impacts in Tucson’s urban core, and we shed light on hidden gems everyone should know about, from the University of Arizona to a mountain and all stops in between. You get the inside track right here on 99.1 FM, streaming on downtownradio.org,
Tom Heath
also available on your iPhone or Android with our very own Downtown Radio Tucson app. If you want to interact with us as a show, you can do so on Facebook and Instagram. And for more information about what we do our book, listen to past episodes or contact us, head over to our website, Life Alongthestreetcar.org. And of course, we invite you to listen to the podcast on all kinds of platforms like Spotify, itunes. You can even ask your smart speaker to play the Life Along the Streetcar podcast. And every now and then that actually pops up. It’s kind of cool. It’s August, it’s still kind of warm. Is there relief in sight? I don’t know. I’m hoping the mornings have been kind of cool as they get up there before the sun really comes up and gets the dog for a walk. But the afternoons certainly are heating up. If you are a worker in the downtown area, you work in the hospitality industry restaurants, hotels. There’s a way to cool off this next Wednesday. On the 16th, I wanted to let you know that
Tom Heath
the Tucson Gallery is hosting a free event for the hospitality workers along this route, this Life Along the Streetcar route from amount to the University of Arizona. If you are in one of those fields, then you can attend the hospitality night over at the Tucson Gallery in downtown 300 East Congress. There’s apparently going to be some food and prizes and just a chance to mingle. I think it’s from two to eight that day. And we’ll post a link to the RSVP page because they do need you to RSVP, apparently, so you can head over to Life Along the Streetcar Facebook page if you want to RSVP for that event. And I did hear yesterday that there might be some cool, fun things like maybe even a tasting from the Whiskey Del Bach folks. Something else coming up later this month, a very cool concert over at Holscaw Hall at the University of Arizona. It’s part of the Arizona friends of chamber music series. They typically perform over at the Leo Rich Theater, but this one is a special event, so they’re
Tom Heath
holding it at the university, and it’s focusing on a Ukrainian pianist. His name is Alexander Tenser, and he is performing music from composers of his home country. And it’s part of a humanitarian aid effort to raise funds to support Ukraine. So we are joined today by Elaine Rousseau, who I understand is coordinating the summer series concert with the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music. And, Elaine, I want to welcome you to the show.
Elaine Rousseau
Thank you, Tom. And it’s so nice to be on your show. I really appreciate the fact that you’re donating today’s podcast to one of our summer concerts. Thank you.
Tom Heath
Well, I don’t know if you’ve done much research, but I think my mom is the only one that listens, so she’s going to get an ear full and she loves chamber music, so this is perfect.
Elaine Rousseau
Oh, great. All right.
Tom Heath
I saw on the website that you were a board member. Are you currently a board member of the organization?
Elaine Rousseau
Yes, I certainly am currently a board member.
Tom Heath
Okay, so then help me as a novice with a couple of things. I know it might seem basic, but can you explain to me what chamber music is and how that differentiates from, like, orchestra?
Elaine Rousseau
Oh, I’d be happy to, yes. In the hundreds of years, many years ago, there were not huge concert halls, and so the way music was heard was live in small group presentations. So they’d be like solos or duets or trios or quartet, something of that sort. Typically in a composer’s home. For example, Schubert, who’s one of my favorite composers, had what were called Schubertiads in his home, and he would invite friends over and play his new compositions, know other music of the time. So that was how music was shared originally before we had large concert halls like we have today.
Tom Heath
So it’s the same music, it’s just performed with a smaller group versus an orchestra that has hundreds of members?
Elaine Rousseau
That would be an easy way to summarize it, Tom, yes.
Tom Heath
Okay, and is their music then specifically written for chamber music that maybe an orchestra wouldn’t play?
Elaine Rousseau
Yeah, totally. Different composers can write for chamber music or they write for or write for orchestras.
Tom Heath
Okay. What I do understand, if I remember correctly, is that when it’s a chamber group, they’re limited to one person per section, whereas an orchestra might have numerous instruments in a particular section.
Elaine Rousseau
Okay. You’re like 90%, correct.
