The 36th Annual Rockport Chamber Music Festival concludes in early July with performances by pianist Garrick Ohlsson, The Boston Camerata performing Tristan & Iseult, and artistic director David Deveau performing in ensemble in two stellar, grand farewell performances in his final season.
On Thursday, July 6 at 8 p.m., pianist Garrick Ohlsson performs a program of works by Schubert and Scriabin. Since his triumph as winner of the 1970 International Chopin Piano Competition, pianist Garrick Ohlsson has established himself worldwide as a musician of magisterial interpretive and technical prowess. Long regarded as one of the world’s leading exponents of the music of Frédéric Chopin, Mr. Ohlsson also commands an enormous repertoire of more than 80 concertos, ranging from Haydn and Mozart to works of the 21st century, many commissioned for him. His ten-disc set of the complete Beethoven Sonatas for Bridge Records, has garnered critical acclaim, including a GRAMMY® Award. He won First Prizes at the 1966 Busoni Competition in Italy and the 1968 Montréal Piano Competition, and his 1970 Gold Medal at the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw brought him worldwide recognition as one of the finest pianists of his generation. Mr. Ohlsson was awarded the Avery Fisher Prize in 1994 and received the 1998 University Musical Society Distinguished Artist Award. He is also the 2014 recipient of the Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance from the Northwestern University Bienen School of Music. Mr. Ohlsson’s many recordings include works of Rachmaninoff, all the Brahms piano variations, and the complete works of Chopin. In recognition of the Chopin bicentenary in 2010, Mr. Ohlsson was featured in a documentary “The Art of Chopin.” Tickets: $50-$72
PROGRAM
SCHUBERT: Piano Sonata in A minor, Op.143 (D.784)
SCRIABIN:
Etude, Op. 65, No. 1
Etude in D-flat Major, Op. 8, No. 10
Prelude, Op. 59, No. 2
Poeme, Op. 32, No. 1
Sonata No. 5, Op. 53
SCHUBERT: Sonata in A major, D.959
On Friday, July 7 at 8 p.m., artistic director David Deveau performs with beloved Festival favorites—violinistAndrés Cárdenes and cellist Anne Martindale Williams—for the Festival’s final weekend. This is Deveau’s last Festival as artistic director, so do not miss hearing him perform the dramatic folk-inspired program of works by Haydn, Shostakovich and Dvo?ák. Pianist David Deveau has been critically acclaimed internationally for his expressive and poetic interpretations of solo piano repertoire. He has been heard on four continents in recital, concerti and chamber music, and in recent years has presented the world premieres of works of John Harbison, Peter Child, Scott Wheeler and other significant American composers. He has performed frequently throughout North America and made his debut tour of China in 2005. A music faculty member at MIT since 1988, Deveau has given master classes at the top universities and conservatories in the country. David Deveau’s recently released CD Siegfried Idyll by Steinway Classics received critical and popular acclaim. An intensely passionate and personally charismatic artist, Grammy nominated Andrés Cárdenes has garnered international acclaim from critics and audiences alike for his compelling performances. Since capturing Second Prize in the 1982 Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition, Cárdenes has appeared as a soloist on four continents with over 100 orchestras, collaborating with many of today’s greatest conductors. Cárdenes has served as President of the Jury of the Stradivarius International Violin Competition and on the jury of the Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition. Anne Martindale Williams has enjoyed a successful career as principal cellist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra since 1979. She has often been featured as soloist both in Pittsburgh and on tour in New York at Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall. She has also collaborated with guest artists such as Yehudi Menuhin, André Previn, the Emerson Quartet, Lynn Harrell, Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham and Pinchas Zukerman in numerous chamber music performances. Williams teaches at Carnegie Mellon and Duquesne universities, and performs solo and chamber music in America and overseas. She is a member of the Carnegie Mellon Trio, with Cárdenes, which performs throughout the United States. A Pre-Concert Talk with Dr. Andrew Shryock will be held for all ticketholders at 7 pm. Tickets: $45-$59
PROGRAM
HAYDN: Trio in G major, Gypsy
SHOSTAKOVICH: Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op.67
DVO?ÁK: Dumky Trio, Op.90
Then, on Sunday, July 9 at 5 p.m., the Deveau-Cárdenes-Williams Trio joins with incoming artistic director and violist Barry Shiffman for a grand finale concert to the Rockport Chamber Music Festival performing Beethoven’s Piano Trio in E-flat major, Op. 1, No. 1 and Dvo?ák’s Piano Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 87.
