VIDEO: Look TV Interview

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We recently sat down with Jesse Jackson of Look TV to discuss the final 2 concerts of our 10th anniversary season. We’re looking forward to Romantic Russians on July 25 and Planet Earth: Islands on August 8. Both concerts are at Crandall Public Library, 7 pm. Admission to all events is free.

 

VIDEO: Masterwork Conversations

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We’re thrilled that the Masterwork Conversations piano duo will be kicking off our 10th anniversary season! Using a unique open conversation recital format, their program Gypsy Fire will explore the influence of Roma folk music on composers Brahms and Liszt. Join us for their free concert at Crandall Public Library in Glens Falls on July 11 at 7 pm.

 

 

 

VIDEO: Interview with Christopher and Carol

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We recently visited Look TV studios for a conversation about our final two performances of the season. Our next free concert on July 26th features a world premiere by composer Emiliano Pardo-Tristán. This new work was co-commissioned by Summerland and Crandall Public Library in celebration of the library’s 125th anniversary, and made possible by funding from the Touba Family Foundation. Inspired by the folk music of his native Panama, Pardo-Tristán scored Bujeo for clarinet, cello and piano. It will be premiered by Summerland Directors Christopher Bush and Carol Minor along with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra cellist Charlie Powers. Check out the video and our Concerts page for more information on what is sure to be an unforgettable evening!

Guest Artist Spotlight: Cabrini Trio

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In less than a week, Summerland’s 2018 season kicks off with two performances by the Cabrini Trio. The combination of clarinet, bassoon and piano is already somewhat of a rarity in chamber music. This group takes their unusual instrumentation a step further, as bassoonist and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra member Gina Cuffari is also a talented soprano. Their free 7 pm performance on July 12 at Crandall Public Library in Glens Falls will feature music of German masters Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Weber as well as cabaret songs by Weill for various combinations of the three instruments and voice.

 

On July 13 at 10 am, the Cabrini Trio returns to Crandall Public Library for Let’s Dance. This interactive, family-friendly performance will feature international dance rhythms from the minuet to the Charleston. Bring your dancing shoes as audience members will be encouraged to show off their moves! This event is recommended for ages 5 and up and will include a Q&A session.

In my last post, you met clarinetist Nuno Antunes in a video produced by the Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library. Below, read about the impressive careers of all three Cabrini Trio members. We’re thrilled to bring these elite musicians to Glens Falls!

Nuno AntunesNuno Antunes, clarinet

Born in Portugal, clarinetist Nuno Antunes performs extensively with a variety of ensembles in and around New York City. Nuno is currently a member of Sylvan Winds, IRIS Orchestra and acting Principal Clarinetist with Opera Saratoga. He is a frequent collaborator with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra and Springfield Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Westchester Philharmonic, Miami Symphony Orchestra and New York City Opera. He played clarinet and bass clarinet for the Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof, and has been a substitute clarinetist for the productions of The King and I, Sunset Boulevard and Sweeney Todd. Nuno has appeared as a soloist with the Miami Symphony Orchestra, performing Strauss’s Duett Concertino for Clarinet, Bassoon and Orchestra. Other solo performances include Mozart’s Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra and Lutoslawski’s Dance Preludes. He was invited to present a recital at the XX Lisbon International Clarinet Meeting. Nuno holds degrees from Manhattan School of Music and Academia Nacional Superior de Orquestra.

Gina CuffariGina Cuffari, bassoon/soprano

Bassoonist Gina Cuffari is a versatile musician who performs with many orchestras and chamber ensembles in the New York City area. Praised for her “sound that is by turns sensuous, lyric, and fast moving” (Palm Beach Daily News), she is thrilled to become the newest member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, as Co-Principal Bassoonist. A frequent performer with the group for many years, she has had multiple appearances in Carnegie Hall, and has toured with the ensemble throughout the US, Europe and Japan. Gina is also a member of the Lincoln Center-based Riverside Symphony, and is a regular performer with the Westchester Philharmonic, American Composers Orchestra, and Iris Orchestra in Germantown, TN.  In addition, she has made several appearances with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, American Ballet Theater, Stamford Symphony and New Haven Symphony. On Broadway, she has performed in several productions, including Fiddler on the Roof, Sunset Boulevard and My Fair Lady.

