15th annual Duo Piano Gala a jewel of a concert at Tuckerman Hall

Richard Duckett, Worcester Telegram & Gazette

Updated October 21, 2023 at 11:27 AM·9 min read

The Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra's annual Duo Piano Gala has been an audience favorite for 15 years.

The Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra will present its 15th annual Duo Piano Gala at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 28 in Tuckerman Hall, and it's not a program for the faint-hearted.

The eight participating pianists will perform a program that has arrangements ranging from Bach to the Beatles in combinations of two, four, six and even eight players seated at MSO's two Steinway grand pianos.

The pianists seem to like it, since five of the eight took part in the very first Duo Piano Gala at Tuckerman Hall in 2007 and have returned more or less every year.

The concert has also proved to be an enduring audience favorite, said Paul Levenson, executive director of the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra.

"Why has this been so successful for us? It really does come down to the word 'accessible,'" Levenson said.

"If you had never been to a piano recital you could come to this. And we also have people that have been coming here for years," he said.

"It's an interesting night of entertainment with a program you don't usually see. You get some real powerhouse pianists. Phenomenal pianists."

Pianist Gillian Berkowitz got her first taste of the Duo Piano Gala last year, and is back for the Oct. 28 concert.

She plays piano on Broadway, but had never been involved with something quite like the Duo Piano Gala.

"It's an event. There's choreography," Berkowitz said. "It was a lot of fun. Everyone's wonderful."

Berkowitz has performed piano/keyboard, accordion, and vocals in over 50 Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. She is currently performing in "Hamilton"and "Some Like It Hot," but has also become quite a regular musician with the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra.

Paul Levenson, executive director of the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra, says, "If you had never been to a piano recital you could come to this. And we also have people have been coming here for years."

Popular with both pianists and audience

The first Duo Piano Gala had seven pianists. Last year there were nine. There were no concerts in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic.

Besides Berkowitz, the pianists this year include:

●Myron Romanul, principal conductor of the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra, First Kapellmeister of the State Theatre in Munich, Germany, and director of the Bayern State Opera and Ballet.

●Kallin Johnson, director of music at Notre Dame Academy and principal pianist for the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra.

●Olga Rogach, music director of the First Parish Church of Northborough and a frequent performer in the area including as an accompanist for Greater Worcester Opera.

●Sima Kustanovich, on the piano faculty of Clark University and Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts, and a past recipient of the Worcester Telegram and Gazette's Visions Cultural Enrichment Award.

●Ian Watson, associate conductor of Boston's Handel and Haydn Society and a former member of the Worcester Chamber Music Society.

●Randall Hodgkinson, who has appeared as a piano soloist with numerous national orchestras and is a current member of the Worcester Chamber Music Society.

●Leslie Amper, also a piano soloist with many prestigious orchestras and at music festivals; and Berkowitz, who has performed piano/keyboard, accordion, and vocals in over 50 Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. She is currently performing in "Hamilton" and "Some Like It Hot."

Romanul, Johnson, Rogach, Kustanovich and Watson performed in the first concert in 2007.

Mixed Program

The program for this year's concert includes Rossini's Overture to Tancredi (a piece that opened the 2007 concert); Bach's Italian Concerto (movements 1 and 3); Schubert's Marche Militaire; Brahms' Variations on a Theme by Haydn; Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring; selections from Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite; Gounod's Waltz from Faust; Dvorak's Slavonic Dances (movements 1, 8 and 10); Samba Loca by Diaz; Kapustin's Paraphrase on Dizzy Gillespie's Manteca; an arrangement of "Autumn Leaves"; and a medley of Beatles tunes as arranged by Kallin Johnson.

"We're thrilled to reach this milestone 15th year with this highly popular concert," Levenson said. "Our crowds love the fact that all of our pianists have local ties to this area, and are such accomplished performers. We're also extremely grateful that Tuckerman Hall (which the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra owns) has proven to be theright location for this event, as it combines an intimacy along with superb acoustics to let each keyboard resonate throughout the magnificent architecture of this landmark venue."

The idea for Duo Piano Gala came about when Levenson and his late mother Madelyn Levenson, who was an accomplished pianist and co-founder of the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra, were visiting friends in Miami and were invited to a duo piano performance. The hall that they visited held about 2,000 people and every seat was filled.

