FiNE ART - Rapid River Magazine

R A P I D R I V E R A R T S & C U L T U R E M A G A Z I N E
COVER STORY
Swannanoa Chamber Music Festival Presents
the Degas String Quartet
The Swannanoa Chamber Music
Festival is happy to announce
the return of the Degas String
Quartet for the 2008 season. The
“Degas” made an immediate connection
to the audiences both on
and off the stage last summer.
This year they will be bringing two
new and permanent violinists with them.
Emily Popham and Timothy Peters are
both well-known in musician circles.
People who have heard the Quartet
recently say that this new configuration is
a great matchup. Simon Ertz, the Quartet
violist says “It is good to be returning to
this unique festival, the audiences are
enthusiastic, the camaraderie between the
musicians is great, and the mountains are
beautiful. I am looking forward to seeing
many of the people I met last summer.”
Inessa Zaretsky, a prize winning
pianist and composer will join the Festival
again for her tenth season. Inessa has become
an audience favorite over the years
for her strong, effortless performances,
and also her compositions that have been
performed at the Festival. She teaches at
the Mannes School of Music and maintains
a busy performing schedule in NYC.
Inessa says “What a wonderful place to
make music! Warren Wilson College has
such a beautiful campus, and making music
with these musicians who gather here
year after year is a treat.” Everyone feels
the same about Inessa.
The Festival runs for five weeks,
beginning on June 22. Concerts will
be in Waynesville, Hendersonville and
at Warren Wilson College. Frank Ell,
Director, selects pieces for each program
that complement each other and allow
you to hear each of them in a new light.
Each piece has a different instrumentation
and comes from a different musical
period. Various combinations of strings,
woodwinds and piano are used to bring
a variety of musical colors to each concert.
People who don’t usually enjoy an
entire evening of piano trios or string
quartets particularly enjoy the variety of
these concerts.
This Season’s Repertoire
Program I
Quartet in D minor, Mozart
Trio in Bb Major, Beethoven
Piano Quintet in A, Dvorak
• Sunday, June 22, 7:30 p.m.,
Performing Arts Center
• Monday, June 23, 8:00 p.m.,
Patton Auditorium
• Tuesday, June 24, 8:00 p.m.
Kittredge Theatre
What better way to start the season
than with a Mozart String Quartet.
This is one of the finest string quartets
he wrote and the Degas String Quartet
promises to give us a great reading.
Next we have a young Beethoven piece
for clarinet, cello and piano. Already
you hear the rambunctious, rhythmical
Beethovn leaving the influence of
Mozart. The concert ends with the rich,
melodic Piano Quintet by Dvorak. You
will be singing the melodies in your head
for days.
Program II
Fantaisie for Flute and Piano, Faure
Sextet for Piano and Winds, Poulenc
Quartet No. 2, Opus 17, Bartok
• Sunday, June 29, 7:30 p.m.,
Performing Arts Center
• Monday, June 30, 8:00 p.m.,
Patton Auditorium
• Tuesday, July 1, 8:00 p.m.
Kittredge Theatre
The program begins with a virtuoso
flute piece performed by our new flutist
George Pope. It is a romantic tour de
force. The Poulenc sextet is witty and
urbane, a reaction to the excesses of the
romantic period. Poulenc is at his best
here. Last we have a Bartok String Quartet.
In this, his most accessible, we hear
the Hungarian folk tunes, rhythms and
visceral quality of the mountain music.
Exciting is the word.
Program III
Notturno Concertante, Dussek
Kleine Kammermusik, Hindemith
Piano Quartet No. 3, Brahms
• Sunday, July 6, 7:30 p.m.,
Performing Arts Center
• Monday, July 7, 8:00 p.m.,
Patton Auditorium
• Tuesday, July 8, 8:00 p.m.
Kittredge Theatre
Notturno Concertante is for violin,
horn and piano. This “night” piece is the
first time we have performed Dussek
at the Festival. Hindemith has written
a masterful woodwind quintet, “a little
chamber music”. Hindemith’s writing is
very clear, with a strong sense of musical
direction. It is a perfect foil to the
Brahms. Little has to be said of Brahms.
His Piano Quartet has a thoughtful richness
that is incomparable.
Program IV
Konzert in D Minor, Telemann
World Premiere, Newman
Quartet in G Minor, Debussy
• Sunday, July 13, 7:30 p.m.,
Performing Arts Center
• Monday, July 14, 8:00 p.m.,
Patton Auditorium
• Tuesday, July 15, 8:00 p.m.
Kittredge Theatre
Richard Illman, trumpet virtuoso
joins us for this concert. The Telemann
features a piccolo trumpet. How high can
a trumpet play? Next composer Ronald
Newman brings piece written especially
for the Festival. Look for something
original, with a jazz element, and enjoyable
to listen to. After the Newman
your attention will be drawn to the jazz
elements in the incomparable Debussy
String Quartet.
Program V
Serenata in Vano, Nielsen
Octet in F Major, Schubert
• Sunday, July 21, 7:30 p.m.,
Performing Arts Center
• Monday, July 22, 8:00 p.m.,
Patton Auditorium
• Tuesday, July 23, 8:00 p.m.
Kittredge Theatre
We close the season with two pieces
that we have not presented for a number
of years. Nielsen’s “Serenade in Vain” is
program music about a group of musicians
who help out a friend by serenading
his amour. The title tells the whole story.
The Schubert Octet is perhaps one of the
greatest works written for a combination
of strings and winds. This is great way to
bring the 2008 season to a close.
For those of you who’d like to know
more about the music being performed,
and get to know the musicians better,
there will be a series of Lecture/Demonstrations
each Thursday night at 7:30
in the Music Building at Warren Wilson
College. The players bring the composers
and their pieces alive, talking about
and playing important aspects of each
composition. Lectures will be held on the
following Thursday nights this summer:
June 19 and 26; July 3, 10 and 17. They
are free and open to the public.
If you go
Locations: Performing Arts Center,
Waynesville, (828) 452-0593
Patton Auditorium, Blue Ridge
Community College, Hendersonville
(828) 890-4411
Kittredge Theatre, Warren Wilson
College, Asheville-Buncombe County
(828) 771-3050
Ticket Information:
Series Tickets: $70 for all 5 performances
Single Tickets: $19 each
Students age 25 and younger admitted
free. All tickets are on sale at the box office
Vol. 11, No. 10 — Rapid River ArtS & CULTURE Magazine — June 2008