Aston Magna Festival 2010 schedule includes series at three venues, Olin Auditorium at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, The Daniel Arts Center at Simon’s Rock College in Great Barrington, MA, and a new series at the Slosberg Auditorium at Brandeis University, Waltham, MA, under the direction of Artistic Director and violinist Daniel Stepner.
Two workshops will also be offered at Brandeis: Mr. Stepner will offer sessions on Bach’s works for unaccompanied violin to both modern and baroque violinists, June 13-18; and Stephen Hammer, oboe, and Eric Hoeprich, clarinet, will offer sessions on Mozart’s wind instruments, June 20-25. For more information, please consult the Brandeis website, www.brandeis.edu/summer/music.
The Aston Magna Festival will present a summer concert series devoted to music spanning from the early 17th to the late 18th centuries. New this year, the first two programs of the series will be performed at the Slosberg Auditorium at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA, on Thursday evenings, June 17 and 24 with concerts beginning at 8 p.m. All four concerts may be heard on Fridays evenings, June 18 and 25, and July 9 and 16 at 8:00 p.m. in the air-conditioned auditorium of the Olin Humanities Building at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York; and on Saturdays June 19 and 26, and July 10 and 17 at the Daniel Arts Center at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington, MA, at 6 p.m. A pre-concert lecture will be featured one hour before all concerts.
Directions to Aston Magna 2010 summer concerts
On June 17, 18, and 19, Mr. Stepner will take the stage to perform Bach’s three magnificent partitas for solo violin.
For its second concert, to be heard on June 24, 25, and 26, the Festival will fill the air with “Completely Mozart,” a program dedicated to chamber music for winds and strings by the celebrated genius. Works will include the quartet for oboe and strings, K. 370; an arrangement of the magnificent Sinfonia Concertante, K. 364, for string sextet; a movement for basset clarinet and string quartet, recently completed by Robert Levin; and the famous clarinet quintet, K. 581. Mr. Hoeprich will play the basset clarinet on the two final works. Other artists will include Mr. Stepner and Nancy Wilson, classical violins; David Miller and Laura Jeppesen, classical violas; and Loretta O’Sullivan and Guy Fishman, classical cellos. Mr. Hammer will play classical oboe on the first work.
A birthday celebration, of sorts, will honor Giovanni Battista Pergolesi as he marks his 300th year. The concerts on July 9 and 10 will feature the well-known and controversial early Italian comic opera La serva padrona. The cast will include Kristen Watson, soprano, and David Ripley, baritone. The composer’s lesser known chamber cantata Orfeo will also be performed. Also appearing will be Frank Kelley, tenor; Mr. Stepner, and Julie Leven, baroque violins; Ms. Jeppesen, baroque viola; Ms. O’Sullivan, baroque cello; Anne Trout, contrabass; Peter Sykes, harpsichord; and Cathy Liddell, theorbo.
For its final concert, on July 16 and 17, Aston Magna will present a multi-media event focusing on “17th-Century Italian Art and Music”, highlighting the musical context of the painter Artemisia Genelischi (1593-ca.1656). Guest director and theorbist Richard Savino will lead a program of music by Monteverdi, Marini, Frescobaldi, and others with projected artworks by Caravaggio, Gentileschi and others. Featured performers will also include sopranos Jennifer Ellis, Deborah Rentz-Moore, and Nell Snaidas with an ensemble including Mr. Stepner and Julie Leven, violins; Ms. Jeppesen, viola da gamba; and Michael Sponseller, harpsichord.
Tickets to concerts at Slosberg Auditiorium at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA are available directly from Brandeis and can be purchased by visiting go.brandeis.edu/brandeistickets by calling 781-736-3400 or in person at Brandeis University at Shapiro Campus Center, Atrium Box office, 415 South Street, Waltham, MA 02453.
For information or to order tickets to the concerts at the Olin Auditorium, Bard College, Annandale on Hudson, NY, please phone 845-758-7425. Tickets to concerts at The Olin Auditorium at Bard College are not available on-line.
Single tickets for the concerts at Daniel Arts Center are priced at $35. Senior tickets are available in advance for $25. Student rush tickets will be available at the door 30 minutes prior to the concert for $10. Subscriptions to the Daniel Arts Center concerts are available for $65 for two concerts and $120 for all four concerts. Tickets for these concerts only may be ordered by sending a check or money order in a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Aston Magna, P.O. Box 28, Great Barrington, MA 01230 or by ordering online at Aston Magna Festival. For further information, call 413-528-3595. Out of area phone 800-875-7156. Information about these concerts is also available on Aston Magna’s web site.
This season, Aston Magna continues its program to bring more young people to its concerts. Up to two children, ages 6 to 16, may attend the Great Barrington concerts free with each paid adult ticket.
The Aston Magna Festival is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Music from Aston Magna concerts at Bard are made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts.
The Berkshire Fringe Early Stages residency application
The Berkshire Fringe is accepting applications until April 15, 2010 (postmark date) for EarlyStages, its playwriting program for young writers. In the forth year of this unique program, three young writers between the ages of 18 and 26 who either reside or attend college in the Berkshires or surrounding counties, will be chosen from an open application process. All three participants receive a full scholarship to the program. There is a $25 application fee. When admitted in the program participants are required to pay a $100 non-refundable enrollment deposit. All other program costs are covered by a full scholarship. Fees can be waived in the case of economic hardship.
Participants will be supplied room and partial board, complimentary tickets to each Berkshire Fringe performance, and the opportunity to attend the community workshops.
Laura Maria Censabella, Emmy Award-winning writer and professor of playwriting at the New School for Drama, will return to mentor these talented young writers during the intensive two-week residency. The program will be tailored to address the objectives of each participant. Every other day the playwrights will attend a workshop lead by Ms. Censabella. Alternating days will be reserved for writing/developing the scripts.
Each writer will also work with professional director, Keith Bulla, and actors to prepare for a FREE concert reading of their new work at The Berkshire Fringe.