"We didn't know what to expect," Levenson said. "There was an amazing energy in that space throughout the program, and we knew that we could recreate that feeling here in Worcester. The proof has been packed houses since we began these annual performances back in 2007," Levenson said.

The Beatles medley arranged by Johnson will be the concert finale and involve all eight pianists.

"That's with everybody. I think that everyone runs around to different pianos," Berkowitz said.

"It's a wonderful piece," Levenson said. "It should also be a crowd pleaser."

With many such set pieces over the years, "I don't think we've had anything where the train has gone off the track. The pianists are just too good," Levenson said.

However, he did recall early on in the Duo Piano Gala events hiring a videographer to record the occasion.

"He came highly recommended but I don't think he had ever done videography of a duo piano concert," Levenson said. "Every single frame he managed to be in the video ."

One of the challenges of organizing the event is to "get eight busy pianists to be available for that and be available for rehearsal," Levenson said. But "because we (MSO) owns the hall we can make it available at any time for them."

'I know what our audiences like'

Levenson puts together the program and listens to suggestions from the pianists. "I'm a filter for our audience. I know what our audiences like."

After missing 2020 and 2021, "We did have a really good audience last year," Levenson said.

There may have been some reason to wonder if the audience would come back. "I think the pandemic really did a number on the classical music industry," he said.

Not just classical music.

'Let's hear you play'

Berkowitz called Levenson because for a while "COVID shut down all music," and she was looking for work.

Originally from Framingham, Berkowitz is now based in New York City but retains local ties and also performs in the Boston area.

"She called us. I said come out, 'Let's hear you play,'" Levenson said.

The MSO had a potential Duo Piano Gala opening after Dick Odgren, one of Worcester's best known jazz musicians, decided to step away from the event.

Johnson was also on hand when Berkowitz came to Tuckerman Hall.

"I think they were vetting me. Kallin said to Paul, 'She's OK,'" Berkowitz recalled.

"When we heard her, we said 'That's it.' She's a great find. You never know when you get these calls," Levenson said. "Gillian, she's terrific. She plays on Broadway. She's a wonderful cross-over musician. Such a lovely person. I really like working with her."

Berkowitz said she's "not a jack of all trades ... Just in my training and out in life, I play everything. I've had some fantastic teachers." They include Lou Fazio of Shrewsbury, a long-time teacher with Framingam public schools.

She first played with the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra at its "Salute to Disney" concert at Institute Park in 2021.

The orchestra and the Institute Park concerts were founded by Paul Levenson's late parents, Harry and Madelyn Levenson. The first Institute Park concert was in 1951.

It was hot at Institute Park in 2021 for "Salute to Disney," but "we pulled it off and we had a fantastic time," Berkowitz said. She was also with the orchestra at Institute Park last summer where "we had a torrential downpour, but everyone was dancing in the rain, I couldn't believe it."

Another revelation came with her first Duo Piano Gala concert.

This year she'll join other pianists for the opening Rossini Overture and the Beatles finale, and will be one of two pianists playing the Bach work and the Autumn Leaves arrangement.

Berkowitz wouldn't mind an arrangement where she comes back to Tuckerman Hall again and again for the concert.

"I hope so. The energy is fantastic."

Remembering Bobby Chase

Bobbie Chase, 79, who died Oct. 4, was the announcer for the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra’s outdoor summer concerts for 42 years. She was a radio announcer for classical music on WICN, then WCUW; and later, she also announced on commercial radio: WSRS and WTAG. At WCUW, for over 40 years she and her husband, Nick Chase, recorded and broadcast more than 1300 locally performed classical music concerts.

"Bobbie Chase, she was incredibly helpful to our organization," said Levenson.

"With her husband Nick, there was no task too small or too big that they wouldn't tackle. They recorded our concerts for over four decades and you couldn't ask for more helpful people than the Chases. Bobbie had a gift for being a terrific broadcaster. She had a perfect voice for radio and public announcing. They helped recruit many volunteers to our organization which provided us with invaluable assistance. Bobbie and Nick were indefatigable workers. You could call on them at any time, and they would drop what they were doing to be of assistance to us. It's rare to find people like the Chases with such drive and determination, all in the service of classical music. We will miss Bobbie's huge support and devotion to our organization. May she rest in peace," Levenson said.