Elmar Oliveira with Robert Koenig
Saturday, May 12^th – 5 p.m.
The Hudson Armory
51 North Fifth Street, Hudson, NY

Elmar Oliveira, the only American violinist to ever win the Gold Medal at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky International Competition (1978), will be performing in Hudson as the finale of the 2011-2012 season of ClaverackLanding.  The musician, who began his study of the violin at the age of 9, has been a Grammy nominee and is Artist-in-Residence at the Lynn University Conservatory of Music in Boca Raton, Florida.

Come listen to an “old fashioned” violin concert.

Oliveira has chosen a traditional program beginning with a Handel Sonata.  “It’s a piece that used to be played quite often,” he says, “but is seldom on programs these days.  He’s following that with Dvorak Opus 100 for violin and piano – another piece not performed often.  “They are both beautiful, but seem to be out of favor,” he explains.  After intermission the program will continue with Debussy.  Oliveira says the choice is “very impressionistic” and “Stylistically very different from what comes before.”

“Finally,” he says with a laugh, “are the pieces that I consider dessert.  “Included are Brahms – Scherzo from the FAE Sonata, Tchaikovsky – Melodie, Opus 42, No. 3, and Wieniawski – Mazurka Opus 19, No. 2.   “They are all short pieces,” he explains.  “Once I’ve finished with the more substantial and complicated sonatas, these allow me to have much more fun with the audience.”

Please join us for the fun.

The violinist, and his accompanist, pianist Robert Koenig, will be performing in The Hudson Armory, 51 North Fifth Street, a building that is about to embark on a major make-over.  “We’re thrilled to have an opportunity to use this historic space,” says Gwen Gould, founder of ClaverackLanding.  “The room we’re using has wonderful acoustics and most of its original detail.  It’s a great venue for this season’s final performance.”

The concert begins at 5 p.m. on Saturday, May 12^th.  A reception, also in The Hudson Armory, will follow the performance and will be an opportunity for those attending to meet the musicians.  Tickets for the concert are $30.00.  An additional $15.00 is required to attend the reception.  For information and tickets, go to www.ClaverackLanding.org.

And Don’t Forget our TEN DOLLAR FUND DRIVE!

If you haven’t already contributed, please consider helping us raise funds for the continuation of ClaverackLanding.  We’re asking everyone to contribute $10.00 (more, of course, if possible).  Any amount is welcome and will help fund future concerts.  CLICK HERE TO DONATE.

Thanks and we look forward to seeing you.

The Music Lovers of ClaverackLanding

Whether you are an alto, soprano, tenor, bass or listener, we’re glad you joined the crowd of more than one hundred at the Messiah SING last Saturday evening.  All those voices sure sounded GREAT!  It’s a pleasure to hear good music -  and even more joyful, when it comes from a community full of enthusiastic singers.

Conductor Gwen Gould and all the hard working volunteers are already coming up with suggestions on how to make next year’s SING even better – and more fun.  Of course, we’ll keep you posted.

We also wanted to let you know we’re putting together some great classical concerts for this coming spring.  Virtuosos including the string ensemble “Intimate Voices;” co-founder of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, flutist Paula Robison; and Avery Fisher Prize recipient and violinist, Elmar Oliveira are all on the roster.  And, we’re going to add some of educational events, too.  If you’re interested, season tickets and further information are available right here.  Click on Buy Tickets.

Thanks again for lending us your voice!

Best wishes and Happy Holidays.

The music lovers at ClaverackLanding

P.S.  We tried our hardest to decipher the handwriting of those of you who gave us your e-mail addresses.  If you receive our notices, but your friends who attended the SING with you didn’t, it’s probably because we just didn’t get the right combination of words and numbers in the e-mail.  Feel free to send the correct address on to us, or aski them to sign up here on our site.  We’ll make sure to include any of your friends in future e-mails.

