I am delighted to tell you that the Music Mountain Schedule for 2013, our 84^th consecutive year, is now available on our website.

I think you will find that we have planned an exciting and innovative season for you.

I could attempt to list all the highlights, but frankly, from the opening concert with the brilliant Cellist Matt Haimowitz right through the to the end of the season, there is much that will please you and that will beckon you to beautiful Music Mountain.

It is an adventurous and exciting schedule of 17 Chamber music concerts and  8 Saturday Twilight events ranging from Gilbert & Sullivan to Folk. And there are new and returning teaching programs as well with opportunities to sit in on master classes and student performances.

The theme of the Chamber Music Series is:  Seldom Played Works by Celebrated Composers.

Please read the Chamber schedule.  You will see new quartets and familiar ones. Assisting artists you have heard before and some that will be new to you. And above all an extraordinary array of wonderful music.

The Saturday Twilight schedule has familiar names returning and also several new attractions.  We start with the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players and conclude with a full day Folk Festival presenting a large number of regional Folk performers.
And, as in past years, there are a number of membership plans and ticket purchase opportunities that will produce significant savings for you.

And do remember that if you bring someone 18 and under, there is no charge for their ticket.

I look forward, as always, to seeing you at Music Mountain.

Sincerely,

Nicholas Gordon, President
Music Mountain Inc.

As president of Music Mountain I am often asked what makes this place such a unique institution. The answer is the absolute commitment by the musicians who play here and by the volunteers who manage it to make Music Mountain the best with the best music performed in the best possible way in the extraordinary concert hall that we are blessed with.

People come to Music Mountain from all over the United States and, indeed, the world. They hear our broadcasts via radio stations and the Internet in all parts of the United States and overseas. They come and they listen to these concerts for the simplest of reasons. They are absolutely the best in terms of quality, variety and importance in the life of the classical music lover.

Our reputation reflects our commitment to excellence. The Hartford Courant refers to Music Mountain as “The Capital of the Summer Music Universe.” The New York Times says, “For String Quartets, Music Mountain is the place to be.” And The New Yorker calls Music Mountain “The summer shrine of the string quartet for more than 80 years.”

Advancing and keeping musical standards at their highest levels is not something that we can do alone.

Today, I ask you to make a gift in support of our work and our mission.
Your commitment ensures that we can continue to provide the great music and performances you hear at Music Mountain as we go into the future together as partners.

Sincerely,
Nicholas Gordon, President
Music Mountain, Inc.

Read Nick’s full letter

View Friends’ Membership Plans

Print a Donation Form or Donate online

Nicholas Gordon on the stage in Music Mountain’s hall with his constant companion, Polo. (Photo by Marsden Epworth )

This is just a wild guess, but Nicholas Gordon must be, or must have been, a heck of a tennis player. The long-time director of the Music Mountain Summer Music Festival in Falls Village will tell you why he’s proud to have had his programming called “deeply conservative” by The New Yorker magazine; what is different about this season (its 83rd); how Shostakovich made it into the core chamber music repertory; and that a Music Mountain radio broadcast might be heard in, oh, Mongolia, perhaps.

(You can read the rest of the story in the Lakeville Journal or via their website.)

Daedalus String Quartet
Soyeon Kate Lee, Piano
Naumburg Award Winner
Haydn: String Quartet in E Flat Major, Opus 33 # 2 “the Joke” (1781)
Mozart: String Quartet in F Major, K. 590 (1790)
Brahms: Piano Quartet in A Major, Opus 26 (1861)

Revel in the last days of summer as Music Mountain concludes its 83rd Anniversary season with the acclaimed Daedalus String Quartet, featuring the award-winning pianist, Soyeon Kate Lee.

The lauded Daedalus String Quartet returns to wrap up the Music Mountain 2012 summer season and brings along with them the highly praised, and Naumburg Award Winner, Soyeon Lee, piano.

For the past decade, The Daedalus Quartet has established itself as a leader among the new generation of string ensembles. The quartet has performed in Vienna, Amsterdam, and Paris, as well as in Washington D.C. and at New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.

Praised by The New York Times and Washington Post, Soyeon Kate Lee has been joyously received by audiences and critics alike, performing as guest soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra and The Cleveland Orchestra, as well as recital appearances in New York City, Washington D.C., Madrid, and Seoul, Korea.

83rd Season Anniversary Celebration Concert & Reception
All Tickets: $75
The Shanghai String Quartet
Haochen Zhang, Piano
Van Cliburn Gold Medalist
Haochen Zhang Plays Chopin
Mozart: String Quartet B Flat Major, K. 589 (1790)
Dvorak: Piano Quintet in A Major, Opus 81 (1887)

The Shanghai String Quartet returns to the stage on Sunday afternoon along with pianist Haochen Zhang as part of Music Mountain’s Summer’s End Special Benefit Concert & Reception featuring Dvorak: Piano Quintet in A Major, Opus 81 and Mozart: String Quartet in B Flat Major, K. 589. Zhang will present a special Chopin work to open the concert.

