IKONS, A FREE WASHINGTON SQUARE MUSIC FESTIVAL CONCERT,
BEETHOVEN, BELLINI, TAVENER AND SHOSTAKOVICH
December 2, St. Joseph’s Church
On Friday, December 2, 8 pm in St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, 371 Sixth Avenue at Washington Place, the Washington Square Music Festival offers iconic and eclectic music, both played and sung, by Festival artists soprano Lucia Hyunju Song, pianist David Oei, violinist Eriko Sato, and cellist Lutz Rath.
This concert is free and open to the public. Seating is first-come, first-served.
December 2, 8 pm Program
St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church
371 Sixth Avenue – West 4th St on A, B C, D, E, F, M
Christopher St. on 1 train
IKONS
"Qui la voce" from I Puritani Vincenzo Bellini
soprano Lucia Hyunju Song
Piano trio in C minor op.1, no.3 Ludwig van Beethoven
Akhmatova for soprano and cello John Tavener
Russian texts: Anna Akhmatova
Romance-Suite for soprano and piano trio op. 127 Dmitri Shostakovich
Russian texts: Alexander Blok
Festival info line: 212-252-3621
Under the auspices of the Washington Square Association
Music Notes
Pianist and scholar Charles Rosen writes: "Beethoven in C minor has come to symbolize his artistic character. In every case, it reveals Beethoven as Hero. C minor does not show Beethoven at his most subtle, but it does give him to us in his most extrovert form, where he seems to be most impatient of any compromise". Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is also in the key of C minor.
Sir John Tavener, b.1944, made many explorations of Russian and Greek culture, as shown in Akhmatova. Anna Andreyevna Gorenko, better known as Anna Akhmatova, was a Russian and Soviet modernist poet, one of the most acclaimed writers in the Russian canon. As were many artists, she was badly treated by the Stalinist regime. She was descended from Russian nobility.
Romance-Suite with poems by symbolist Alexander Blok were the first pieces Dmitri Shostakovich wrote after his heart attack in 1966. According to a friend, Shostakovich claimed to have had the idea for the songs while still in the hospital but had a great deal of difficulty in actually composing them and feared that his heart attack had paralyzed him creatively. The composer said that the actual impetus to finish the works came out of a bottle of brandy:
"Three days ago, Irina Antonova (his wife) left the house. I was alone. I opened a cupboard, and, lo and behold, there on the bottom shelf was a half a bottle of brandy. She had hidden all the drink in the house but by chance I discovered this bottle. And, you know, I had this sudden urge to drink, which I couldn't resist, so I had a glass. And, you know, it was so good that I sat down and everything came to me at once, and I finished the work in three days."
Akhmatova and Romance-Suite will be sung in Russian by Lucia Hyunju Song.
Major funding is provided by: Earle K. & Katherine F. Moore Foundation, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, NYS Council on the Arts, a State agency, NYC Council Member Margaret Chin, Senator Thomas K. Duane, Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, Washington Square Association., Margaret Neubart Foundation Trust, New York University Community Fund, New York University Government & Community Affairs, Con Edison, Down the Hatch, Emigrant Savings Bank, Jane Street Block Assn., Le Poisson Rouge, Salamon-Abrams Family Fund, Washington Square Hotel and the generosity of local businesses and individuals.
WASHINGTON SQUARE MUSIC FESTIVAL ENDS 53rd PARK SEASON WITH THE CHARLES MINGUS ORCHESTRA, A FREE JAZZ CONCERT
On Tuesday August 2, 2011 at 8 pm in Washington Square, the Charles Mingus Orchestra closes the Washington Square Music Festival’s 53rd season by performing works by the late Charles Mingus. The concert is free and celebrates a great American composer, who left his legacy in the worlds of both jazz and the civil rights struggle.
Seating is on a first-come, first served basis on the new Main Stage in the Square, south of the Arch, entrance from Waverly Place. The Festival is under the auspices of the Washington Square Association, Inc. Rainspace is St. Joseph’s Church, 371 Sixth Avenue.
