Music@Menlo/2004

New Chamber Music Festival on the San Francisco Peninsula Announces 2nd Season

July 29 – August 15, 2004

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Pledges Renewed Two-Year Grant

Publicity: Milina Barry PR 212.420.0200

Returning after a highly successful inaugural year, Music@Menlo opens its second season on the San Francisco Peninsula July 29 - August 15, 2004. Greeted by overwhelming popular and critical acclaim in 2003, Music@Menlo continues to forge new inroads for chamber music in the heart of Silicon Valley. Long recognized as the epicenter of the Internet revolution, Music@Menlo captures the region’s spirit of exploration and innovation by reinventing the concept of the chamber music festival. With the determination to rejuvenate and transform the experience, this coming season explores the languages of five definitive musical cultures: ITALY, VIENNA, FRANCE, EASTERN EUROPE, and RUSSIA. The programs offer sonic immersions into these diverse cultural environments, highlighted by vocal music sung in the composers’ native tongues.

Founders and Artistic Directors David Finckel and have assembled a distinguished roster of artists, scholars, and musicologists this summer. In an effort to connect audiences to chamber music in an intimate and spontaneous setting, Finckel and Wu Han have created a multi-layered musical experience: through its innovative programming, AudioNotes, Café Conversations and Encounters series featuring the nation’s leading musicologists, Music@Menlo offers a festival experience replete with opportunities for discovering great music.

Cultivating the classical music landscape for future generations is a significant component of Music@Menlo’s mission, and the education of promising young musicians forms an intrinsic part of this goal. The festival artists brought together at Music@Menlo form a faculty that rivals the nation’s top conservatories. Music@Menlo’s offerings include an intensive two-week Workshop for top young ensembles, open Master Classes, pre-concert recitals, Young Performers’ Concerts and a daylong Chamber Music Open House for music lovers and amateur musicians of all ages. Festival Announcement: Music@Menlo 2004 ___ Page 2

Music@Menlo/ 2004 is made possible in part by a renewed, two-year leadership grant from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the visionary support of many individuals and organizations locally and throughout the .

2004 HIGHLIGHTS

FESTIVAL ARTISTS

Artistic Directors David Finckel, cellist of the Grammy Award-winning , and Wu Han, pianist, recording artist and co-founder of the Internet-based recording company ArtistLed, have assembled a stellar roster of over three dozen guest artists for Music@Menlo/2004: Jorja Fleezanis, violinist and Concertmaster, Minnesota Orchestra; Ani Kavafian, violinist, Chamber Music Society of ; Elmar Oliveira, violinist; Philip Setzer, violinist, Emerson String Quartet; Ian Swensen, violinist; Sophie Arbuckle, violinist and festival Chamber Music Workshop co-director; Arik Braude, violinist and festival Chamber Music Workshop co-director; Hsin-Yun Huang, violist; Cynthia Phelps, Principal Violist, ; Geraldine Walther, Principal Violist, San Francisco Symphony; Colin Carr, cellist, Sequenza; , cellist; Wendy Warner, cellist; Peter Wyrick, Associate Principle Cellist, San Francisco Symphony; Charles Chandler, bassist, San Francisco Symphony; distinguished pianists Jeffrey Kahane, Gilbert Kalish and Derek Han; and leading Baroque harpsichordist Kenneth Cooper. Singers will include sopranos, Dina Kuznetsova and Josephine Mongiardo; mezzo-soprano Milagro Vargas; and the young, emerging baritone Nathaniel Webster. Distinguished wind soloists also join the festival: acclaimed flutist Carol Wincenc; Anthony McGill, Associate Principal Clarinetist, Cincinnati Symphony; Allan Vogel, Principal Oboist, Chamber Orchestra; Dennis Godburn, bassoon; James Rodseth, trumpet; and David Washburn, Principal Trumpet, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

NEW IN 2004

CARTE BLANCHE CONCERTS

A new addition this season are the Carte Blanche Concerts, a series highlighting festival artists and their musical expertise and passions. Violinist ANI KAVAFIAN and harpsichordist KENNETH COOPER offer the complete Sonatas for Violin and Keyboard of Johann Sebastian Bach (August 1), and cellist COLIN CARR performs Bach’s complete Suites for Solo (August 8). These two cycles, each rarely offered as a single program, give audiences a special opportunity to experience the musical brilliance of Bach on an intimate scale. Both concerts are at Stent Family Hall, Menlo School, at 11:00am. Festival Announcement: Music@Menlo 2004 ___ Page 3

NEW FESTIVAL LABEL

This summer the festival launches its own recording label, Music@Menlo LIVE. In an effort to capture the live concert experience on disc, selected concert recordings produced by Grammy Award-winning engineer Da-Hong Seetoo will be available via the festival’s Web site and at Music@Menlo’s venues throughout the festival.