On Saturday, December 17^th, all those who are musically inclined – sopranos, altos, tenors and baritones alike, can come out of the closet, or, more accurately, up off the driver’s seat, and join the chorus in earnest. Gwen Gould, conductor, will be leading the general public and a professional instrumental ensemble of The Columbia Festival Orchestra, at a “SING” of Handel’s Messiah at the St. James Church in Chatham at 7 p.m.

“Come celebrate the season,” says Ms. Gould, founder of the CFO. We want everyone to lend their voice. Together the sound will be magnificent.”

The tradition at St. James started in 2007, though conductor Gould has been doing Messiah Sings since the early 1970′s beginning in NYC’s West Village and in other locations in Columbia County. This is an opportunity to hear some beautiful music, join in the singing, and spend some time with friends and neighbors away from that frenzy that has become a less welcome Holiday custom.  “We provide everyone with scores,” says Gould, “and we encourage participation. We assign what are traditionally solos to entire sections of the audience so the music really fills the building.  It’s a joy to listen to.”

Besides the general public, choral groups from the tri-state area are being invited, too.  With more than 12 in the Albany area alone, the resulting swell of voices could raise the already vaulted ceiling.  “Those who are shy about their singing can rest assured that more confident vocalists will be in attendance,” the conductor adds. “We want everyone to enjoy the evening – even those who just want to listen.”

Gould is also seeking serious-minded string students to join with the professional musicians at this event. “The CFO has a mentoring program called “Take a Seat” that allows youngsters the opportunity to learn at the knees of more seasoned performers,” she says.”  “Handel’s MESSIAH is a classic – one that students should learn.  By becoming part of this event, these young people will be able to add an important work to their repertoire and see how the area’s professional musicians approach this piece.”  Music teachers and student string players can reach Gould at 518.828.7513 or by e-mail at info@columbiafestivalorchestra.org.

This annual program is designed as a “glorious sing-along”, but encourages listeners to attend too. Light refreshments will be served at this non-sectarian event.  Eight dollar tickets are available in advance (online only at columbiafestivalorchestra.org).  The evening of the performance, tickets will be $10.00.  St. James Church is located on the corner of Rtes 203 and 66 in Chatham, New York.

This is an event of the non-profit organization Columbia Festival Orchestra and its newest venture, ClaverackLanding: great music in great spaces.  For more information about the coming season of classical music go to claveracklanding.org.

Gwen Gould
Artistic Director/Conductor
ClaverackLanding (CFO)

]]> http://claveracklanding.org/2011/12/add-your-voice-to-handels-messiah/feed/ 0 http://claveracklanding.org/2011/11/thanks-to-our-audience-for-a-great-opener/ http://claveracklanding.org/2011/11/thanks-to-our-audience-for-a-great-opener/#comments Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:34:04 +0000 Gwen Gould http://columbiafestivalorchestra.org/?p=1615 Hello and Thank you!

Photographer-in-Residence Roy Volkmann will be offering his work in signed limited editions to benefit ClaverackLanding.

During the past few days we’ve received great feedback about the wonderful performance by the Reinhold/Jolles Duo, at the TK Gallery on November 5^th.  Best of all, we’ve been asked when more exemplary classical music will be available in Hudson!  That’s music to our ears!

As we mentioned at the concert, ClaverackLanding has put together a program for Spring 2012 including Intimate Voices (string quartet), Paula Robison, and Elmar Oliveira. We’re also working on a Master Class for students and a weekend-long seminar with special guests (more to come later).

If you didn’t have a chance to purchase a Season Subscription, please take a few moments now to go online to www.claverackLanding.org.  Make sure to include the after-concert party option as this will give you an exclusive opportunity to meet the artists “up-close-and-personal.”

In the meantime, we are trying to get all of those who attended this concert on our e-mail list.  If you attended with a friend, can you let us know your e-mail addresses?  And, of course, we’d love to reach all of your friends who are fans of great music.

