Community Calendar

20 Next Festival Performance Fellows, emerging string musicians selected from a nationwide call, will perform a 10th Anniversary program of world premieres for string orchestra.

Headline artist and guitarist Yvette Young, considered "The vanguard of creativity for progressive music" by GuitarPlayer.com and hot off of a national tour with her math-rock band Covet, will play her first score for string orchestra LIVE.

Performance Fellows will also debut new pieces by 2022 Pulitzer-Finalist Leilehua Lanzilotti, violinist and 2022 festival alum Che Buford, saxophonist Matthew Evan Taylor, and Next Festival Artistic Director Peter Askim.

Come hear Opera Saratoga’s brilliant Festival Artists shine at the annual Stars of Tomorrow concert. These 21 artists were chosen out of 1,000 applicants to be members of Opera Saratoga's prestigious Festival Artist training program. One of the most popular concerts of the season, the program will include blockbuster arias and spectacular vocal effects from these bright young stars.

Music at the Southfield Church announces its Seventh Season, celebrating music made with the most impressive of all instruments – the human voice! Each Saturday evening in June, voices of local Berkshire artists will reverberate exquisitely in our gorgeous 229-year-old meeting house with its unparalleled acoustics. Each concert begins at 7:00 pm at the Southfield Church, 234 Norfolk Road in the Southfield Village of New Marlborough. For more information, a full season lineup, and updated Covid protocols, visit thesouthfieldchurch.org. Admission is free; a retiring collection will be taken at the door following each concert to support the artists. A reception on the lawn follows each concert (weather permitting).

Music at the Southfield Church is supported through the generosity of the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the New Marlborough Cultural Council.

JUNE 3 – VOCALIS YOUTH CHOIR

Under the direction of Julie Bickford, the Vocalis Youth Choir will transport us with a program of Celtic Music, featuring Elizabeth Allyn – piano, Dorothy Cowles – piano, Eric Martin – violin, Jon Suters – guitar, and Matthew Schneider – bass.

Vocalis Youth Choir, directed by Julie Bickford, will kick off the summer series on June 3rd. The name Vocalis is Latin for ‘having a voice” and the group is based on the belief that developing one’s voice as a young person is an important part of growing up and learning about oneself. But music isn’t the only focus. “The mission of the Vocalis Youth Choir is to educate young people in the art of choral music while providing opportunities for personal and creative growth, youth leadership, and community engagement,” Bickford states. The younger group, Senior Choir, focuses on learning proper vocal technique, developing music literacy and sight-reading skills, and other skills such as listening and blending that are critical for ensemble work. Encore, the highest level vocal ensemble of the Vocalis Youth Choir, is structured for treble singers ages 14-18 and a more challenging and diverse repertoire in three and four parts.

“What began as a mission statement to create a choir that held community involvement in as high regard as performance and music education has grown into a strong choir of 15, filled with kids who possess not only strong voices but curious minds that are generous of spirit,” Bickford states. This season's repertoire is focused on Celtic music and involves Eric Martin on fiddle, Jon Suters on guitar, and Matthew Schneider on bass—creating an opening concert that is sure to lift your spirits.

Known for their dynamic and eclectic musical style, ETHEL has performed across the world and collaborated with jazz legends, rock stars, and composer-performers. With nine albums and numerous collaborations to their credit, ETHEL continues to forge human connections through sound and style. These performances are not to be missed by anyone looking to experience the best in contemporary classical.

Clarion Concerts, an essential part of the cultural life of the Hudson Valley and the Berkshires for more than six decades, presents its annual spring fundraising gala, to be held on a beautiful dairy farm in the Berkshire foothills on Saturday, 10 June 2023 at 3pm. The featured artist will be Young Concert Artists award winner Zhu Wang in a program of solo piano works by Scarlatti, Mozart, Beethoven, Stravinsky and more. Tickets are $75, and for an extra $25 donation to Clarion Concerts, a hayride for the first 30 guests to make a reservation!

GRAMMY-nominated violinist and composer Curtis J. Stewart will bring his musical authenticity to the stage with a performance of works from his recently released album "Of Love." Exploring themes of self-determination, love, and loss, Stewart's music transcends the traditional boundaries of classical violin and serves as a source of inspiration for realizing one's own citizenship. As the Artistic Director of the American Composer's Orchestra and recipient of the Eastman "Centennial Award" for artistry and leadership, Stewart is dedicated to bridging the gap between classical music and contemporary life.

Joining Stewart on stage is the renowned string quartet ETHEL. Known for their dynamic and eclectic musical style, ETHEL has performed across the world and collaborated with jazz legends, rock stars, and composer-performers. With nine albums and numerous collaborations to their credit, ETHEL continues to forge human connections through sound and style. These performances are not to be missed by anyone looking to experience the best in contemporary classical music.

