Category: Classical

Bard SummerScape 2021 Returns to the Hudson Valley

Bard SummerScape is back in New York’s Hudson Valley with an adventurous lineup of live performances from July 8th through August 15th of 2021.

Staged for limited in-person audiences, the 2021 season presents the 31st Bard Music Festival, “Nadia Boulanger and Her World,” which pays tribute to one of the most important female figures in classical music history; the first fully staged American production of King Arthur (Le roi Arthus), the only opera by Boulanger’s compatriot and near-contemporary Ernest Chausson; the world premiere of I was waiting for the echo of a better day, a major new dance commission from Bard’s Fisher Center Choreographer-in-Residence Pam Tanowitz and Sphinx Medal of Excellence-winning composer Jessie Montgomery.

Also featured are Most Happy in Concert, comprising songs from Frank Loesser’s The Most Happy Fella, directed by Tony nominee Daniel Fish; “Black Roots Summer,” a two-weekend celebration of Black roots music curated by Michael Mwenso and Jono Gasparro; and a newly commissioned concert from longtime SummerScape favorite Mx. Justin Vivian Bond.

All programs will be staged between July 8 and August 15 in both the Frank Gehry-designed Fisher Center and outdoors at Bard’s Montgomery Place campus, a designated National Historic Landmark set amid rolling lawns, woodlands and gardens against the spectacular backdrop of the Catskill Mountains. Select programs will also be livestreamed at UPSTREAMING, the Fisher Center’s virtual stage.

Gideon Lester, Artistic Director of the Fisher Center at Bard College, explains:

This summer’s festival includes new works by artists who have deep and evolving relationships with the Fisher Center. We are also thrilled to be presenting several artists for the first time, including some we’ve collaborated with over the past year as part of our continuing journey toward becoming a more equitable and inclusive organization. After the uncertainty and isolation of the pandemic, the coming months will offer particularly joyous and meaningful opportunities for all these artists to return to rehearsal and performance again, inviting audiences to join them on voyages of creation and discovery.

The health and safety of Bard’s audiences, artists and staff are of paramount importance. All SummerScape productions will be presented in adherence with strict COVID protocols and in accordance with CDC and NY State guidance and regulations. Learn more about SummerScape 2021 health and safety protocols here.

Bard SummerScape 2021 – highlights by genre

Music: 31st Bard Music Festival, “Nadia Boulanger and Her World”

Founded by co-artistic director Leon Botstein, it is the Bard Music Festival – “a highlight of the musical year” (Wall Street Journal) – that provides the creative inspiration for SummerScape. The first woman to come into Bard’s festival spotlight, Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979) was a true musical polymath.

A prize-winning composer, peerless composition teacher and trailblazing conductor, organist and scholar, she is “arguably … the most important woman in the history of classical music” (BBC Music magazine).

Through the prism of her life and career, “Nadia Boulanger and Her World” offers an illuminating series of concerts, pre-concert talks and panel discussions over the final two weekends of SummerScape.

On August 6–8, Weekend One explores Music in Paris in the first half of the 20th century, and on August 13–15, Weekend Two addresses The 20th-Century Legacy of Nadia Boulanger. Twelve concert programs spaced over the two weekends explore such themes as Paris as the epitome of chic, the crosscurrents of influence between France and America, and the relationship between French Catholicism and spirituality.

The festival will present examples of Boulanger’s own, little-known oeuvre alongside music by her teachers and mentors, including Gabriel Fauré, Louis Vierne and Charles Marie Widor; her Parisian contemporaries, like Claude Debussy, Olivier Messiaen, Francis Poulenc, Maurice Ravel, Erik Satie and expats George Gershwin, Cole Porter and Igor Stravinsky; her male students, including Jean Françaix, Astor Piazzolla, and illustrious Americans Marc Blitzstein, Elliott Carter, Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, Walter Piston and Virgil Thomson; her female students, like Marcelle de Manziarly, Thea Musgrave, Julia Perry and Louise Talma; other women composers, Germaine Tailleferre and Lili Boulanger, Nadia’s celebrated sister, among them; and some of the bygone composers whose music she vociferously championed, like Monteverdi, Bach and Brahms.

Finally, two thought-provoking panel discussions will be supplemented by informative pre-concert talks to illuminate each concert’s themes. As the Los Angeles Times writes, Bard offers “the summer’s most stimulating music festival.”

Opera: Ernest Chausson’s King Arthur (first fully staged American production)

Musical America observes: “Bard’s annual opera has become an indispensable part of the summer operatic landscape.” Of an earlier generation than the Boulanger sisters, Ernest Chausson (1855–99) played a pivotal part in the development of French late-Romanticism. Set to his own libretto, Chausson’s sole completed opera, King Arthur (Le roi Arthus, 1886–95) depicts the tragic love triangle between the mythological English king, his wife Guinevere and his trusted knight Lancelot. Despite having enjoyed recent revivals in Edinburgh and Paris, the opera has yet to be seen on the American stage.

With its rich lyricism, ravishing harmonies and otherworldly final chorus, however, it has won many advocates. In King Arthur, Gramophone affirms, “passion is often white-hot; the orchestration is opulent; and there are … passages of sheer beauty.”

Marking the opera’s long overdue first fully staged American presentation, Bard’s new production will be directed by Princess Grace Award-winner Louisa Proske, Founding Co-Artistic Director of Heartbeat Opera and designated Associate Artistic Director and Resident Director of Germany’s Halle Opera.