Thanks again to all of you who attended this season opener and benefit concert.  You are our pioneers, supporting us from the very beginning, and we owe you a special debt of gratitude.  As we grow, it will be your support that has made all the difference.  We’re glad you’re part of the family!

Best wishes,

Gwen Gould, Founder
Claverack Landing

P.S.  It’s the end of the calendar year.  If you can support us with a donation, we would be very grateful.  A check in any amount will be greatly appreciated.  It’s tax-deductible, of course.

For Immediate Release

PHOTO CAPTION:  This hand-pulled, artist-signed print, done by renowned photographer and Hudson resident, Roy Volkmann, will be available for purchase as part of ClaverackLanding’s new series of intimate chamber concerts in historic Hudson buildings.

The first concert, featuring violin virtuosos Renée Jolles and Sheila Reinhold will take place at TK Gallery on November 5th.  For tickets and more information go to www.ClaverackLanding.org

CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES CELEBRATES HUDSON SPACES

HUDSON, NY – ClaverackLanding, an offshoot of the Columbia Festival Orchestra, is tailoring a season of events based on the intimacy of chamber music and the beauty of Hudson architecture.

“We love the history of this city,” says founder Gwen Gould. “We wanted to give our audience a chance to visit some of the great spaces in Hudson and, at the same time, hear wonderful musicians.  Many times, they will be performing pieces that were composed during Hudson’s heyday, the second half of the 19th century.”

The first concert, a benefit for ClaverackLanding, will take place Saturday, November 5th, at 6 p.m., on the second floor of TK Home and Garden at 441 Warren Street.  “It’s an Italianate building, probably constructed around 1840, by a wealthy merchant,” says Gould.  “I wouldn’t be surprised if music similar to that which we are offering was performed right here just after this place was built.”

Violinists Sheila Reinhold and Renée Jolles will be playing duets by composers including Mozart and Gliére.  “These are pieces that are intricate and sophisticated but not often played in public,” says Reinhold.  “They are hidden gems, created for intimate settings.  And, because they don’t lend themselves to large concert halls, they are seldom heard.”  The Reinhold-Jolles Duo will also be playing a piece written for them, Woven, composed by Victoria Bond.

Renée Jolles, a concertmaster of the world-renowned, Grammy Award winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is a Julliard graduate, now on the faculty.  She has studied with Lewis Kaplan, and Itzhak Perlman.  She is a member of Continuum, Intimate Voices and the New York Chamber Ensemble.  The New York Times called her “a real star”.

Artist Sheila Reinhold gave her first performance as soloist with orchestra at the age of nine in the Kaufmann Concert Hall of New York’s 92nd Street Y.  At 14, she was invited by Jascha Heifetz to join his master class at the University of Southern California, where she studied with him for five years.  She has premiered solo and chamber works for both violin and viola, worked on major films and appeared with popular artists such as Tony Bennett.  She is founder and music director of Intimate Voices and is actively involved in the Children’s Orchestra Society.  Engagements have included solo appearances with conductors including Zubin Mehta and Andre Kostelanetz, chamber music with Heifetz and Gregor Piatigorsky and performances as soloist at the Chautauqua and Ives Festivals.

”We interact in these duos,” explains Reinhold, “yet our playing remains distinctly individual.  From the point of view of the players, there is something really intimate when we challenge one another.  True, we are playing written music, no improvisation, but there are so many little opportunities for interpretation and gesture.  It’s as if each of us constitutes half an orchestra.  Audiences have told us it’s really exciting to watch.”
Reinhold and Jolles are two of four musicians who make up this season’s “Artists in Residence”.  As such, they will be available after a spring concert (scheduled for March 3rd) for conversations with the audience.  Also on the calendar is an opportunity for these violinists to work with students in the school system as part of the “Take a Seat” program for young musicians.

