The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
String quartet, pianist perform this weekend
FALLS VILLAGE >> Music Mountain, America’s oldest continuing summer chamber music festival, continues its blockbuster 87th Anniversary Season with Arianna String Quartet with guest artists Francine Kay, piano and Raman Ramakrishnan, Cello performing Beethoven and a premiere work by Kevin Puts on Sunday, Aug. 28. Gordon Hall welcomes the young Cantata Profana with guest artist Jonathan Yates, piano offering a special program of Ravel, Schubert, and Schoenberg on Saturday, Aug. 27.
Cantata Profana returns for their second performance this summer with guest artist Jona-
than Yates, Piano. Saturday evenings program will feature the Music Mountain premieres of Ravel: Chansons madécasses and Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire, Opus 21. The program will also include Schubert: Shepherd on the Rock, D. 965. This is an all too rare performance of Pierrot Lunaire, a monumental work and one of the true masterpieces of the 20th Century.
As a vocal and instrumental chamber ensemble, Cantata Profana brings a wide range of baroque and contemporary music to its uniquely narrative programming style. The group of adventurous young instrumentalists and singers is devoted to new music, old music, and vocal music alike, presenting an almost gluttonous range of music each season. This 9-member ensemble is sure to bring inspiration to audiences of all ages.
Jonathan Yates, pianist, is the fourth Musical Director of Music Mountain in its 87-year history. He is also Music Director of both the Norwalk Symphony Orchestra and the Norwalk Youth Symphony. He has collaborated with many of the country’s most respected musicians, including Midori, Kim Kashkashian, David Finckel, Gilbert Kalish, Ida Kavafian, Colin Carr, Paul Neubauer, Joseph Lin, and Anthony McGill. Yates made his professional orchestral conducting debut at 23, leading the National Symphony Orchestra in a Millennium Stages Concert, and made his Carnegie Hall debut (Stern Auditorium) as a pianist in the following year. He has also served on the faculty of Sarah Lawrence College.
The music continues Sunday afternoon with Arianna String Quartet with guest artists Francine Kay, Piano and Raman Ramakrishnan, Cello. The program will feature Beethoven: Piano Quartet in E Flat Major, Opus 16; Beethoven: Cello Quintet in A Major, Opus 47 “Kreutzer” (Transcribed from the Beethoven Violin/Piano Sonata, Opus 47); and Kevin Puts: Credo – a Music Mountain premiere!
Hailed for their outstanding musicianship, the Arianna String Quartet has firmly established itself as one of America’s finest chamber ensembles. Their performances have been praised by the Chicago Tribune for “tonal warmth, fastidious balance…expressive vitality.” The ensemble has appeared throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia, with frequent visits to Brazil and South Africa. Sought after for their highly effective approach to coaching and teaching as a quartet, the Arianna String Quartet has led the design and implementation of numerous chamber music programs.
Noted for innately original and artistic interpretations, Canadian pianist Francine Kay has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe, North America and Asia; and her recordings of piano works have received international acclaim. Kay is currently a lecturer on Faculty at Princeton University.
Cellist Raman Ramakrishnan was a founding member of the Daedalus Quartet. During his eleven years with the quartet, he performed coast-to-coast in the United States and Canada, in Japan, Hong Kong, and Panama, and across Europe. In 2011, he formed the Horszowski Trio with violinist Jesse Mills and pianist Rieko Aizawa. Ramakrishnan joined the Bard Conservatory faculty in the fall of 2012.
Music Mountain is located in Falls Village, Connecticut on Music Mountain Road, where a short scenic drive will bring you to Gordon Hall atop Music Mountain. Free parking and picnic facilities are available. Food, locally baked cookies and brownies, coffee, tea, lemonade, and spring water are available for purchase.
Music Mountain is supported, in part, by the Connecticut Commission On Culture & Tourism.
Chamber music concerts continue with Shanghai String Quartet with Jonathan Yates, piano (Sept. 3), Shanghai String Quartet with Gilbert Kalish, piano and Jonathan Yates, piano (Sept. 4), and Amernet String Quartet with Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet (Sept. 11). The Saturday Evening Twilight Series concludes with Jive By Five (Sept. 10).
For a schedule, special ticket prices, and to download a ticket order form visit www.musicmountain. org or call 860-824-7126.