Music Mountain's 86th Summer Music Season in Litchfield Hills

This year marks the 86th Season of Music Mountain and concert aficionados from around the country will want to make room on their summer calendars for Music Mountain, America's oldest continuing summer chamber music festival, this summer. Music Mountain will continue their season past Labor Day – making this season, once again, one of the longest running seasons since the 1930s! The summer will include many favorite returning chamber ensembles, first time guests, the ever-popular Saturday Evening Twilight Series featuring Jazz, Country, and Folk Music, and the first Great Artist Recital Series. Concerts are scheduled through September 27.

In 2015, 28 works will be given their Music Mountain premiere. Including compositions of Dutilleux, Penderecki, Kurtag and Caroline Shaw. However, the core schedule remains what Music Mountain has long been known for: wonderful performances of the great string quartets, played by world famous artists. In addition, in a tribute to Music Mountain's illustrious past, 12 works from the founding 1930 season will be reprised.

The Saturday Evening Twilight Series begins on June 20 (6:30PM) with The New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players and continues with Cantata Profana (June 27);Jeff Newell's New-Trad Quartet (July 4); Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks (July 11); The New Black Eagle Jazz Band (July 18); Swingtime Big Band (July 25); The Galvanized Jazz Band (August 15); Peter & Will Anderson with Alex Wintz (August 22); Michael Berkeley (August 29); The Falcon Ridge Folk Festival presenting Spuyten Duyvil (September 12); and Jive By Five (September 19). Special pre-concert themed dinners will also return as part of the Twilight Series.

The 86th season will also feature the first Great Artist Recital Series on select Friday evenings ---- visiting Master Teachers Daniel Phillips, Kim Kashkashian, and Colin Carr will each perform a unique and exclusive program including works by Mozart, Bach, Brahms, and Kashkashian's Grammy Award winning solo performance of György Kurtág: Signs, Games and Messages for Solo Viola.

Music Mountain is located in Falls Village, Connecticut on Music Mountain Road, where a short scenic drive will bring you to Gordon Hall atop Music Mountain. Free parking and picnic facilities are available. Food, wine & beer are also available for purchase.

Tickets for the Season Opening Concert & Reception on Sunday, June 14 are $75 and include a voucher for any regularly priced 2015 concert. Tickets for the Labor Day Benefit Concert & Reception on Sunday, September 6 are $75 and include a voucher for any regularly priced 2015 or 2016 concert. Two specially priced concerts on Sunday, June 28 with the Juilliard String Quartet and on Sunday, July 12 with Peter Serkin and Julia Hsu are $60.

Chamber Music Concerts are $35 at the door/$30 in advance. Twilight Series Concerts are $30 at the door/$27 in advance. Friday Evening Great Artist Recital Concerts are $35 at the door and $30 in advance. Children ages 5-18 are admitted FREE for ALL CONCERTS when accompanied by a ticket holder. Saturday Twilight Concerts are at 6:30pm. Chamber Music concerts are at 3pm on Sundays, unless otherwise noted. Group rates and pre season ticket vouchers are available. Discounts apply through participating organizations. For a complete summer schedule, special ticket prices, and to download a ticket order form visit www.musicmountain.org or call 860-824-7126.

2015 CHAMBER MUSIC SCHEDULE

SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 3PM
Calidore String Quartet
Daniel Phillips, Viola

Schubert: Quartettsatz in C Minor, D. 703 (1820) (8)
Caroline Shaw: Entr'acte (2011) (1)
Mendelssohn: String Quartet in F Minor Opus 80 (1847) (5)
Brahms: Viola Quintet in G Minor, Opus 111 (1890) (16)

SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 3PM
Juilliard String Quartet
All Tickets: $60
Underwritten by an Anonymous Donor

Haydn: String Quartet in G Major, Op. 33 No. 5 (1781) (2)
Webern: Five Movements for String Quartet, Op. 5 (1909) (5)
Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, D. 810 "Death and The Maiden" (1824) (30)

