Moonlight Sonatas Faculty Concert
This Berkshire High Peaks Festival Moonlight Sonatas concert on Tuesday, July 25 at 7:30pm is at Berkshire School in Sheffield, Massachusetts features BHPF faculty. See faculty bios here.
The concert showcases the brilliant guest artists who share their experience and inspire a new generation of performers during the eleven-day festival. Pianists Alexander Shtarkman performs works by Ravel and Debussy; Gila Goldstein presents Chopin’s Prelude in C sharp minor, op. 45 and Polonaise-Fantasy in A flat major, Op. 61; and Ching-Yi Lin plays Bach/Rachmaninoff’s Partita No. 3 BWV1006. Artistic director Yehuda Hanani will play Dvorak’s Rondo for cello and piano. Soprano Danielle Talamantes and baritone Kerry Wilkerson present arias from Mozart operas and gems from the American Songbook. The program culminates with 9 festival cellists joining Ms. Talamantes in the rapturous Bachianas Brasileiras by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos.
“We are committed to bringing the very best artists and leading pedagogues to continue this musical tradition, here in the breathtaking environment that inspired generations of writers, artists and musicians,” says Hanani.
Guest faculty and performers include violinists Peter Zazofsky, first prize winner of the Queen Elizabeth of Belgium Competition and Hye-Jin Kim, first prize winner at the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition at the age of nineteen; Metropolitan Opera soprano Danielle Talamantes, George Mason University baritone Kerry Wilkerson and opera director and conductor Jay Lesenger (who directed John Corigliano’s Ghosts of Versailles at Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown); pianists Alexander Shtarkman, a Van Cliburn Competition winner and Gila Goldstein, director of piano studies at Brown University; cellists Jeffrey Zeigler (former member of the renowned Kronos Quartet), Diego Fainguersch, first cellist of the Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Ross Harbaugh, member of the Bergonzi String Quartet, and Yehuda Hanani.
Berkshire High Peaks Festival master classes, talks, and Moonlight Sonatas concerts are free and open to the public and take place at Berkshire School in Sheffield, Massachusetts (unless otherwise noted).
At the core of the festival are 50 international students of exceptional promise and demonstrated accomplishment who gather for intensive study, are coached as part of performing ensembles and enjoy discussions and workshops by prominent composers, renowned pedagogues, and notable figures in the music world as they prepare for professional lives.
This year’s theme is “Pathways.” At a time when the music business is fraught with uncertainties and career paths aren’t as prescribed and predictable as previously, faculty will give a series of talks about how they found their individual places in the music world. All concerts, master classes, and talks will be open and free to the public. Central to the festival’s mission are performance opportunities for young artists on the cusp of their careers.
The Berkshire High Peaks Festival is a performing and teaching summer institute that brings together renowned musicians, pedagogues, and exceptionally gifted international students, normally held in the cultural hub of the southern Berkshires. The intimate scale and highest level of talent make possible an invigorating ten days of discovery, exploration, bonding, and growth. The festival has an all-inclusive atmosphere, fostering camaraderie and cross-cultural exchange and understanding. The faculty is similarly international.
