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Festival's founder shares his passion for Beethoven
[July 14, 2009]

Festival's founder shares his passion for Beethoven


Jul 14, 2009 (La Crosse Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- WINONA, Minn. -- Hugh Miller puts his money where his heart is.

The president and CEO of RTP Co. in Winona is the man behind the Minnesota Beethoven Festival. He is the major sponsor of the festival.

Miller has a passion for classical music and loves Ludwig van Beethoven.

"I have zero musical talent, but I love listening to Beethoven," said Miller, who runs an international thermoplastics company. "I love his music, especially the symphonies and concertos. He is the greatest musical genius who has ever lived." The seed for the Beethoven festival began with his realization that the Minnesota Marine Art Museum and the Great River Shakespeare Festival brought something special to the Winona area.



"It dawned on me that what was missing was music," Miller said. "I thought, 'why not a music festival.' I spent time at summer concerts in Austria and Germany and always enjoyed them.

"And, of course, I thought about Beethoven as our theme," he said. "I liked the idea for our community. It wasn't something I stewed about for years or months. It just came, and I thought it was a fun thing to do." But Miller insisted a music festival had to attract the best artists internationally, nationally and regionally. And he has done just that since the beginning in 2007.


Miller won't say what it costs to bring the best artists to Winona. "It's a lot," he said.

He wanted an orchestra to be the foundation for the festival, and he chose the Minnesota Orchestra, which has performed twice each year: a free outdoor concert and an indoor concert featuring Beethoven symphonies.

His secretary, Julie Smith, tells a story about what happened when Miller and she called the Minnesota Orchestra.

"The gal on the phone didn't know us from Adam, and when we asked the cost -- it was a tidy sum -- she assumed we'd say thank you and hang up.

"We said OK to the money, and she was blown away," she said.

Miller wanted the orchestra to play Beethoven symphonies conducted by Osmo Vanska. The woman told him Vanska always conducts Beethoven, and the orchestra was in the process of recording all nine Beethoven symphonies.

"It was good timing," Miller said.

The orchestra will remain a fixture at the festival, Miller said. "I'm really fond of this orchestra," he said. "It's an outstanding orchestra." The festival has been successful with several sellouts every summer and good feedback from the community, he said.

"We're committed for the long haul," Miller said, adding the festival recently became a nonprofit organization.

Miller really doesn't want credit for his vision. He gives it to others such as Smith and Len Lanik, two RTP employees, and Ned Kirk, the festival's artistic and managing director who teaches music at Saint Mary's University.

"This would not have worked without a good group we put together," Miller said.

Miller didn't care much for classical music as a child.

"My mother played the piano, she was a cultured lady," Miller said. "My parents loved music and supported the arts and the library." He said his mother wanted him to play the piano, but he mightily resisted and his mother finally gave up on him.

"I never had any musical training, but now I'd like nothing better than to play the piano," Miller said.

While a student at Northwestern University, Miller met a couple who took him to see $1 Friday afternoon concerts with conductor Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

"We went almost every week," Miller said. "I wish I had gone earlier. I got to love the music." He started collecting music recordings, including several complete Beethoven symphony sets. But it was Beethoven's fifth piano concerto played by Rudolf Serkin "that put me over the top," he said.

His favorite Beethoven symphony is the sixth, although he said it's hard to beat Beethoven's ninth.

"I don't pretend to be expert at classical music," he said. "I like the flow and the music. I can relax at a concert and thoroughly enjoy it." What would his mother think today about her son starting a music festival? "She would be surprised and delighted," Miller said.

MINNESOTA BEETHOVEN FESTIVAL SCHEDULE July 14: Canadian Brass, 7:30 p.m., Somsen Auditorium, Winona State University July 16-17: American String Quartet, sold out July 19: Minnesota Orchestra with Osmo Vanska, 4 p.m., Winona Middle School auditorium Tickets: $25 or $17 for students and senior citizens. For tickets and more information, call (507) 457-1715.

To see more of the La Crosse Tribune or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.lacrossetribune.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, La Crosse Tribune, Wis.

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