Singing the title role will be baritone Norman Garrett, who made his Metropolitan Opera debut in last season’s Porgy and Bess after winning top prizes in more than a dozen international vocal competitions. He will be joined by Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke as Guinevere under the baton of Leon Botstein, who previously led the opera both on a Telarc recording with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and in a 2001 concert performance with the American Symphony Orchestra at Lincoln Center.

That performance was hailed as “one of the best Leon Botstein and the American Symphony have given together,” showing Chausson’s score to be “sumptuous, majestic, brilliant in its fanfare moments and often powerful” (Paul Griffiths, New York Times). King Arthur will run for four performances in the Fisher Center’s Sosnoff Theater on July 25, 28 and 30 and August 1.

Dance: world premiere of I was waiting for the echo of a better day by Pam Tanowitz and Jessie Montgomery

SummerScape has long produced and premiered significant dance productions, including commissions from choreographers Ronald K. Brown, Trisha Brown, Lucinda Childs, Bill T. Jones, John Heginbotham and Mark Morris. SummerScape 2021 opens with the world premiere of I was waiting for the echo of a better day, a new commission from Pam Tanowitz, the Fisher Center’s inaugural Choreographer-in-Residence, in collaboration with Jessie Montgomery, next Composer-in-Residence of the Chicago Symphony, whose honors include the ASCAP Foundation’s Leonard Bernstein Award.

Set to new arrangements of Montgomery’s chamber music, which has been called “turbulent, wildly colorful and exploding with life” (Washington Post), along with material from her collaboration with Eleonore Oppenheim, big dog little dog, this large-scale work marks Tanowitz’s first return to SummerScape since the resounding success of her ballet Four Quartets.

A Fisher Center commission, Four Quartets was named “Best Dance Production of 2018” by the New York Times, which pronounced it “the greatest creation of dance theater so far this century.”

Performed with live musical accompaniment from artists including Montgomery on violin and Oppenheim on double bass, I was waiting for the echo of a better day will premiere in three performances on July 8, 9 and 10 against the glorious backdrop of the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, using the historical parkland of Montgomery Place as inspiration.

Concerts on the Stage at Montgomery Place: Most Happy in Concert

The legendary composer-songwriter behind Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Frank Loesser accrued a string of honors including an Oscar, multiple Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize. Featuring some of his most soaring lyricism, his classic 1956 show, The Most Happy Fella, “is one of the greatest musicals ever. Or one of the greatest operas. Hell, it’s just great,” declares New York magazine.

Loesser’s songs take center stage in Most Happy in Concert, a setting of his ebullient songs for a cast of seven female and non-binary vocalists with a 13-piece instrumental ensemble. Originally developed for a full production in SummerScape 2020, this meditation on our longing for human connection, made only more poignant by the isolation of the past year, will now be presented as a concert under the summer sunset.

Helming the concert is director Daniel Fish, whose revelatory, Tony Award-winning revival of Oklahoma! debuted at SummerScape 2015 before traveling to St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn and then to Broadway, where it scored the director his first Tony nomination. Most Happy in Concert will take place in three performances on August 5, 6 and 7 on the Stage at Montgomery Place.

Concerts on the Stage at Montgomery Place: Black Roots Summer

Bard celebrates the uplifting spirit of Black roots music over two weekends this July, with Black Roots Summer, presented in association with Electric Root and curated by jazz vocalist Michael Mwenso, the London-raised Sierra Leone native whose mentors include James Brown and Wynton Marsalis, and Jono Gasparro, former curator of Ginny’s Supper Club in Harlem.

Both weekends take place on the Stage at Montgomery Place, where Mwenso and the Shakes give two performances of their set “Love Will Be the Only Way” on July 23 and 24. Fronted by Mwenso himself, the Harlem-based Shakes hail from destinations ranging from Madagascar, South Africa and France to Hawaii and Jamaica. Taking listeners on a journey through the kaleidoscope of Black ancestral diasporic music and traditions, by way of Fats Waller, Muddy Waters, James Brown and other musical legends, the Shakes’ international blend of jazz and blues has been called “intense, prowling and ebullient” (New York Times).

Next, on July 29, Mwenso leads a lineup of special guest vocalists in “Genius Mother Mary”: A Sonic Retrospective of Mary Lou Williams. A Black woman in the male-dominated field of jazz, Grammy-nominated American pianist, arranger and composer Mary Lou Williams (1910–81) wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements, some of them for Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, as well as making more than a hundred recordings and serving as a friend, mentor and teacher to Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and many more.

As NPR put it, it was Williams who “mastered the language of swing and pushed the genre towards more expansive, experimental sounds.”

Finally, on July 30 and 31, the hills come alive with The Sound of (Black) Music, when Bard presents “Edelweiss,” “My Favorite Things,” “Do-Re-Mi” and other favorite songs from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s beloved final musical, as reimagined through an Afrofuturistic lens by the 20-plus BIPOC vocalists and instrumentalists assembled by Mwenso and Gasparro.

Concerts on the Stage at Montgomery Place: Mx. Justin Vivian Bond

A longtime SummerScape favorite, Mx. Justin Vivian Bond has been heralded as “the greatest cabaret artist of this generation” (New Yorker). The recipient of an Obie, a Bessie and a Tony nomination, they return to Bard this season for three performances of a new concert specially commissioned for Montgomery Place, in the picturesque setting of the Stage at Montgomery Place on July 15, 16 and 17.

SummerScape tickets

All tickets go on sale on June 2. The Box Office can be reached by telephone at (845) 758-7900, on Mondays through Fridays at 11am–4pm EST, or by email at boxoffice@bard.edu. Tickets are also available 24/7 on Bard’s website at fishercenter.bard.edu.

