|
|
Sevenars Summer Concerts 2020
Six concerts at the Academy in 2020
- Sundays, July 12th- August 16th at 4PM Also, we are excited to be reaching underserved audiences at assisted
living centers, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, and similar facilities, and if you would like to be considered for
inclusion among these, please call 413-238-5854 or write to Sevenars@aol.com UPDATE: Due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus, the outreach efforts are forced to be suspended. We hope to resume when such efforts are no longer dangerous to all concerned. We are now forced to cancel the summer season as well. Please stay safe and
well, and we trust we will see you in 2021!
JULY
12 at 4PM: The Traditional Opening: Members of the Schrade and James Families Members of the Schrade and James families, several generations, have attracted
a loyal following of audiences and press, whether at Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, throughout the US, Canada,
New Zealand, France, the UK, Italy, or Fiji, in chamber, solo, and orchestral appearances, and on radio, television, and numerous
highly praised recordings. Individually they have garnered dozens of awards and accolades, and as a family they were the first
listed on Steinway’s global artists roster (as well as individual listings). This year’s program will include
mostly solo piano music of Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Kapustin, and Gershwin played by David James, son Christopher James, daughter
Lynelle James, and Rorianne Schrade. Lynelle and Rorianne will close with some irresistible music of Dave Brubeck in honor
of the centennial of his birth. Come celebrate summer with a half-century-old tradition!
JULY 19 at 4PM: The Elm Chamber Ensemble Sevenars is delighted to be presenting an all new
ensemble, the Elm Chamber Ensemble, with two Sevenars returnee members! Violinist Joel Pitchon Pitchon (“superb playing” N. Y. Times) will join cellist extraordinaire Volcy Pelletier (member of numerous illustrious ensembles including the
noted Laurentian String Quartet and on the faculty of Smith College with Joel), and award-winning pianist and prolific recording
artist Yu-Mei Wei. They will offer a stunning program that balances homage to Beethoven in his 250th celebratory
year (via his Piano Trio in E-flat, Op. 70, No. 2) with a masterpiece of Brahms (his Piano Trio in C Major Op.87, one of the
masterworks of the chamber literature), and music of the exciting Spanish composer Joaquin Turina (his Piano Trio No 2 in
B minor Op.76). All three are musical leaders performing, teaching and recording in the area. We can't wait!
JULY 26 at 4PM: The Whipple-Morales Piano Duo Sevenars has had numerous audience members ask us to have this wonderful piano duo team since they
came to Sevenars in 2013! Kirk Whipple & Marilyn Morales, duo and solo pianists and composers, are on the Kennedy Center
Approved Artist Roster, State of Florida Touring Artists Roster from 2000-14, and are the Executive and Artistic Directors
of The Unconservatory, a national nonprofit musical organization. Not only are they magic with the audience, with bubbling
humor, but they bring a huge variety of their own arrangements from Pachelbel up through Joplin and their own compositions,
all honed from years of concert touring throughout 32 states in the US and Europe. Featured on this program will be Gershwin's
ever-popular Rhapsody in Blue for piano four-hands, plus works of Schumann, Barber, Albeniz, Joplin, and more - and there
will always be a Latin-American composer or two with Cuban-American Marilyn Morales' special fire.
AUGUST
2 at 4PM: Taconic Music Festival comes to Sevenars: This powerhouse ensemble led by violist Ariel Rudiakov and violinist Joana Genova will bring to Sevenars
a magnificent program of piano trios and quartets, including Beethoven's monumental Ghost Trio, in celebration of Beethoven's
250th anniversary, plus quartets by Camille Saint-Saens and Joaquin Turina. Favorites at Sevenars from the
days when they rocketed the Manchester Music Festival to prominence, the stellar Genova-Rudiakov team has now directed their
musical and communicative gifts (and decades of international touring and recording experience) to building the rapidly growing
Taconic Music Festival, and Sevenars is ecstatic to host them again in the acoustic gem that embraces their sound so beautifully!
Joining them will be stunning young pianist Asiya Korepanova, a rising virtuoso (and poet, visual artist, and composer) and
cellist Thomas Landschoot, who
enjoys a distinguished international career as performer, recording artist, and pedagogue.
AUGUST 9 at 4PM: The Bob Sparkman Trio No Sevenars summer would be complete without the glorious jazz collaboration of clarinetist Bob Sparkman,
pianist Jerry Noble, and bass guitarist Kara Noble! The trio will lead you on a journey to many nostalgic destinations of
the American Songbook. Tunes like "Stars Fell on Alabama," "Can't Get Indiana Off My Mind," "Moonlight
in Vermont," and "Basin Street Blues" are only a few stops on this marvelous musical tour. Bob’s golden
clarinet stylings reflect his experience at the last Eddie Condon’s Club and his playing with The Jazzmen, The Bourbon
Street Six, the Gotham Jazz Band, and others (including a gig with Fats Waller’s trumpeter Herman Autry). Clifton
“Jerry” Noble Jr., Bob’s longtime collaborator, brings his wealth of musical gifts as internationally known
composer and pianist (on staff at Smith) and adds his miraculous musical telepathy. With Kara Noble on bass, this tour is
in good hands. Bon Voyage!
AUGUST 16 at 4PM: A Beethoven Tribute with pianist Rorianne Schrade Honoring the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, this program combines some of Beethoven’s great original
piano music with a transcription by Franz Liszt of Beethoven's First Symphony. Alan Walker described the Beethoven-Liszt Symphony
transcription set as "arguably the greatest work of transcription ever completed in the history of music," incorporating
every part of the orchestra into a piano work. To add a 21st-century note, this program will introduce five new pieces (from
Norway, Guatamala, Indonesia-Australia, Netherlands, and South Africa/USA), composed as part of the Susanne Kessel commissioning
project in Bonn. Rorianne Schrade, whose playing has been compared in the press here and in the UK to that of Cziffra, Horowitz,
Bolet, and Rachmaninoff, is a multiple prize-winner (Concert Artists Guild, Washington International, and others) whose first
concerto performance
decades ago was Beethoven’s First with the New Haven Symphony.
Welcome, all!! Admission is by donation only (suggested $20 per person), by cash
or check at the door. No tickets or reservations are required or accepted. Complimentary refreshments are offered at intermission. All music lovers welcome, though
we ask that children (and adults) be able to sit quietly so as not to disturb others. Note: No cellphones or recording devices are to
be turned on at concerts, out of respect to performers' rights and in the spirit of live music. We look forward to
seeing you there!
|
|