Once, again, Steve Schwartz enlightens us:

>  Lukas Foss
>The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
>
>Julianne Baird (Miss Lulu)
>Frederick Urrey (Smiley)
>Kevin Deas (Stranger)
>Manhattan Chamber Orchestra/Richard Auldon Clark
>Newport Classics NPD85609 Total time: 51:04

During this month, Rutgers University is offering its 10th Summerfest
on the Douglass campus in New Brunswick, NJ.  Summerfest a series of
about 20 concerts, orchestral and chamber, with a big band jazz concert
and an reunion concert of graduates of the Mason Gross School of the Arts
included.  Reserved tickets are $20.  Each Saturday night during the month
is a performance of the Rutgers Summerfest Orchestra, a group of from 40 to
60 graduates, graduate students and undergrads, conducted by Richard Auldon
Clark.  Seeing Clark in person is quite an experience.  I've never seen a
more animated conductor.  In fact, if the music does not grab me, I amuse
myself watching him.  It is amazing for me to hear the amount of music he
squeeze out of the relatively small orchestra.  Last summer, for example,
he conducted Tchaikovsky's 5th.  Last Saturday, it was Brahms' 4th.  Both
wonderful performances.  At the end of the Brahms, Clark was visibly
exhausted from all of the effort he put into the performance.

Other than graduating from Rutgers in 1970, I have no connection with
Rutgers or Summerfest.

Finally, although last Saturday's performance had better attendence than
usual, it is a shame that more people in the area do not take advantage
of these opportunities to hear some good music.

Anyone interested in getting more information, can access the Summerfest
web site at:

   http://musicweb.rutgers.edu/summerfest/

All the Best!

Ron Chaplin
Iselin, NJ, USA