Press Releases

Close Encounters with Music Presents “The Politics of Opera” with Author and Scholar Mitchell Cohen Conversations with… Series of Talks Continues with Intimate and Stimulating Conversations About Music and Ideas

OCTOBER 13, 2017 -- To what extent do operas express the political and cultural ideas of their age? How do story lines, harmonies and musical motifs reflect the composer's view of the changing relations among art, politics, and society? Mitchell Cohen, who combines his academic expertise in political science and lifelong interest in the spectacle of opera in his new book (The Politics of Opera—A History from Monteverdi to Mozart, Princeton Press), will underscore the political dimensions of libretti and ideological elements of opera, which absorbs and mirrors currents of the day in dramatic dress-up. Professor of political science at Baruch College and the Graduate School of CUNY, he has written for The New York Times Book Review, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, The Times Literary Supplement (London), Les Temps Modernes (Paris), and edited Princeton Readings in Political Thought (1995) and Rebels and Reactionaries: An Anthology of Great Political Stories (1992). Your next night at the opera won’t be the same!

26th Season of Close Encounters with Music Press Release

Close Encounters with Music Launches 26th Anniversary with its Signature Mix of Innovative Programs- Season Starts Strong with Titans of Chamber Music October 21 Finishing with a Dazzling Leonard Bernstein Tribute June 9, Celebrity Talks, Mid-Winter Fireside Concert; Commissions, Collaborations, Celebrations All Season

Press Releases

OCTOBER 6, 2017 -- Close Encounters returns with its customary artistic vigor, crystalline focus and fresh look at our great musical heritage, old and new. Artistic Director Yehuda Hanani has led the series since its founding, providing entertaining, erudite commentary that puts the composers and their times in perspective to enrich and enlighten the concert experience. “We have created a rare cultural zone we call Close Encounters With Music, with innovative concerts, outstanding colleagues, and a sumptuous menu of the best music of our classical canon.”

Close Encounters with Music Summers on a Mountain Top: Catskill High Peaks Music Festival August 6-17 Brings “Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman” to the Hudson Valley and Capital Region with Internationally Acclaimed Musicians and Young Artists Around the Clock Festivities at Carey Institute in Rensselarville with Additional Suffragette Themed Concerts at Basilica Hudson and New York State Museum in Albany

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JULY 5, 2017 -- “Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman” is the theme of the eighth edition of the Catskill High Peaks Festival, hosted by the Carey Institute for Global Good, August 6-17. A joint presentation of the Carey Institute and Close Encounters With Music, the Berkshire-based chamber music organization, High Peaks this year features remarkable composers who stormed the barricades and helped revolutionize the place of women in the arts as it celebrates the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in NY State.

Close Encounters with Music June 10 Gala Concert “Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman” Unveils Quilt of Many Colors, Composers and Dedicatees World Premieres, Blending of Young, Established and Historic First Ladies of Music

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APRIL 21, 2017 -- Anonymous may have been a woman composer. Clara Schumann, Fannie Mendelssohn, Maria Theresia von Paradis, Ethel Smyth, Lili Boulanger, Amy Beach, Marianna Martinez, and Augusta Holmes (a precursor to Edith Piaf with 120-some songs!) move from footnotes to forces in the annals of classical music as women gain the vote and their artistic voices. The June 10 gala “Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman” features remarkable composers who stormed the barricades and helped revolutionize the place of women in the arts—playing four-hand piano with Mozart, conducting their works from an English prison, and overcoming the taboo to write but not be heard, especially in public. As this extraordinary evening progresses, works will span the demur and lyrical, the bold, propulsive and cosmic.

Close Encounters with Music Presents Author Linda Hirshman and the Feminine Mystique Conversations with… Series Continues with Intimate and Stimulating Conversations About Music and Ideas

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APRIL 4, 2017 -- Lawyer, best-selling author, and cultural historian Linda Hirshman has chronicled battles that have changed the social landscape of America in her books Get to work: A Manifesto For Women of the World, Hard Bargains: The Politics of Sex, and others. Her dual biography of Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Sisters in Law reveals how these trailblazers shaped the legal framework of modern feminism, also situating their respective ascents to the Court within the broader women's rights movement. A fitting way to celebrate Mother's Day, with historic and current-day women of note-with the backdrop of Edith Wharton's majestic and beloved Lenox property The Mount; a discussion resting on heroines of our legal system; and the brilliant author and thinker Linda Hirshman!

Close Encounters with Music Announces Grammy-Award-Winning LA Guitar Quartet

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MARCH 30, 2017 -- On Saturday, May 6, Close Encounters With Music presents the Grammy Award-winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, one of the most multifaceted groups in any genre. Playing consistently to sold-out houses world-wide, their inventive, critically acclaimed transcriptions of concert masterworks provide a fresh look at the music of the past, while their interpretations of works from the contemporary and world-music realms continually break new ground. Haunting works from the time of Cervantes, breathtaking transcription from the opera Carmen, Copland Mexican songs, Jazz, and an arrangement of the Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 as well as Far East and Irish classics will transport listeners around the world and through five centuries in a single concert experience. Also making an appearance on the program will be works by Chet Atkins and Path Metheny, arranged by the quartet.

The Art of the String Quartet

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MARCH 6, 2017 -- As they soar to the top of the international quartet firmament, the Escher Quartet will make their Berkshire debut at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center 6 PM on April 15 for an unforgettable evening of music Their rare tonal beauty will unfold as they bring their special sheen to three landmark works of chamber music: Mendelssohn’s gripping Quartet in F minor, opus 80, saturated with poetic melancholy and written in memory of his beloved sister Fannie; the Bartók Quartet No. 3, whose string quartets in particular achieve a fusion of folk and Western art music; and Beethoven’s “Razumovsky” Quartet in E minor, opus 59, No. 2, resplendent in its cosmic grandeur. Acclaimed for their keen musical insights and championed by the Emerson String Quartet, the Escher gave debuts at the BBC Proms and has toured extensively throughout the U.S., Europe, Australia and Asia.

Press Release of Beethoven Journey and Artists

Close Encounters with Music to Present “Beethoven Journey-Early, Middle and Late”

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FEBRUARY 3, 2017 - On Saturday, March 18, Close Encounters With Music presents three stops along Ludwig’s journey, from disciple of Haydn to Olympian master and from historical time and place to transcending earthly connections: the early cello sonata No. 2 in G minor, a middle-period violin sonata No. 7 in C minor, and the glorious “Archduke” Trio Opus 97. The program makes a case for art as biography. With representative works from his three periods, audiences will take away a composite portrait of Beethoven as a cultural giant steered oftentimes by his personal life.