The 2021 SummerScape season is made possible in part through the generous support of Jeanne Donovan Fisher, the Martin and Toni Sosnoff Foundation, the Advisory Boards of the Fisher Center at Bard and Bard Music Festival, and Fisher Center members, as well as grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Commissioning and development support for the Stage at Montgomery Place provided by the Fisher Center’s Artistic Innovation Fund, with lead support from Rebecca Gold and S. Asher Gelman.

Commissioning funds for I was waiting for the echo of a better day are provided by Jay Franke and David Herro.

Bard SummerScape 2021: Key dates

July 8–10              Dance: I was waiting for the echo of a better day by Pam Tanowitz and Jessie Montgomery (world premiere)

July 15–17            Concerts on the Stage at Montgomery Place: Mx. Justin Vivian Bond

July 23 & 24         Concerts on the Stage at Montgomery Place: Black Roots Summer, Weekend One

July 25–August 1 Opera: Chausson’s King Arthur (first fully staged American production)

July 29–31            Concerts on the Stage at Montgomery Place: Black Roots Summer, Weekend Two

August 5–7           Concerts on the Stage at Montgomery Place: Most Happy in Concert

August 6–8           Bard Music Festival, Weekend One: Music in Paris

August 13–15       Bard Music Festival, Weekend Two: The 20th-Century Legacy of Nadia Boulanger

May 4, 2021
The Raybeats’ “The Lost Philip Glass Sessions” Gets First-Ever Vinyl Release on Record Store Day

New York City in the 1980s was a creative caldron where anything could happen. Painting, graffiti, performance and emergent video art, film, dance, theater and music of every conceivable genre were blending into one another, often in unprecedented ways. In the arts, and maybe music first and foremost, boundaries were not for division but blurring and breaking to make the wholly new. So when Philip Glass, the esteemed minimalist composer, teamed with The Raybeats, the neo-surf guitar super combo, it was the kind of collision of seeming opposites that made perfect sense in these freewheeling times.

The Raybeats formed in 1979 out of the ashes of the legendary New York no-wavers, The Contortions. The band’s bassist George Scott and drummer Don Christensen joined with guitarist/keyboardist/sax man Pat Irwin (8-Eyed Spy and later the B52s) and guitarist Jody Harris (Golden Palominos and an original member of The Contortions featured on the seminal No New York compilation produced by Brian Eno). When Scott died of a drug overdose in 1980, he was replaced by Danny Amis. Amis would later go on to form the groundbreaking, masked surf guitar band, Los Straitjackets.

The Raybeats sound was an artsy update on the gutsy guitar instrumentals of fuzz pioneer Link Wray and the twangy surf of Dick Dale. Added to this were copious amounts of space age bachelor pad swank and spy movie mysterioso, along with Stax/Volt grooves and, of course, the experimental noise/skronk of no-wave. It was a high-energy, eminently danceable brew, one that made The Raybeats a popular touring band on the underground rock circuit. With Amis, they recorded an EP Roping Wild Bears (1981) and the acclaimed full-length album, Guitar Beat (1982). After his departure, they waxed just one more album, It’s Only A Movie!, before disbanding in 1984.

The Raybeats went into SoHo’s Greene Street Recording on June 4 – 5, 1982, with Philip Glass, his pianist of choice Michael Riesman and co-producer Kurt Munkasi. None of the parties really knew what to expect according to Irwin. And the world would not hear the fruits of their collaboration until 31 years later, when Glass released the seven tracks on CD in 2013, on his Orange Mountain Music label.

Philly and NYC based label Ramp Local is now putting out the first-ever vinyl pressing of this incredible collection, called The Lost Philip Glass Sessions, just in time for Record Store Day, June 12. The vinyl package includes new cover art and an insert, with liner notes by Pat Irwin and rare archival photos.

The disc kicks off with “Jack the Ripper,” a cover of the classic instrumental recorded by Link Wray of “Rumble” fame. As with many of the offerings here, the tune is anchored by a pounding jungle beat, with some nice retro slapback delay. It also boasts thick sheets of dreamy feedback from Jody Harris to complement Irwin’s heavily-reverbed, deep toned melody guitar.

“Pack of Camels” is one of the tunes that gets a more obvious Glassian treatment. This is snake charmer music, an Eastern modal dance groove with oodles of reverbed melody guitars and spooky Lena Lovich/Laurie Anderson-like vocal accents by Dora Ohrenstein.

According to Irwin’s liner notes, “Black Beach” was intended to recreate the experience of riding Coney Island’s famed roller coaster, the Cyclone. Drummer Christensen had the idea of recording the sounds of the Cyclone and the screams of the riders for use as a drum break, a thought that ended up on the cutting room floor. The B section of has the most obvious Glassian flavor on the album – a hypnotic swirl of interlocking keyboard figures played by Michael Riesman, a longtime member of The Philip Glass Ensemble.

“The Sad Little Caper” features a five-note melodic figure, a baritone guitar counter melody and a cavernous ambience that brings to mind a James Bond flick. Add to this spooky keyboard answers arranged by Glass. These are reminiscent of P-Funker Bernie Worrell’s contributions to Stop Making Sense-era Talking Heads.

The most no-wave flavored piece of the album, “I Do Just What I Want,” comes from a 1985 session at the Living Room, Glass’ studio in TriBeCa. Dirty tenor sax growls, slip slidey fuzz bass and a four-on-the-floor surf beat propel the piece, which features a vocal refrain of the title and punchy orchestral synth hits.