SUNDAY, JULY 5, 3PM
Arianna String Quartet
Colin Carr, Cello

Mozart: String Quartet in D Minor, K.421 (1783) (13)
Boccherini: Cello Concerto in G Major, G. 480 (1770) (1)
Grieg: String Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 27 (1877) (6)

SUNDAY, JULY 12, 3PM
Peter Serkin and Julia Hsu, Piano, 4 Hands
All Tickets: $60
Underwritten by an Anonymous Donor

Schumann-Bizet: 6 Etudes in Canonical Form for Pedal-Piano, Opus 56 (1845; 1873) (1)
Bizet: Selections from Jeux d'Enfants, Opus 22 (1871) (1)
Mozart: Sonata in B Flat Major, K. 358 (1733-4) (1)
Schubert: Lebensturme in A Minor, D.947 (1828) (1)
Schubert: Theme & Variations in B Flat Minor, D. 603 (1824?) (1)
Schubert: Rondo in A Major. 951 (1828) (1)
Brahms: Four Hungarian Dances. WoO 1 (1869) (1)

SUNDAY, JULY 19, 3PM

Enso String Quartet
Soyeon Kate Lee, Piano
Moravec: Dialogue with the Past I (2015)
(commissioned by Music Mountain; world premiere)
Schumann: String Quartet in A Major, Opus 41, No. 3 (13)
Dohnanyi: Piano Quintet #1 in C Minor, Opus 1 (1895) (22)

SUNDAY, JULY 26 3PM
Avalon String Quartet
Jan Opalach, Bass-Baritone
Jonathan Yates, Piano

Fauré: Mandoline, Opus 58 #1 (1891) (1)
Debussy: Mandoline, L. 29 (1882) (1)
Debussy: Fêtes Galantes II, L. 104 (1869) (1)
Debussy: String Quartet in G Minor, Opus 10 (1890) (36)
Lili Boulanger: Elle était descendue au bas de la prairie (1913-1914) (1)
Ravel: Don Quichotte à Dulcinée (1932-33) (1)
Ravel: String Quartet In F (1903) (44)

SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 3PM
Penderecki String Quartet
Matt Haimowitz, Cello
Dedicated to the memory of Michael Janeway

Bach: Cello Suite No. 2 in D Minor BWV 1008 (1717-1723) (1)
Beethoven: String Quartet in C Sharp Minor Opus 131 (1825) (16)
Schubert: Cello Quintet in C Major, Opus 163. D. 956 (1828) (25)

SUNDAY, AUGUST 9, 3PM
St. Petersburg String Quartet
Pamela Mia Paul, Piano
Sulkhan Tsintsadze: 5 Miniatureson Jewish Folk Tunes for String Quartet (1990) (3)
Arensky: String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 35 (1894) (4)
Shostakovich: Piano Quintet in G Minor, Op. 57 (1945) (26)

SUNDAY, AUGUST 16, 3PM
St. Petersburg String Quartet
Daniel Austrich, Violin
Melvin Chen, Piano
Prokofiev: String Quartet No. 2 in F Major, Op. 92 (1941) (11)
Ravel: Violin Sonata No. 2 (1923-27) (1)
Chausson: Concerto for Violin, Piano and String Quartet in D Major, Op. 21 (1889-91) (14)

SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 3PM
Harlem String Quartet
Francine Kay, Piano
Beethoven: Scherzo from String Quartet In C Minor, Opus 18#4 (1798-1800) (24)
Turina: La Oración del Torero (1925) (25)
Bartok: Scherzo from String Quartet # 2 Opus 17, SZ 67 (1915-7) (4)
Borodin: Nocturne from String Quartet No. 2 in D major (1881) (25)
Dvorak: Piano Quintet in A major, Op. 81 (1887) (45)

SUNDAY, AUGUST 30, 3PM
Dover String Quartet
Alexander Fiterstein, Clarinet
Dutilleux: Ainsi La Nuit (1976) (3)
Dvorak: String Quartet in F major, Op. 96 "American" (1893) (24)
Mozart: Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K. 581 (1789) (14)