Festival info: 212-252-3621 www.washingtonsquaremusicfestival.org
Charles Mingus Orchestra – August 2, 8 pm Washington Square
Playing the master’s music
Scott Robinson, alto saxophone/clarinet/flute/soprano
Wayne Escoffery, tenor saxophone/soprano
Ku-umba Frank Lacy, trombone
Kenny Rampton, trumpet
Adam Cruz, drums
Boris Kozlov, bass
Michael Rabinowitz, bassoon
John Clark, French horn
Freddy Bryant, guitar
Anat Cohen, bass clarinet
Charles Mingus (1922-79) double-bass player, composer and pianist: Born on a military base in Nogales, Arizona in 1922 and raised in Watts, California, his earliest musical influences came from the church-- choir and group singing-- and from hearing Duke Ellington over the radio when he was eight years old. He studied double bass and composition (five years with H. Rheinshagen, principal bassist of the New York Philharmonic, and compositional techniques with the legendary Lloyd Reese) while absorbing vernacular music from the great jazz masters, first-hand. In the 1940s he played with Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory, Lionel Hampton and Billy Taylor. In the 1950s after working with Charlie Parker, Bud Powell and others, he formed his own publishing and recording companies to protect and document his growing repertoire of original music.
He also founded the Jazz Workshop, a group which enabled young composers to have their new works performed in concert and on recordings. Although he wrote his first concert piece, "Half-Mast Inhibition," when he was 17 years old, it was not recorded until 20 years later by a 22-piece orchestra with Gunther Schuller conducting. It was the presentation of "Revelations" which combined jazz and classical idioms, at the 1955 Brandeis Festival of the Creative Arts, that established him as one of the foremost jazz composers of his day. The New Yorker wrote: "For sheer melodic and rhythmic and structural originality, his compositions may equal anything written in western music in the twentieth century." www.mingusmingusmingus.com
The Charles Mingus Orchestra was assembled in 1999 by Sue Mingus, and plays with the intensity of the Mingus Big Band, but with a focus on composition and less emphasis on soloing. Its distinctive sound emerges from an expanded repertory and more exotic instrumentation, including bassoon, bass clarinet, French horn, and guitar.
The Washington Square Music Festival is made possible through Council Person Margaret Chin and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council for the Arts and NYS Parks and Recreation, through the generosity of Senator Thomas Duane and Assemblymember Deborah Glick. Generous grants from The Earle K. & Katherine F. Moore Foundation, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Washington Square Association, The Margaret Neubart Foundation Trust, New York University Community Affairs, and NYU Community Fund, Con Edison, Salamon-Abrams Family Fund, Jane Street Block Association and Emigrant Savings Bank are deeply appreciated.
WASHINGTON SQUARE MUSIC FESTIVAL MUSIC-MAKING WITH THE MASTERS WITH CLARINETIST STANLEY DRUCKER, SOLOIST
Tuesday, July 26 at 8 pm
The Washington Square Music Festival continues its 53rd season of free concerts on Tuesday July 26 at 8 pm with Music-Making by the Masters, featuring clarinetist Stanley Drucker, long-time featured player with the New York Philharmonic, performing the dazzling Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in A Major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The concert takes place on stage in the Square, south of the Arch, entrance from Waverly Place.
The Festival is under the auspices of the Washington Square Association, Inc. Lutz Rath is Music Director. Seating is on a first-come, first served basis. Audience members may bring folding chairs. Rainspace is St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, 371 Sixth Avenue. Festival info line: 212-252-3621 www.washingtonsquaremusicfestival.org
Tuesday, July 26, 8 pm
Music-Making by the Masters
Stanley Drucker, clarinet
The Festival Chamber Ensemble
Astor Piazzolla: Four for Tango
Anton Arensky: String Quartet op 35 in A Minor
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in A Major, K.581
Stanley Drucker, clarinet
At the conclusion of the 2008-2009 Season, New York Philharmonic Principal Clarinet Stanley Drucker celebrated 60 years as a member of the Orchestra, and he became an honorary member of the Philharmonic Society of New York, the first orchestral musician so honored.