“1.2 Girls” and “Hoodlum Priest” both come from sessions at Surf Sounds begun in 1983. The former owes a ton to the jungle rhythms of Gary Glitter’s 1972 hit, “Rock-n-Roll Pt. 2.” A stomping beat, more tenor growl and a bit of vocals singing the title, one that purportedly was swiped from a tabloid headline. “Hoodlum Priest” begins with the sound of thunderstorm captured outside the studio. More cool spy vibes to a dark funk beat, with lush stereo pans of the bitey guitars – acoustic, electric and a bit of backwards psychedelia.

Like Guitar Beat, this disc proves that The Raybeats were the real deal. They were true sonic minded guitar innovators, working in a punk era that minimized any guitaring that seemed to showcase chops, anything beyond three chords, a grimace and a grunt. Though their career was short-lived, their influence was lasting, with the neo-surf they pioneered in their recordings and in the further works of its members when they dispersed. The meeting with Glass produced some real magic here. It is guitar art of the highest order, one that proves that this quartet was on the level of the critic revered Tom Verlaine/Richard Lloyd-helmed Television.

If you like this disc, you should also check out the exceptionally creative, lo-fi masterpiece Escape, a duo disc made on a budget of $7 (for tape) by Raybeat Jody Harris and Robert Quine of Voidoids and Lou Reed fame. Irwin has been keeping great instrumental guitar art alive via his long stint with The B52s, his contributions to soundtracks like The Rugrats and, most recently, his great PI Power Trio. You can hear what he’s been up to on their debut EP The Walk or at live performances at downtown NYC venues like the Treehouse at 2A. Recommended Tracks: Jack The Ripper, The Sad Little Caper and Pack of Camels

May 3, 2021
Orange County, New York – home to Jazz and Opera legends, Pardison Fontaine and many more

This is the first article in the series “Made in New York,” a historical examination of the music history of each of New York’s 62 counties. First up – Orange County.

Welcome to Orange County, New York! This stretch of land is the first county in the United States to be named Orange and it shares this name with seven others throughout the country. Located between the Hudson and Delaware Rivers, this area which was first named in 1683 is full of natural and historical wonders.

The county’s highest elevation is located at Schunemunk Mountain and its lowest point is at the mighty Hudson River. The Wallkill River National Refuge is home to the smallest turtle in New York and this is just up the road from the Black Dirt Region in Southern Orange County, which accounts for half of the onions grown in New York State. Additionally, the black dirt here has an uncanny ability to preserve the past and more mastodon bones have been uncovered in this area than anywhere else on Earth.

Some of the history in this area is well-known by all, but this county has a surprising amount of it, some of which many people may not be aware. West Point Military Academy, which opened in 1802, is the oldest such school in the U.S. and the first section of the Appalachian Trail was created at Bear Mountain and opened in 1923. But interestingly, Orange County is home to the oldest tree and the oldest carbon-dated human settlement in America.

Orange County has its share of “firsts” as well. It has been home to the first cattle ranch and the first butter factory in America and also the world’s first homeopathic mental hospital. And who can forget America’s first liquid propelled airmail rocket flight which occurred at Greenwood Lake in 1936.

This county has a few more facts that just need to be shared. Stewart International Airport has a runway long enough to designate it as an emergency landing site for the now-defunct space shuttle. Brotherhood Winery is the oldest continuously operating winery in the country and Storm King Art Center is the largest sculpture park in the country. And finally, cream cheese was first mass-produced in Chester, NY and despite being made in New York, they named their product ‘Philadelphia Cream Cheese’ and through clever marketing, got its name because the Pennsylvania city was known for quality dairy farming.

But you didn’t come to NYS Music to learn about cheese and turtles; you’re here to learn about what Orange County has to offer to the music community.

The Ritz Theater in Newburgh is one of the most famous musical venues in the county and has been graced by performances from Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Prima and a then unknown singer named Frank Sinatra. It also, famously, is the venue where Lucille Ball made her on-stage debut and it was also the first time she performed with Desi Arnaz. On the other side of the county, Port Jarvis used to be the home of the State Theater. In its last year of operation, the venue featured both Anthrax and Metallica.

SONY DSC

In between these two cities, Middletown is home to the Paramount Theater which was added to the State & National Register of Historic Places in 2002. This venue has seen Johnny Cash, Joan Jett, Jefferson Starship and Blue Oyster Cult play for sold out audiences. And while we can’t touch on every venue in the county, one final notable haunt is the BSP Lounge in Kingston. This place was a featured location during King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s second U.S. Tour in 2014.

There are plenty of musicians who have called Orange County their home. Let’s take a look at the many bands and artists from the area.

Willie “The Lion” Smith

17th February 1939: American jazz musician Willie ‘The Lion’ Smith playing the piano and singing at a ‘Friday Club’ jam session, organized by Eddie Condon and ad-men P. Smith and E. Anderson, at the Park Lane Hotel, New York City. (Photo by Charles Peterson/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Jazz music wouldn’t be the same if it weren’t for one particular resident of Orange County. Willie “The Lion” Smith was born in Goshen, NY in 1893. In his younger years, he discovered his mothers broken down organ in the basement and she taught him all of the melodies she knew, despite the instrument missing most of its keys. He started playing music at local clubs as he got older and one day he discovered a newspaper advertisement for Marshall & Wendell’s piano store in Albany with a contest to guess how many dots were printed in their ad. After winning the contest, an upright piano was delivered to his house and he continued to play various rags that he learned in those clubs.