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 6:30PM
Shanghai String Quartet
Haydn: String Quartet in D Major, Opus 20#4 (1772) (12)
Beethoven: String Quartet in F Minor, Opus 95 "Serioso" (1810) (33)
Penderecki: String Quartet No. 3 "Leaves from an unwritten diary" (2008) (2)
Beethoven: String Quartet in B Flat Major, Opus 18 # 6 (1798-1800) (30)

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 3PM
Labor Day Benefit Concert & Reception: All Tickets: $75
(Includes a Voucher for any Regularly Priced 2015 or 2016 Concert)
Shanghai String Quartet
Gilbert Kalish, Piano
Jonathan Yates, Piano
Brahms: Selected Waltzes for Piano, 4 Hands, Opus 39 (1865) (1)
Beethoven: String Quartet in C Major, Op. 59 No. 3 (1806) (39)
Brahms: Piano Quintet in Minor, Op. 34 (1864) (45)

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 3PM
Cassatt String Quartet
Ursula Oppens, Piano
Clara Schumann: Romance Variée for Solo Piano in C Major, Op. 3 (1833) (1)
Mendelssohn: String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 13 (1827) (10)
Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-Flat Major, Op. 44 (1842) (41)

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 3PM
Borromeo String Quartet
Bach: Fugue in C# Minor from the Well Tempered Klavier, Book 1, BWV 849 (1722) (1)
Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 12 in D-Flat Major, Op. 133 (1968) (2)
Beethoven: String Quartet in B-Flat Major, Op. 130/133 (1825-6) (15; 10)

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 3PM
Amernet String Quartet
Vivek Kamath, Viola
Edward Arron, Cello
Haydn: String Quartet in D Minor, Op. 76 No. 2 (1796-7) (11)
Bartok: String Quartet No. 3, Sz. 85 (1927) (4)
Tchaikovsky: Souvenir of Florence, String Sextet in D Minor, Op. 70 (1890) (7)
2015 TWILIGHT SERIES SCHEDULE
(subject to change)
Saturday, June 20, 6:30PM
The New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players
The Wandr'ing Ministrels and H.M.S. Pinafore, plus G&S Favorites!

Pre-Concert Dinner at The Falls Village Inn
(Limited to 70)
Dinner (5pm) & Concert (6:30PM): $65
Concert Only: $30 at the door. $27 in Advance
Must Reserve for Dinner by Friday, June 19

Saturday, June 27, 6:30 PM
Cantata Profana

A wildly gifted young ensemble performing two 20th century masterpieces

Stravinsky: Sacre du Printemps, (arr. for Piano, Four Hands) (1917) (1)
Stravinsky: L'histoire du Soldat (1918) for narrator, strings, winds & percussion (1)

Saturday, July 4, 6:30
Jeff Newello's New-Trad Quartet
Historic American music re-iomagined. Sousa, Foster, old hymns & more Allin Celebration of July 4.
"compelling..original " -Chicago Tribune

Saturday, July 11, 6:30PM
Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks
(Underwritten by Norman Fields)

"The Finest of the Big Bands"
Grammy Award Winners
"An erupting wellspring of Euphoria. That would describe the Vintage Swing emanating from Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks".... NY Times

Pre-Concert Dinner at The Falls Village Inn
(Limited to 70)
Dinner (5pm) & Concert (6:30PM): $65
Concert Only: $30 at the door. $27 in Advance
Must Reserve for Dinner by Friday, July 10

Saturday, July 18, 6:30PM
The New Black Eagle Jazz Band, With Dancing!

That soulful New Orleans Sound from the 1920's and 1930's
"So far ahead of other traditional Bands...there is scarcely any basis for comparison".. NY Times

Pre-Concert Dinner at The Falls Village Inn
(Limited to 70)
Dinner (5pm) & Concert (6:30PM): $65
Concert Only: $30 at the door. $27 in Advance
Must Reserve for Dinner by Friday, July 17

Saturday, July 25, 6:30PM
Swingtime Big Band, With Dancing!