For over 25 years The Shanghai String Quartet has melded the elegance of the classical string quartet style with the performance of some of the most challenging works in the entire repertory. The Shanghai Quartet regularly tours the great music centers of North and South America, Asia, and Europe. They appear frequently at New York’s Carnegie Hall and their travels have taken them to London, Vienna, Prague and Australia’s Sydney Opera House.

At the age of five, Haochen Zhang gave his debut recital at the Shanghai Music Hall and in June 2009, he became the youngest and the first Chinese competitor to be awarded the prestigious Gold Medal at the thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. He tours regularly around the country and abroad.

Shanghai String Quartet
Beethoven: String Quartet in G Major, Opus 18 #2 (1798-1800)
Beethoven: String Quartet in F Major, Opus 95 “Serioso” (1810)
Smetana: String Quartet in E Minor “From My Life” (1876)

Celebrate the Labor Day weekend at Music Mountain with the award-winning Shanghai String Quartet. For over 25 years the Shanghai String Quartet has melded the elegance of the classical string quartet style with the performance of some of the most challenging works in the entire repertory. The Shanghai Quartet regularly tours the great music centers of North and South America, Asia, and Europe. They appear frequently at New York’s Carnegie Hall and their travels have taken them to London, Vienna, Prague and Australia’s Sydney Opera House.

The Juilliard String Quartet
(Music Mountain Debut)
(Underwritten by an Anonymous Donor)

All Beethoven Program

*Late Summer Benefit*
All Tickets: $50

String Quartet in C Sharp Minor, Opus 131 (1826)
String Quartet in A Minor, Opus 132 (1825)
Join us for our late summer benefit concert featuring one of the great quartets performing today. The Juilliard String Quartet will present Beethoven’s String Quartet in A Minor, Opus 132 and String Quartet in C Sharp Minor, Opus 131.

Since 1946 the Juilliard String Quartet has been recognized for its technical excellence, extraordinary sound, clarity and musical expression. The famed quartet is one of the most widely recorded string quartets of our time. The credo, established by founders Robert Mann and William Schuman states: to “play new works as if they were established masterpieces, and established masterpieces as if they were new.”

The Whiskey Boys
**with dancing**
David Delaney, Fiddle
Mark Kilianski, Guitar and guests
Pete Kelly, Guitar and Michael Warren, Bass

Always a crowd pleaser, The Whiskey Boys return for their second summer of rock and wit on Saturday evening. Remember to bring your dancing shoes – this young duo will have the audience on their feet with their unique mix of blue grass and old-time country music infused with original country and re-harmonized jazz! David Delaney, fiddle and Mark Kilianski, guitar, make up this rowdy, tender, and infectious band! The Whiskey Boys will be joined by their special guests Pete Kelly, Guitar and Michael Warren, Bass.

The Dover String Quartet
(Music Mountain Debut)
Pamela Mia Paul, Piano
Ravel: String Quartet in F (1903)
Schumann: String Quartet In A Major, Opus 41 # 3 (1842)
Dohnanyi: Piano Quintet in C Minor, Opus 1 (1895)
Post Concert Discussion:
Nicholas Gordon, president, Music Mountain:
“The String Quartet Literature through the Lens of the Music Mountain Repertory” (Third of three)

Considered one of the most remarkably talented young string quartets ever to emerge at such a young age, the Dover Quartet (formerly known as the Old City String Quartet) was the Grand Prize-winner of the 2010 Fischoff Competition. Formed at the Curtis Institute of Music in 2008, when its members were just 19 years old, the Quartet draws from the musical lineage of both the Vermeer and Guarneri Quartets, but brings a youthful enthusiasm and musical conviction to the repertoire that is truly its own. The Strad recently raved that the Quartet is “already pulling away from their peers with their exceptional interpretative maturity, tonal refinement and taut ensemble.”

Pamela Mia Paul is both a brilliant performer and a deeply dedicated teacher. On stage, she has performed with the world’s great orchestras. She has given concerts throughout the U.S., and in Europe, the People’s Republic of China, South Korea and Turkey both as soloist and as chamber musician. In the studio, or in the setting of a Master Class, she is an internationally sought-after pedagogue whose students hold teaching positions throughout the United States and Asia. Miss Paul has received critical acclaim for her appearances with orchestras in the U.S. and Europe, where her interpretations of both standard repertoire and twentieth-century piano concertos have garnered consistent critical praise. As a chamber musician, she has been an invited guest artist at the Salzburg and Bregenz Festivals in Austria, Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, and here at Music Mountain. Quartets with which she has performed include Cassatt, Penderecki, Borromeo, Chester, Orlando, Leontovich, Miro, DaPonte and St. Petersburg. Pamela Mia Paul received the doctor of musical arts, master of music, and bachelor of music degrees from the Juilliard School. She is currently Regents Professor of Piano at the University of North Texas and is a Steinway artist.

The Galvanized Jazz Band
Voted Connecticut’s number one Jazz Band by the readers of CT Magazine. High energy Dixieland, Blues and Stomps for listening and dancing!