Tom Heath
Oh, that’s good. That’s way better than I normally am, so that’s awesome.
Elaine Rousseau
Well, very often we listen to string quartets, and there are two violin players, a yola, and a cellist in a string quartet.
Tom Heath
Okay, I’ll take 90%. That’s better than I did in school. I doubt that how did you get involved? Are you a musician or how did you get involved with the organization?
Elaine Rousseau
I’ve been playing the piano since I was a little kid, and it just has been a solace in my life throughout. Currently, I have a piano duet partner, and she and I get together on a weekly basis and just have so much fun doing some of the duets. Right now we’re working on Schubert’s Fantasy and G minor, which is just a delightful little piece. So piano has been part of my life for as far back as I can remember.
Tom Heath
And are you performing? Do you do this for yourself or do you perform?
Elaine Rousseau
Good question. We’re very much amateur pianists, but I have formed a piano group here in Tucson, and we get together periodically, and sometimes we play within the piano group. But I’m just a bit too shy and too insecure with my musical ability to play at a group in front of a large group.
Tom Heath
Okay. When I was reading your board profile from the website, the first question they ask you is, what would you tell your younger self about music? And your response was, I would have told myself to practice more.
Elaine Rousseau
Oh, absolutely. That’s still the truth. I kind of go in cycles. I’m really responsible, and I practice several hours a day for a period of time, and then I say, Oops, I don’t know what has happened, but I only maybe just play some scales and keep my fingers agile and don’t really practice for a while. So I’m kind of one of those off and on people.
Tom Heath
I think what they call that is being human. I think that’s the definition there. We all seem to do that with something unless we’re absolutely crazy and then we’re focused like some of these mad musicians we see that have been so successful. I think they’re a little bit unbalanced. I think you are doing it the right way. You get great enjoyment from it.
Elaine Rousseau
Oh, thank you for that reinforcement. Now I don’t have to beat up on myself on those days when I’m not practicing enough.
Tom Heath
So how did you get involved with the Friends then? Was this something that you stumbled on, or did you go looking for it?
Elaine Rousseau
Kind of a little bit of both, quite truthfully.
Tom Heath
Oh, I’m 90% correct again. Yes, I’m on a roll.
Elaine Rousseau
Yes, 90% correct again. I have a number of friends who were on the board, and they knew that I was on the board of the Music Advisory Board at the School of Music here and asked if I’d be interested in joining the Friends board. And after I retired, I had more time to pursue my passion, so I immediately said, yes, I would love to be on the board. So it’s been a really positive experience for me.
Tom Heath
All right, so music has always been connected. You said retired. Did you retire from a profession that connected you through music?
Elaine Rousseau
No, music is definitely my passion, but it’s not my profession. I’m a retired Gerontologist and I worked at the university before.
Tom Heath
Okay. Okay. So good connections here all around Tucson and then the name Arizona Friends of Chamber Music. Is this a statewide organization?
Elaine Rousseau
No, it’s strictly local to Tucson. I mean, people from other parts of the state can come to our and do come to our concerts. But no, everything is done locally here in Tucson.
Tom Heath
Okay.
Elaine Rousseau
So our regular season series are held in the Leo Rich Theater downtown. And then the summer series are held in Holsclaw Hall at the School of Music at the university.
Tom Heath
Well, for this show, which is life, along with Streetcar that’s perfect because you’re on the East End now and then normally you’re on the West End. So we cover the whole Streetcar route with this organization. So that’s perfect.
Elaine Rousseau
Excellent.
Tom Heath
Yeah. And then you’ve got the summer series that you talked about. And the reason why we wanted you on the show right now is because there’s a really interesting and somewhat impactful concert coming up here in a couple of weeks on August 23 with Alexander Tenser. Can you share a little bit about that concert and really what it means?