The Philharmonic estimates that he has performed in 10,200 concerts, which is approximately 70% of the total number of their concerts since 1842. He has been Principal Clarinetist for a record 48 years, making close to 200 appearances as soloist and chamber musician with the orchestra. He played under nine Music Directors, among them Bruno Walter, Dmitri Mitropoulos, Leonard Bernstein,
Pierre Boulez and Zubin Mehta. He has performed in 60 countries on tour.
Mr. Drucker maintains an active solo career, appearing with ensembles throughout the world. He has been nominated twice for Grammy Awards in the category of Best Instrumental Soloist/Classical with Orchestra.
In recognition of his highly respected and widely acknowledged musical excellence and dedication, he was named Musical America’s 1998 Instrumentalist of the Year.
FINAL CONCERT IN WASHINGTON SQUARE’S 53RD SEASON OUTDOORS
Aug 2: The Charles Mingus Orchestra Plays Jazz. Featuring the 10 piece band performing works by the late, great Mingus. Rainspace for all three concerts is St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, 371 Sixth Avenue.
The Washington Square Music Festival is made possible through Council Person Margaret Chin and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council for the Arts and NYS Parks and Recreation, through the generosity of Senator Thomas Duane and Assemblymember Deborah Glick. Generous grants from The Earle K. & Katherine F. Moore Foundation, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Washington Square Association, The Margaret Neubart Foundation Trust, New York University Community Affairs, and NYU Community Fund, Con Edison, Salamon-Abrams Family Fund, Jane Street Block Association and Emigrant Savings Bank are deeply appreciated. Partial funding of this program is graciously provided by The Music Performance Trust Fund.
WASHINGTON SQUARE MUSIC FESTIVAL OPENS ITS SUMMER SEASON OF FREE CONCERTS WITH OPERA IN THE PARK: MOZART & SCHUBERT
Tuesday, July 12 at 8 pm
The Washington Square Music Festival, Lutz Rath, music director, opens its 53rd season of free concerts on Tuesday July 12 at 8 pm on the new Main Stage in the Square, south of the Arch, entrance from Waverly Place. The Bronx Opera Company will perform Mozart’s comic opera, The Impresario; also featured is Schubert’s 5th Symphony. Michael Spierman, the opera company’s artistic director, will conduct the Festival Chamber Orchestra in both works.
The Festival is under the auspices of the Washington Square Association, Inc. Seating is on a first-come, first served basis. Rainspace is St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, 371 Sixth Avenue. Festival info line: 212-252-3621
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s one-act comic opera, The Impresario, premiered February 7, 1786 when Emperor Joseph II presented it at “Pleasure Festival” at his Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna. Mozart, then 30, was at the height of his powers and the music, an overture, two arias and two ensembles, is worthy of this prime time in his creative life. The Impresario recounts the trials, tribulations and comic turns of an impresario, his assistant, a wealthy benefactor and his two quarreling soprano mistresses, an ingénue and another, slightly overripe. This hilarious comedy is performed in an English version by Benjamin Spierman who will also direct and play the speaking role of the besieged impresario. Other members of The Bronx Opera in the cast are Caprice Corona, Michelle Trovato, Robert Hughes and Gary Giardina.
Franz Schubert wrote his Symphony No.5 in B-flat Major in the fall of 1816, when he was 19, for a private amateur performance given by a small orchestra which included the composer, his father and his two older brothers. It is one of his most delightful early symphonic scores and has been popular with audiences ever since its belated first public performance in London in 1873, more than four decades after Schubert’s tragic death in his native Vienna at the age of 31.
