Dear friends,
Welcome to our 2010 season—Spirituality in Music—and to our new website! We’ve tried to convey what Salt Bay Chamberfest is all about: incredible performances of classical music in Maine by some of today’s most brilliant musicians; engaging, thoughtful programs; and our beautiful and dramatic setting in midcoast Maine.
What better way to begin a festival of classical music in Maine on this theme than with actual spirituals? During his visit to the New World, Antonin Dvorak was particularly inspired by Negro Spirituals and by the expressions of gratitude in the music of Native Americans. The Variation String Trio will be joined by pianist Benjamin Hochman and bassist Leigh Mesh for a thrilling season opener that will include Dvorak’s Bass Quintet as well as a Native American-inspired piano quartet, The Green Torso, by living composer Marc Neikrug.
For our second concert, we welcome back the internationally renowned Brentano String Quartet who will be performing Beethoven’s groundbreaking masterpiece, Quartet Op. 131. The program will start with Schumann’s pioneering song cycle, Dichterliebe, performed by baritone Randall Scarlata with Thomas Sauer, piano.
On August 17, we’ll have our very first cantor-in-residence, Elizabeth Shammash, for a program that explores the use of Jewish liturgical and folk music. You’ll hear works such as Kol Nidre sung in their original cantorial form, alongside more modern instrumental settings by composers Max Bruch and Ernest Bloch. Canadian violin virtuoso Jonathan Crow will make his Salt Bay debut in the Shostakovich Piano Trio # 2, complete with Jewish folk music.
Finally, themes of nature, religion, and war will converge in a program that pairs Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, written in a prison camp during World War II, and George Crumb’s Black Angels, written in response to the Vietnam War. This program will feature an incredible group of musicians, including violinist Timothy Fain, violist Nokuthula Ngwenyama, cellist Sophie Shao, and Romie de Guise-Langlois on clarinet. Soprano Lucy Shelton will help us lighten things up with some Weill cabaret songs!
It really doesn’t get much better than this!
We are so fortunate to have such a wealth of talent coming to Salt Bay Chamberfest. We hope you can join us for an exhilarating sixteenth season!
Wilhelmina Smith
Founder, Artistic & Executive Director
SALT BAY CHAMBERFEST 2010 FESTIVAL
Spirituality in Music
Four Festival Concerts: August 10, 13, 17 & 20
Festival Concerts begins at 7:30 pm
Pre-concert lecture at 6:30 pm
Season Subscription $100
Includes admission into four evening concerts and pre-concert lectures
Single Concert Ticket $30 General Admission/$5 Students with valid ID
Includes admission into concert and pre-concert lecture
Festival Concert 1
August 10, 2010
Tuesday at 7:30 pm
Darrows Barn, Round Top Farm in Damariscotta, ME
Pre-concert lecture at 6:30 pm
Traditional Spirituals: I Know the Lord has Laid his Hands on Me; Swing Low Sweet Chariot; I Got a Home in a Dat Rock (arr. Burleigh); Deep River (arr. Burleigh)
Copland American Songs: At the River; Zion’s Walls; Simple Gifts; I Bought Me a Cat
Neikrug The Green Torso Piano Quartet
Dvorak Bass Quintet, Op. 77
Timothy Jones, baritone
Benjamin Hochman, piano
Variation String Trio
Jesse Mills, violin
Leigh Mesh, bass
Festival Concert 2
August 13, 2010
Friday at 7:30 pm
Darrows Barn, Round Top Farm in Damariscotta, ME
Pre-concert lecture at 6:30 pm
Schumann Dichterliebe
Beethoven String Quartet, Op. 131
Randall Scarlata, baritone
Thomas Sauer, piano
Brentano String Quartet
Festival Concert 3
August 17, 2010
Tuesday at 7:30 pm
Darrows Barn, Round Top Farm in Damariscotta, ME
Pre-concert lecture at 6:30 pm
Traditional Kol Nidre
Bruch Kol Nidre
Traditional Kaddish
Ravel, David Stock, Joel Engel Kaddish
Bloch Simchas Torah from Baal Shem
Yeheskel Braun Songs of the Lily and the Dove
Shostakovich Wiegenlied + Warnung from Op. 79 “From Jewish Poetry”
Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 2
Elizabeth Shammash, cantor/mezzo-soprano
Thomas Sauer, piano
Jonathan Crow, violin
Wilhelmina Smith, cello
Festival Concert 4
August 20, 2010
Friday at 7:30 pm
Darrows Barn, Round Top Farm in Damariscotta, ME
Pre-concert lecture at 6:30 pm
George Crumb Black Angels
Schubert Death and the Maiden (song)
Britten Tell me the truth about love [Auden]; The Red Cockatoo [Waley]; Cradle Song [MacNeice]; Calypso [Auden]
Weill Mack the Knife; Alabama Song; Surabaya Johnny [Brecht]
Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time
Lucy Shelton, soprano
Pedja Muzijevic, piano
Tim Fain, Jonathan Crow, violins
Nokuthula Ngwenyama, viola
Sophie Shao, cello
Romie de Guise-Langlois, clarinet
Family Concerts
Salt Bay Chamberfest will offer an interactive and fun family concert
at the Skidompha Public Library in downtown Damariscotta.
Family Concert
August 19, 2010
Friday at 3:00 pm-4:30 pm
Skidompha Public Library in downtown Damariscotta, ME
Violist Nathan Hillman with violinist Teal Vickery will play several duos based on J S Bach 2-Part Inventions, and Teal Vickery will play her viola in the Allegro movement of Johann Christian Bach’s Viola Concerto in C Minor. Their coach is Salt Bay’s visiting performer, Nokuthula Ngwenyama.
The event is open to the public free of charge.