As a chamber musician, Gina is a member of the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, Sylvan Winds, and Quintet of the Americas. She frequently collaborates with the Exponential Ensemble, and has performed with the renown California-based Camerata Pacifica. She has serenaded diners in NYC restaurants as part of the Tertulia ensemble, and has played live music with silent films at Lincoln Center as part of the BQE Ensemble. A founding member of the Scarborough Trio (a flute, bassoon, and piano ensemble), she has performed extensively throughout the US, and has garnered top prizes at the Fischoff, Yellow Springs, and Artists International Competitions – resulting in her professional debut at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall. Gina is excited to be featured with the Boston-based Walden Chamber Players throughout the 2018-19 season.

A proponent of new and contemporary music, Gina has appeared with the Argento New Music Project, ACME, and has recorded the Schoenberg Wind Quintet and Stockhausen Zeitmasse for Albany Records with the Phoenix Ensemble. As a frequent collaborator with Alarm Will Sound, Gina has toured and performed with the group as bassoonist, contrabassoonist, pianist, and vocalist, and can be heard on their recent Splitting Adams album (music of John Adams).  Gina has premiered new works written for her two quintets, Sylvan Winds and Quintet of the Americas, and has commissioned and premiered solo works combining her two passions – bassoon and voice –  at SubCulture NYC and Stony Brook University.

Gina is a passionate educator, and is on faculty at both New York University and Western Connecticut State University. She teaches lessons, coaches chamber music, and teaches classes including Reed Making, Bassoon Pedagogy, and Music History and Appreciation.  She spends her summers teaching at NYU’s Summer Woodwind Institute.

Gina is a graduate of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Manhattan School of Music, and recently completed her Doctorate of Musical Arts at Stony Brook University.  She is grateful for her incredible teachers throughout the years – Kathy Reynolds, William Winstead and Frank Morelli.

Vlada YanevaVlada Yaneva, piano

Vlada was born in Bulgaria to a family of a puppetry director and an engineer. She grew up with two older siblings, a big collie dog and lots of small animals (hedgehogs, rabbits, and the occasional rooster) in their apartment in the capital, Sofia. She started playing the piano in kindergarten and went on to study at the National School of Music and then at the Pantcho Vladigerov Conservatory.  Later she graduated from the Manhattan School of Music in NYCfrom the studio of Nina Svetlanova.

Music has taken Vlada on stages in Italy, France, Finland, Bulgaria, Greece, England and the United States. In NYC she has performed at Weill recital hall at Carnegie hall, Steinway hall, Yamaha hall, Trinity Church, Scandinavian House, St.John the Divine, Barge museum, Bulgarian Consulate and many more. She is the co-founder and piano duo partner of the Masterwork Conversations series where alongside husband Matthew Harrison she presents interactive storytelling concerts.

Ms. Yaneva cherishes the opportunity to share her passion for music and the arts through teaching. In March 2007 she became a team leader of the first Children’s Music Social Project at the New York Cares organization working with kids in transitional shelters for two years. Later in 2011 she joined the New Victory Teaching artist ensemble and continues to work currently with students from New York public schools. She also holds her private teaching piano studio in the city for the last sixteen years.

 

Why Does Classical Music Matter?

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I recently attended a Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center concert featuring the Israeli pianist Inon Barnatan. The program opened with Beethoven’s Piano Trio in C Minor, Op. 1, No. 3. The piece is one of Beethoven’s first published works; I’ve studied and played it many times. I sat back to enjoy the performers’ command of the music. Barnatan frequently acted as a master of ceremonies, deftly exchanging melody lines in conversation with the violin and cello and signaling unexpected harmonic shifts.

It’s astonishing that music written hundreds of years ago still occupies a revered place in our modern culture. Although the most famous composers have been dead for centuries, even casual listeners glean an understanding of their distinctive personalities: the prismatic organization of Bach, the mischievous humor of Mozart, the tempestuous humanity of Beethoven. Classical music continues to forge emotional connections with new audiences, a fact that Barnatan discusses in this interview:

Barnatan also mentions the fact that in addition to the richness of the traditional classical music canon, new works are constantly being added to the repertoire. On July 26, in celebration of Crandall Public Library’s 125th anniversary, Summerland Music Society will present the world premiere of a new work, Bujeo by Emiliano Pardo Tristán. Based on the Panamanian folkloric tradition of yodeling, this trio for clarinet, cello and piano promises to be one of the highlights of our 2018 season.

Please join us this summer to discover how classical music will connect with you.

Summerland Music Society

Summerland Music Society