In his late teens, he was finally playing in NYC and Atlantic City before serving in World War 1 where his reported bravery as a gunner earned him the nickname “The Lion.” He was back playing clubs in NYC by 1919 and not only made his first record a year later but helped develop a new piano style that is now known as “stride.” That record in 1920, called Crazy Blues, recorded with a singer named Mamie Smith, is generally regarded as the first recording of the blues.

During this time, Smith became a mentor for many up-and-coming musicians, most notably Duke Ellington. Duke was once quoted saying, “Willie The Lion was the greatest influence of all the great jazz piano players who have come along. He has a beat that stays in the mind.”

Orange County celebrates Willie “The Lion” Smith Day on September 18.

The Kalin Twins

Hal and Herbie Kalin were born in Port Jervis on February 16, 1934. Although they wouldn’t become stars until their late 20’s, their first “performance” together was at the town’s Christmas party when they were both five years old. At the age of 18, Hal was drafted into the U.S. Army and he and his brother kept in contact during his service, sharing songs they had written and writing about future plans to make it big in the music industry.

The twins were signed to the Decca Records label after Hal’s return and although their first songs failed to chart, they did appear on the Milt Grant Show and performed live. It wasn’t until searching through a bunch of demo tapes from writers that they discovered the song “When,” which they thought would be a hit. Released as a B-side on their single “Three O’Clock Thrill,” “When” eventually peaked at #5 on the Hot 100 charts and made it to #1 on the UK Singles chart and also #1 on the US R&B chart. They weren’t one-hit-wonders though as they had a number of other charting tracks including “Forget Me Not,” which reached #12 on the Hot 100.

Pardison Fontaine

Jorden Thorpe, better known as Pardison Fontaine, was born in Newburgh, NY in 1989. At an early age, he started rapping on his Talkboy and decided during his college years to drop out and commit fully to his hip-hop aspirations. He first gained acclaim with his 2013 song, “Oyyy” from his debut mixtape titled ‘Not Supposed to Be Here’ and filmed the music video for the track in his hometown. This song caught the attention of Cardi B and Pardison has since contributed as a songwriter to her for numerous songs, most famously her single “Bodak Yellow.”

Cardi was also featured on Pardison’s breakout hit “Backin It Up,” which hit #40 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and has garnered over 166 million views on YouTube. Pardi has co-wrote with Kanye West on more than half of the songs on Kanye’s 2018 album, Ye, including “Violent Crimes” and “Ghost Town.” In addition to these, Pardison co-wrote the track “South of the Border” on Ed Sheeran’s No.6 Collaborations Project.

Pardison still represents his roots in Newburgh and loves giving back to the community. He has donated jerseys to the local Newburgh Steelers football team, participated in a turkey drive and also a bookbag giveaway to help local school children. His new album, Under8ed, was released in November of 2019 which he has described as “the story of my city.”

pErFect ThYroID

Throughout the 90s, one band in particular made waves throughout the Hudson Valley with its new brand of musical fusion, fun live shows and of course, it’s infamous Skunk logo. Hailing from Orange and Ulster County, Perfect Thyroid was formed in 1991 and while its lineup changed throughout the years, the band originally consisted of brothers Chris and Bill Hanson, Chris Snykus, Jaf Farkas, Shawn Rice and Jen Polcari. Combining the ska, funk and punk, reggae and jazz genres into their musical stylings, Thyroid became well known for calling this new sound “Skunk”.

PT toured full-time for over 20 years and put out 5 albums during that time, including “Musical Barnacles,” which Alternative Press selected as a “Ska-Punk Essential Album.” They were also featured on the soundtrack for the 1998 Disney movie, Meet The Deedles. Throughout the tenure over the last 2 decades, they’ve had a plethora of incredible musicians join them in studio and on stage, including Dean Jones, Joe Cuchelo, Jason Foster, Mike Bove, Jon Stern, Sam Lapidus, Sean McLaughlin, Ben Acrish and Goshen’s own Shane Kirsch.

While the band has still played occasional shows throughout the last decade, most of the current lineup can also been seen in another area band called The Big Shoe. The members of Perfect Thyroid continue to call the Hudson Valley their home and will always be a shining example of what bands from New York State bring to live music scene.

William Fullerton Jr

William was born in Newburgh in 1854 and was the only son of William Fullerton, a famous New York lawyer. At age 17, he published ‘Silver Strains’ which is now located in the Library of Congress. He left for Europe to study music in Germany and ended up living in London where he published a number of popular compositions that were dedicated to members of the Royal family. During his time in London, he lived with a famous painter and stage designer named Percy Anderson and these two would go on to have success with the opera named ‘Lady of the Locket.’ Following this, he set to work with Anderson on another light opera titled ‘Waldemar: Robber of the Rhine’ before succumbing to tuberculosis in 1888. While many of his works have been lost to history, ‘Spanish Serenade’ still exists online and can be heard below.

Dubois Alsdorf

Newburgh has a rich history of music and dance over the last century and a half, and that is thanks to the Alsdorf Dance Academy. Dubois Alsdorf was born in Wallkill, NY in 1827 to parents George and Catherine. At an early age, he showed a talent for music which he received from his father George and his parents sent him to New York City to begin an apprenticeship. Studying under famed orchestra leader and composer William Alpo, Dubois learned from Alpo’s musical experiences playing with Francis Johnson. Johnson was the first American musician to tour Europe and introduced the U.S. to the idea of open-air concerts, which had a lasting impression on Dubois. After his apprenticeship, Dubois formed one of the first regional brass bands, the Alsdorf Band, which according to the Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands, made their debut on the Courthouse steps of Newburgh in 1849.

