Telluride Musicfest, “Dvorak & Friends,” 6/27-7/2, Tickets Available Now!

24 May Telluride Musicfest, “Dvorak & Friends,” 6/27-7/2, Tickets Available Now!

Telluride Musicfest returns to town for a 14th season with three concerts on a program titled “Dvorak & Friends”: June 27, June 30 & July 2, 7:30 p.m. July 1 is Amateur Night, featuring local talent, including event co-producer Josh Aronson and locals Charles Price and Clint Viebrock. 

Ticket information for these intimate, unforgettable evenings of world-class chamber music in a private home is available here. Checks should be made out to “New York Friends of Chamber Music,” a 501c3 non-profit, and mailed to Josh Aronson, 35 East 20th Street, 2nd floor, New York, NY, 10003. Questions? Call 917-847-8865. For more on Musicfest’s founding ensemble, the Trio Solisti, and artistic director Maria Bachmann, go here.

The Trio Solisti is the founding ensemble of the Telluride Musicfest. Violinist Maria Bachmann is artistic director.

Antonin Dvorak, the son of a village innkeeper and butcher and a close friend of Johannes Brahms, is one of the most prominent Czech classical composers of all time, renowned even in his own day for his progressive creativity. In 1893, while working in New York, the composer, who had always been fascinated with his ethnic roots and folk melodies, metabolized the sounds of Native and African Americans and then produced one of the most popular symphonies ever, “From the New World.” Seventy-six years later Commander Neil Armstrong took Dvorak’s New World Symphony to the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission.

Artistic director Maria Bachmann, the Trio Solisti, and friends presents the chamber music of Dvorak, Brahms, Schumann and other greats when Telluride Musicfest (thankfully) returns to town for a 14th season (after a hall pass of four years) to perform three concerts titled “Dvorak and Friends.”

Performances take place in the beautiful home of Vincent and Anne Mai, co-producers of the event with documentary filmmaker Josh Aronson on Thursday, June 27, Sunday, June 30, and Tuesday, July 2, at 7:30 p.m. Amateur night largely featuring talented locals takes place July 1.

Maria Bachmann’s story is the American Dream.

Her parents were forced to flee their homeland in 1956 after the failed revolution and the Red Menace tightened its grip on Hungary. The family came to America with nothing, speaking no English, as was true of many immigrants at the time. Maria’s mom, a nurse, found work immediately. Her dad, a PhD professor of music, initially got by teaching piano. Over the years, Eva and Tibor Bachmann did whatever it took to make a better life for their children in their adopted country.

Grit and sacrifice paid off big time: son Peter became a dean of math and science at a college outside Philadelphia; daughter Maria grew up to become a world-renowned violinist, hailed by The New York Times as a performer “of soul and patrician refinement.”

In these difficult times, Maria’s story is an important reminder of why Immigrants’ Lives Matter.

Founded in 2001, the Trio Solisti today – violinist Maria Bachmann; cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach; and pianist Fabio Bidini – performs at major venues and series across the United States.

The 2018-2019 season includes a return to Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall for a three-concert series titled “Masterworks.” The group’s 2015 series at that venue featured the complete piano chamber music of Brahms in performances hailed by The Strad for their “abundant dynamism, exceptional balance and a wholly successful grasp of the interpretive essence.”

Additional Trio Solisti highlights of the 2018-2019 season are appearances at People’s Symphony Concerts at Town Hall in New York; The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.; Music at Kohl Mansion in San Francisco; Friends of Chamber Music in Portland, OR; Arizona Musicfest in Scottsdale; and Ensemble Music Society of Indianapolis. Performances of previous seasons include appearances at Great Performers and Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, Washington Performing Arts at Kennedy Center; Chamber Music Society of Detroit; The Friends of Chamber Music Kansas City; and La Jolla Music Society’s Revelle Series.

As the founding ensemble of Telluride Musicfest, the Trio Solisti proudly marks its 14th year as ensemble-in-residence at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York.

The raves about the ensemble help explain why Musicfest is a no-miss, world-class musical happening in our own backyard.

“Sometimes the power of music is in what’s held back more than in what’s shown outwardly. Trio Solisti showed this strength in fine, understated playing,” Washington Post, 1/28/2019.

“Trio Solisti’s playing was big in scope from the very beginning and stayed that way. It was a superb performance of a profoundly beautiful work,” The Boston Musical Intelligencer, 8/28/2017.

“The Trio Solisti gave an immaculate and insightful performance. Their exceptional joie de vivre permeated the entire concert,” TheaterJones.com, 4/19/2017.

“This piano trio [is] probably the finest American group currently on the field,” The New Yorker, 9/22/15.

And so on…

Also performing at Musicfest is violist Kathryn Lockwood, hailed as a violist of exceptional talents in reviews around the country. The Cleveland Plain Dealer proclaimed, “…Lockwood played the vociferous viola cadenza with mahogany beauty and vivid character.”

Kathryn is the violist of the internationally renowned Lark Quartet and the unique viola and percussion duo, duoJalal. In 2019, she became artistic director of the “Four Seasons@Sands Point” concert series on Long Island.

Yousif Sheronick’s unique skills in both World and Classical music have led him to perform with a diverse range of ensembles and musicians including Philip Glass, Yo-Yo Ma, Laurie Anderson, Ethos Percussion Group, Lark Quartet, Silk Road Ensemble, Branford Marsalis, Sonny Fortune, Glen Velez, and Paul Winter. Yousif’s many musical influences are highlighted in duoJalal, his venture with violist and wife Kathryn Lockwood.

2019 Telluride MusicFest, 14th Season: “DVORAK and FRIENDS”

Thursday, June 27 – Great Admirations

Schubert:  Piano Trio in B flat major, Op. 99

Dvorak: Piano Trio No 2 in G minor, Op 26

Artists: Trio Solisti

Sunday, June 30 – Musical Collaborations

Shirish Korde: Joy for Viola and Hand Drum

Kenji Bunch: Lost and Found for Viola and Percussion (2010)

Yousif Sheronick: Doubtful Sound for solo Frame Drum

Anon (14th cent): Medieval Dances “Dance Estampie”
for violin, viola, cello and percussion

Brahms: Piano Trio in B major, Op 8

Artists: Kathryn Lockwood, viola, Yousef Sheronick, percussion, Trio Solisti

Monday, July 1 –Amateur Night (locals perform)

Tuesday, July 2 – Soundscapes

Sollima: Lamentation for solo Viola and Percussion

John Patitucci: Scenes for Viola and Percussion (2005)

Dvorak: Piano Trio No 1 in B flat major, Op 21

Schumann: Piano Quartet in E flat major, Op 47

Artists: Kathryn Lockwood, viola, Yousef Sheronick, percussion,Trio Solisti