The Bronx Opera Company was founded in 1967 by Michael Spierman, and performs regularly in The Bronx, Manhattan and Long Island. This is its debut appearance with the Washington Square Music Festival. The Bronx Opera's two annual productions are always sung in English with a full chorus and orchestra, featuring talented singers selected from an open competitive audition process. The company presents one known and one rarely-performed opera each season, receiving consistently favorable reviews. www.bronxopera.org
WASHINGTON SQUARE MUSIC FESTIVAL OFFERS THE JOY OF UNFAMILIAR MUSIC WITH PIUS CHEUNG, MARIMBA SOLOIST
Tuesday, July 19 at 8 pm
The Washington Square Music Festival continues its 53rd season of free concerts on Tuesday July 19 at 8 pm with The Joy of Unfamiliar Music on the new Main Stage in the Square, south of the Arch, entrance from Waverly Place. Featured is Pius Cheung, performing on a five-octave marimba, the largest version of this xylophone like instrument that uses metal tube resonators beneath each bar.
The Festival is under the auspices of the Washington Square Association, Inc. Lutz Rath is Music Director. Seating is on a first-come, first served basis. Rainspace is St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, 371 Sixth Avenue. Festival info line: 212-252-3621
Tuesday, July 19, 8 pm
The Joy of Unfamiliar Music
Pius Cheung, marimba
The Festival Chamber Ensemble and soloists
Emmanuel Séjourné: Concerto for Marimba and Strings
Johann Sebastian Bach: Keyboard Concerto in d minor, BWV 1052
Luciano Berio: Opus Number Zoo for speaker and wind quintet
Corrado Maria Saglietti: Suite for Alto Trombone and String Quartet
Vincent Gambaro: Three Quartets for flute, clarinet bassoon and horn.
Chinese-Canadian marimbist Pius Cheung is recognized as a master soloist. His CD of Bach’s Goldberg Variations elicited a feature story in The New York Times, praising his technical prowess and “deeply expressive interpretation.” His second CD, Symphonic Poem, of his own compositions, was released at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) in 2009.
First Prize Winner in the 2008 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Mr. Cheung made debuts at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, the Kennedy Center, and at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. During 2010-11, Mr. Cheung makes his European recital debuts in Denmark and Croatia.
He has appeared in recital throughout the U.S. and has presented master classes in some of the world’s finest music institutions. He was guest artist and competition judge at the Japan National Percussion Association Festival and has appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia and the Vancouver Metropolitan orchestras, the British Columbia Chamber Orchestra and with the Edmonton Symphony under the direction of conductor Alondra de la Parra.
Pius Cheung’s Three Etudes won First Prize in the Classical Marimba League’s 2007 Composition Competition. He joins the percussion faculty at the University of Oregon in 2011.
FUTURE CONCERTS IN WASHINGTON SQUARE
July 26: Music Making by the Masters: Stanley Drucker (formerly first clarinet for the New York Philharmonic for 30 years) and the Festival Chamber Ensemble performing W.A. Mozart’s Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in A major, K.581; Astor Piazzolla’s Four for Tango; Anton Arensky’s String Quartet op 35 in a minor.
Aug 2: The Charles Mingus Orchestra Plays Jazz. Featuring the 10 piece band performing works by the late, great Mingus. Rainspace for all three concerts is St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, 371 Sixth Avenue.
The Washington Square Music Festival is made possible through Margaret Chin and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council for the Arts and NYS Parks and Recreation, through the generosity of Senator Thomas Duane and Assemblymember Deborah Glick. Generous grants from The Earle K. & Katherine F. Moore Foundation, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Washington Square Association, The Margaret Neubart Foundation Trust, New York University Community Affairs, and NYU Community Fund, Con Edison, Salamon-Abrams Family Fund, and Emigrant Savings Bank are deeply appreciated. Partial funding of this program is graciously provided by The Music Performance Trust Fund.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 29, 2011
Contact: Peggy Friedman: info@washingtonsquaremusicfestival.org
SPEND SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT LE POISSON ROUGE TO BENEFIT ?THE WASHINGTON SQUARE MUSIC FESTIVAL: May 22
On Sunday, May 22, 4-7 p.m. a benefit party featuring delicious food, wine, beer and performances by Festival artists celebrates the 53rd anniversary season of the Washington Square Music Festival. The popular music venue, Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, hosts this convivial get-together. Proceeds support the free concerts presented in July and August by the Washington Square Music Festival.