Violinist and violist Barry Shiffman is well-respected as a musician, educator and administrator. He was co-founder of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, and currently serves as both the Associate Dean and Director of Chamber Music at the Glenn Gould School and Dean of the Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. While in SLSQ, Shiffman served as artist-in-residence at Stanford University from 1998 to 2006 and as visiting artist at the University of Toronto from 1995 to 2006. He has also served in numerous roles at the Banff Centre, but will remain in the role as Executive Director of the Banff International String Quartet Competition. Recipient of the Longy School’s Nadia Boulanger Prize for Excellence in the Art of Teaching, he received his formal studies at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto, University of Toronto, Utrecht Conservatory, Hartt School of Music, Juilliard School and Yale University. Tickets: $49-$69
On Saturday, July 8 at 8 p.m., The Boston Camerata, under the direction of artistic director Anne Azema, will performTristan & Iseult: A Medieval Romance in Poetry and Music. The work is based on original medieval sources with texts from Gottfried von Strassburg (ca. 1210) and Thomas de Bretagne (ca. 1155-1160). The cast includes Sumner Thompson (Tristan), Anne Azéma (Iseult the Blonde), Clare McNamara (Brangane), Jason McStoots (King Mark), with Susanne Ansorg (vielle, citole, lauta), Joel Cohen (narration, lauta), Anne Azéma (stage and musical direction) and Peter Torpey (lighting/media design). Currently celebrating its sixty-second anniversary, The Boston Camerata ranks among the world’s oldest and most eminent early music ensembles. Founded in 1954, Camerata has been under the direction of French-born singer and scholar Anne Azéma since 2008. Camerata’s musical performances are well known for their blending of spontaneity and emotional commitment with careful research and scholarship. With its distinguished roster of singers and specialists in early instruments, Camerata produces an annual concert series for audiences in the Greater Boston area and regularly tours in the US and all over the world — most recently two returns to Paris (Théatre de Chaillot and Théatre de la Ville, 2014 and 2015) and a début tour in Brasil (2016). The Camerata’s many recordings (Grand Prix du Disque) as well as its numerous media appearances (two prizes at FIFA Montréal, 2014; one prize at the 2014 Massachusetts Film Festival) and its many museum and educational projects (including a recent Visiting Artist residency at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology), have brought its work to audiences in every continent. For the 2018 production of Tristan and Iseult, Ms. Azéma, in collaboration with brilliant lighting designer Peter Torpey, has imagined an original scenic approach custom-tailored to the possibilities of the Shalin Liu Performance Center. A Pre-Concert Talk with Gillian Hurst will be held for all ticketholders at 7 pm. Tickets: $38-$52
ROCKPORT CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL EDUCATION AND OUTREACH
Lecture-Performance: Stringed Instruments–Everything You Ever Wanted to Know
Thursday, July 6, 2 p.m.
Julius Quartet | David Hawthorne, bowmaker | Karl Dennis, luthier
Learn how instrument and bow makers create their finished pieces. The Julius Quartet will demonstrate the techniques composers have used to get the sounds they desire.
Family Concert: Julius Quartet
Saturday, July 8, 10 a.m.
Pre-Concert Talks
Fridays: June 16, 23, 30, July 7
Saturdays: June 17, 24, July 1, 8
All Education & Outreach events are free, no tickets required.
ADDITIONS/CHANGES TO THE SUMMER SCHEDULE
CANCELLED:Sunday, July 2, 5 p.m.
John Davidson
ADDITIONS:
Thursday, August 17, 8 p.m.
Cyrille Aimée
Tickets: $49, $39, $35
Thursday, August 24, 8 p.m.
Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Tickets: $39, $35, $29
Sunday, August 27, 5 p.m.
Doc Severinsen’s Trumpet Kings
featuring The Byron Stripling Quartet
Tickets: $72, $66, $50
Thursday, August 31, 8 p.m.
Del McCoury
Tickets: $59, $55, $45
Friday, September 1, 8 p.m.
Chelsea Berry
Tickets: $36, $29, $19
Saturday, September 30, 8 p.m.
Cowboy Junkies
Tickets: $59, $55, $45