Karen Kevra, one of Vermont’s finest flutists, is celebrating two, or perhaps three, milestones with her program “Her Favorite Things” — 25 years of her series Capital City Concerts, 25 years performing with pianist Jeffrey Chappell, and her life-changing mentorship with the renowned flutist, pianist and composer Louis Moyse (1912-2007).
“I think that I chose these pieces because I had Louis in mind, not deliberately, but almost like, what would Louis want to hear if he were at the concert?” Kevra said. “As I’ve been deep in the music and practicing, I feel like I’ve been in this nostalgic place and that this concert is as much about the people who’ve made a difference in my life as it is about the music.”
Capital City Concerts will present “Her Favorite Things” at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 30, at the Unitarian Church of Montpelier, featuring Kevra and Chappell in highlights of the series’ history. Music of J.S. Bach, Camille Saint-Saëns, Cécile Chaminade, Frédéric Chopin and Louis Moyse, celebrates Kevra’s 30-plus year music career in Vermont.
The concert will open with a mass performance by a flute choir comprised of some of Kevra’s current and former students of Palestrina’s “Dona Nobis Pacem” round, and Jillian Reed will join Kevra in Franz Doppler’s Andante and Rondo, Op. 25. The festivities will continue after the concert with celebration cake for all provided by Montpelier’s Birchgrove Baking.
Kevra’s Vermont story begins more than 30 years ago. In her mid-20s, while working at the Plainfield Food Co-op, she would practice upstairs in their Community Center.
“And one day, there was a knock at the door, and it was (composer) Dennis Murphy,” Kevra said. “And he took a real interest in my playing.”
When Murphy wrote his cantata “A Perfect Day,” he asked Kevra to play the flute part — written with her in mind.
“I’m pretty sure that was really the first real gig that I had in central Vermont,” she said.
The fact that the late Larry Gordon was conducting proved pivotal.
“I was young, 26 or 27, and feeling a little uncertain,” Kevra said. “Larry knew exactly what to say to encourage me. And between his interest in cheerleading and Dennis as well, it got me back on track to start practicing again.”
But the seeds for Kevra’s biggest artistic development began earlier, with Kevra’s first teacher as a serious student, flutist Eleanor Lawrence, a student of the great Marcel Moyse (1889-1984), Louis’ father.
“She told me I should look into getting in touch with Louis Moyse, and I remember feeling intimidated at the thought of it,” Kevra said. “You know, it seemed like every book in my student library had his name on it. It’s just ubiquitous.” (Louis Moyse was flute editor at G. Schirmer Inc., one of the largest publishers of classical music.)
The next step toward Louis Moyse came when this critic played a recording of Moyse performing Bach for Kevra.
“Oh, sh-t! I didn’t know a flute could do that,” she exclaimed, “I want to play like that!”
Kevra made an appointment to play for him in Westport, New York, where he was then living.
“I brought a bunch of music, and he had me play for probably a solid half hour. I played the Bach E-flat Major Sonata and some Paris Conservatory pieces,” Kevra said.
“And he didn’t say a word, except, ‘What else did you bring? Can you play some more?’” she said. “And after I finished playing, he had had his eyes closed and he opened his eyes and he looked at me and he said, ‘Why did you come here?’
“And I said, ‘Because I want to understand music’ — and that came from a place of total, utter sincerity,” Kevra said.
It turned out to be the right answer. Moyse and Kevra went on to form a musical — and personal — bond that was to last until his death in 2007 in Montpelier, where he spent his last decade.
“And that is probably the biggest life-changing event of my life, musically,” Kevra said. “The other part of it was the mentorship and being part of Louis’ life, Louis’ family, in a way. You know, the meals and the gatherings, and the parties and the rehearsals; and having him suggest that I start a concert series and then have him so involved in the planning and the rehearsing was just incredible.”
Kevra first met Chappell, then a resident of Washington, D.C., when she was invited to play with him at Michael Arnowitt’s Millennium Music Festival in Montpelier.
“Jeff showed up in town on crutches; he had just sprained an ankle,” Kevra said, “so he actually needed someone to drive him places, so I offered to do that.”
They performed Vivaldi’s “Goldfinch” Concerto (actually with Moyse’s piano reduction) on the “Bird Song” concert.
“And you know it just came together so easily,” Kevra said. “Not that it would be the hardest piece to put together, but it came together really easily. And I remember certainly feeling a fondness for Jeff, spending a lot of time with him that weekend.”
The creation of Capital City Concerts was already on Kevra’s mind, and she thought Chappell might be a possible performer. So she attended the festival’s program of all four Chopin Ballades. Chappell opened the concert with No. 1 in G minor (which he will be playing in the March 30 program).
“And then, the concert started, and 30 seconds into it you (this critic), leaned over and said, ‘Have you made up your mind yet?’ And the answer was ‘yes.’”
“Now we have a very close friendship, and we’re in constant touch with each other,” Kevra said. “He was there for me when my mom died, and through various dramas in my life; and me for him when his husband died. So there is a close personal connection — but there’s also the two and a half decades of playing together.
“There’s not usually a lot that needs to be said when we rehearse, because we are so comfortable with one another that all manner of things often are left unspoken.”