Featured musicians are Leslie Swanson and Kirk Dougherty from The Bronx Opera Company singing works from traditional opera and Broadway show tunes. Music director Lutz Rath, known for his provocative programming, will perform Jon Deak’s The Hound of the Baskervilles for cello and speaker. Remember the Sherlock Holmes tale?
Guests also will enjoy an open wine bar and savories, have a chance at unique door prizes – a complimentary raffle ticket will be handed out at the door. Prizes include three sets of tickets to three important Sanford L. Smith & Associates art fairs for the up-coming NYC season, passes to Le Poisson Rouge events, exotic Pennsylvania beers, and Emily Kies Folpe’s book, It Happened On Washington Square.
Tickets at $200, $150 or $75 with $50 being a special price for music-lovers under 40, will help the Festival present its 53rd season of free classical and jazz concerts Tuesdays at 8 pm July 12, 19, 26 and August 2 in Washington Square Park. The Festival reaches large, diverse audiences who appreciate expert music making in an informal alfresco setting.
Checks, part of which is tax-deductible, should be made out to WASHINGTON SQUARE ASSOCIATION MUSIC FUND and mailed to PO Box 1066, Village Station, New York NY 10014-0706.
For information: (212)-252-3621
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 20, 2011
Contact: Peggy Friedman: info@washingtonsquaremusicfestival.org
WASHINGTON SQUARE MUSIC FESTIVAL OFFERS OPERA AND MORE
Four free concerts Tuesdays at 8 pm in July & August
Music Director Lutz Rath has announced the 53rd season of the Washington Square Music Festival that will take place in the center of the park just south of the end of Fifth Avenue on the Main Stage. All concerts are free. The Festival is under the auspices of the Washington Square Association, Inc. Seating is first come, first served.
WASHINGTON SQUARE MUSIC FESTIVAL’S 53rd SEASON
Tuesdays in July and August 2011 at 8 pm
Rainspace, St. Joseph’s Church, 371 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY
info: 212-252-3621
Washington Square Park, Tuesdays, 8 pm, Main stage, center of Park
July 12: Opera in the Park: Michael Spierman conducting Festival Chamber Orchestra in W.A. Mozart’s The Impresario with soloists from The Bronx Opera Company and Schubert’s Fifth ?Symphony. This is The Bronx Opera’s debut appearance in Washington Square.
July 19: The Joy of Unfamiliar Music: Festival Chamber Ensemble with soloists perform Emmanuel Séjourné’s Concerto for Marimba and strings; Luciano Berio’s Opus Number Zoo, for speaker and wind quintet; Corrado Maria Saglietti’s Suite for Alto Trombone and String Quartet
July 26: Music Making by the Master: Stanley Drucker (formerly first clarinet for the New York Philharmonic for 30 years) and the Festival Chamber Ensemble performing W.A. Mozart’s Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in A major, K.581; Astor Piazzolla’s Four for Tango; Anton Arensky’s String Quartet op 35 in a minor.
Aug 2: The Charles Mingus Orchestra Plays Jazz. Featuring the 10 piece band performing works by the late, great Mingus.
The Washington Square Music Festival is made possible through The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council for the Arts. Generous grants from The Earle K. & Katherine F. Moore Foundation, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Washington Square Association, The Margaret Neubart Foundation Trust, New York University Community Affairs, Salamon-Abrams Family Fund, Con Edison and Emigrant Savings Bank are deeply appreciated. US Recording Companies fund in part the instrumental music for the series, as arranged by Local 802, American Federation of Musicians.