Classical music: This summer the Token Creek Festival goes online. The music starts TODAY at 4 p.m. Concerts run daily through Sept. 15 and remain up for this month

PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.

By Jacob Stockinger

The annual Token Creek Chamber Music Festival normally occurs in the final weeks of summer, just before Labor Day, in the welcoming rustic comfort of the beautifully converted barn (below) located on the rural farm property of composer John Harbison and violinist Rose Mary Harbison.

With its normal concert season canceled due to Covid-19, the festival is pleased to announce an alternative for the summer almost ended.

Slightly later than usual, “MUSIC FROM THE BARN” is a two-week virtual season, a retrospective of concert compilations from 30 years of performances.

The topical programs will be released daily over the period Sept. 1–15 at 4 p.m. (CDT), and will remain posted and available to “attendees” throughout the month. From anywhere in the world, you can revisit whole programs or individual pieces.

The goal of the series has been to achieve the broadest possible representation of repertoire and artists who have graced the Token Creek stage since the series began in 1989.

To festival-goers, it will come as no surprise that the virtual season emphasizes music of Bach, Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, vocal music, works by artistic director John Harbison and his colleagues, and, of course, jazz.

In addition to the welcoming beauty of the barn and festival grounds, with sparkling creek and abundant gardens and woods, and the convivial intermissions at every concert, one of the features most beloved by audiences is the concert introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient and MIT professor John Harbison (below) that begins each program. Happily, these remain a feature of the virtual season as well.

Season Schedule

Tues., Sept. 1: Welcome and introduction from the artistic directors (below and  in the link to the YouTube video at the bottom)

TODAY, Wed., Sept. 2: Founders Recital

Thurs., Sept. 3: Haydn Piano Trios

Fri., Sept. 4: Bach I: Concertos

Sat., Sept. 5: A Vocal Recital (I)

Sun., Sept. 6: Beethoven

Mon., Sept. 7: Contemporaries

Tues., Sept. 8: Early Modernists

Wed., Sept. 9: A Vocal Recital (II): Schubert and Schumann

Thurs., Sept. 10: Jazz 2003-2019

Fri., Sept. 11: Neo-classicists: Pizzetti, Martinu, Stravinsky

Sat., Sept. 12: Schoenberg and His Circle

Sun., Sept. 13: Mozart

Tues., Sept. 14: John Harbison: Other Worlds

Wed., Sept. 15: Bach II: Preludes, Fugues, Arias, Sonatas

Programs will be posted on Token Creek’s YouTube Channel, accessible from the festival website (https://tokencreekfestival.org), which will also host concert details: works, artists, program notes and other information.

All concerts are FREE and open to the browsing public.

In addition to the virtual concert season, the Token Creek Festival is pleased to release two new CDs.

A Life in Concert (below) features music written for Rose Mary Harbison by John Harbison, and performances of diverse music by the two of them. It includes the world premiere recordings of Harbison’s Violin Sonata No. 1 and Crane Sightings: Eclogue for Violin and Strings, inspired by frequent encounters with a pair of sandhill cranes at the Wisconsin farm.

Wicked Wit, Ingenious Imagination (below) offers four piano trios by Haydn, a beloved genre the festival has been surveying regularly since 2000.  CDs will be available at the festival website by mid-September.

For more information, go to: https://tokencreekfestival.org

https://tokencreekfestival.org/2020-virtual-season/welcome/#

---

Posted in Classical music
Tags: #ALIfeinConcert, #AmericanJazz, #ArnoldSchoenberg, #ArtisticDirector, #AtonalMusic, #BachCantata, #BaroqueMusic, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BohuslavMartinu, #ChamberMusic, #ClassicalRecording, #ConcertSeason, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #CraneSightings, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FacultyMember, #FranzJosephHaydn, #FranzSchubert, #GeniusGrant, #IgorStravinsky, #InstrumentalMusic, #JacobStockinger, #JohannSebastianBach, #JohnHarbison, #LaborDay, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MacArthurFellow, #MacArthurFoundation, #MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology, #Musicfaculty, #MusicFromtheBarn, #MusicProfessor, #NeoClasssicalMusic, #NewMusic, #OnlineConcert, #PianoTrio, #ProgramNotes, #PulitzerPrize, #RobertSchumann, #RoseMaryHarbison, #SandhillCranes, #StateOfWisconsin, #StringMusic, #TheEar, #TokenCreekChamberMusicFestival, #TokenCreekFestival, #TwelveTone, #UWProfessor, #ViolinSonata, #VirtualConcert, #VocalMusic, #Wicked Wit, #WolfgangAmadeusMozart, #WorldPremiere, #YouTubeChannel, #YouTubevideo, A Life in Concert, abundant, alternative, announce, annual, anywhere, aria, Arnold Schoenberg, Artistic director, artists, Arts, atonal, attendee, Bach, barn, Baroque, beautiful, beauty, Beethoven, blog, Bohuslav Martinu, broad, browsing, canceled, Cantata, CDs, cellist, Cello, Chamber music, channel, co-artistic director, colleagues, comfort, compilation, composer, concert season, concerti, concertos, contemporary, converted, convivial, coronavirus, crane, creek, daily, details, diverse, diversity, early, Early music, Eclogue, emphasize, encounter, end, Facebook, faculty, farm, feature, festival, festival-goers, forward, founders, Franz Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, free, fugue, Garden, gardens, genius grant, goal, grace, grounds, Haydn, Holiday, Igor Stravinsky, imagination, individual, information, ingenious, Ingenious Imagination, IngeniousImagination, instrumental music, intermission, introduction, Jacob Stockinger, Jazz, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Harbison, Labor Day, later, life, like, link, Ludwig van Beethoven, Martinu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, modern, modernists, month, Mozart, Music, Music From the Barn, music professor, neoclassical, neoclassicists, New Music, normal, normally, occur, online, online concert, open, other, pair, pandemic, performance, period, Piano Trio, piece, Pizzetti, pleased, post, posting, Prelude, program, program notes, property, public, Pulitzer Prize, recipient, recital, recording, release, remain, repertoire, repertory, representation, retrospective, revisit, Robert Schumann, Rose Mary Harbison, rural, rustic, sale, sandhill cranes, schedule, Schoenberg, Schubert, Schumann, Season, sell, September, share, sighting, singer, Singing, Sonata, sparkling, stage, Stravinsky, string music, strings, summer, surprise, tag, The Ear, today, Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, Token Creek Festival, topical, twelve tone, two, usual, Viola, Violin, Violin Sonata, violinist, virtual, vocal, vocal music, week, welcome, welcoming, whole, Wicked, Wisconsin, wit, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Woods, works, world, world premiere, years, YouTube