Title: Mozart Blooms in Woodstock: The Illinois Festival That Could!

Author: Anita Whalen     

Genre: Memoir

 

In this beautifully presented and compact memoir, Anita Whalen shares experiences, insights, and anecdotes arising from her twenty-four-year tenure as Artistic and General Director of Illinois’ Woodstock Mozart Festival, an annual three-weekend summer classical music event.   

When Whalen was approached for the role in 1992, the festival was nearing extinction. Mozart Blooms in Woodstock is the story of how Whalen persevered to ensure the event became an annual highlight for fans from far and wide.

Whalen’s Introduction is possibly the only jarring note in this otherwise heartwarming and inspiring account. It came about quite immediately and nervously abrupt. However, this minor gripe is soon ironed out as the reader begins Chapter 1, Prelude.

Whalen gives a nicely personal overview of her upbringing, early life, and achievements. She writes in simple, uncluttered prose that is engaging and straightforward. She is also gently self-deprecatory and this authentic sense of quiet modesty is a motif throughout the book.

Before taking on the role of festival director, Whalen navigated a relatively diverse employment and education trajectory. It’s interesting, as the reader is given context and can build a rounded picture of the author and what led her to embark on resurrecting the Woodstock Mozart Festival.

Whalen is candid as she discusses her decision-making process, the pitfalls, and the positives. Although she had been employed in various jobs, they all contained one constant theme: music, especially classical.

The profound appreciation of music, and the boundless joy experienced from it, is woven into Whalen’s very fabric and that of her family. Her enthusiasm is infectious but it never becomes overly subjective or intense.

She is careful while immersing the reader in her orchestral world not to render her writing inaccessible to readers without knowledge or prior interest in classical music.

However, her energetic warmth combined with clear yet finely descriptive writing of the concerts, performances, and players brings the festival vividly to life, sparking vicarious passion in the most non-musical of readers.

Furthermore, out of this captivating framework and the driving purpose of attempting to turn the festival’s fortunes around, emerges a motivational and absorbing narrative consisting of Whalen rolling up her sleeves and simply getting things done in the face of some immensely challenging obstacles.

Her charming persuasion and steely persistence is inspirational and has application for maneuvering through any chaotic organizational minefield. Whalen freely admits that the magnitude of the festival’s arrangements and its financial obligations often threatened to overwhelm her.

Consequently, she is generous with her gratitude for the support and assistance she received from others. There are some lovely reminiscences of those who were instrumental in the success of the festival, many of whom step off the page with a well-chosen selection of intimate photographs.

Notwithstanding, there are moments when the reader longs for a touch of personal conflict. Sub-textually, there were a few tense occasions, and although unfailingly complimentary about all, it may have benefitted the reading experience for Whalen to have brought a couple of the temperamental episodes to the forefront.

Nonetheless, the pace, which in places, is breath-taking, ensures the reader is carried through the twenty-three annual life cycles of the festival fairly briskly, avoiding superfluity or density.

Each year, Whalen explored avenues to evolve the festival’s content and format. Overall, she is successful, and this progression with its brainstorming and problem-solving ensures Mozart Blooms in Woodstock maintains momentum and interest.

Whalen has written an engrossing and insightful chronicle of her time in charge of the Illinois Woodstock Mozart Festival. Mozart Blooms in Woodstock proves to be accessible, uplifting, and entertaining, and it’s a must-read for anyone involved in Arts Management.

 

 

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