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
RENSSELAERVILLE, New York — “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.
The ten-day chamber music festival and teaching institute, directed by internationally acclaimed cellist Yehuda Hanani, offers a combination of concerts, lectures, film and master classes, open to the public—and featuring distinguished faculty artists sharing the stage with outstanding young musicians from around the world. Festival events will take place on the historic 100-acre estate of the Carey Institute for Global Good overlooking Lake Myosotis in Rensselaerville, New York. Throughout the festival and residency, historic, forgotten, and new works by women composers will be presented alongside major works by Bach, Schumann and Brahms in performances, master classes and special lectures. This year, the festival also expands into the mandolin repertoire, with French virtuoso mandolin player Vincent Beer-Demander.
Artistic director Yehuda Hanani observes, “The societal obstacles to acquiring the vote reflect the same barriers and cultural biases that women had to overcome to have their works published and performed and that kept them from careers as creators of new music. Since many of the key figures and pivotal events of the suffrage movement took place in or near our home region in the Hudson Valley, we believe this is a fitting time and place to bring attention to the creative achievements of women composers.”
Guest performers include: Peter Zazofsky, winner of the Queen Elizabeth of Belgium Competition, soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, first violinist of the Muir Quartet, winner of two Grand Prix du Disques and founding director of the String Quartet Institute at Tanglewood; violinist Irina Muresanu; violist Michael Strauss; and pianist and conductor Michael Chertock, frequent soloist with the Boston Pops, Cincinnati Pops, and BBC Symphony Orchestra. “We are committed to bringing the very best artists and leading pedagogues to continue this new musical tradition, here in the breathtaking environment that inspired the Hudson River School painters and generations of artists since,” says Hanani. “The majestic setting of the Carey Institute for Global Good provides a backdrop for ten days of music-making and fellowship, bringing together fifty of the most talented young musicians from around the world to work with world the world-renowned faculty.”
The astonishing contribution of women composers to classical music will be manifest in the programming—two main Sunday evening concerts (August 6 and 13) featuring eminent guest soloists, chamber music ensembles mixing faculty and residents, and the High Peaks Festival Chamber Orchestra; a concert at Basilica Hudson (Friday, August 11) and at the New York State Museum in Albany (Saturday, August 12) as well as in talks such as “The Schumanns—Music, Muse and Marriage” at the Carey (Sunday, August 13). Composers represented include Grazyna Bacewicz, Caroline Shaw, Lili Boulanger, Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn and Amy Beach. At summer’s end master students and faculty will be encouraged to explore, research and perform women’s compositions back in their own conservatories—Juilliard, Curtis, Paris Conservatoire, Oberlin, Boston University, Tokyo, Korea, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and other leading schools.
Two Sunday Concerts in Rensselaerville
The festival opens with “Crazy Quilt—Schubert, Piazzolla, Locatelli, Clara Schumann, Caroline Shaw and more” Sunday, August 6, 7 PM at the Carey Institute’s Guggenheim Pavilion. Tango, Baroque, Romantic, popular—it’s all stitched together in an incredibly vibrant tapestry. With pianist Mikael Darmanie, violinist Peter Zazofsky, and cellist Yehuda Hanani.
The centerpieces of the second Sunday concert are Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, Vivaldi Concerto for Two Mandolins and Brahms Piano Quintet and Bacewicz Quartet for Four Violins, performed by faculty and young resident artists joining together for these chamber music favorites. This last of the Brandenburgs highlights the burnished lower tones of viola and viola da gamba. Sunday, August 13, 7 PM at the Carey Institute’s Guggenheim Pavilion.
In Hudson
A performance is scheduled on Friday, August 11, 8 PM at Basilica Hudson, a former industrial building newly renovated and repurposed as an arts center. Renowned faculty and international rising young artists from the festival fill the hall with an exuberant display of virtuosity and talent. Various chamber music combinations and crossover repertoire include cello chorus, violin and mandolin ensembles and the High Peaks Chamber orchestra in works by Vivaldi (with an all-ladies orchestra) and notable women composers, historic and current—Amy Beach, Lily Boulanger, Caroline Shaw and Grazyna Bacewicz. A celebration of the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New York State with music from the demur and lyrical to the bold, propulsive and cosmic! Performers include: Irina Muresanu and Peter Zazofsky, violin; Michael Strauss, viola; Yehuda Hanani, Paul Dwyer and DoYeon Kim, cello; Michael Chertock and Mikael Darmanie, piano; and the High Peaks Festival Chamber Orchestra.
And more in Rensselaerville…
Throughout the festival, a series of performances by talented up-and-coming musicians participating in the residency will provide audiences with an opportunity to catch a glimpse of some of the classical music world’s future stars. This series of “Moonlight Sonatas” performances showcasing top-tier young artists at the Carey Institute is free and open to the public. This year’s program also features a “Buddy Day” on August 14, in which 25 students from Albany’s Empire State Youth Orchestra and Kids 4 Harmony in Pittsfield and CHIMES of Albany will participate in a day of interaction with the residents and masters, culminating with a performance at 4 PM.
The festival also offers a series of illuminating talks, free classes, and workshops offered each day. For a full schedule of events, visit www.catskillhighpeaksmusic.org.