Alsdorf also began his own orchestra which played in prominent vacation spots like Lake George and Saratoga Springs and locally for dance classes, which gave him the opportunity to learn dance instruction. This set the stage for him to open the Alsdorf Dance Academy, whose first location was in Newburgh’s own United States Hotel. The school was soon teaching dance to the people of Newburgh and Orange County alike and this history of dance education continued as his three sons followed in his footsteps. Charles, Simon and Ulysses Alsdorf taught at the Dance Academy at 93 Liberty Street in Newburgh, which featured a grand ballroom and rooftop garden for public performances. The first soiree at the Alsdorf Academy took place in 1849, but the Dubois family continued this tradition for nearly a century, teaching Newburghers dance and music for generations.

The Heavy Pets

The Heavy Pets are considered a Florida-based band through and through, but their roots run deep in Orange County. Guitarists Jeff Lloyd and Mike Garulli as well as Bassist Joe Dupell became friends while going to high school in Goshen, NY and formed a band named Anthem before starting the first iteration of The Heavy Pets. College sadly got in the way of music, but once that was done, Dupell invited Lloyd down to visit him in Florida. Shortly after his arrival, Garulli came down as well, setting the stage for The Heavy Pets to reform.

Their first show in South Florida occurred in 2005 and the next few years were nothing short of exceptional for the band. In a 2006 contest to select a local band to play the Langerado Music Festival in Florida, The Heavy Pets beat out 350 other bands and were on the same lineup as The Flaming Lips, The Disco Biscuits and Robert Randolph. Two months later they were selected as the “Unsigned Band of the Week” by High Times Magazine. The following year, they put out their first album, Whale, and have released seven additional albums since then.

While the band’s lineup has changed slightly over the years, their love for playing live shows and especially music festivals has not. The Heavy Pets have played more than a dozen different festivals and over 1,000 live shows since 2005 and have even held their own fest, Pet Zoo, three times in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Corey Glover

Corey Glover, best known for his work with Living Colour and also for touring with Galactic wasn’t born in Orange County, but he re-located there in the last decade. While you may recognize his face from the movie Platoon, Glover’s voice is known the world over from Living Colour’s hit 1988 song “Cult of Personality.” Glover has also been in such bands as SKAndalous All-Stars and Vice and has even toured as a vocalist with the “A Bowie Celebration” Alumni Tour.

During the beginning of the last decade, Glover started playing with a number of jam bands. He sang with Robert Randolph as well as Soulive for a number of shows and also toured as a vocalist with Galactic from 2011-2014 after seeing them at Irving Plaza in NYC and joining them on stage at that show. He is still touring with Living Colour and most recently started two new bands. He started Ultraphonix with Dokken guitarist George Lynch and a metal project called Disciples of Verity with former members from Negative Sky and God Forbid.

So there you have it. Orange County has, without a doubt, a rich heritage of musicians and venues and an impressive amount of history surrounding it. From rock to hip-hop, the Hudson River to the Delaware River and the Philadelphia Cream Cheese company to the country’s first rocket-propelled airmail test. The contributions from the residents in this county can’t be glossed over and it’ll be a standard that you’ll find throughout our series on the Counties within New York State. Next up, Cortland County!

April 5, 2021
Live Performances Return to SPAC with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

The Saratoga Performing Arts Center is bringing back the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s residency making it the first series of live performances since 2020 for SPAC.

The Saratoga Performing Arts Center is located in Saratoga Springs and has been around for over 50 years. Their first summer season hosted 21 shows over the span of four weeks. The center had performances from non-classical musicians over time including Harry Belafonte in 1967 and a record breaking performance from Grateful Dead in 1983. In 2014 the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center became SPAC’s third resident company.

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center developed when the president of the Lincoln Center at the time, William Schuman, wanted an organization dedicated to chamber music. It officially began in 1969 in the Alice Tully Hall. CMS started educational and developmental programs for young musicians. There are about 70 performances that take place outside of New York City and the country per season. They are a part of several residencies and even have their own record label.

The Chamber Music Society residency at SPAC comes back this year after the 2020 season was cancelled due to COVID-19. This season is from June 13 until August 29 featuring compositions from Beethoven’s string quartets and Schumann’s Piano quartet in E-flat major. The U.S premiere of Twelve Blocks by pianist Michael Brown is also a part of the agenda. The co-Artistic directors David Finckel and Wu Han return along with the Calidore String Quartet’s SPAC debut.

The series takes place at Pitney Meadows Community Farm which has large outdoor space for events. It will have a maximum capacity of 200 per performance and each performance is 75 minutes without an intermission. Socially distanced pods for two are provided for ticket buyers from the price of $100-120. Tickets for subscriptions to all six shows will be available on April 1 for SPAC members and April 6 for the general public. Single performance tickets are available on April 12 for SPAC members and April 16 for the general public and won’t be available at the door. Tickets can be purchased on SPAC’s website along with additional information regarding COVID-19 protocols.

On your way to SPAC, don’t forget that Stewart’s Shops is your ice cream shop! With over 345 shops in 31 counties across New York and southern Vermont, the convenience store chain is known for their fresh &local dairy products. With dozens of choices at the cone counter, you’re bound to find something you love! Try a shake, sundae, or cone today, What’s Your Flavor?

March 28, 2021
The Orchestra Now (TŌN) to livestream Two Concerts

The Orchestra Now, aka TŌN, will be conducting two shows to livestream on April 10 and May 1. With 72 young musicians from 14 different countries, The Orchestra Now seeks to make symphonic music relevant today.

