REVIEW: SummerFest’s Rare Gems and Remarkable Performances

August 15, 2026

On Wednesday’s SummerFest program we heard Emi Ferguson play the incomparable Francis Poulenc Flute Sonata, and on Friday Poulenc came roaring back to SummerFest with his Sextet for Piano and Woodwind Quintet. The splendid Imani Winds were joined by pianist Inon Barnatan—also SummerFest’s Music Director—in an exultant account of Poulenc’s brilliant chamber work.

Eric Bromberger, clever author of all the SummerFest published program notes, gives an apt description of Poulenc’s Sextet for Piano and Woodwind Quintet: “bubbling and refreshing, like cold champagne on a hot summer day.”

The Imani Winds wind quintet tore through the work’s opening “Allegro vivace,” providing the amazing combination of an immaculate rendering of the daunting score that simultaneously sounded engagingly spontaneous. Notable in this first movement were flutist Brandon Patrick George’s flashy melodic surges and bassoonist Monica Ellis’s suave, rich solo cantilena in the contrasting slow middle section.

Because the piano was Poulenc’s own instrument, he knew how to craft a sumptuous piano part that did not compete with but rather complimented his intense wind textures, and Inon Barnatan navigated this score with his usual finesse and drive.

In the middle movement, “Divertissement,” Mekhi Gladden opened with a beguiling oboe solo whose theme was echoed with equal elan by the other members of the wind quintet including hornist Kevin Newton and clarinetist Mark Dover. Poulenc’s “Finale” puts the opening movement’s spirited ensemble on steroids, a challenge that Barnatan and the Imani Winds reveled in, providing a rollicking yet profoundly satisfying conclusion to this musical adventure.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold, a highly successful, cosmopolitan, Central European composer in the early decades of the 20th Century, saw the handwriting on the wall in 1934 and wisely moved to California. He quickly proved to be the single European classical composer who could write the scores that Hollywood motion picture producers loved, composing scores for some 16 motion pictures and winning two Oscars, one for his 1936 Anthony Adverse score and a second for his 1938 The Adventures of Robin Hood score.

Friday’s SummerFest audience experienced Korngold’s rich, late Romantic style in a commanding performance of his rarely encountered 1930 Suite for Two Violins, Cello and Piano Left-Hand, Op. 23. Zoltán Fejérvári gave a ravishing account of the extensive piano solo that opens this Suite and skillfully navigated the striking piano component that engages with the strings, especially Korngold’s deft, complex fugue at the center of his first movement, played with zeal by violinists Arnaud Sussmann and Tessa Lark, and cellist Paul Wiancko.

Over five beautifully structured movements Korngold provides captivating Viennese waltzes, gorgeous cantilenas, a scherzo filled with grotesque adventures, and an unusual finale that is a daunting rondo in variation format. This quartet of SummerFest musicians served up Korngold’s Suite with abundant polish and deep conviction. Appreciating unusual musical gems is a SummerFest tradition that Barnatan continues to cultivate with uncanny success.

Wednesday’s concert opened with Claude Debussy’s En blanc et noir for Two Pianos, brilliantly executed by Inon Barnatan and his colleague Henry Kramer. Another duo, English composer Frank Bridge’s Lament for Two Violas, complemented Debussy’s verve with gentle, sinuous interwoven melodies. The Bridge duo benefitted from the insightful, glowing interpretation by violists Rebecca Albers and Ayane Kozasa.

This concert was presented by the La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest at The Conrad on August 14, 2026.