"The biggest library of pieces for chamber music involving marimba is probably for marimba and violin," Zeltsman said, "because of how actively we went at that."
Now she's at it again, midway through a project distinguished by the dozen celebrated composers she has secured to write intermediate-level pieces for solo marimba. Among them are Louis Andriessen, Milton Babbitt, Anders Hillborg, Gunther Schuller, Steven Stucky, Michael Tilson Thomas and Chinary Ung. Most famous of all is singer-songwriter Paul Simon, who took Zeltsman's offer as a welcome challenge.
The three- to six-minute pieces, currently in various stages of completion, will be premiered next year when the festival returns to Wisconsin, but local audiences can hear a sneak preview next Saturday when Zeltsman will perform Simon's contribution in a recital.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday, July 08, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 26 words Type of Material: Correction
Marimba byline: An article in Saturday's Calendar about the Zeltsman Marimba Festival carried an incorrect byline. The article was written by David Mermelstein, not David Mermelste.
From the not-so-famous
The festival is also holding a competition to find 12 works from lesser-known talents that can complement the big-name pieces. The motive is to provide a missing link between young marimbists' abilities and the complexities of the best new works written for their instrument.
"These musicians are going to be playing a lot of difficult contemporary music," Zeltsman said, "and they need something to get ready for those pieces."
The challenge is to create music that will not only help train players but also engage their interest -- and ideally that of audiences too.
"One of my models is 'Kinderszenen,' " Zeltsman said, invoking Robert Schumann's suite of nostalgic piano pieces.
"I played that when I was 11, and Vladimir Horowitz played it when he was 80. That's my goal: to present literature of that quality. My hope is that it will change the complexion of the marimba repertoire."
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Zeltsman Marimba Festival Concert Series
Where: Zipper Concert Hall, Colburn School, 200 S. Grand Ave., L.A.
When: Sunday to July 19
Price: Most events are $10
Contact: www.zmf.us
