Mohawk Trail Concerts Inc. 39th Summer Festival 2008 

Location: Concerts at the Federated Church, Charlemont, MA
Friday, Concert 7:30 pm - Saturday Concert 8:00 pm
with the exception of the July 4th event, which begins at 7pm.


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The 2008 Summer Festival season is set to bring a wealth of music new and familiar performed by stellar performers - in a characteristic mix of established artists, many of international repute, and those of great promise who are launching their professional careers.

A reception for the audience to meet the artists follows each Saturday concert in the Church

Olivier Messiaen Programs throughout the season center round  celebrating the birth anniversaries of composers with widely different styles. 2008 is the100th anniversary of both Olivier Messiaen (d. 1992), the deeply reflective composer particularly sensitive to a relationship between sound and color, and American Elliott Carter, still writing with
brilliance and energy. Messiaen was a composer, teacher and organist in Paris, whose influence  affected, among many others, William Bolcom. A 70th birthday tribute to William Bolcom was the theme of MTC’s annual Ellitot Carter New York
Benefit on April 28th at the Kosciuszko House in Manhattan, and he will be heartily congratulated again at the annual summer Bolcom and Morris concert on the weekend of July 11/12..

The music of two composers both best known for theatre/opera music, Michael Balfe (b.1808) and Giacomo Puccini, born 150 years ago in 1856, will also be Giacomo Puccini highlighted, and as
Friday our second weekend of concerts falls on July 4th, America’s Birthday, in order that the whole family can celebrate the day and participate in local festivities, we will present a free short concert, with a program that features a wide range of American music, and follow the performance with ice cream for all on the church lawn. 





Lucy Shelton, soprano     Fischer Duo, - Norman Fischer, cello, Jeanne Kierman, piano

June 27/28

A Galaxy of Song A Galaxy of Song with Lucy Shelton, soprano, and guests the
Fischer Duo, - Norman Fischer, cello, Jeanne Kierman, piano - and
Masako Yanagita, violin, spans intriguing music of three centuries.

The program begins with a Handel cantata, Pastorella vagha bella, acclaims Elliott Carter still active in his 100th year with the renowned cello sonata (1948) and setting of Baudelaire, La Musique, written for Lucy last year, and also honors the centenary of Olivier Messiaen with his Vocalise-Étude. Lucy's program includes songs in folkstyle from Dvorak, settings of e.e.cummings by Morton Feldman and miniatures by contemporary Harrison Birtwistle as well as songs from Villa Lobos including the Suite for voice and violin. Another anniversary, 200 years after his birth is noted with Balfe's once hugely popular `I dreamt I dwelt in Marble Halls' and for light hearted delight songs of Flanders and Swann and Arnold Black.

   

July 4th

America’s Birthday. featuring a tribute to Horace Boyer, gospel music pioneer. Program to include music
 from the Civil War, Gospel song, Broadway, Bernstein, Gershwin, Gottschalk, and MacDowell with Maria Ferrante, soprano, Masako Yanagita, violin and Abba Bogin, piano followed by ice cream on the church lawn.

Maria Ferrante, soprano  Andrew Garland, baritone

Abba Bogin piano   Masako Yanagita violin

July 5th

Opera Night.  Some American music, as on Friday, plus favorite Puccini opera arias
from La Boheme, Madama Butterfly, Gianni Schicci, Tosca, Suor Angelica, with
Maria Ferrante, soprano, Masako Yanagita violin and Abba Bogin piano.

   
William Bolcom, composer/piano, and Joan Morris, mezzo soprano

July 11/12

Swinging on a Star

Bolcom & Morris - Tracing some milestones in composer
William Bolcom’s life, with Joan Morris performing theatre and
cabaret song announced from the stage.


Dryden String Quartet

Susan Robinson, Dreyden String Quartet    Adria Sternstein, flute

July 18/19
 
Dryden String Quartet, who come to us with guests Adria Sternstein Foster, flute, and Susan Robinson, harp, are rising stars in the string quartet universe, 
we welcome for the first time.

These fine players from Washington,will on both Friday and Saturday play the great Beethoven Serenade for flute violin & viola, Op.25.

Then on Friday only they feature Susan Robinson, harp after first playing Dvorak - Terzetto for two violins and viola, Op. 74. following with the Sonata for flute, viola and harp (1915) by Debussy and the Fantasie for violin and harp Op.124 by Saint-Saens.

Saturday's program begins with Quartet #3 in g minor Op. 20, Haydn,
salutes the 150th anniversary of his birth with Puccini's I Crisantemi,
a rarely heard work for string quartet, and the program concludes with the
 Quartet Op.10 (1893) by Debussy.


Eugene Drucker, violin  Estela Olevsky, piano

Roberta Cooper, cello  Matthew Hunter, violin

July 25/26

   Drucker, Hunter Cooper in Consort  A new constellation of friends, Eugene Drucker, violin, Matthew Hunter, viola, and Roberta Cooper, cello, who initially met at Mohawk Trail Concerts, now come to play Mozart Divertimento in E Flat, K. 563 and  Brahms Piano Quartet in g minor, Op.25, with guest star  Estela Olevsky.  Estela will also play from Vingt regards sur l’Enfant Jesus (1949) by Messiaen.

At the concert Eugene Drucker will sign his new novel, The Savior, with its  theme  based on the experience of a musician forced to play in a WWII  concentration camp: associating the listening experience with the intense spirituality of Messiaen's music, developed from his suffering and  imprisonment by the Nazis during the German occupation of France.


Friday concerts are at 7:30 pm, (Friday, July 4th only, will start at 7:00 pm).    Saturdays at 8:00 pm.
Information and further details appear on this website,
www.mohawktrailconcerts.org  as soon as it is available.
Contact : the MTC office, 413 625-9511



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Copyright 2007 Mohawk Trail Concerts
75 Bridge Street, Shelburne Falls, MA 01370
413-625-9511 or Toll Free: 1-888-682-6873
email: info@mohawktrailconcerts.org