Music among the meadows

WCM’s annual benefit provides a uniquely intimate, and bucolic, concert setting

BETHEL, NY — A private country home overlooking rolling meadows, lush gardens and a pond is the setting for Weekend of Chamber Music’s (WCM) 2008 June benefit, Music in the Barn, at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 21. Hosted by a WCM patron, the evening includes an al fresco gourmet buffet supper with wine and a chamber music concert in the renovated barn, after which guests stroll back across the grounds to the candlelit terrace for dessert.

The concert centers around the fortepiano, the transitional instrument developed between the Baroque harpsichord and the modern piano. Conductor and pianist Kenneth Hamrick joins cellist Nina Lee, member of the award-winning Brentano Quartet, and WCM’s artistic director, flutist Judith Pearce, on the program.

Hamrick, with a knack for making music user friendly with lively discussions, performs on, and talks about, the evolution of the fortepiano. In between Bach’s E Major Flute Sonata and Pleyel’s Grand Trio, the audience will hear exquisite piano nocturnes by John Field, plus cello and flute solos. Peter Maxwell Davies’ solo for flute, The Kestrel Paced Round the Sun, is also on the program. That piece was composed for Pearce in the 1970s when she was a member of Davies’ new music ensemble, Fires of London.

Each of the musicians maintains an active professional career and consistently earns rave reviews. Hamrick is a top prizewinner at many major festivals and competitions, and has performed with groups ranging from the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera to tap legend Savion Glover. Lee, who tours and is in residence with Brentano at Princeton University, has collaborated with artists such as Jaime Laredo and Mitsuko Uchida, and has performed at the Marlboro and Tanglewood Music Festivals. Peter Maxwell Davies has said Pearce “...is recognized in Britain and Europe as one of the very few absolutely top-ranking flute players.”

The annual benefit supports WCM’s school programs and work in the Upper Delaware River Valley.

Reservations are required. Admission donation is $75 per person. Directions to the private home will be given when reservations are made. Weekend of Chamber Music is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and donations are tax deductible to the extent the law allows.

For more information call 845-932-8527 or 718-638-8962.