2010 SEASON: MUSIC FOR THE MOUNTAIN

What makes a concert great? At Monadnock Music there are many different answers, but one ingredient remains constant: a commitment to a spirit of daring and discovery. This year, we are as excited as ever about the experiences we have in store. Our ticketed concerts feature some of the world’s best-known music, with powerful works by composers from Bach and Brahms to Berio. Musicians for whom every note and syllable matter intensely will give you a chance to hear afresh how these signature pieces changed the world of music forever. As always, there will be exploration in the realm of the new, re-discovered gems from the past, and this summer, unique collaborations with our close cousins in the arts, dance and poetry. Read on!

Highlights of summer 2010:

• Essential Concerti: our first Peterborough Town House concert, with concertos by Mozart and Bach, the Barber Adagio for strings, and Heitor Villa-Lobos’ famous aria for soprano and eight cellos.


• Chamber Music Masterpieces: a series of three concerts, each featuring two celebrated works from the past alongside one by a contemporary master.


• Borromeo Quartet: returns to the Town House!


• Battery Dance featuring soloists Maurizio Nardi and Jane Satoy: choreographer Jonathan Hollander of New York’s Battery Dance collaborates with Monadnock Music to create an evening of music and dance with renowned Indian musicians Samir and Sanghamitra Chatterjee.


• American Spiritual: the well of deep feeling that runs through 200 years of American music inspires a concert ranging from songs of Stephen Foster and James Primosch, to folk artists Rani Arbo and Indra in new renditions of old favorites.


• Paris of the Senses: from the swirling romanticism of Chausson to Debussy, Falla and Messaien’s explorations of sonic and sensual boundaries, the French temperament takes over the stage for an entire evening.


• Monadnock Music at the Mariposa: great performers from different world traditions appear in the Mariposa Museum's intimate Peterborough setting. Renowned Indian classical musicians Samir and Sanghamitra Chatterjee will present an hour-long program.


• Mozart Trail: following up last year’s popular Beethoven trail, we’ll perform one of Mozart’s incomparable string quintets every week in our free town concerts. Among the most profound music in our repertoire, these offer a stirring musical journey to those who follow the trail throughout the summer.


• Music for the Mountain: This year we pay tribute to the landscape that has sustained us, and to the lone mountain whose magnetic presence has inspired creativity in the region for generations. Six new songs celebrating Monadnock and its environs, set to words by different MacDowell Colony fellows, will be performed on our free concerts. Each week a different poet and composer (and our musicians) will bring a new work to life before our eyes and ears- one that is rooted in our towns, fields, and forests!


• A summer of great singing: Janna Baty, Rani Arbo, Ilana Davidson, Elizabeth Shammash, Aaron Engebreth, and Krista River, each week will bring great vocal music to our stage; in the final week soprano Tony Arnold will be featured in an evening of 20th century masterpieces.


• Composers: Mario Davidovsky, Melinda Wagner, Steven Mackey, and James Bolle are among the ten composers whose presence will lend excitement, and a direct connection to the creative process that underlies all music.

Programs subject to change!