Music Mountain, Country's Oldest, Ongoing Chamber Music Fest is Set for 2008

A musically-magical season is in store at Music Mountain’s 2008 summer festival, June 14 through Sept. 7. Music Mountain is the nation’s oldest and most distinguished continuing summer chamber music festival.

Located in a pastoral setting in rural northwest Connecticut, Music Mountain concerts are available globally, 52 weeks a year on the Internet. Go to www.musicmountain.org, click on “Listen on Line” and link to the Music Mountain site on www.InstantEncore.com.

This year’s schedule includes many performances that will reflect the festival’s unusual theme.

“As far as we know, no one else is doing a series like this,” says Nicholas Gordon, president of Music Mountain, in reference to “Borrowed Melodies,” the theme for the 79th season.

“In the world of classical music,” Gordon explains, “certainly from Bach on into the present day, composers adapted themes of their own or of others all the time.” However, far from being a crime, “borrowing” music from oneself or from another composer’s work was viewed as a perfectly acceptable thing to do.

While not all performances will feature music in which the composer has used pre-existing compositions, it is a common thread throughout the season.

PREMIERE WEEKEND
The internationally-acclaimed children’s choir, Chorus Angelicus, will open the season Saturday, June 14 at 6:30 p.m. A highlight of the performance is the Connecticut premiere of “The Aim Was Song,” a cantata for eight solo voices, treble choir, French horn and piano, by Nicholas White, Chorus Angelicus Artistic Director.

Sunday, July 15 at 3 p.m., the great pianist Charles Rosen and the St. Petersburg String Quartet will play the first of three benefits for Music Mountain’s operating fund. Rosen will join the St. Petersburg Quartet to perform the Schumann Piano Quintet in E Flat Major, Opus 44.

The St. Petersburg Quartet first played at Music Mountain in 1995, and they have returned every season since—except for one. “The St. Petersburg Quartet give remarkable concerts of beauty and passion," says Gordon.

For the complete season schedule and information on ticket sales, visit www.MusicMountain.org, or call (860) 824-7126.

Music Mountain, located in northwest Connecticut, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. A not-for-profit organization, it was founded in 1930 by the late Jacques Gordon with a primary mission of education through the performance of chamber music literature. Its mission is enhanced through radio broadcasts of its concerts, made possible by the support of Edward R. Hamilton, Bookseller, Falls Village, CT.

Music Mountain concerts and coaching programs are supported in part by a generous grant from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, a state agency whose funds are recommended by the Governor and appropriated by the Connecticut Legislature.