Happy 200th birthday, Felix

Cellist Yosif Feigelson celebrates Mendelssohn’s bicentennial MILFORD — Acclaimed cellist Yosif Feigelson will perform music by Felix Mendelssohn on Saturday, Feb. 7, at Delaware Valley High School. He and pianist Peep Lassmann are playing the complete works for cello and piano, an all-Mendelssohn program they will also perform at the National Gallery in Washington. Dubbed the “Gentle Genius,” Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-47) is well known in the United States for the grand “Wedding March” from Midsummer Night’s Dream, played now at virtually every wedding; the rousing “Scottish Symphony”; and the “Italian Symphony,” whose fast, triumphant spirit practically took over the bicycle-racing movie, “Breaking Away.” But Mendelssohn was not just a composer of symphonic works like these. He also wrote vocal music and tuneful chamber music, including the four pieces Feigelson and Lassmann will perform at this Kindred Spirits-sponsored concert: Variations concertantes, “op. 17;” “Sonata no. 1 in B major;” “Song without Words, op. 119;” and “Sonata no. 2 in D major.” About the Artists “If there’s fire in the music Feigelson will stoke it; if there’s treasure he will unearth it,” said the Washington Post in a typical review of Yosif Feigelson. “Noted for his extremely large sound and remarkable technique,” (The New York Times), the cellist comes from a family of musicians in Latvia — his mother was a violinist and his father, an opera singer. He studied with Mstislav Rostropovich at the Moscow Conservatory and has performed throughout Europe and the United States. A popular guest artist on TV and radio programs, Feigelson now lives in Milford; his Web site is http://yfeigelson.com/. Pianist Peep (“pa-ap”) Lassmann also studied with legendary musician, Emil Gilels. A citizen of Estonia, Lassmann is rector of the prestigious Estonian Music Academy and a busy performer. Like Feigelson, he enjoys the great outdoors as well as great music; in his spare time he serves as chairz of the Estonian Ornithological Society.