Photo Credit: David DeNee

Conductor, educator, and music historian Leon Botstein founded TŌN in 2015. This graduate program at Bard College has grown exponentially and has undoubtedly begun to leave its mark. The concerts are free, with a suggested donation of $25-50.

On April 10, Leon Botstein leads TŌN in Mendelssohn’s “Scottish” Symphony and Berstein’s Serenade. This performance will feature violinist Zongheng Zhang also. The program additionally will have the work of Ácana from Tania León and Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, performed alongside pianist Blair McMillen. RSVP here for a direct link to the livestream on the day of the concert.

On May 1, the show is dedicated to the memory of Stuart Strizler-Levine, a beloved Bard faculty member since 1964. Leon Botstein will conduct the Orchestra in the first of two concerts in the Beethoven tribute. This first program will present the composer’s 5th and 7th Symphonies in addition to his Triple Concerto for violin, cello, and piano. This start to the Belated Beethoven Birthday Celebration will feature violinist Adele Anthony, cellist Peter Wiley, and pianist Shai Wosner. RSVP here for a direct link to the Livestream on the day of the concert. This commemoration will continue on May 8.

Photo Credit: Matt Dine

Members of The Orchestra Now are hand-picked from the world’s leading conservatories. With The Orchestra Now offering onstage introductions and demonstrations, writing concert notes, and having one-on-one discussions with patrons, TŌN musicians can further share their unique visions.

March 27, 2021
The Albany Symphony Unveils its Celebratory 2021-2022 Season

GRAMMY-winning Albany Symphony Orchestra music director David Allan Miller announces its 2021-2022 season, featuring Timeless Masterpieces from Beethoven to Tchaikovsky and several other exciting composers of current time.

The Albany Symphony

The season will honor Music Director David Alan Miller’s 30^th anniversary, as well as virtuosic soloists: Richard O’Neill, Shai Wosner, Eric Berlin, Peter Kolkay, Maya Buchanan, Gloria Cheng and Timothy McAllister. Other composers include John Corigliano, Jessie Montgomery, Viet Cuong, John Williams, Tania León, and more.

“We are thrilled to be able to share some of the greatest works of all times with our subscribers and patrons, especially after an enormously challenging, difficult year,” said Albany Symphony Music Director David Alan Miller. “We will perform many of our very favorite classics, from Scheherazade to Mozart’s Jupiter and Tchaikovsky’s Pathétique Symphonies. And, we will also celebrate many of the most exciting composers of our time, including Jessie Montgomery, Viet Cuong, and my dear friend Tania León. I’m looking forward to several exciting commissions and world premieres and feel so fortunate to be joined in my anniversary season by so many creative artists and great performers who mean so much to me.”

The season opens in October 2021 with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 Eroica, one of the most transformational works in music history. The musical catalogue glides from classics to modern composers, showcasing many talents through a variety of musicians.

The 2021-2022 season runs from October through the American Music Festival in June. Subscriptions offer patrons the opportunity to purchase their favorite seat before tickets go on sale to the general public. The Compose Your Own season subscriptions offers flexibility and convenience. Through the Nielsen Associates’ Student Access Program, students can purchase discount subscriptions and enjoy the full benefits of being a subscriber for as little as $45. To purchase a subscription online, visit http://www.albanysymphony.com or call the Albany Symphony Box Office at 518-694-3300.

March 25, 2021
Chautauqua Institution and Musicians Reach Agreement

The Chautauqua Institution announced a new agreement with resident Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra musicians. The agreement extends the current Collective Bargaining Agreement through September 2021, but makes some important adjustments that provide for flexibility and creativity in planning the ensemble’s 2021 season.

“I am pleased and grateful we have been able to reach an agreement that will serve both our patrons and CSO musicians during the 2021 season as we all look forward to an enriching and soul-nourishing 2021 Summer Assembly,” said Michael E. Hill, president of Chautauqua Institution.

Performances will occur Weeks Three through Seven of Chautauqua’s nine-week Summer Assembly, and will often feature a smaller ensemble, with all musicians distanced and non-wind and -brass players masked. Guest soloists will be limited in 2021, but the repertoire will be designed to showcase the members of the CSO.

“This hope-filled news allows us to immediately work together to create a season that balances safe practices and bold performances,” said Deborah Sunya Moore, interim senior vice president and chief program officer for Chautauqua.

Photo of Rossen Milanov

“While these are not our ideal planning circumstances, this season does offer us an opportunity to experiment and innovate,” said Rossen Milanov, CSO music director. “We’re excited about the opportunities in 2021 to feature the virtuosity within this amazing orchestra. Most of all, we’re grateful to be planning to play together again in front of our beloved Chautauqua audience.”

The limitations presented by health and safety procedures provide an opportunity to highlight a diverse range of composers and compositions, in keeping with a commitment to both tradition and innovation. As an example, the CSO’s opening night will feature Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 and Gabriela Lena Frank’s Elegía Andina.

CSO member Leslie Linn, trumpet, served as chair of the musicians’ negotiations committee.

“As we prepare for the upcoming season at Chautauqua, we are grateful to have an opportunity to be back together, in-person, to perform for the Chautauqua community, filling the void that has existed for all of us since in-person performing ceased due to the pandemic,” said Linn. “The musicians of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra are excited to have this agreement in place. We thank the Institution for working with us over many months to reach this agreement and are eager to return to Chautauqua and the audience we love.”

Milanov will share the Amphitheater podium in 2021 with Stuart Chafetz, the CSO’s longtime principal timpanist, who was named the ensemble’s first-ever principal pops conductor in November 2019. With the cancelation of the 2020 season, 2021 will be Chafetz’s first with his new title, though he has long served as a go-to conductor for CSO pops concerts.

