Working in Concert Barryís Labor on Embassy Series Pays Off With Growing Popularity by Gary Tischler see also ó This Seasonís Embassy Series Jerome Barry has grown childrenótwo daughtersóon their own and on their way in life. But heís still nurturing what amounts to a kind of offspring, a child conceived out of a perceived need that has grown by leaps and bounds. And make no mistake about it, the Embassy Series, while it thrives with the help, nurturing and participation of all kinds of people, is Barryís babyóhis third child. And itís coming along very nicely indeed. The Embassy Series, founded in 1994, is beginning its 2002-2003 concert series this month, bringing acclaimed international musicians to embassies throughout Washington, D.C. As director of the Embassy Series, Barry now sees his project for what itís become, something a little bigger and more meaningful than it may have started out to be. ìItís become a kind of bridge, an exchange program, a way to see and hear the world and have the world show itself to us,î he said. ìItís amazing to me, it really is. How much itís grown, what itís become. Personally, itís gratifying to see something you at first imagined take shape.î In the Embassy Series, Barry is impresario, creator, coordinator, chief booker, networker, performer, singer, marketer and, well, father. And when you listen to Barry talk about the series, you hear a little bemusement, awe, certainly pride andóeven after nine years of running the enterpriseóa little surprise. He credits the help and participation of the embassies of Austria, Germany, Poland, Ecuador, Slovakia and others who consistently appear as venues year after year, and exudes enthusiasm about being able to showcase top-drawer talent as well as rising young musicians from America and overseas. According to Barry, such enterprises can fool you and take on a life of their own. ìWeíve doubled the number of concerts from last year,î he said. ìThe response every year is growing. The audiences are there. You see this all around youóthere is a hunger for fine music, a thirst for excellence. People will come if you give it to them. Classical music is not about snobbery or elitism. Itís about excellence. Itís about great diversity and beauty and, in our case, itís about a great opportunity.î The Embassy Series is a sort of way to musically travel the worldóor have the world come to you. This year, the venues include the embassies of Poland, Austria, Slovakia, Lithuania, Germany, Romania, Singapore, Hungary, France, and Switzerland, as well as the Goethe Institut. Itís a musical journey, too: The composers include Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Mozart and many others. The offerings also feature special events, such the Vilno Ghetto commemoration concert at the Lithuanian Embassy on the 64th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the 1938 Night of Broken Glass when Nazis conducted an open assault on Jewish shops, institutions and synagogues. The Mendelssohn Piano Trioóa rising group of young performers that encompasses Peter Sirotin on violin, Fiona Thompson on cello and Ya-Ting Chang on pianoówill perform a three-part program dedicated to the complete piano trios of Beethoven on the 175th anniversary of his death. There will also be a two-part Mozart Gala at the Austrian Embassy, a special program called ìWater,î featuring multimedia projections, songs, narratives and piano music at La Maison FranÁaise, and a major operetta evening at the Austrian Embassy. ìNone of this works without the help and the enthusiasm of the embassies,î Barry noted. ìYou have to give them credit for seeing the potential of all this. I truly see this as bridge building, a two-way bridge. It gives Washington audiences a chance to see performers they might never otherwise see or hear, and that would be a loss, and it gives the performers a chance to come here and find new audiences.