Echoing an earlier name for Hudson and surroundings, ClaverackLanding was created to showcase exemplary musicians outside of an orchestral setting.  Included this year will be performances by:

• Intimate Voices – a string quartet showcasing “serious essays about music”
• Paula Robison – renowned flutist and co-founder of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
• Elmar Oliveira – winner of the coveted Avery Fisher Prize in 1983.

In addition to intimate chamber concerts in historic venues in and around Hudson, N.Y., ClaverackLanding has also joined forces with renowned photographer and Hudson resident Roy Volkmann, to create a series of portraits of the great artists participating in the 2011 – 2012 season and great architecture in Hudson.  Photographs will be displayed at the concerts and will be for sale in limited editions.

Volkmann began his photographic career in Europe working in advertising and editorial venues for magazines including Sportweek, Italian Bazaar and Amica. His work as a photographer of dance has brought him collaborations with the Alvin Ailey Company, Philobolus, the Dance Theater of Harlem and The Elisa Monte Dance Company, among others.  The latter created a dance movement in his honor, “The Volkmann Suite”.

“Having Roy photograph these artists is wonderful,” says Gould.  “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for us and for the musicians.  As years go by, we will accumulate a rare archive of some of the finest performers in the world done by a brilliant photographer.  ClaverackLanding is really fortunate.”

For tickets to The Reinhold-Jolles Duo, season tickets and special “behind the scenes” events for subscribers, go to  www.claverackLanding.org.

A Concert Made for Your Living Room

HUDSON – There was a time when the best musical artists didn’t perform on stage.  Rather, wealthy patrons would hold performances in their homes.  Amid upholstered furnishings and sumptuous tapestries, musicians would play for family and friends in an intimate environment.  There were no huge orchestras, no enhanced sound systems, just music at its most basic and most beautiful.

It was during this period that violin duos became prominent – just two players mirroring complicated melodies, challenging their talents and challenging the limits of their instruments. This was the absolute root definition of chamber music.

ClaverackLanding, an offshoot of the well-established Columbia Festival Orchestra, is presenting a series of these intimate gatherings in Hudson during the coming months.  The first is scheduled for Saturday, November 5 at 6 p.m and features  the Reinhold-Jolles Duo, comprised of two accomplished violinists, Sheila Reinhold and Renee Jolles.  The two will perform later in the season with ClaverackLanding’s 2011-12 resident ensemble, “Intimate Voices.” The opening program will include violin duets by composers including Mozart and Glière.  Gliere, a Russian, was little known outside of the Soviet Union and, until 10 years ago, his work was hardly ever performed in the United States.

Reinhold, a Bronx, New York resident, recalls her early exposure to violin duos when she was studying with Jascha Heifitz, considered to be the finest violinist of all time.  “He required that we sight read the music of these murderous virtuoso duos.  It was an embarrassment.  The music was incredibly complicated and intricate.”  But the result, once mastered, was wonderful.  “These are gems of music that have been composed,” she continues.  “They don’t get the hearing they deserve.”

“Music for two violins is essentially written for one virtuoso to play with another virtuoso,” explains Reinhold. “Essentially, each of us constitutes half an orchestra. And because our playing is so intertwined, there is a lot of give and take, an emotional intensity – like a modern day battle of the bands.  We are playing written music, no improvisation, yet there are so many opportunities for interpretation and little ‘gestures’.  We are constantly reacting to each other.  Audiences have told us that it’s really exciting to watch.  During the performance we are both partners and rivals.  It’s intimate and intense.  You don’t get that kind of musicianship with a whole orchestra.”

In keeping with the intimate nature of the music, this performance will take place on the second floor of TK Home and Garden, the TK Gallery.  The beautiful Italianate 19th century building at 441 Warren Street once housed a successful businessman and his family above the first floor which was reserved for retail.  It is conceivable that a concert such as this one may have taken place in the 1880s in this exact locale, when Hudson was among the most prosperous cities in New York State.

“We want to present our music in settings that are both intimate and reflective of the great architecture in Hudson,” says ClaverackLanding founder Gwen Gould.  “TK Gallery has such great detail; you can almost picture early chamber music concerts as they would have been presented in the 1800’s.”