Elaine Rousseau
I would be thrilled to because this, again, is one of my passions. Like so many people, the war in Ukraine is just one of those egregious events and your heart just goes out when you watch the news and see all the damage and destruction that’s being done not only to the infrastructure and housing but all the people in the Ukraine that are affected by this. And I’ve just felt so helpless for so long. Like, you want to help, but what do you do? And so we came up with the idea of having this concert. Alexander Tenser himself was born in Kiev and so he is a Ukrainian and he has put together a wonderful concert of music by all Ukrainian composers. And I’ll tell you a bit about that when you ask the question. So the concert itself is strictly in support of the Ukraine. But what makes it different from our typical summer offerings is that we have set up a direct link to the International Red Cross so that people can make donations that are tax deductible that will help the people in the Ukraine
Elaine Rousseau
during this egregious time. We set a donation goal of $1,991. And one of the people, one of my friends that I talked with who’s an AFCM supporter said, elaine, why so little? Why didn’t you at least go up to 2000? Well, the answer is 1991 is when the Ukraine gained their freedom from Russia. And it just seemed like that would be a good target amount to have as a goal.
Tom Heath
Are proceeds from the concert going towards this effort or is the concert separate and then the encouragement to donate through the Red Cross?
Elaine Rousseau
Right. They’re two separate things. An individual concert ticket costs $45 and that’s strictly for the ticket. And then in addition, if people feel generous and motivated, they can definitely then donate via the Red Cross.
Tom Heath
We’re in an interview with Elaine Russo. She’s a board member and coordinates the summer concert series for the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, talking about their upcoming concert here on the 23rd featuring Alexander Tenser and composers from his home country of Ukraine. And we’ll finish up that interview in just a moment. But first I want to remind you that you’re listening to life along the streetcar on downtown Radio 99.1 FM and streaming on downtownradio.org.
Tom Heath
Welcome back to the interview with Elaine Russo. Just before the break, we were talking about some of the history of the Arizona Friends for Chamber Music and some of Elaine’s history and how she got involved. Now we’re going to talk more about the concert, what to expect if you do attend on the 23rd and become part of that effort to support the humanitarian aid for the Ukraine. And so for the $45 you’re getting to this concert. And I think you prepped me for this. So I need to ask the question. Can you tell us a little bit about the music that people would hear and the composers?
Elaine Rousseau
Oh, yeah. These summer concerts are special because all of our summer concerts feature local musicians and Alexander Tenser is one of our local treasures. I think he’s a phenomenal pianist. The breadth and depth of his musical knowledge is unbelievable. He started studying piano at age four, his father was his teacher and then he was accepted at the Ukraine State School for Gifted Children and studied there for a while. And then at age twelve, get this, he performed Griggs Piano Concerto at age twelve. When I think back to what I was doing at age twelve and what many of us were doing at age twelve, we were not performing piano sonatas at all, or piano with orchestra accompaniment.
Tom Heath
No, I did have a piano growing up and I think at that age I was still mastering chopsticks. So I do think that he is a little bit more advanced at that age than I was.
Elaine Rousseau
Right. And sometime you and I should get together and do a forehand with chopsticks.
Tom Heath
That’s way too complicated. That’s too complicated.
Elaine Rousseau
Then he was accepted into the Missing Music College in Moscow and then in 1991, he was offered a full scholarship to continue and get his DMA and piano performance here at the university. So one of the things I want to mention about Alexander before I go into what the concert will consist of is that he also is teaching through the learning curve here in Tucson, and he’s got a class this fall coming up that is called the road to independence, and it features all music from the Ukraine. So let me see. And I would encourage anybody who wants to hear some phenomenal piano music to enroll in that class through the learning curve. Now, for our concert in August, the concert is set up so that there’s an hour of music from 07:00 to 08:00. And then from 08:00 to 09:00, we meet in the lobby of Holsca hall to chat with Alexander and tell him how wonderful he is. And we have little or d’oeuvres from Feast so that people can have a little nosh while they’re chatting post concert. So it’s just a nice
Elaine Rousseau
social evening to go out.
Tom Heath
Is that typical of your other concerts, or is it special for this one? Do you normally have, like, an hour concert and then a chance to meet with the artists?
Elaine Rousseau
Okay. For all of our summer concerts, what I just described is that during the regular season, it’s different.
Tom Heath
Okay.
Elaine Rousseau
But the summer concerts are all first hour of music, second hour meet and greet the artist that’s performing.