Stuart Chafetz leads the The Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra in an Independence Day celebration in 2012.

In addition to the CSO schedule, 2021 patrons will enjoy the Music School Festival Orchestra on Monday evenings Weeks One through Four, with a special additional performance on Saturday, July 3, keeping symphonic music as the centerpiece of Chautauqua’s Independence Day celebration.

The Chautauqua Institution has a rich history of musical variety. With symphony, opera, jazz, theater, dance, visual arts and a renowned music school, Chautauqua produces an “ecstatic mix” of programming that can be found only at major organizations. This mix of arts and culture has defined the Chautauqua Institution for over a decade.

March 17, 2021
Albany Symphony Wins Second GRAMMY Award

This past Sunday, the 63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards announced their winners which included the Albany Symphony. The ASO, conducted by David Alan Miller, won the Best Classical Instrumental Solo for Christopher Theofanidis‘ Concerto for Viola and Chamber Orchestra

The Concerto for Viola and Chamber Orchestra was originally written for Kim Kashkashian. She sent Theofanidis a collection of Navajo poems that were wildly different in character, but had in common a supernatural sense of nature and an extremely evocative vocabulary. Each of the four movements is serious in sentiment, in turns lyrical and dramatic. Theofanidis wrote this work during the tragedy and turmoil of 9/11, starting the piece before and finishing it afterward, and was influenced by being in midtown Manhattan that day.

Portrait of Theofanidis

This is the second GRAMMY win for the Albany Symphony. The first came in 2013 for John Corigliano’s Conjurer with world-famous percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie

For a full list of winners of the 63 Annual GRAMMY Awards visit their website.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjSHRVOSNdI

March 16, 2021
The Bardavon Announces the 48th Annual Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Competition

The Bardavon is excited to announce that they are holding the 48th Annual Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Competition virtually on March 14, 2021 at 3pm. The event will be lived streamed on the Bardavon Youtube channel.

The Hudson Valley Philharmonic String Competition is often credited for launching the careers of world-renowned orchestral and solo string musicians. Many previous winners have gone on to illustrious classical music careers. Previous notables include: violist Marcus Thompson ’67, Boston Chamber Players; violinist Ani Kavafian ’73, Lincoln Center Chamber Players soloist; violinist Adela Pena ’85, Eroica Trio; and violinist Judith Ingolfsson ’96, 1998 Indianapolis International Violin Competition winner.

The judges for this years competition are: Daniel Phillips, a violinist and resident at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; Lucie Roberts, a violinist and a professor at the Manhattan School of Music and the Mannes College of Music; and Susan Seligman, a cellist and a professor at SUNY New Paltz. The 2021 first-prize winner will receive $4000, a solo performance with the HVP during its 2021-22 Season, and a solo performance at the “Musical Landscapes of Italy” festival in August.

The Bardavon is the oldest continually operating theatre is the state of New York, dating all the way back to 1986. The Bardavon offers affordable, world-class arts education programs, music, dance, theater, Live in HD broadcasts, and classic films for the diverse audiences of the Hudson Valley. The company also partners with others local venues such as the Mid-Hudson Civic Center and Kingston’s Ulster Performing Arts Center.

More information can be found on the Bardavon website.

March 6, 2021
The Orchestra Now to Livestream Two Free Concerts From the Fisher Center at Bard College

The Orchestra Now (TŌN) will continue its Spring 2021 season by live streaming two concerts March 7 and March 20, with conductors Andrés Rivas and Zachary Schwartzman.

The Orchestra Now from theorchestranow.org

Works on both concerts, ranging from rarely performed music for string orchestra to Vivaldi’s Concerto in G minor, Pärt’s memorial for composer Benjamin Britten and Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite after Bizet’s beloved opera, will be prefaced with brief remarks by TŌN musicians.

On March 7, assistant conductor Andrés Rivas will lead the orchestra in four works for strings. The english composer Bruce Montgomery will have his Concertino for String Orchestra performed. Montgomery’s work ranges over several genres, including soundtracking for the infamous British comedy series Carry On. There will also be works from composers Victor Herbert, Ingvar Lidholm, and Andrés Gaos.

On March 20, resident conductor Zachary Schwartzmen will lead an arrangement from Bizet‘s classic opera Carmen by Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin in advance of his 90^th birthday in December 2022. Shchedrin’s works are known for their avant-garde and neoclassist sensibilities as well as folk and jazz sounds. His Carmen suite was intended for his wife, who is a ballerina. Conductor and Grammy-nominated recording artist Zachary Schwartzman will offer musical insights on the concert in a Zoom seminar on Thursday, March 11 at 7 PM EST. You can RSVP HERE.

The Orchestra Now from theorchestranow.org

It is a free concert with a suggested donation of $15-35. If you cannot attend the concerts in real-time, they will be posted here after March 11.

The Orchestra Now is a group of 72 young, vivacious musicians from 14 different countries. All members share a love for orchestral music, keeping it relevant in the 21st century by sharing their personal insights and artistic capabilities in a welcoming environment. Conductor, educator, and music historian Leon Botstein, whom The New York Times said “draws rich, expressive playing from the orchestra,” founded TŌN in 2015 as a graduate program at Bard College, where he is also president. The Orchestra Now offers both a three-year master’s degree program in Curatorial, Critical, and Performance Studies and a two-year advanced certificate in Orchestra Studies. You can find more about TŌN here.

March 2, 2021