Download Rockport Chamber Music Festival Brings Ridenour

David Deveau, Artistic Director, Rockport Chamber Music Festival
CONTACT:
Karen Herlitz, Director of Marketing
[email protected]
Phone: 978-546-7391, Ext. 110
DATE: May 10, 2016
The 35th Annual Rockport Chamber Music Festival Continues with trumpeter
Brandon Ridenour, cellist Ben Capps and a Coffeehouse Opera
The 35th Annual Rockport Chamber Music Festival continues on Friday, June 10 at 8 pm, with trumpeter Brandon
Ridenour and pianist Naomi Kudo performing a French-American program. A virtuoso trumpeter, pianist, and
composer/arranger, Ridenour transcends boundaries to chart his own artistic course. His wide-ranging activities as a
soloist and chamber musician paired with his passion for composing and arranging are manifested in his versatile
performances and unique repertoire. In 2006, at the age of twenty, Brandon became the youngest member ever to join
the iconic Canadian Brass, a position he held for seven years. While with the group, he played in distinguished venues
around the world, performed on television, recorded ten albums, and received two Juno Award nominations. He has
appeared as a concerto soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Indianapolis,
Jacksonville, and Edmonton Symphony Orchestras, as well as played with leading ensembles like the New York
Philharmonic. Brandon also plays with New York City based ensembles, Decoda and Novus, as well as his newest project
entitled USEFUL chamber. He is the winner of the 2014 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, the 2006
International Trumpet Guild solo competition, and a recipient of the Morton Gould ASCAP Young Composer Award. He
has recorded three solo albums; his latest release, Fantasies and Fairy Tales, features his own virtuosic arrangements for
trumpet and piano. A graduate of The Juilliard School and an alumnus of The Academy, Brandon began playing piano at
the age of 5 under the tutelage of his father, Rich Ridenour, with whom he still performs frequently. Hailed by critics as
"an extraordinary pianist who promises to become a legend in this new century," pianist Naomi Kudo has been
captivating audiences as recitalist, soloist and chamber musician. Kudo has found great success in competitions
including the silver medal at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and 2nd Prize at last year’s National
Chopin Competition, as well as being a consecutive winner of two Gina Bachauer International Piano Competitions. In
2008, she received the Gilmore Young Artist Award. She studied with Yoheved Kaplinsky and Joseph Kalichstein at the
Juilliard School, with Richard Goode at the Mannes College of Music, and with Gilbert Kalish at Stony Brook University. A
Prelude Supper will be held prior to the concert at 5:45 pm (Tickets: $35), led by Artistic Director David Deveau, with a
guest artist. A Pre-Concert Talk will be led by Dr. Elizabeth Seitz at 7 pm (free to all ticketholders). Concert Tickets: $19$36
PROGRAM: France and America
HONEGGER: Intrada
DEBUSSY: Preludes
Bruyeres
La Danse de Puck
La fille aux cheveux de lin
MESSIAEN: Vocalise
BARBER: “Fugue” from Piano Sonata*
ENESCU: Légende
RIDENOUR: Scherzo
GERSHWIN: Three Preludes
Allegro ben ritmato e deciso
Andante con moto
Allegro ben ritmato e deciso
RAVEL: Piece en forma de Habanera, M. 51
DEBUSSY: Preludes
La Puerta del Vino
Des pas sur le neige
Minstrels
COPLAND: The Cat and Mouse*
BERNSTEIN: Rondo for Lifey
DEL STAIGERS: The Carnival of Venice
*Piano Solo
On Saturday, June 11, at 8 pm, cellist Ben Capps and pianist Vassily Primakov perform a program of Britten, Strauss,
Schumann and Franck in the Rockport Chamber Music Festival. Exciting young American cellist Ben Capps enjoys a
versatile performing career as a soloist and chamber musician. His artistry has been praised as “most appealing” by the
New York Times and the Holland Times. He has performed at the greatest halls in the country, including Carnegie Hall,
Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. His solo orchestral performances
have included the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, the New York Concerti Sinfonietta, the Manchester Music
Festival Orchestra, among others. In 2014 Ben Capps’ CD Ossia, music of Bach, Schumann and Fitzenhagen, was
released by LP Classics. Capps other recordings include two discs of music for solo cello by contemporary composer
