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I don’t know if it is true, but I heard that we only use 10% of our brains. And while I’ve met a few people who definitely use less than that, my friend and violin historian Phil Kass definitely uses more. He has a photographic memory; several times I’ve seen him identify the maker of a violin from across the room when a musician takes their instrument out of its case.

Phil is also a noted oenophile and mixologist. We were discussing Evren Ozel’s upcoming piano recital in Newburyport and he wound up pairing each piece with an appropriate libation.

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Philip Kass’ drink pairing: “To go with Still’s languid yet radiant “Summerland,” I’d pair a Sazerac, a type of cognac cocktail from New Orleans made with Peychaud's bitters, sugar, and absinthe. The defining feature is its method of preparation, commonly involving two chilled glasses. The first is swirled with a wash of absinthe for its flavor and strong scent. The second is used to combine the remaining ingredients, stirred with ice, then strained into the first glass.

Now, I can't tell you whether Still would have drunk this for sure, but he definitely would have known about it, and the rest of the Harlem renaissance did too."

Philip Kass’ drink pairing: “Ah, Debussy and his magical preludes…. here I would gravitate towards a kind of non-Champagne champagne, like Cremant de la Loire, elegant with light peach aromas, light, fresh, and clean with a hint of fruit and great minerality. Champagne itself has that yeasty quality that distinguishes it from all the non-Champagne sparkers, and to me this quality makes it different from the rest. The clean, crisp quality of a cremant like that from the Loire makes it more local, and in that way, for me, also particulièrement français.”

Philip Kass’ drink pairing: “For Kurtág’s precise, engimatic utterances, there is really only one option: a Tokaj Furmint Dry (Hungary) - bright lemon, green apple, and white peach underpinned by a flinty, smoky minerality that speaks to its volcanic terroir. There’s a quiet depth with a Chablis-like texture developing as it opens. And besides, my experience with Hungarians has been that a citrusy, minerally, and smoky quality described them to a T.”

Philip Kass’ drink pairing: “For Schumann’s ebullient, rustic, and pianistic tour-de-force, I first thought I’d reach for a nice beer, but then I considered the phenomenal fruit-forward wines of the valleys that flow into the Rhine. And of these, for me, Moselle is preeminent.

So, I'd go for a nice Moselle Riesling (Germany), a beautifully aromatic and attractive nose of minty and earthy herbs, blueberry, yellow peach, green apple, lime tree, and smoke. The wine proves straightforward and linear on the zest-driven, with mineral and refreshing elements going through the nicely long finish. The Mosel Valley (above) produces some of the world’s best Riesling.”

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Thanks, Phil!

Speaking of drinks, I was thinking we need a signature custom cocktail for our 25^th Anniversary. Anyone suggestions? Like the festival, it would need to have some strong local/Seacoast connection, elegant but not too sweet or bitter.

‍David Yang, Artistic Director

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