Tom Heath
I love that.
Elaine Rousseau
Have a snack from feast.
Tom Heath
That’s fantastic. Sorry to interrupt. That just I love that concept. So thank you.
Elaine Rousseau
Yeah, it really makes a nice evening out, believe me. Okay, so when I approached Sasha and asked if he’d be willing to do this, of course he said yes, because shortly after the war started, he sponsored a concert here featuring Ukrainian music and performers and raised money to donate to the Ukraine. So he’s having been born in Kiev, you can imagine he’s very supportive of this effort.
Tom Heath
And I would just really quick point out that for those that know, sasha is the familiar name for Alexander. Those that know him might call him Sasha, whereas I would call him Mr. Tensor. But you know him so well, you can use him more familiar.
Elaine Rousseau
So one of the things we agreed upon was that the concert should be music by only Ukrainian composers, so Sasha agreed to naturally agreed to do that. But these three different composers that are featured in the concert this summer composed music that Sasha has never before performed in Tucson. So it’s an opportunity for those of us who live here to be exposed to a whole different genre of music, if you will. I mean, we’re also used to Western European music. I mean, we all know Mozart and what a child prodigy he was, but I must confess that I myself was unfamiliar with any of the three composers that he’s performing. So he opens a concert with a couple of pieces by Vasinko, who is considered to be the father of Ukrainian classical music and then he’s playing several pieces by Rovatsky, and then he’s playing Amizurka and Three a Tudes by Victor Kosenko. And since these are all new composers to me, I had to do a little bit of research, and I am just so fascinated by Victor Kosinko. Let me
Elaine Rousseau
tell you a couple of things about him. He wrote over 100 compositions for the piano when he was only nine years old, he heard his older sister playing Beethoven’s Patique Sonata on the piano. And I’m hypothesizing he said to himself, gee, that’s really pretty. So after his sister left the keyboard, he sat down and played the Pathetic just after having heard his oh, my goodness. I know. Can you believe that? I mentioned before, what were you doing at age twelve, but what were you doing at age nine?
Tom Heath
It’s getting worse. I was happy. I was 90% correct at the beginning of the show, and now I feel very inferior. This is getting worse.
Elaine Rousseau
Okay, so then at age 19, he was accepted into the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and he totally amazed his faculty by what I’m about to describe to you, which has me in awe. He could look at a piece of music for piano and just look through the score, set that score aside, and then go sit down on piano and perform that entire piece, because he imprinted it in his mind and knew what to do. Wow. Say I I’ve never been able to do that. I mean, memorizing something for me is a real accomplishment, as it is for many of the pianists know. And here he would just look at the score and then go sit down and play it. Can you believe this?
Tom Heath
That is just simply amazing. That is the crazy people that I was telling you about earlier. That not the normal people like you and me.
Elaine Rousseau
Right? And so upon graduation, then he moved back to Zudemer in the Ukraine and spent most of the rest of his life there. So, just to my way of thinking, an incredibly outstanding he was also a pianist, obviously, so an outstanding pianist and an outstanding composer. So I was so glad that Sasha introduced me to new to Me music and New to Me composers, and I’m hoping that people who come to our concert in August will have that same reaction. Sasha will obviously be playing pieces by these three composers, and he will also give us a little bit of didactic presentation on the background and what was going on in Ukraine at that time that they were composing and so on.
Tom Heath
That was fantastic.
Elaine Rousseau
It’s going to be, I think, an outstanding concert. I can’t tell you how excited I am for this to occur.
Tom Heath
I enjoy classical music, I enjoy chamber music to an extent, but I always get more enjoyment when I understand the world in which it was composed, because that gives so much more meaning and emphasis to the music and the style as it’s being done during whatever world or local calamity was happening at the time, or celebration.
Elaine Rousseau
Oh, I couldn’t agree with you more. Knowing the context just really makes something so much richer, doesn’t it?
Tom Heath
I believe so. And looking forward to this concert coming up here in a couple of weeks. How do people find out more? Do they get tickets on your website? Do you have social media? What’s the way to connect with the Friends of Chamber Music?
