This year's Skaneateles Festival will take music lovers to the start of the 20th century to the depths of jazz throughout the month of August.
“Music that will transport you” is the motto of the 2008 Skaneateles Festival in various locations today through Saturday, Aug. 30.
For the past three decades, the Skaneateles Festival has provided central New York with a month worth of chamber music and more each August.
Created in 1980 by Skaneateles residents Louise and David Robinson, the annual series, known lovingly as SkanFest, has grown into a nationally recognized, award-winning event honored by organizations like Chamber Music America and featured in national magazines such as Bon Appetite and Opera.
Artistic directors Elinor Freer and David Ying select themes for each week of the festival.
“Elinor and David have come up with four excellent themes this year,” said Susan Mark, the festival's executive director.
In addition to their festival duties, both Freer and Ying serve on the faculty at University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music.
In a telephone interview from Aspen, Colo., where he was performing with his Grammy-winning Ying Quartet at the 2008 Aspen Music Festival, Ying discussed how he and wife, Freer, create each weekly theme.
“We try to come up with (themes) that hopefully have a wide appeal and are somewhat different from themes of years past,” he said.
Here's a glimpse at the weekly offerings.
The first week is “All That Jazz,” running from Thursday to Saturday.
The diverse programming will open with a FamilyFest concert featuring the Imani Winds, a genre-crossing quintet that was nominated for Grammy awards.
“They make a specialty of playing music that's influenced by jazz and Latin styles,” Ying said
Other highlights from the first portion include the return of festival favorites the Turtle Island Quartet, who will perform at Saturday's concert at Brook Farm, home of festival founder Louise Robinson.
Ying said the group last appeared at SkanFest three years ago. Ying called those three years “fruitful” because the quartet earned two Grammys in that time.
“With those two groups here the first week, it was just natural to play to their strengths,” he explained. “Jazz is such an important American invention. ... It's something that has influenced a lot of people, and it's an important part of what goes on in our music world today.”
The second week's motif is “Wordplay,” running from Wednesday, Aug. 13, to Saturday, Aug. 16.
“Because so much of the music that the Skaneateles Festival presents is without words - basically without singers - it just seemed like it would be fun to bring some ‘words' in,” Ying said.
The “wordplay” theme is a prelude to next year's 30th anniversary, for which organizers created a poetry contest.
“The text (from the winning poems) will become the basis for a commissioned piece for next year,” he said.
The second week's Thursday concert will include a performance of selected movements from Aaron Copland's “12 Poems of Emily Dickinson,” in which Copland composed music centered around selected Dickinson poems.
That week's concerts will feature world-renowned soprano Sari Gruber, a German-born singer who now resides in Pittsburgh, Pa.
“She's been really hard to get,” Ying said. “We've tried to get her at the festival for a long time, and this year she's finally able to come.”
On Wednesday, Aug. 13, “Villas, Vittles and Fiddles” will include performances of selected week two compositions along with appetizers, desserts and beverages provided by area restaurants, all in the West Lake Road home of Don and Chacea Sundman.
The third week's motif is “As the Century Turns,” which runs from Wednesday, Aug. 20, to Saturday, Aug. 23.
The years surrounding the start of the 20th century were an especially interesting time in the development of classical music.
“Musically, the time right around 1900 is very rich,” Ying said. “You feel that music that had been sort of confined to this Western European thing is taking on these totally international feelings.”
Week three's concerts will feature the music of Vienna and Paris and will include the return of world-class organist David Higgs, who will perform a “Turn-of-the-Century Organ Recital” Wednesday, Aug. 20.
“Usually, people hear the organ all by itself, or maybe accompanying a choir,” Ying said. “But to have the organ with other instruments in a real chamber music setting is quite rare.”
The Skaneateles Festival is one of the few festivals in the world to feature such concerts, he added.
Prior to Friday's “An Evening in Paris” concert, Syracuse University French professor Amy Wyngaard will host a discussion of the rich literary and artistic life in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century.
“We thought that might be able to help us put ourselves into the feeling of being alive then,” Ying said.
During 2007's festival concerts, organizers included slips of paper with each program inviting concertgoers to suggest compositions for SkanFest musicians to play.
“Some people suggested one piece, other people had lists that took up two whole pages,” Ying said with a laugh.
Saturday's festival finale at Brook Farm will feature the full Skaneateles Festival Orchestra, who will perform compositions including Stravinsky's “'Dumbarton Oaks' Concerto in E-flat” and Bach's “Brandenburg Concerto No. 5.”
“Every year is so exciting, and we look forward to each festival,” Ying said. “So let the fun begin.”
