SATURDAY
Historic camp offers fun, team-building challenges
Check out historic Camp Erdman at Saturday’s free Community Day.
Activities at the YMCA facility include archery, swimming and climbing the Alpine Tower, a 50-foot-tall structure. Visitors can also take on the Odyssey, a teamwork activity that involves traveling from tower to tower suspended from cables 40 feet above the ground.
Camp Erdman was named after Harold Erdman, nephew of Walter Dillingham, who owned the land in the 1930s. Erdman died in his 20s in a horseback-riding accident in 1931, and his mother asked that the camp be named after him. Camp Erdman gained national exposure when it was used as the Others’ village in the TV show “Lost.”
Where: Camp Erdman, 69-385 Farrington Highway
When: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday
Cost: Free
Info: camperdman.org or 637-4615 (Waiver required. Form available at camperdman.org.)
SATURDAY-SUNDAY
Guitarist to perform classics with a twist
Classical guitarist Luke Trimble hopes to reach out to music fans who have never felt quite comfortable with the classical music world.
“Chamber music written especially for the guitar offers an exciting opportunity to bridge that gap,” he said via email.
Trimble joins members of the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra at Hawaii Public Radio’s Atherton Performing Arts Studio this weekend to perform chamber music written especially for the guitar. The first date sold out, so a second date was added.
“We have an ambitious program and an exceptional ensemble that I think will really open some ears,” Trimble said. “There is always really exciting music being made. It’s a question of whether you’re going to get to hear it or not. It often seems as though people think classical music starts with Pachelbel’s ‘Canon’ and ends with Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy.’ I hope to change that.”
The program includes Luigi Boccherini’s Quintet for Guitar and Strings No. 4 in D Major. Other works to be performed include music for guitar and violin by Astor Piazzolla, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Terry Riley and Niccolo Paganini, and new music for guitar and cello by Bryan Johanson.
Where: Atherton Performing Arts Studio, 738 Kaheka St.
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday
Cost: $17-$33
Info: hawaiipublicradio.org or 955-8821
—Erin Smith
Not a big-wave surfer? That’s OK. Head up to the North Shore for the Waialua Carnival. 6-10 p.m. today, noon-10 p.m. Saturday and noon-6 p.m. Sunday. waialuacarnival.org
SUNDAY
All-star musicians play the Cajun way
Get your kicks in with Cajun Country Revival, a Louisiana quartet that specializes in high-energy, fun-loving tunes of the bayou.
The band is considered a “supergroup” of American roots music. Lead fiddler Joel Savoy has twice been named the Cajun French Music Association’s Fiddler of the Year and is a Grammy-winning producer. His wife, Kelli Jones, grew up playing roots music in Appalachia and tours with the Cajun group Feufollet and her own trio, T’Monde. Bassist Nadine Landry and guitarist Sammy Lind made their name with the Portland, Ore.-based Foghorn Stringband, which is credited with reviving American roots music in the Pacific Northwest.
Be sure to do-si-do over to Hawaiian Brian’s early for dance lessons. Becky Hill, a nationally known square dance caller, will be on hand to guide you in square dancing and Cajun-style dancing. Matt Morelock, a banjo player who relocated from Tennessee to Kauai, and local steel-guitar master Bobby Ingano will join in the fun.
Where: Hawaiian Brian’s
When: 6:30 p.m. Sunday (dance lessons at 5:30 p.m.)
Cost: $15-$20
Info: hawaiianbrians.com or 946-1343
Note: The group also performs at 6:30 p.m. today at the Honoka‘a People’s Theatre on Hawaii island.
TUESDAY
Sarah Chang returns to the islands to perform exciting chamber music
Violinist Sarah Chang’s appearance here Tuesday will be a rare and wonderful thing. Wonderful because her performances have been treasured worldwide since she emerged as a child prodigy almost 30 years ago; rare because it will be an intimate yet extravagant recital.
Chang usually performs concertos, the big warhorse pieces with an orchestra, as she did three years ago when she played Bruch with the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra. “Ninety-five percent of what I do is concertos,” she said in a phone call from her Philadelphia home. “It is a very different musical path that you set on when when you go into chamber music mode and do a recital.”
She’ll perform with pianist Julio Elizalde, her classmate from Juilliard, performing a program both dear and challenging. It features Bartok’s popular “Romanian Folk Dances,” major sonatas by Brahms and Franck, and Ravel’s flashy “Tzigane.”
The pieces are “beautifully balanced between piano and violin,” she said. “We thought they flowed together from piece to piece. And then the first concert we did with it, we were both dead. We were so tired because it’s such a huge program. And we thought, ‘What the hell were we thinking?’”
After reflection they decided to leave the program as is. “When you approach it from a musical angle, there’s nothing you can take out,” she said. “You need a really good opener, which the Bartok is; you need something sensuous, which the Brahms definitely has, with a lot of nobility and serenity. The Franck is just such a glorious piece — it’s probably one of my favorite sonatas — and then the Ravel is just such a showstopping, amazing firework of a showpiece.”
Expect a good show in other ways. The fashion-conscious Chang is planning a costume change — she thinks every composer has a complementary style — and is a demonstrative performer. “I just feel that if you feel like dancing, you should dance,” she said.
At age 36 and with a laundry list of accolades to her name, Chang finds that “I enjoy my time on stage a lot more now. It just feels like every concert is a lot more personal now. I want to make sure that everyone who leaves the concert, whether it’s a concerto or a recital, will leave having experienced the composer, because that comes first, but hopefully with a glimpse of my character as well.”
The concert is sold out, so hope for no-shows if you don’t have a ticket.
Where: Orvis Auditorium, University of Hawaii at Manoa
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday
Cost: $20-$55 (sold out)
Info: honoluluchambermusicseries.org or 956-8246
— Steven Mark