ClaverackLanding is able  to take advantage of the many talented contacts developed by Gwen Gould and the Columbia Festival Orchestra over the years and expand its presentations to include intimate concerts like this one, as well as educational opportunities such as gatherings with musical experts and educators.

ClaverackLanding (the original name given to Hudson and its surroundings by the Dutch in the 1600′s) will present a series of concerts during the 2011/2012 season that is tailored to highlight some of the finest musical talent in the United States today.  Included will be renowned flutist and co-founder of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Paula Robison, and winner of the coveted Avery Fisher Prize, violinist Elmar Oliveira.   The Reinhold/Jolles Duo performance on November 5 will be a special benefit concert in support of the upcoming season.

Tickets for the Benefit Concert are $35.00 each, $60.00/pair. Cocktails and refreshments will be served following the concert and the public will have the opportunity to meet the performers.  The reception will also feature a display of musical and architectural portraits by renowned local photographer Roy Volkmann.   A special ClaverackLanding limited edition poster, signed by both the artist and ClaverackLanding founder Gwen Gould, will be available for $150.00.

“We’re lucky to have Roy Volkmann working with us,” says Gould.  “He plans to photograph all of our performers.  As the season progresses, we will accumulate an incredible archive of great talent taken by a very talented photographer.  We plan to offer these portraits for sale, many with celebrity autographs.  For classical music fans, it is a very personal addition to our intimate performances.”

“This is a great beginning for the season,” concludes Gould.  “The New York Times called Renèe Jolles “a real star”, and Sheila Reinhold has performed chamber music in concert with Jasha Heifetz, Gregor Piatigorsky and Leon Kirchner, among others.  I consider both of them to be among the finest musicians I know.  It’s an honor to have them as our opening performers.”

Help support our exciting ClaverackLanding concerts and other programs of the Columbia Festival Orchestra, including “Take a Seat in the Orchestra” mentoring program and Annual Messiah Sing.

Make your tax-deductible contribution by clicking here.

Details of our season to come soon…

Saturday, July 2 at 7:30 PM
at the Columbia County Fairgrounds
COLUMBIA FESTIVAL RAGTIME BAND
Gwen Gould, conductor

“Celebrate, America!” a concert of ragtime favorites and patriotic tunes
CLICK HERE for PROGRAM

Columbia Festival Ragtime Band will present a concert of authentic American ragtime pieces by such composers as Scott Joplin and Eubie Blake, as well as some novelty pieces and patriotic tunes. Bring a picnic supper to enjoy on our huge grassy lawn, or buy dinner onsite; buy all beverages on the grounds.

Special features will include a children’s parade of teddy bears to the music of “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic,” as well as the opportunity for a lucky raffle winner to conduct the band in Sousa’s “The Liberty Bell” march. GET OUT YOUR BATON – there’s still time to practice!

Advance tickets ($15) available through the Fair Office, 518-392-2121, Box 257, Chatham NY 12037. Admission at the gate, $20. Children 12 and under free.

Plenty of free parking. Grounds open at 5:30pm, concert at 7:30pm.

The Columbia Festival Ragtime Band, an ensemble of the Columbia Festival Orchestra, features professional musicians who play as freelance musicians all over the Northeast, including Mostly Mozart and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and multiple venues in the Berkshires and the Capital Region. The Orchestra strives to present performances of the highest quality, and to cultivate an appreciation of the art of music in young people and adults.

FLUTE FORCE
“fearless foursome of female flautists”
”startling, riveting”

Sunday, June 12 at 2 pm.
Club Helsinki Hudson
Buy tickets online: www.columbiafestivalorchestra.org
or call Club Helsinki at 518.828.4800.

Click Here for PROGRAM

Advance ticket buyers are guaranteed seats.
Tickets are $ 20.00.