Their 8th Annual Music Mountain appearance bringing back the music of Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and others

Pre-Concert Dinner at The Falls Village Inn
(Limited to 70)
Dinner (5pm) & Concert (6:30PM): $65
Concert Only: $30 at the door. $27 in Advance
Must Reserve for Dinner by Friday, June 24

Saturday, August 1, 6:30PM
The Sharon Playhouse
Broadway at Music Mountain!

Show tunes from the popular musical theatre repertoire of yesterday and today!
Guest Performers to be announced!

Pre-Concert Dinner at The Falls Village Inn
(Limited to 70)
Dinner (5pm) & Concert (6:30PM): $65
Concert Only: $30 at the door. $27 in Advance
Must Reserve for Dinner by Friday, July 31

Saturday, August 8, 6:30PM
"Trios Fur Zwei – Trios for Two"
Ensemble Les Inégales - Rodrigo Tarraza, Traverso
Christine Gevert, obligato Harpsichord

Bach: Sonata in B minor, BWV 1030
Plus Sonatas by his contemporaries Georg Philipp Telemann, Johann Joachim Quantz & C.P.E. Bach

Saturday, August 15, 6:30PM
The Galvanized Jazz Band, With Dancing!

Dynamic and Energetic New Orleans, Dixieland Jazz, Blues, Stomps, Struts & Spirituals!

Saturday, August 22, 6:30PM
Peter & Will Anderson, Saxophone & Clarinet
with Alex Wintz, Guitar

Thrilling audiences with their broad repertoire of swing, Latin, and original works. Direct from touring Europe, South America, and Asia.

The Washington Post: (about their recent album) "imaginatively unfolding in ways that consistently bring a fresh perspective to classic jazz and pop."

"You dudes are the future!" Quincy Jones

"Virtuosos on both clarinet and saxophone." (NY Times)

Saturday, August 29, 6:30PM
Michael Berkeley presents "There is no Tune like a Show Tune"
(Underwritten By an Anonymous Donor)

Celebrate the Golden Age of Broadway with Michael Berkeley & Friends in the acoustically perfect Music Mountain Concert Hall. Thrill to your favorite show tunes in this nostalgic and fast-paced musical revue!

Pre-Concert Dinner at The Falls Village Inn
(Limited to 70)
Dinner (5pm) & Concert (6:30PM): $65
Concert Only: $30 at the door. $27 in Advance
Must Reserve for Dinner by ??

Saturday, September 12, 6:30PM
The Falcon Ridge Folk Festival Presents Spuyten Duyvil, With Dancing!

A leading & very popular folk band returns to Music Mountain with the Falcon Ridge Spirit! Spuyten Duyvil, a mighty 7-piece powerhouse of soaring vocals & traditional jug band energy join us for a barn-burning romp through the last 100 years of American Roots music.

Saturday, September 19, 6:30PM
Jive By Five, With Dancing!

This Connecticut favorite returns with the Sizzling Dance Music of the Jazz Age. From the Charleston to the Two-Step & the Fox Trot - the wild rhythms of the 1920's for your listening & dancing pleasure!

GREAT ARTIST RECITALS

Friday, June 19, 7:30PM
Daniel Phillips, Violin
Jonathan Yates, Piano

Mozart: Violin Sonata in E Flat Major, K.380 (1781)
Bach: Sonata # 1 for Solo Violin in G Minor, BWV 1001 (1720) (3)
Eugene Phillips: Fantasy Étude (1913) (1)
Brahms, Sonata for Violin & Piano #1 in G Major, Opus 78 (1878-9) (5)
Wieniawski: Polonaise de Concert in D Major, Opus 4 (1852) (1)

Friday, June 26, 7:30PM
Kim Kashkashian, Viola

György Kurtág: Signs, Games and Messages for Solo Viola (1998-2005) (1)
(Grammy Award winning performance)
Interwoven with Bach: excerpts from Six Suites for Solo Cello 1-6, BWV 1007-1012 (1717-1723)

