'Charles Ives Concert Series Announces August Lineup'
The Charles Ives Concert Series will return to the greater Danbury area this August for its annual set of four concerts, featuring world-class musicians performing the music of Ives, his legacy - today's American music, and music that transcends the traditional boundaries of classical music. Presented by the Danbury Music Centre, the series is led by Paul Frucht, who serves as the artistic director and Jonathan Cziner, the associate artistic director. The four concerts feature Ives Series Guest Artists and Artist-Faculty, who are some of the most exciting emerging artists in American concert music and who are recent graduates of Juilliard and several of the country's other major conservatories. Each August, the Ives Series occurs concurrently with its educational partner program, the Chamber Music Intensive, which invites local aspiring musicians to perform and rehearse with artist-faculty throughout the week.
The week begins on Sunday, August 4th at 3:00 PM at a private home in Ridgefield with a concert titled 'Greatest Hits!' featuring some of the Artist-Faculty's favorite and most cherished music. Doors open at 3 PM for ice cream and refreshments with music starting at 4:00. The program features iconic works by Ravel and Tchaikovsky - 'Blues' from the G Major Violin Sonata performed by violinist Chelsea Starbuck Smith and the final movement of Souvenir de Florence, respectively - as well a work for cello and piano by Thomas Ades, and a solo cello piece by 2013 Pulitzer Prize Winner Caroline Shaw performed by cello artist-faculty, Ariana Nelson (Houston Grand Opera Orchestra). The program also includes a new flute and piano work by associate artistic director Jon Cziner to be premiered by Katie Althen, who joins the Ives Series as an artist-faculty for the first time this summer, and a string quartet by violinist George Meyer, who returns this summer as a violin artist-faculty. Ravel's famous four hands piano work, Mother Goose Suite, rounds out the program and will be performed by CMI participant Lorelai Lee Swanek who is the winner of the annual CMI Piano Competition, and Mika Sasaki, who returns for her third summer as piano artist-faculty. The concert is open to the public, but interested attendees must RSVP here for the location/details. Viola Artist-Faculty Molly Goldman, Jacob Shack (Baltimore Symphony), and Caeli Smith, as well as cellist Mitch Lyon and pianist George Fu, will also be featured.
On August 7th at 7:00 PM, the Ives Series collaborates with CityCenter Danbury for an evening of music on the Danbury Downtown Green, featuring the return of 'rockstar' violinist Charles Yang and award-winning pianist Peter Dugan performing everything from Ravel to the Beatles. Opening for Yang and Dugan will be the CMI Concerto Competition winners, Dylan Costa and Emma Dawson, DMC Summer Fellows, Juliana Chetcuti and Lauren Tsai, as well as other CMI Participants, and Ives Series-Artist-Faculty.
The Ives Series continues on August 8th at 7:30 PM at the Marian Anderson Recital Hall at the Danbury Music Centre for a concert entitled 'Celestial Mechanics,' built around George Crumb's famous work, Celestial Mechanics, a four-hands piano work from which selections will be performed by pianists Mika Sasaki and George Fu. Unlike any other four-hands work, the piece physically alters the sound of the piano to create a truly unique sound world that is not to be missed. Complementing that work will be others that thematically deal with ascent and/or descent into the heavens, an iconic artistic and musical idea. The concert begins with its 2019 third annual call for scores winner, Hannah Lipton, and also includes works by Jared Miller, Augusta Read Thomas, Frucht and Cziner, as well as Robert Paterson, who is the Charles Ives Concert Series 2019 composer-in-residence. In addition to hearing performances of his works, he will work with participants composers at CMI during his time in Danbury, providing them with feedback on their work and presenting his own. Guest Artists for this concert include Metropolitan Opera Orchestra Principal Clarinet, Anton Rist.
The Series closes on August 10th at 7:30 PM with a collaboration between the Charles Ives Concert Series and the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra at the Ridgefield Playhouse. Ives Series Artist-Faculty and Guest Artists, led by RSO Music Director, Yuga Cohler, will perform a program titled 'Transfiguration,' featuring works that transform a traditional musical idea in a new and interesting way or that transform non-musical ideas and sounds. Cohler will conduct works by Frucht, Paterson, Will Healy, and Gabriella Smith, whose piece transforms Bach. Additionally, artist-faculty will perform works by Unsuk Chin, David T. Little, whose work is based on Ives, and Carlos Simon, an emerging American composer whose work is inspired by an Oprah quote. Alice Ivy-Pemberton, Katherine Liu, and Robyn Quinnett join the Ives Series as guest artists for this concert.
Ives Series Artist-Faculty include Katie Althen , George Fu , Molly Goldman, Mitch Lyon, George Meyer, Ariana Nelson, Mika Sasaki, Jacob Shack, Caeli Smith, and Chelsea Starbuck Smith.
Tickets can be purchased and more information can be found here.
The Danbury Music Centre is grateful to the following individuals and organizations for their support: the Anna-Maria and Stephen M. Kellen Foundation, Peg Heetmann, Joan and Steve Howard - a Donor Advised Fund of The U.S. Charitable Gift Trust, Candace Ovesey and William Frucht, David and Leslie Cziner, Samuel Miller, Alice Gottlieb, the Gratison Foundation, the Associated Chamber Music Players, Hotel Zero Degrees, and Crowne Plaza Danbury.
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