Sanders County Arts Council hosts Drachman

PLAINS – The Sanders County Art Council’s annual Piatigorsky Concert was held on Sunday, May 4, at the United Methodist Church in Plains. 

This year’s concert featured the founder and artistic director of the Piatigorsky Foundation, cellist Evan Drachman, who was accompanied by pianist Doris Stevenson. 

Drachman is the grandson of noted cellist, Gregor Piatigorsky, who began playing music in 1910, when he was only seven years old. Piatigorsky was born in the former Russian Empire and came to the United States as a young man. 

The foundation bearing his grandfather’s name, is dedicated to making live classic music available to audiences across the county, not just the symphony halls of the big cities. 

It is a non-profit organization that embodies Piatigorsky’s belief in the power of music

In the words of the famous cellist, “Music makes life better. Music is neither a luxury nor a frill-it is a necessity! It is rich. It is imaginative. And it is for everyone!”

Drachman met Stevenson at the University of Southern California, where the pianist played for the classes of Drachman’s grandfather Piatigorsky. 

Before the concert started Drachman gave a brief introduction about himself and his colleague stating,

“I am lucky and privileged to play with her.”

The well-lit interior of the United Methodist Church was full to capacity and cars lined Meany Street outside. 

As attendees continued to file in a few minutes after 2 p.m. Drachman introduced the upcoming concert, noting that if he and Stevenson played the entire program it would take up most of the afternoon.

“If we played the entire thing, we would certainly be having supper together and possibly even breakfast,” Drachman said, illiciting laughter from the crowd.

With that Drachman sat down, went to work on his cello, as Stevenson provided the musical background with her piano and an attentive silence filled the church hall. 

He continued to play throughout the early afternoon, breaking to explain selected pieces of his program, their background and their style. 

Drachman and Stevenson were quite a combo, complementing each others music quite well and making it readily apparent they had played together for years. 

The cello is a four-stringed base instrument of the violin family, held upright on the floor by the seated cellist. 

An instrument with a long history, the cello, a shortened version of its formal name, violoncello, rose to prominence in the Italian city of Bologna during the middle of the 17th century and has been used in an orchestral setting, and played individually by cellists such as Piatigorsky and Drachman ever since. 

Drachman and Stevenson went on to play a concert in Missoula later Sunday Evening.