Elaine Rousseau
Okay, so it’s set up so that you can access both through social media and through our website. So we’re on Facebook and Instagram, and then you can Google us on whatever platform you use and all three you access through Arizona Friends of Chamber Music.
Tom Heath
Okay, so we Google Arizona Friends of Chamber Music and that’ll bring up the Facebook, the Instagram and the website and such.
Elaine Rousseau
Exactly. Okay. And then the information about Sasha’s concert is in all three of those places that I mentioned. And then there’s also a link that you can make contributions if you can buy a ticket and or make a contribution to the Red Cross via any of those three platforms.
Tom Heath
And I would invite you, if you are interested in this and you check out the concert, to look at their entire summer concert series because they have events, many coming up here and then some moving into the fall with even the September through January schedules are up. And this looks like, as you mentioned, the summer series is more local, but it looks like you’ve got people coming in from all over the world as part of the fall and early next year concerts.
Elaine Rousseau
Right? Absolutely. That’s one of the things Arizona Friends of Chamber of Music prides ourselves on, is that we bring world class musicians to Tucson. So the Wednesday night concerts are just absolutely phenomenal. And then we also have a series called Piano and Friends, and those concerts are on a Sunday afternoon at 03:00. And they feature young, upcoming artists who are just beginning to become known in the world, if you will. Many years back, before Long long became known to worldwide, he was one of our performers at the Piano and Friends concerts. We can’t afford to have him back now.
Tom Heath
You gave him a start. You think he would come back. You probably launched him once he was here, everyone heard about him. Well, I invite people to check out the website. I have not seen your social media yet, but I will go swing over there and take a look at that and like those pages as well and kind of keep an idea what’s happening. Remember, these concerts are typically in the regular season. They’re down to Leah Rich Theater at the Convention Center complex there. And then the summer series, including this one coming up on August 23 with Alexander Tenser, is going to be at the Holzcall Hall at the University of.
Elaine Rousseau
Arizona that is correct, yes.
Tom Heath
Elaine, thank you so much for your time on this. I’m excited that we’ve connected well again.
Elaine Rousseau
And Tom, I just can’t thank you enough for making this possible so that we can get the word out about the concert. Because my goal is to have Hoskah Hall packed, every seat taken, and also reach our goal of $1,991 contributed to help the people in the Ukraine during this very challenging, difficult time. So thank thank you you thank you for what you have done today.
Tom Heath
That was Elaine Russo, a board member and director of the summer concert series for Arizona Friends of Chamber Music. Their website is arizonacambermusic.org if you wanted to get tickets. And of course, we’ll link to that from our website. Well, from our Facebook page, actually, which is life along the streetcar. And that reminds me that you are listening to Life Along the Streetcar on downtown Radio, 99.1 FM and streaming on downtownradio.org.
Tom Heath
Thank you very much. Enjoy your evening. Bye bye. I hope you get a chance to check out Brother Mock’s show. It’s radio club crawl. I love hearing all the bands that are coming town and getting to listen to them first, getting a little preview with Brother Mock and then maybe heading out to hear the live show at one of our cool venues. Just one of the great shows on downtown radio. And you can check them all out on our radio’s website, life. That’s my website on the downtownradio.org. That’s the big one with all the volunteer DJs and amazing shows that are happening. And I want to thank everyone for putting in that time and effort. Also want to thank those of you that took the time to post on our Facebook page. We got several requests or suggestions anyway for future shows and I look forward to investigating those and finding out what we can bring to the air. This was episode number 259. Next week we’re going to have episode 260 and going to feature donuts and burgers. I’m not sure if there’s
Tom Heath
a better way for me to celebrate episode 260 than having members of the Donut Bar, which recently brought in Lindy, who makes fabulous burgers. And this combination is just blowing up in downtown. Well, we’re going to leave you with music today composed by one of those that you’ll hear if you go to Alexander Tenser’s concert on the 23rd. It’s Mikola Lisenko, one of the Ukrainian composers. And as always, we want to thank Ryan Hood for the courtesy of using their music in our opening. My name is Tom Heath. I hope you have a great week and tune in next Sunday for more life along the streetcar.
