Peter Preuss
One of the up-and-coming chamber music festivals ended last weekend in La Jolla, California. Within a matter of 13 years, it has become a magnet for American fans and international stars. Furthermore, the so-called "Summerfest La Jolla" has become a center for innovative ways of presenting live music. Artistic decisions are made by a musician couple. David Finckel, cellist of the famous Emerson String Quartet, and pianist Wu Han put together a mix of traditional and contemporary works, commission new music and arrange creative and humorous lecture recitals. The location of the festival is ideal. La Jolla is a community outside San Diego with beautiful old architecture, right on the Pacific Coast, pampered by mild temperatures all year long and, besides that, home to wealthy donors who have chosen La Jolla as their home. In a country where government funding for the arts hardly exists, these donors are particularly important. One of the private supporters is originally from northern Germany.
Peter Preuss went to San Diego in 1965 as a 22-year-old scholar, and he has experienced the American Dream. He is now an American citizen, and Georg Hirsch visited him in his mansion at the Pacific Coast.
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