CAPE COD TIMES – The Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival will celebrate its 40th anniversary this summer with 12 concerts scheduled from Thursday, Aug. 1 through Aug. 23 at locations in Wellfleet, Orleans, Chatham, Dennis, Cotuit and Falmouth.
Starting off the series are concerts Aug. 1-2 with two performances by the Hermitage Piano Trio, making its festival debut. Its “Purely Romantic” concert will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 1 at Falmouth Academy’s Simon Center for the Arts, 7 Highfield Drive, Falmouth; and 7:30 p.m. Aug. 2 at First Congregational Church, 200 Main Street, Wellfleet.
The United States-based trio plays in the Russian musical tradition, and the musicians share a Russian lineage, with a repertoire of works from traditional European music to contemporary American commissions. The trio consists of Misha Keylin on violin; Sergey Antonov on cello; and Ilya Kazantsev on piano.
The season is programmed under the leadership of artistic directors Jon Nakamatsu and Jon Manasse, and executive director Elaine Lipton. Returning will be Borromeo String Quartet, performing the North American premiere of “Icarus” for string quartet and clarinet by composer Elena Ruehr, and Emerson String Quartet, performing Barber’s “Adagio for Strings.”
Other concerts will include an Aug. 16 program celebrating composer/conductor Leonard Bernstein’s 100th birthday, with a guest appearance by his daughter, Jamie. That concert will feature musical works by Bernstein and Aaron Copland, including “Appalachian Spring” in its original scoring for 13 instruments.
Musicians from New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra will perform with festival pianists and artistic directors past (Brian Zeger) and present (Nakamatsu). A weeklong, three-concert residency will showcase the award-winning Miró Quartet, performing concerts in Cotuit, Dennis and Wellfleet, and with Manasse and Nakamatsu in its finale.
The festival began in July 1980 with four concerts, five artists and three venues, founded by Samuel Sanders, a pianist and accompanist to violinist Itzhak Perlman for 30 years. Festival officials say they continue to aim to present “the finest classical and contemporary music by both world-class ensembles and exceptional young, emerging artists to Cape Cod audiences, developing new and younger audiences for chamber music.” The festival commissions new chamber works whenever possible, and works with Cape students.
For tickets, and full program information: 508-247-9400, capecodchambermusic.org.