CAFÉ CONVERSATIONS

Music@Menlo/2004 will inaugurate a new series that offers artists and audiences further opportunities for interaction outside of the concert hall. A variety of informal discussions and presentations will focus on topics related to music and the arts. The Café Conversations will feature subjects as diverse as poetry and music, the human voice, music criticism, the art of interpretation, the music of Bach, and the great Italian violinmakers. In the spirit of Europe’s great coffee houses, discussion will be coupled with refreshments. A complete schedule of Café Conversations, including times, topics, and locations, will be announced on the festival Web site (www.musicatmenlo.org) in June.

FESTIVAL ELEMENTS: Discovery, Understanding, Engagement

ENCOUNTERS

The Encounters, Music@Menlo’s signature series of full-length evening events in Stent Family Hall, explore the composers’ worlds, examining the origin and essence of the musical styles featured in each of the concert programs. The series is hosted by a select group of today’s leading musical authorities, providing insight through thoughtful discussion and visual and musical illustration. Widely acclaimed scholar, pianist, and multimedia artist ROBERT WINTER opens the festival (July 29) with a journey through the vibrant musical history of Italy, from the Baroque era to the dawn of the twentieth century, illuminating Italy’s social, artistic, and cultural trends. Musicologist and author MICHAEL STEINBERG will transport listeners into the rarefied world of Franz Schubert’s Vienna (August 1). ARA GUZELIMIAN, Artistic Adviser of and a recent recipient of France’s prestigious Legion of Honor for his service to French music, returns to the festival (August 5) to explore the rich musical heritage of Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, and Dutilleux. TIM PAGE, author and Pulitzer Prize–winning music critic of the Washington Post, explores the folk origins of the music of Eastern Europe. This program, woven from an intricate tapestry of peasant styles and traditions, examines such nationalist composers as Bartók, Smetana and Dvorák (August 8). CHARLES BARBER, conductor, lecturer for the San Francisco Symphony, and author of the celebrated biography “Lost in the Stars: The Forgotten Musical Life of Alexander Siloti”, leads audiences on a trek through Russia’s musical landscape from the Festival Announcement: Music@Menlo 2004 ___ Page 4

Western European influence in the music of Tchaikovsky to the socially conscious works of Shostakovich (August 12). Encounters begin at 7:30 p.m. and are held at Menlo School’s Stent Family Hall.

AUDIONOTES

An educational innovation born at Music@Menlo, AudioNotes offer listeners informative and entertaining introductions to each concert program. AudioNotes CDs, which are provided free to advance ticket buyers, explore the composers’ lives and music through historical explanations and musical examples from the coming concert. Each disc is intended to inform audiences before each concert so as to provide a richer musical experience. AudioNotes are authored and narrated by Artistic Directors David Finckel and Wu Han, and Artistic Administrator Patrick Castillo, and feature discussions with the festival musicians themselves.

AudioNotes is made possible by a renewed grant from the Barnard/Fain Foundation.

WORKSHOPS FOR CHAMBER MUSIC

Music@Menlo’s Workshops for Chamber Music surpassed all expectations last summer. The program, designed to offer a rigorous professional training ground and a wide array of performance opportunities to young musicians, selects students from conservatories, youth orchestras, and music programs from within the Bay Area, nationwide, and around the world. The festival’s unflinching ideals are reflected in the fact that three of the festival’s ten students from last summer’s top tier workshop program were selected for Carnegie Hall’s November 2003 Michael Tilson Thomas Workshop, for which only 14 applicants were accepted internationally. Music@Menlo’s Prelude Performances offer repertoire related to the main concert programs and are performed by the festival’s International Program artists, the workshop’s most advanced students. These one-hour, open-to-the-public concerts not only offer newcomers ideal, cost-free introductions to the festival, but also serve as significant musical additions to the evening programs. Prelude Performances are at 6:00 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on July 30, August 2, 6, 9 and 13. Admission is free.