Musicians of Ma'alwyck presents its first live concert season since 2020, continuing with our concert on June 11 at Blessed Sacrament Church in Albany: Metamorphosis, featuring the music of Strauss, Mozart, Reicha, and Schulhoff.

This concert features guest artists Henry Peyrebrune of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra on bass, Katrina Smith of the Dallas and Glimmerglass Opera Orchestras on viola, and Andrea Blanchard Cone of the Buffalo Philharmonic on violin. These guest artists will be joined by the core Musicians of Ma’alwyck personnel and will perform works of Mozart, Reicha, Schulhoff, and Strauss. The centerpiece of the program is Strauss’s Metamorphosen.

Guest artists Henry Peyrebrune and Andrea Blanchard Cone both grew up locally and honed their musicianship through the Bethlehem Public School music programs. Henry was a member of the Empire State Youth Orchestra (in its inaugural year) and the Albany Symphony; Andrea performed as violin soloist with the Albany Symphony as a winner of the Vanguard Concerto Competition. Also on the roster are core Musicians of Ma’alwyck members Ann-Marie Barker Schwartz, violin; Norman Thibodeau, flute and Andre Laurent O’Neil, violoncello.

This concert features pieces that appeal to a variety of classical music fans. Melodies from Mozart’s opera Marriage of Figaro were popular hits of their time. In 1805 Anton Reicha wrote a stunning set of variations and a fantasie based on the aria Se Vuol Ballare, Signor Contino for flute, violin and cello. Musicians of Ma’alwyck pairs this with the 1925 Concertino for flute, viola and bass of Erwin Schulhoff. This Prague born, German-Jewish composer was championed by Dvorak, and studied with Debussy and Reger. His music is strongly jazz-influenced. The final work on the program is the virtuosic chamber arrangement of Richard Strauss’s 1945 masterpiece Metamorphosen. Written during the final months of WWII, and a piece of transcendent beauty and pathos, the work in a single continuous movement, alternates between optimism and sadness. Quoting the funeral march from Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony and spinning out glorious musical themes, Strauss prints at the end of the score IN MEMORIAM!

Metamorphosis will take place Sunday, June 11 at 3:00 pm at Blessed Sacrament Church in Albany, located at 607 Central Ave, Albany, NY 12206. This concert is dedicated to the memory of Henry and Sally Peyrebrune, who were long-time supporters and fans of Musicians of Ma'alwyck.

Ticket prices are $35 for general admission, and $10 for students. To purchase tickets, visit https://musiciansofmaalwyck.org/home.

For questions, contact: Laura Doe, Musicians of Ma’alwyck’s Business and Grants Manager – (518) 512-9479 or laura@musiciansofmaalwyck.org

ABOUT THE MUSICIANS OF MA’ALWYCK
Musicians of Ma’alwyck are a flexible-sized classical chamber music ensemble. The mission of Musicians of Ma’alwyck is to share history through music. Founded in 1999 by violinist and director Ann-Marie Barker Schwartz, the purpose of Musicians of Ma’alwyck is to cultivate and promote an understanding and appreciation for American, particularly New York State, life in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries through the performance of chamber ensemble music at historic sites and concert venues in collaboration with other artistic organizations. Based in the Capital Region but performing throughout New York State, the ensemble serves a diverse audience of music lovers, history enthusiasts, and supporters of the arts. Core musicians include Ann-Marie Barker Schwartz, director and violin; Norman Thibodeau, flute; Sten Isachsen, guitar; André Laurent O’Neil, cello. The group frequently works with guest artists of national stature.

Musicians of Ma’alwyck produce several concerts and online programs each year, combining archival research, historic sites in New York State, and classical music. They have been in residence at the Schuyler Mansion in Albany for over twenty years, and are currently holding residencies at SUNY-Schenectady and Hyde Hall, a historic house museum in Cooperstown, NY. The ensemble released its first commercial CD in 2016, Music in the Schuyler Mansion, which the Times Union called “elegant and charming,” and their second in 2021, Hyde Hall & the Silver Goddess: Operatic Brilliance of Auber, Bellini, Meyerbeer, and Rossini from the Drawing Room.

Two great melodists, two young geniuses in one brilliant evening: Bubbly, like fine Champagne, Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet is one of the most joyous pieces ever written. A landmark of classical music, it weaves a net of enchantment with its catchy melodies and fresh exuberance. This piece has it all—elegance, beauty and irrepressible good humor; music from the pen of a 22-year-old prodigy inspired by the tragic-comic death of a fish that captures the glories of nature! The program also features Schumann’s miraculous Piano Quintet in E-flat Major—the first work ever conceived and written for this combination of instruments. An all-star ensemble that joins artistic director Yehuda Hanani includes returning Van Cliburn Gold Medalist Yekwon Sunwoo (“superbly assured pianism”—BBC Music) and violinist Giora Schmidt (“Impossible to resist, captivating with lyricism, tonal warmth, and boundless enthusiasm”— Cleveland Plain Dealer). So ends Season 31 of Close Encounters— bookended by the most sublime output of Franz Schubert.

