Lubec Maine is the easternmost town in the United States. A tiny town of less than three hundred people, Lubec is best known for beautiful views of the Bay of Fundy and close proximity to Campobello Island. But during the summer months, the small town is invaded by adult music students, who come for a week or more, to work with the music faculty of Summerkeys.
According to their website, “SummerKeys offers the busy adult an opportunity to be immersed in the study and practice of a musical instrument. The premise is: come as you are and enjoy the study, the work, the camaraderie, and the beauty of the Maine Coast. The program is open to all levels – from beginning students to accomplished players. While both study and practice at SummerKeys are intensive, the atmosphere is relaxed and noncompetitive”. In addition to lessons, performance classes, and student workshops, they present the Mary Potterton Memorial Concerts, a free professional concert series, every Wednesday from June to August. Open to the public, attendees come from all over Downeast Maine, as well as neighboring Canada.
On June 26th, I attended a solo piano recital played by Alan Kryszak. Mr. Kryszak is a filmmaker and composer as well as pianist, and presented the World Premiere of his “De-Evolutionary Etudes,” which is a series of ten short movements. Following the concert, Mr. Kryszak held a short “Talkback and Discussion” with the audience.
The concert was presented at the Congregational Christian Church. For such a small town, Lubec has many, many churches. Notably, the Congregational church stands out for its age and size. The Church, built in 1818, has lovely stained glass windows, but uncomfortable wooden benches to sit on. As the start time approached, the audience filed in, filling about two thirds of the sizable hall. Shortly after 7:30, Bruce Potterton, Director of Summerkeys, welcomed the audience and introduced Mr. Kryszak, who took the stage in an ensemble of black jeans and black shirt. Kryszak took this opportunity to introduce himself to the audience. Currently adjunct faculty at the University of Maine, Machias, Unity College and Southern New Hampshire University, Kryszak has composed numerous concert pieces, as well as documentaries. His most current films include “The Religious Move” and “Hunger Now”, available on PBS.
Alan Kryszak is funny and engaging. He explained that generally etudes are studies designed to help students work on technique, but sometimes they are written as concert works that showcase an instrumentalist’s ability. This set offered a bit of both. The De-Evolutionay Etudes are progressive: The first two were relatively simple and, according to Kyszak, could be played by almost any level student, while the final few were quite advanced. In many, there was a certain amount of improvisation as well, blending some elements of classical music with Jazz, rock and funk. Kyyszak broke the performance of the movements into groups of one, two or three, pausing in between to tell us a bit about each.
A program comprising the works of just one composer, all played on the same instruments can be challenging. This is true even of composers like Mozart and Beethoven. Kryszak crafted a smart program for this audience. The entire concert ran just under an hour and each of the etudes built on the one before. The first two were very short but even the longest didn’t feel like they required editing. While there were certain compositional effects, such as cascades of arpeggios, that returned in many of his pieces, there was also a large variety of styles to keep the audience engaged. Two movements that stood out were “Meditation on ‘Come Oh Come, Emmanuel” which centers around a familiar Christmas tune, but then expands well beyond that simple melody and the “Fantasia on Aleksandar Sarievki”s version on ‘Zadij, Zadij, JasnoSonce” where one could almost see Kryszak’s filmmaker expertise. Lush in color, it was a lovely work to conclude the concert.
The audience stayed engaged the entire performance, although two new music haters did leave mid-performance. After the concert, audience members asked a variety of questions about the titles of the works and technical requirements of the pieces. Kryszak answered all with good enthusiasm and humor.
If you find yourself in the far northern reaches of Maine during the summer months, I highly recommend checking out this series. It is a little gem in an otherwise sleepy town. And in the meantime, look up Alan Kryszak’s music online. I think you will not be disappointed.
You can find out more about Mr Kryszak at https://alankryszak.com/index.html and learn about Summerkeys and the Mary Potterton Concert Series here: https://summerkeys.com/concerts/
By Nezret
