Aug. 21-24 — RANDOLPH — “It’s all about community,” smiles Peter Sanders, cellist and founder of the Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival. He has brought his music and his professional New York friends and colleagues back once again to the Central Vermont and Upper Valley communities for what he is proud to say is his 22nd consecutive annual season. This two-week residency offers high-level music making at Chandler Music Hall in Randolph and other venues in the area.
The first week of the festival, Aug. 10-17, brought a violin master class, concerts, and “Breakfast with Bach.”
In the second week of the Festival, everything is new! Friday evening, Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. features Friday Night in the Gallery, with the popular local husband and wife duo of accordionist Jeremiah McLane and pianist Annemieke Spoelstra bringing, as Sanders puts it, “a new approach to a festival concert.” This concert weaves the earthy spirit of folk traditions with the technical mastery of classical works that are based on folk traditions. The performance, accessible to music lovers of all ages and genres, is free and will take place in Chandler’s main Gallery. A good will offering is accepted. Coffee, tea, and baked goods by the Three Bean Café will be available for a modest fee.
The annual children’s concert at Chandler will take place this season in the evening, on Saturday Aug. 23 at 7 p.m. The Festival artists will be joined by VPR’s opera host Peter Fox Smith in exploring the pictorial music of Otterino Respighi. As usual, this concert for kids will be topped off with the complimentary ice cream social upstairs in the Esther Mesh Room.
The final concert has a new position on the calendar as well, taking place as a matinee on Sunday Aug. 24 at 4 p.m., affording more young and older audience members the chance to enjoy the finale. The music on this program, “Quartets, more or less …,” includes works by Beethoven, Kodaly, Respighi, and Debussy. The artists for this second week are Sanders, violinists Basia Danilow and Joanna Maurer, violist Rita Porfiris, and soprano Marjorie Drysdale.
For a sneak preview of the second week of the Festival, there is an open rehearsal at Chandler on Thursday, Aug. 21 at 7 p.m. The event is free and the public is welcome to stop by to watch music in the making.
Tickets for the concerts at Chandler are available through the Chandler Box Office at 802-728-6464. Free tickets are made available to students aged 18 and under through a special grant.
For more info, visit the Festival website at cvcmf.org and on Facebook.
Photo courtesy of Chandler Music Hall
“Breakfast with Bach” was held during week one of the Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival in Randolph.