Students from Music@Menlo’s Young Performers Program, designed for pre-conservatory-level musicians, take to the stage at the Young Performers Concerts. Prepared by the festival’s faculty of musicians and Encounter Leaders, gifted high school age musicians from across the country prepare music for an audience of all ages, performing and explaining chamber music in a uniquely personal way. The Young Performers Concert series is Music@Menlo’s premier family event—an accessible and engaging way to introduce young listeners to great music. Concerts are at Stent Family Hall, Menlo School on two consecutive Saturday afternoons on August 7 and 14 at 3:00p.m. Admission is $6 per person. Festival Announcement: Music@Menlo 2004 ___ Page 5

CHAMBER MUSIC OPEN HOUSE

This summer’s Chamber Music Open House takes place on Saturday, August 7. A daylong series of events on the campus of Menlo School, the Open House allows visitors to experience the festival in a more casual and spontaneous environment. Listeners curious about what goes on behind the scenes can join Artistic Directors David Finckel and Wu Han, and a number of other festival artists, for a Q & A breakfast at 8:30 a.m. Open rehearsals (on this day only) offer another behind-the-scenes perspective and chamber music readings are held throughout the day. Workshops and master classes are also open throughout the day in various on-campus locations. The Open House also features an afternoon Café Conversation, and an evening concert in Stent Family Hall featuring the music of France. Advance purchase tickets are required for this concert.

MINNESOTA PUBLIC RADIO RETURNS

Music@Menlo reached a national audience by teaming with Minnesota Public Radio in 2003. This summer the festival is proud to welcome the return of MPR as Music@Menlo's exclusive broadcast partner. For a second year in a row, performances from the festival will air nationwide in August and September via Classical 24®, a live classical music service broadcast on 290 stations, and on a series of produced specials available in 2005. Hosts and producers from Minnesota Public Radio also participate in the festival as event moderators and educators. Visit www.mpr.org for archived performances, photos, and interviews. Minnesota Public Radio is the leading producer of classical music programming for public radio, including Saint Paul Sunday®, the Composers Datebook®, and Classical 24®.

VISUAL ARTS AT THE FESTIVAL

Contemporary artist DARREN WATERSTON (b. 1956) serves as Music@Menlo’s visual artist in 2004. Waterston was born in and now lives and works out of his studios in San Francisco and British Columbia. A prolific painter, Waterston is well-known for his lush surfaces and attention to detail. His works are included in museum collections including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; and the Oakland Museum, and the public collections of J. P. Morgan, New York; and Goldman Sachs, New York.

“The Muses themselves could hardly have designed a festival more assured of success than Music@Menlo.” - MUSICAL AMERICA.COM Festival Announcement: Music@Menlo 2004 ___ Page 6

ABOUT THE ARTISTIC DIRECTORS Music@Menlo Artistic Directors DAVID FINCKEL and WU HAN are two of today’s most esteemed and influential classical musicians. Their appearances currently take them to the world’s most prestigious concert series and festivals as soloists, as a duo, and in David’s case, as a member of the Grammy Award-winning Emerson String Quartet. In addition, they are the creators of classical music’s first musician-directed and Internet-based recording label, ArtistLed, a trend-setting industry innovation that released its seventh CD this spring. Together, they have a unique ability to envision and realize innovative projects, be it in the recording arena with ArtistLed, on the world’s great concert stages or as directors of a new music festival. David Finckel and Wu Han are passionate advocates of classical music access and education for listeners and performers of all ages, participating in distinguished international master classes, creating educational tools such as AudioNotes, and sharing their inspired musical perspectives with audiences from the concert stage.

TICKETS & INFORMATION Festival concerts and events alternate between two main venues, Menlo School’s Stent Family Hall in Atherton and St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Palo Alto. All programs will be performed on more than one night. Single ticket prices range from $28 to $42 for concerts at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church; tickets are $65 for professional performances at Stent Family Hall. Subscribers save 10 percent. Student tickets for concerts range in price from $10-$20 at St. Mark’s and are $30 at Stent Family Hall. Encounters will take place at Stent Family Hall; tickets cost $25 for adults, and $15 for students with valid ID. Prelude Performances at St. Mark’s by Workshop students are free and open to the public. Young Performers Concerts at Stent Family Hall are $6. Tickets go on sale May 10th. For information, a schedule of concerts and events, or to receive a copy of the Music@Menlo 2004 brochure, please visit: www.musicatmenlo.org or call the Music@Menlo administrative office at 650.330.2030. To order tickets, visit the Music@Menlo website at www.musicatmenlo.org or call the Stanford Ticket Office at 650.725.ARTS (2787).

PRESS For photographs or further press information on Music@Menlo, please contact: Milina Barry PR 212.420.0200 [email protected]

* This press release is available on line at: www.musicatmenlo.org/