Melvin Chen named new director

By Wiley Wood

Paul Hawkshaw is retiring after over a decade as director of the Chamber Music Festival, although he will continue to teach half-time at the Yale School of Music.

Paul Hawkshaw, the Yale School of Music professor who has served as director of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and the Yale Summer School of Music for more than a decade, has confirmed that he will step down after the festival’s 2016 season. Familiar to concertgoers for his genial, learned and self-deprecating introductions, Hawkshaw has done much to strengthen bonds between Yale and the local community, hosting many events each season to bring Norfolk residents and festival musicians together.

In discussing Hawkshaw’s tenure, James Nelson, the festival’s general manager, particularly praises his focus on the fellows, the teachers and music instruction, pointing to its effect on the caliber of the students: “We’re getting the best students in the world, they all want to come to Norfolk. And it’s because of the level of instruction, the pedagogy, which is outstanding.”

Nelson also credits Hawkshaw with propelling forward two giant renovation campaigns: to Whitehouse, the 18th-century mansion that serves as the festival’s social center and director’s residence, and to the Music Shed, the main performance space, which has received a new roof and siding and a spectacular new cupola, a reproduction of the original, which was lost in a hurricane during the 1940s.

Melville Chen, a pianist and the deputy dean of the Yale School of Music, will replace Hawkshaw as director, starting in September. A native of Tennessee, he is not new to Norfolk, having taught and performed here in the past. He will visit the festival a number of times during the summer in anticipation of the transition and will be formally introduced to the community at an open house in late May or June.

Hawkshaw will remain on the faculty at the Yale School of Music, teaching half-time. A leading scholar of Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) and a contributor to a definitive edition of the composer’s symphonies, Hawkshaw looks forward to having more time to spend in Bruckner’s native Austria concentrating on that research.

He is unlikely to feel much nostalgia for his top-floor apartment in Whitehouse, built in 1799. “When the heater goes on, the radiators go clank, clank,” says Hawkshaw. “It’s a little like when the ghost comes to visit Mr. Scrooge. And you always have to be careful where you sit.” But having built deep ties to the Norfolk community over the past 12 years, he expects to be a frequent visitor to the festival.

Meanwhile, he is reviewing fellowship applications for the upcoming season, determining faculty and guest artists, and making decisions about this summer’s music program, which will include a number of special events in celebration of Yale’s 75th year in Norfolk. The program will be announced on February 16.

Photo courtesy of the Yale School of Music.