Yekwon Sunwoo, piano;
Giora Schmidt and Helena Baillie, violin;
TBA, viola;
Yehuda Hanani, cello;
Jeremy McCoy, double bass

Music at the Southfield Church announces its Seventh Season, celebrating music made with the most impressive of all instruments – the human voice! Each Saturday evening in June, voices of local Berkshire artists will reverberate exquisitely in our gorgeous 229-year-old meeting house with its unparalleled acoustics. Each concert begins at 7:00 pm at the Southfield Church, 234 Norfolk Road in the Southfield Village of New Marlborough. For more information, a full season lineup, and updated Covid protocols, visit thesouthfieldchurch.org. Admission is free; a retiring collection will be taken at the door following each concert to support the artists. A reception on the lawn follows each concert (weather permitting).

Music at the Southfield Church is supported through the generosity of the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the New Marlborough Cultural Council.

JUNE 17 – THE SOUTHFIELD CHURCH COMMUNITY CHOIR

This amazing 15-voice choir, accompanied by the inimitable Manon Hutton-DeWys and under the direction of Robert Olsen, will inspire, move and uplift with Songs for A Shining Night, featuring works by Lauridsen, Berlin, Belafonte, Whitacre, Rutter and more.

The Southfield Church Community Choir (including many singers from last December’s Lessons & Carols service) will present the third concert, “Songs for a Shining Night,” on June 17, featuring a variety of beautiful selections by composers such as Irving Berlin, Eric Whitacre, and John Rutter. The program will begin with Morten Lauridsen’s “Sure On This Shining Night” and include “Hymn for These Times” by Jay Rogers, “Turn the World Around” by Harry Belafonte, and “Homeward Bound” by Marta Keen. The group has devoted the past 14 Sundays to rehearsing, but it is really the creativity and commitment of director Robert Olsen that makes this evening shine. Manon Hutton-DeWys returns on the piano to ensure a memorable event—if there is a dry eye in the house by the end of the night, it will be nothing short of a miracle.

AMERICA SINGS is a concert series that amplifies the voices of BIPOC artists, who have historically been underrepresented on the concert stage. Each event will feature a wide array of classical, jazz, and popular music. AMERICA SINGS concerts will be hosted in partnership with Caffè Lena, and will also be live-streamed to the public for free, but viewers are encouraged to contribute through a virtual donation to support both Opera Saratoga and this concert series.

Carl DuPont is an artist, innovator, and educator dedicated to Transformational Inclusion and Care of the Professional Voice. His “rich, nuanced baritone” (Columbus Underground) has held center stage in performances at the Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Carolina, Opera Columbus, First Coast Opera, Toledo Opera, Opera Saratoga, Sarasota Opera, Cedar Rapids Opera, El Palacio de Bellas Artes, Opera Company of Brooklyn, The IN Series, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Leipzig Opera. Recent roles include Hawkins Fuller in Fellow Travelers, Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville, and Leporello in Don Giovanni. His articles can be found in The Laryngoscope and the Voice and Speech Review. DuPont can be heard on the world premiere recordings of the Caldara Mass in A Major, The Death of Webern, and his solo album, The Reaction. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music (BM), Indiana University (MM), and the University of Miami (DMA), he currently serves on the faculties of the Johns Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute and the Executive Education division of the Carey School of Business. DuPont also teaches at the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival and is the co-artistic director for the Kennedy Center’s Washington National Opera Initiative. This season he joined Annapolis Opera Company as Stephen Kumalo in Lost in the Stars and sang the baritone solo in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra. He will return to Bach in Baltimore in the St. John’s Passion and reprise the title role in Mendelssohn’s Elijah for the Baltimore Choral Society.

Pianist, Gregory Thompson is known for his work as a Solo and Collaborative artist in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Of his Carnegie Hall debut, the NY Times praised his “intuitive playing”, and his ability to “make a melodic line sing and inflect it with delicate rubato effects” (NY Times). His international performance credits include concerts at Marmolle Hall, Salzburg; The Atelier Concert Series, Paris; and at the Teatro Signorelli. In the U.S., he has played at Weill and Zankel Halls, NYC as well as Steinway Galleries in NC and GA. His varied repertoire ranges from Beethoven and Schubert to Prokofiev, George Walker, and Adolphus Hailstork. Artists with whom he has collaborated include singers Grace Bumbry, Allan Glassman, Russell Thomas, as well as woodwind faculty members of Austria’s Mozarteum. His concerto performances have included Baltimore Symphony, South Carolina Philharmonic, and Charlotte Philharmonic Orchestras. Thompson delivers performances that engage listeners in the creative process of shaping their own narratives and uncovering their own truths in the music. Thompson holds degrees from Peabody Conservatory, Limestone College, and The University of South Carolina. As a committed educator, he has served on the faculties of colleges and universities in Ohio, as well as North and South Carolinas.