From July 7 to August 3, 2014, the Atlantic Music Festival triumphantly returns to the Colby College campus for its sixth consecutive season. Continuing the tradition set forth in past years, internationally recognized artists and rising stars from all over the world will congregate in Waterville, Maine to partake in an inspiring musical experience, presenting beloved classical masterpieces alongside inventive and iconoclastic new works by today’s composers.
The Festival continues its tradition of offering all of its concerts completely free of charge as a gift to the community. Through its I Am Four Years Old campaign, the Festival continues its vision of sustaining a public reaffirmation of its core values, cultivating awareness of the musicians’ place within the community and exploring the musicians’ response to violence, social injustice, or illness. In the past, the Maine Children’s Home (2013) and UNICEF’s Achieving Zero (2012) were chosen as recipients for their efforts in making a difference in communities near and far, providing aid to underprivileged children and families, and instilling hope. In 2014, with the renewal of the I Am Four Years Old campaign, the Festival will donate 100% of its proceeds to a charity of your choice. This year’s recipient will be announced at the end of the festival season, chosen through audience votes collected on our website and at our concerts. For more information about the campaign and to vote, please visit the I Am Four Years Old campaign page at http://atlanticmusicfestival.org/the-festival/i-am-four-years-old/.
We are proud to welcome our listeners to a special season preview concert on Friday, July 11, at 7 PM in Lorimer Chapel. Praised by the Los Angeles Times for the “intensity and passion, lyrical tenderness and yearning” of its playing, the Manhattan based Cassatt String Quartet has garnered numerous accolades. Beyond charged performances, adventurous programming, and celebrated recordings, this prize-winning quartet's acclaim stems in part from its championship of contemporary music. Its premieres of new works have led critics to applaud its approach, describing it as “muscular, ferociously intelligent … a first-class interpretation of new music” (San Francisco Chronicle). The program showcases works by Daniel S. Godfrey, Bruce Adolphe, and Lawrence Dillon.
The curtain officially rises on Saturday, July 12, 2014, at the Lorimer Chapel with Delaware Symphony’s Maestro David Amado conducting the AMF Orchestra. Introducing a season filled with unique and inspiring works, the 7:00 PM concert features Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony, followed by George Tsontakis’s Laconika. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 closes the program. AMF offers two additional orchestral concerts, conducted by Maestro Jonathan Schiffman and Artistic Director Solbong Kim. Both orchestra concerts offer performances by renowned guest artists. In addition to Dvorak’s Symphony No. 6, the first, held on July 26, features violinist Bella Hristova in performance of composer and faculty member David Ludwig’s Saturn Bells and a performance by the Piano Concerto Competition winner. The final concert, held on August 2, presents violist Sang-Jin Kim, celebrated for his poise and warmth, in performance of Kim’s Concerto for Viola and Orchestra.
The Chamber Music Series resumes every Wednesday and Friday at 7:00 PM beginning June 17, 2013, while the Salon Series, now Salon @ The Bar, returns to the Marchese Blue Light Pub. Audiences can enjoy food and drinks and listen to a variety of chamber and solo favorites in this informal setting. In addition, the Festival’s Institute Programs (the Composition Program, Opera Workshop, and the Piano Institute and Seminar) have not-to-be-missed concerts highlighting some of the best and the brightest artists on the classical music scene. The Future Music Lab, designed to immerse gifted musicians into the world of new music technologies, returns following an exciting debut last season. Led by award-winning violinist and composer Mari Kimura, the project is an official collaboration with IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique) in Paris. Viewers can experience the latest innovations in new music performance through performances by computer music pioneers Liubo Borissov and Jean-Baptiste Barrière, culminating in a concert on Thursday, July 31, at 8:30 PM.
For more information about AMF 2014, including the complete schedule of events, please visit the Festival website at www.atlanticmusicfestival.org, or call the Festival office at 1-888-704-1311.
