Harpsichordist Ed Parmentier

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year plus played harpsichord for the Choral Union's annual Messiah. In every case Parmentier brings his blend of bravura technique and charismatic interpretations to the music, and the results are always wholly compelling.

Yet if familiarity has not bred contempt, it has come close to breeding indifference. To help local audiences remember what a great player Parmentier is, I recommend checking out his performances on Saturday, March 27. Parmentier will be playing twice that day. His first recital will be part of what he calls Michigan Harpsichord Saturday. "It's my outreach so kids can be all over the harpsichord," he explains. "My students and I are in six classrooms in the School [of Music], and people can stop in and hear a harpsichord being played, or get free lessons, or just mess around. And in one classroom, I'll be playing for three hours"--from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

His second recital will take place that evening in the music school's Britton Recital Hall, a joint concert with faculty violinist Aaron Berofsky. The harpsichordist vividly recalls the first time he heard the violinist. "I was playing on a program with the Ann Arbor Symphony, and before we started I saw this young-looking fellow sitting where the concertmaster usually sits. He was tuning, which is usually not very pretty to listen to, but he was making these gorgeous sounds: pure, crystalline, and in tune. I thought the world of his playing, and a few years later we had another joint project, and he asked me to play with him."