î Barry is one of those people who can surprise you. You can picture him listening with closed-eye intensity to adolescent Chinese youngsters playing piano at the Chinese Embassy, then listen to him talk about old army days in the 1960s, or discussing how he thought about becoming a rabbi. Barry is a linguist with a bachelorís degree in modern languages from Northeastern University and a masterís degree from Tufts University in languages and literature. He studied at the Boston Conservatory, the Boston University School of Fine and Applied Arts, and received a diploma from the Goethe Institut in Germany. But Barry is also a Vietnam veteran, and heís spent years in Europe testing himself and wowing audiences with his singing. In Europe, he racked up 120 performances in Germany and later toured Italy. In Israel, he sang in more than 300 concerts, recitals, oratorios, opera and orchestral concerts, while managing to be present during the Yom Kippur War. ìI always had to go back to do tours or work in Rome or Germanyóitís where the music is most appreciated,î he said. ìItís difficult here, no matter what your record is or your background and training. Itís very hard to build a career on singing without teaching or doing other things.î When it comes to singing, Barry is a purist: his gift a matter of stringent discipline and perfect technique. ìPractice, practice,î he said, ìyou perfect your gift, your technique, then you can talk about improvising, imagination, interpretation. In singing, in lieders, in arias, the interpretation is a subtle kind of thing. Itís not quite like jazz or pop tunes because there isnít that much room to maneuver in terms of the music itself. It tends to be a box, and if you donít have the voice and the technique, then you canít really do all that much. Just look at Pl·cido Domingo. That is the triumph of work and discipline as well as talent.î The Embassy Series began with the formation of the Washington Music Ensemble, with Barry leading a group of eight musicians in performances all over Washington, building a following of subscribers and often attracting international performers in special events. Out of this came the Embassy Series, which debuted in 1994 and has been going strong ever since. Barryís wife, Lisette, is the development director and pragmatic force of the concert series. For a singer, Barry is a great word guy, a natural storyteller with tales of being a cantor, of dealing with the military mind and the skimpy attractions of pop musicóìYou like Springsteen? Really?î He possesses the boundless gifts of a Mandy Patinkin and the compositional uniqueness of a Stephen Sondheim. Barry is a serious man who can also be funny at the same timeóa man who can tell jokes in eight languagesóand holds a passionate commitment to his life and lifeís work. The work, well, that would be his ìbaby,î a musical bridge to the world heís nurtured for a long time. Gary Tischler is a contributing writer to The Washington Diplomat. \ This Seasonís Embassy Series Hereís whatís in store for the 2002-2003 Embassy Concert Series: Embassy of Poland Pianist Matthew Bengtson and Violinist Bin Huang (Oct. 3 and 4 at 8 p.m., tickets $35) Embassy of Austria Pianist Christopher Hinterhuber (Oct. 17 and 18 at 8 p.m., tickets $30) Embassy of Slovakia Cellist Jozef Luptak (Oct. 24 at 8 p.m., tickets $35) Embassy of Lithuania Vilno Ghetto II with baritone Jerome Barry and pianist Jeffrey Chappell (Nov. 7 at 8 p.m., tickets $35) Embassy of Germany The Mendelssohn Piano Trio in the first two of three concerts dedicated to the complete piano trios of Beethoven (Nov. 29 and Dec. 9 at 8 p.m., tickets $35) Goethe-Institut The Mendelssohn Piano T rio in the final third Beethoven concert (Dec. 16 at 8 p.m., tickets $35) Embassy of Austria Mozart Gala I (Jan. 24 at 8 p.m., tickets $30); Mozart Gala II (Jan. 25 at 8 p.m., tickets $30) Embassy of Romania Violinist Mihai Craioveanu (March 7 at 8 p.m., tickets $35) Embassy of Austria Anton Webern Quartet (March 14 at 8 p.m., tickets $30) Embassy of Singapore Pianists Dennis Lee and Chee-Hung Toe (March 28 and 29 at 8 p.m., tickets $40) Embassy of Hungary Violinist Dmitri Berlinsky and pianist Elena Baksht (April 5 at 8 p.m., tickets $40) La Maison FranÁaise ìWaterî with baritone Jerome Barry and pianist Kevin Kenner (April 11 at 8 p.m. and April 13 at 5 p.m., tickets $35) La Maison FranÁaise Pianist Alexander Tselyakov (May 17 at 8 p.m., tickets $35) Embassy of Austria Operetta evening with baritone Klemens Geyrhofer and soprano Elisabeth Kulman (May 23 and 24 at 8 p.m., tickets $30) Embassy of Switzerland The Atlantic String Quartet (June 2 at 7:30 p.m., tickets $50) For more information or reservations, please call (202) 625-2361 or fax (301) 588-6445 or visit www.embassyseries.org. óGary Tischler