Orebolo, an acoustic trio featuring Rick Mitarotonda (vocals, guitar), Peter Anspach (vocals, guitar), and Jeff Arevalo (upright bass). The band, comprised of members of the emergent Connecticut rock group Goose. The project has built a faithful following nationwide, specifically after a series of virtual festival appearances in 2020, and an acclaimed performance at Lockn’ Presents FRED The Festival in August 2021. Formed during the height of the initial COVID-19 surge, the three band members shared a home and found comfort in both learning new covers and creatively exploring Goose’s deep catalog acoustically – a feeling they hoped to translate to those listening at home.
Despite the distant threat of rain – “the necessary shadow,” as the composer called it – Brahms’ Second Symphony is a sunny and idyllic work beloved for its rambunctious joy and its balance with that hint of cloud. Eun Sun Kim, a conductor of “assured technical command, subtlety and imagination” (New York Times), leads this program, which opens memorably with the “electro-acoustic soundworld” of Mason Bates’ Rhapsody of Steve Jobs. Gramophone calls Johannes Moser “one of the finest among the astonishing gallery of young virtuoso cellists,” and there is no finer showcase of Moser’s musical prowess than Shostakovich’s boisterous and demanding First Cello Concerto.
Program: Mason Bates, The Rhapsody of Steve Jobs (2021)
Dmitri Shostakovich, Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 107
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Johannes Brahms, Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73
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The 2023 Robert Mann Chamber Series opens with the esteemed JACK Quartet. Hailed by The New York Times as “our leading new-music foursome,” the JACK Quartet maintains an unwavering commitment to giving voice to underheard composers. In the quartet’s New York Stories program, “Two masters of New York’s downtown heyday, Philip Glass and John Zorn, bring stylistically divergent visions: a rollicking, romantic ride through a maze of patterns in Glass’ epic String Quartet No. 5, and a peek into the catacombs in Manhattan’s Upper West Side from John Zorn who brings medieval mystery to contemporary America. Caleb Burhans leads the listener in a healing ritual of absolution in Contritus, while Caroline Shaw pays homage to the father of the string quartet, Josef Haydn, in her Entr’acte. Morton Feldman finally reminds us of the pattern and structure all around us. New York: a city of Byzantine systems and countless ideas that defies tidy summary, but always fascinates and excites continued exploration.”
Program: Morton Feldman, Structures for String Quartet (1951)
Caleb Burhans, Contritus (2010)
Philip Glass, String Quartet No. 5 (1991)
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Caroline Shaw, Entr’acte (2011)
John Zorn, The Remedy of Fortune for String Quartet (2016)
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The final concert of the 2023 Robert Mann Chamber Music Series highlights the Festival’s own musicians. Though it was composed on the early side of his career, Beethoven’s energetic String Trio in C Minor gives a decisive glimpse into the intensity of expression the composer would eventually be renowned for. In Debussy’s sparkling Danses — commissioned to showcase the rich capabilities of the harp — his first dance explores the ethereal (the “sacred”) and gradually becomes a swirling, earthly waltz (the “profane,” or secular). Dvořák composed his famous Second Piano Quintet during a happy period in his life; that contentment shines through in this treasured jewel of chamber repertoire.
Program:
Ludwig van Beethoven, String Trio in C Minor, Op. 9, No. 3
Claude Debussy, Danses sacrée et profane (Sacred and Profane Dances)
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Antonín Dvořák, Piano Quintet in A Major No. 2, Op. 81
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The Festival is honored to welcome none other than Pulitzer Prize-winning John Corigliano as 2023 composer-in-residence. Conducted by Music Director Peter Oundjian, this retrospective program examines three stages of Corigliano’s vast career, beginning with his pastoral Gazebo Dances. Corigliano penned the song cycle One Sweet Morning in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the events of 9/11, borrowing text from four poems of varying intensity and ultimately ending with, as he explains, “the dream of a world without war – an impossible dream, perhaps, but certainly one worth dreaming.” The tender words of these poems are performed here by the highly sought-after mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke. Corigliano’s most recent work is Triathlon, written for guest saxophonist Timothy McAllister, who returns to the Chautauqua stage after dazzling Festival audiences in 2022. Triathlon demonstrates McAllister’s musical athleticism in three dynamic movements which feature in turn soprano, alto, and baritone saxophone.
Program: John Corigliano, Gazebo Dances (for orchestra) (1974)
John Corigliano, One Sweet Morning for voice and orchestra (2010)
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John Corigliano, Triathlon for saxophone and orchestra (2020)
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