Friday, July 3, 7:30PM
Colin Carr, Cello
Jonathan Yates, Piano

Bach: Suite # 1 for Solo Cello in G Major, BWV 1007 (1717-1723) (2)
Beethoven: Sonata for Cello & Piano #3 in A Major, Opus 69 (1808) (5)
Bach: Suite # 6 for Solo Cello in D Major, BWV 1012 (1717-1723) (1)

All programs subject to change

The Litchfield Hills are alive with the sound of music in Norfolk Connecticut

The Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, presented by the Yale School of Music, celebrates its 72nd season this year with performances and residencies by six internationally esteemed string quartets alongside students and young professionals from around the world. From June 22 to August 17 Norfolk will host a roster of string quartets including: the Artis Quartet, the Brentano Quartet, the Emerson String Quartet, the Jasper String Quartet, the Keller Quartet, and the Tokyo String Quartet. The Tokyo String Quartet, which is retiring this year, will play its last concert on July 6 at the festival. And on August 3 the Emerson String Quartet will perform its New York area debut concert with the group's new cellist, Paul Watkins.

Opening the 2013 festival on Saturday, June 22 is a choral program by the Yale Choral Artists, a new ensemble of 24 professional singers from around the country under the direction of the Yale Glee Club's Jeffrey Douma. The Choral Artists will perform All Night Vigil (Vespers) by Sergei Rachmaninov along with a shorter work by Pavel Chesnokov, Salvation is Created.

From July 5 to August 17 Norfolk will host a six-week Chamber Music Session. Among the twelve concerts each Friday and Saturday night in July and August is a presentation of Franz Schubert's song cycle Die Winterreise performed by pianist Peter Frankl and baritone Randall Scarlata on Friday, July 12.

The Norfolk Festival, under the leadership of Paul Hawkshaw since 2004, includes a New Music Workshop led by composer Martin Bresnick, a Lecture series, a Young Artists' Performance Series, Festival Artist concerts (Friday and Saturday nights), and a Family Day on July 14 that includes a performance of Yale's Javanese ensemble, Gamelan Suprabanggo. This year's festival concludes on August 17 with a performance of works for chorus and orchestra from the Renaissance to the contemporary by the Norfolk Festival Chorus and Orchestra directed by Simon Carrington.

For Tickets and Information: Concerts at: The Music Shed, 20 Litchfield Road (Rtes 44 & 272), Norfolk, CT Call: 203.432.1966 Email: norfolk@yale.edu Website: www.norfolkmusic.org Series Ticket Prices: $55 - $15; $10 Students (ages18-25), and KIDS COME FREE! Special Event Ticket Prices: The Tokyo String Quartet- The Last Concert $375 ($345 ltd view) - $225 ($175 ltd view) - $100 ($75 ltd view) - $45.

About the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival

Carl Stoeckel and Ellen Battell, both from families steeped in the Yale University tradition, married in 1895 and decided to honor Ellen's father by founding a local musical society that would bring an abundance of musical excellence to their town of Norfolk, CT. Choral and musical societies already blossomed around the region; every town had a club and a quorum of musicians. Mrs. Stoeckel had long hosted informal evenings in her home, first in the Whitehouse, and later in the church next door. A great musical festival in Norfolk would provide a natural center to a region steeped in music. When the Litchfield County Choral Union came into being in 1899, it soon became the first internationally known music festival of its kind in America, and inspired the array of music centers that have since settled across the Berkshires.

After five years of concerts on their estate, the Stoeckels decided to build a hall worthy of truly great music. A New York architect, E.K. Rossiter, designed the building, and the Music Shed opened for use on June 6, 1906. The Shed is built of cedar and lined with California redwood, which likely accounts for its brilliant acoustics and certainly for its rustic beauty. The original hall seated 700 audience members, but after several expansions it was enlarged to hold 2,100. (Fire regulations have since reduced its capacity back to under 1,000.) Audiences began to clamor for invitations from all over New England and as far away as Texas, Chicago and California, and within five years they could easily have filled a building many times as large. The Music Shed had begun its reign among the premiere concert halls in New England.