If you go
What: Skaneateles Festival
When: Today through Saturday, Aug. 30
Where: Skaneateles
Info: For a complete concert schedule, call 685-7418 or visit www.skanfest.org
For the past three decades, the Skaneateles Festival has provided central New York with a month worth of chamber music and more each August.
Created in 1980 by Skaneateles residents Louise and David Robinson, the annual series, known lovingly as SkanFest, has grown into a nationally recognized, award-winning event honored by organizations like Chamber Music America and featured in national magazines such as Bon Appetite and Opera.
Artistic directors Elinor Freer and David Ying select themes for each week of the festival.
“Elinor and David have come up with four excellent themes this year,” said Susan Mark, the festival's executive director.
In addition to their festival duties, both Freer and Ying serve on the faculty at University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music.
In a telephone interview from Aspen, Colo., where he was performing with his Grammy-winning Ying Quartet at the 2008 Aspen Music Festival, Ying discussed how he and wife, Freer, create each weekly theme.
“We try to come up with (themes) that hopefully have a wide appeal and are somewhat different from themes of years past,” he said.
Here's a glimpse at the weekly offerings.
The first week is “All That Jazz,” running from Thursday to Saturday.
The diverse programming will open with a FamilyFest concert featuring the Imani Winds, a genre-crossing quintet that was nominated for Grammy awards.
“They make a specialty of playing music that's influenced by jazz and Latin styles,” Ying said
Other highlights from the first portion include the return of festival favorites the Turtle Island Quartet, who will perform at Saturday's concert at Brook Farm, home of festival founder Louise Robinson.
Ying said the group last appeared at SkanFest three years ago. Ying called those three years “fruitful” because the quartet earned two Grammys in that time.
“With those two groups here the first week, it was just natural to play to their strengths,” he explained. “Jazz is such an important American invention. ... It's something that has influenced a lot of people, and it's an important part of what goes on in our music world today.”
The second week's motif is “Wordplay,” running from Wednesday, Aug. 13, to Saturday, Aug. 16.
“Because so much of the music that the Skaneateles Festival presents is without words - basically without singers - it just seemed like it would be fun to bring some ‘words' in,” Ying said.
The “wordplay” theme is a prelude to next year's 30th anniversary, for which organizers created a poetry contest.
“The text (from the winning poems) will become the basis for a commissioned piece for next year,” he said.
The second week's Thursday concert will include a performance of selected movements from Aaron Copland's “12 Poems of Emily Dickinson,” in which Copland composed music centered around selected Dickinson poems.
That week's concerts will feature world-renowned soprano Sari Gruber, a German-born singer who now resides in Pittsburgh, Pa.
“She's been really hard to get,” Ying said. “We've tried to get her at the festival for a long time, and this year she's finally able to come.”
On Wednesday, Aug. 13, “Villas, Vittles and Fiddles” will include performances of selected week two compositions along with appetizers, desserts and beverages provided by area restaurants, all in the West Lake Road home of Don and Chacea Sundman.
The third week's motif is “As the Century Turns,” which runs from Wednesday, Aug. 20, to Saturday, Aug. 23.
The years surrounding the start of the 20th century were an especially interesting time in the development of classical music.
“Musically, the time right around 1900 is very rich,” Ying said. “You feel that music that had been sort of confined to this Western European thing is taking on these totally international feelings.”
Week three's concerts will feature the music of Vienna and Paris and will include the return of world-class organist David Higgs, who will perform a “Turn-of-the-Century Organ Recital” Wednesday, Aug. 20.
“Usually, people hear the organ all by itself, or maybe accompanying a choir,” Ying said. “But to have the organ with other instruments in a real chamber music setting is quite rare.”
The Skaneateles Festival is one of the few festivals in the world to feature such concerts, he added.
Prior to Friday's “An Evening in Paris” concert, Syracuse University French professor Amy Wyngaard will host a discussion of the rich literary and artistic life in Paris at the beginning of the 20th century.
“We thought that might be able to help us put ourselves into the feeling of being alive then,” Ying said.
During 2007's festival concerts, organizers included slips of paper with each program inviting concertgoers to suggest compositions for SkanFest musicians to play.
“Some people suggested one piece, other people had lists that took up two whole pages,” Ying said with a laugh.
Saturday's festival finale at Brook Farm will feature the full Skaneateles Festival Orchestra, who will perform compositions including Stravinsky's “'Dumbarton Oaks' Concerto in E-flat” and Bach's “Brandenburg Concerto No. 5.”
“Every year is so exciting, and we look forward to each festival,” Ying said. “So let the fun begin.”
If you go
What: Skaneateles Festival
When: Today through Saturday, Aug. 30
Where: Skaneateles
Info: For a complete concert schedule, call 685-7418 or visit www.skanfest.org
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