MANCHESTER — Taconic Music’s 7th Annual Summer Festival will take place from June 12 through July 10 at the Riley Center for the Arts at Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester.
Taconic Music’s artistic directors, violinist Joana Genova and violist and conductor Ariel Rudiakov, will be joined by other renowned teaching and performing musicians from across the U.S. and abroad to present colorful works from Germany, Austria, France, Mexico, Poland, Czechia, Hungary, Argentina and the United States, featuring music by contemporary and lesser-known historical composers alongside some traditional favorites.
Four weekly concerts by faculty and guest artists will take place on Thursdays June 15, 22, 29 and July 6 at 7:30 p.m. The June 15 opening concert starts with Mendelssohn’s youthful Symphony for Strings No. 6, performed by Young Artists and faculty and conducted by Rudiakov. Violinists Heather Braun and Genova, Rudiakov, and cellist Tom Landschoot will dive into Grażyna Bacewicz’s electrifying String Quartet No.3 and will be joined by pianist Davide Cabassi to end the evening with Dohnányi’s lush, romantic Piano Quintet No. 1.
Van Cliburn Competition prize-winning Italian pianist Davide Cabassi will open the second concert on June 22 with Chopin’s Scherzo, Op. 20. Guitarist Oren Fader will be featured as a special guest with Eduardo Angulo’s breezy, lighthearted Paseos for guitar and strings. Genova, Rudiakov, Landschoot and Cabassi will join forces in Brahms’ Piano Quartet in G Minor, op. 25 for the finale.
The June 29 concert will bring an array of guests to the stage. Saint-Saëns’ popular Septet op.65 will feature Wayne du Maine, trumpet, Robert Fertitta, piano, Tim Kantor, violin, and Troy Rinker, double bass, joined by Taconic Music faculty Genova, Rudiakov, and Hannah Holman, cello. The critically acclaimed Zzyzx Quartet will perform works by Pierné, Maslanka, Piazzolla and others. Comprising soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone sax, the group has been lauded as “a superb ensemble with impeccable musical taste.”
The final concert on July 6 opens with Beethoven’s exuberant Piano Trio no.1 performed by Genova, Holman and pianist David Deveau. Genova and Holman, along with Rudiakov and Braun, will perform Sato Matsui’s Vermont premiere of Kagura for string quartet, inspired by a ceremonial Japanese form of dance and music. Violist Amadi Azikiwe will join his colleagues on stage for Dvořák’s melodious String Quintet in E-flat Major, for an uplifting and charming end to the faculty concerts.
Young Artists concerts, performed by members of Taconic’s Chamber Music Intensive (CMI) will take place at 7 p.m. on Mondays June 26 and July 10. The CMI program brings nine gifted, college-age musicians from across the country to spend four weeks immersed in traditional and contemporary chamber music repertoire. In addition to the Faculty and Young Artists concerts, there will be masterclasses, special events and outreach programs.
For more information and to reserve tickets, or season passes, visit taconicmusic.org.