Andrew Violette and a collaborative cello and electronics piece by Anna Clyne called “Fits & Starts” which was featured
for a week on WQXR in New York. At age 21, Capps was appointed principal cellist of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the
Americas, a dynamic New York based symphony orchestra founded by conductor Alondra de la Parra. Vassily Primakov
has been hailed as a pianist of world-class importance. While a student at Juilliard, Primakov won the William Petschek
Piano Recital Award the Silver Medal and the Audience Prize in the 2002 Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano
Competition, as well as First Prize in the Young Concert Artists (YCA) International Auditions. In 2007 he was named the
Classical Recording Foundation’s “Young Artist of the Year” and his Chopin Mazurkas recording was named “Best of the
Year” by National Public Radio. In 2011, Primakov, along with his duo partner Natalia Lavrova, he established a new and
vibrant record company, L.P. Classics, Inc. and their first release was Anton Arensky: Four Suites for Two Pianos. Most
recently, they released Primakov’s Live in Concert album with works by Medtner, Schumann, Brahms, and Ravel. Vassily
Primakov is a Yamaha Artist. A Pre-Concert Talk led by Dr. Elizabeth Seitz will be held at 7 pm (free to all ticketholders).
Concert Tickets: $19-$36
PROGRAM
BRITTEN: Solo cello suite, No.1, Op. 72
STRAUSS: Sonata in F major, Op.6
SCHUMANN: Violin Sonata in A minor, Op. 105 (arr. for cello by Capps)
FRANCK: Sonata in A major (arr. for cello)
Sunday, June 12 at 5 pm brings Othello in the Seraglio: The Tragedy of Sümbül the Black Eunuch. A uniquely powerful
coffeehouse opera, Othello tells an age-old story of passionate love and murderous jealousy. Sümbül, a black slave in the
17th century Ottoman Court, rises to power and riches, only to come to a tragic end. The opera is performed on
European period instruments and traditional Turkish instruments by an ensemble of 12 instrumentalists, singers and a
storyteller. The story focuses on Othello in the Seraglio and is scaled to the intimate, informal setting of a coffeehouse in
seventeenth century Istanbul (Constantinople). The storyteller spins out a well-known tale, a historically-based legend of
love and jealousy, intensified by the crossing of boundaries between the free and the enslaved, white and black, Muslim
and non-Muslim, East and West. The opera intertwines three different tales, including The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor
of Venice by William Shakespeare, Un Capitano Moro (A Moorish Captain) by Giovanbattista Giraldi (Cinzio),
and Kızlarağası’nın Piçi (The Bastard of the Chief Black Eunuch) by Reşad Ekrem Koçu. The multi-layered script is by New
England Conservatory music historian Robert Labaree, and the score is by Boston composer and Grammy
nominee Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol. This story weaves together Italian Baroque and Turkish sources with his own newlycomposed music into a tapestry of uncanny beauty. You have never heard anything like this before – because nothing
like it has existed until now. Directed by Brian Fairley. A post-concert talk will be led by Mehmet Ali Sanlikol and Robert
Labaree. Tickets: $19-$36
Unless otherwise indicated, all concerts and events are held at the Shalin Liu Performance Center, 37 Main Street,
Rockport, Massachusetts 01966. For tickets or more information, visit our website at www.rockportmusic.org or call
978.546.7391.
ABOUT ROCKPORT MUSIC
Founded in 1981 as the Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Rockport Music presents exceptional concerts and cultural
events in the “stunning acoustics and dramatic setting” (Boston Globe) of the Shalin Liu Performance Center. Best known
for its summer chamber music festival featuring some of the world’s finest ensembles and soloists, Rockport Music has
expanded its offerings to include year-round presentations of jazz, folk, pop, and world music, high-definition broadcasts
from the Metropolitan Opera and National Theatre (London), and special film presentations. Education and community
outreach activities serve nearly 10,000 students and adults throughout Cape Ann and the North
Shore annually. Rockport Music is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and is supported in part by
the Massachusetts Cultural Council.