Mr. and Mrs. Stoeckel spared no expense in making the festival concerts extravagant musical events. They recruited a 70-piece orchestra of players from the Philharmonic and Metropolitan Opera orchestras in New York, and paid for a special train to transport the instrumentalists through the Litchfield hills. The appointments were eagerly sought; apart from the honor, the musicians had the pleasure of spending a week in the mountains, and the lawn parties that spread across the estate after rehearsals were soon famous.

Carl Stoeckel died in 1925 and the concerts continued for several years but activities came to a close during the 1930's. When Ellen Battell Stoeckel passed away in 1939 she left her estate in trust for the use of the Yale School of Music, to continue "studies in music, art and literature," and the Yale Summer School of Music/ Norfolk Chamber Music Festival began in 1941. Since that time countless gifted musicians have made for themselves a summer home in Norfolk, whether as students, faculty or performers at the Festival.

Since the beginning of the School and Festival, artists such as the Cleveland, Guarneri, Emerson, Juilliard, and Tokyo quartets have taught and performed in Norfolk. Fellows at Norfolk have included the oboist Allen Vogel, violinists Syoko Aki and Pamela Frank, clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, and soprano Frederica Von Stade. Recent ensembles have established themselves as students at Norfolk, including new music ensemble eighth blackbird, the Avalon quartet, the Calder quartet, the Claremont Trio, the Jasper Quartet, and the Miro quartet. In addition, Norfolk alumni are found in virtually every music conservatory and many major orchestras around the world, including the Boston, Chicago, and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestras.

Students from conservatories around the world audition each year to participate in the festival and those that are accepted receive fellowships to cover the cost of tuition, room, and board. Since 1906, Norfolk festival musicians (including Rachmaninov, Sibelius, Vaughn Williams, in the early decades of the 20th century, and the St. Lawrence Quartet, eighth blackbird, Frederica von Stade, Richard Stoltzman and Alan Gilbert more recently) have performed on the stage of the festival's iconic venue, the "Music Shed."

20 Years of Chamber Music At Keeler Tavern Museum April 22 and May 20

Keeler Tavern a Colonial Gem

The Mid-Hudson Saxophone Quarter will perform in the Garden House of the Keeler Tavern Museum located on  132 Main Street in Ridgefield Connecticut on Sunday, April 22 at 3:00 PM. This is the first of two spring concerts scheduled as part of the Louise McKeon Chamber Music Concert Series held at the Museum for over 20 years. 

The saxophone musicians are Steven Kieley, soprano and alto, Deborah Tice, soprano and alto, Daniel Teare, tenor, and Charles W. Gray, baritone. They will perform a  variety of musical selections suited to this special instrument. All are performing or teaching in the Hudson Valley area schools and colleges and perform at a variety of conventions and with groups in the Hudson Valley and other areas along the Eastern Seaboard.  

Admission at the door is $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and students, and $10 for children under 12. All guests are invited to meet with the musicians after the concert and enjoy light refreshments. 

The final concert of the season will take place Sunday, May 20th with members of the Western Connecticut Youth Orchestras performing in the Garden House at 3 PM For further information call 203-438-5484 or visit www.keelertavernmuseum.org.

About Keeler Tavern 

The Keeler Tavern Preservation Society, Inc. founded the Keeler Tavern Museum in 1966 as a living museum of colonial history within the town of Ridgefield, Connecticut.

It is the Society's mission to preserve and protect the Keeler Tavern, a site listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1982, that embodies the life of the community from the early 19th century through the mid 20th century.

The Society is committed to promoting Ridgefield's history and heritage by providing educational and cultural programs that interpret the past for present and future generations.

The history of the Tavern and the Town of Ridgefield is reflected in the stories of the families who lived here. The archives of the Museum include extensive documentation and records from the Keeler, Resseguie and Gilbert families.