MUSIC OF OUR TIME
Inaugural festival to take place at Skidmore College
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.» The first- ever Mostly Modern Festival will soon take place in the Spa City, with eight concerts slated for June.
For its launch in June, Mostly Modern Festival, a new summer music festival that flips the traditional programming model by devoting most of its attention to the music of our time, will present eight concerts featuring an illustrious array of guest artists and ensembles, an orchestra largely made up of Mostly Modern Festival Institute ( MMFI) participants, music by esteemed resident composers, and more than 30 brand-new works in world premiere performances by more than 30 Mostly Modern Festival Institute participating composers.
The inaugural event, meant to celebrate the music of our time, is slated for June 8 to 17 at the Arthur Zankel Music Center at Skidmore College campus in Saratoga Springs.
This brand new festival will include orchestra, orchestra with chorus, string quartet, wind quintet, and brass quintet, culminating with a pair of orchestra concerts on June 1 and- 17 that feature two big works by composer Robert Paterson: Whitman’s America for soprano, baritone, chorus, and orchestra, a setting of poems from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass evoking his love of America and its people; and A New Eaarth for orchestra, chorus, and narrator, a work setting poems and quotes from around the world, all relating to the dangers of climate change – a work that Bill McKibben, whose book Eaarth inspired it, called “quite powerful…a very inspiring piece.”
The festival was founded by the husband and wife team of composer Robert Paterson and violinist Victoria Pater
son. The couple lives with their son, Dylan, in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, very close to Times Square. Victoria is currently first violinist for the acclaimed Broadway production of My Fair Lady, and has many Broadway, television, and special event credits – but her, and Rob’s, passion, over the 20 years of their marriage, has been to perform and promote the work of composers working today. Together, they have founded a group, American Modern Ensemble; Victoria founded the Lumiere String Quartet, and Rob has founded Amer- ican Modern Recordings.
The Mostly Modern Festival Institute, a two-week intensive (June 4-18) with a distinguished 27-member faculty, has registered, in addition to the composers, more than 70 instrumentalists and conductors.
In total the first-time fest will feature more than 30 world premieres on new works by Mostly Modern Festival Institute composers.
“These composers are all over the map, and that’s what makes our first season so exciting,” Robert said in a press release. “Victoria and I were thrilled that for our first season, so many musicians placed their faith in us, and trusted that this would be an amazing experience. We wanted to create a contemporary music version of the glorious summer festival experience that is such a classical music tradition, and this just confirms to us that there is a craving to hear sounds that are new and fresh.”
The composers hail from all around the world, from as far away as China and Australia, and represent more than 20 different states, robert added. “These composers represent a wide range of styles, everything
from neo-Romanticism and post-minimalism, to new complexity, and everything in between.”
Ensembles on the bill include American Modern Ensemble, American Modern Orchestra, Imani Winds, Atlantic Brass Quintet, Euclid Quartet, and Albany Pro Musica Masterworks Chorus.
Concert guest artists include Larry Pine, narrator; Caitlin Lynch, soprano; and Chad Sloan, baritone.
Featured conductors, also on the faculty, are Alan Pierson, Christopher Rountree, and Kent Tritle.
Composers on the faculty are Robert Beaser, David Del Tredici, Hannah Lash, Robert Paterson, and Stephen Cabell, who will also be the composition pro-
gram coordinator.
Tickets to the 2018 Mostly Modern Festival events cost $20 each or $10 for students, and are available at the Skidmore College online tickets page.
AMostly Modern Festival “Insider Pass,” $120 each, includes admission to all performances and includes free admission to the opening and closing night parties on June 7 and June 17. Insider Half Passes are also available for $60 each, for those who can’t stay for the entire festival.