FLUTE FORCE was founded in 1981 when there was virtually no written music available for four flutes playing together.  As a result, much of what the group presents these days is either commissioned specifically for them or transcribed from pieces created for other instruments.

“When we first got together,” says quartet member Sheryl Henze, “people assumed that we would sound like a calliope.  “But instead, what we did was really mix it up and find music that refuted that concept.”  And that’s what they want when they commission a new piece, too.  “We look for a composer with a distinctive voice,” explains Henze, “someone with their own vocabulary and style.  As a result, we’ve gotten a very diverse set of pieces.”  Together, the group has commissioned and premiered over twenty new compositions and serves as a model for flute quartets throughout the country.

Take the composition Silver Halo, for example.  Originally commissioned by a flute manufacturer (to insure continued interest in the purchase of the instrument), the piece was created for the 25th anniversary of Flute Force in 2006.   Says Henze, “We chose composer Joseph Schwantner because of a piece he had written several years ago.  We thought he had a good ear for our instruments.  But, low and behold, the piece he sent us had no resemblance to what we had liked.  It was nothing like the reason we had chosen him.  But,” she adds, “People are growing all the time.  And, we like to think we are too.” So they happily accepted his work.

Little did they know that it would come to be the most difficult piece they had ever played.  Schwantner had heard the quartets’ recordings and was very excited.  As Stern says, “he said he could write a piece free of worry that it would be too hard.”  Still, the group struggled to make it work.  And, if that wasn’t enough, the composer included some ‘theatrical effects’ – playing non-flute instruments and walking into the concert hall from the back – just to make things interesting.

Challenging or not, commissioned works have an added benefit.  The group doing the commissioning gets to premier the piece.  And in the process, as Stern says, “discover what the piece can really evolve into” right alongside the composer.  Ultimately, the first recording becomes the performance model for all who follow.

Which brings us to a sure sign that Flute Force has become an extremely influential ‘force’ in music.  Says Henze, “We received an inquiry on our website a few days ago asking where a CD of the Schwantner piece could be found.  The writer went on to say that they had heard it at Wheaton College – a place where we’ve never performed.  The mystery was solved when we found out that another flute quartet had formed just to learn this piece and when they performed it, they called themselves Silver Halo – the same name as the commissioned piece.”

Commissions come from within the group, too.  In fact, on Sunday, quartet member, Elizabeth Brown will be showcasing her original composition, The Baths of Caracalla.  “It’s my favorite piece,” says Henze.  “It’s so original; so different.”  The composition includes not only four alto flutes, but the recorded sounds of Vietnamese instruments shakuhachi and dan bau, and the eerie addition of the theremin.  “It’s sort of haunting,” Henze says.

Overall, the quartet has chosen selections that they feel will give the listener an overview of what 4 flutes can do.  These include a piece by Stravinsky, a Quartet in d minor from around 1700 – probably originally written for a recorder (but no one is certain), a “great, standard work” written by Eugene Bozza from mid-20th century, and “Walk Like This” – described as “rock influenced” and written by Ian Clarke, an English studio composer who counts Bobby McFarren and Robert Dick among his most important influences.

This event is part of the Columbia Festival Orchestra’s ClaverackLanding series – a program designed to increase the classical music audience.   By presenting their music in the intimate atmosphere of Club Helsinki in Hudson, virtuoso musicians of the CFO and highly acclaimed guest artists and ensembles can reach new listeners with both traditional and non-traditional concert music.  More information about this program is available at www.columbiafestivalorchestra.org.

The Kalmia Quartet

ClaverackLanding
for Openers…
Sunday, May 15th
at 7 pm
The Kalmia String Quartet
opening for the
Tisziji Munoz Quartet

The days of traditional classical musicians is long gone.  These four young people, The Kalmia String Quartet, all students at the Bard College Conservatory of Music,  will be presenting The Garden of Forking Paths by Joseph Summer, mixing early musical styles such as Mozart and minuets, with modern influences like the tango and “invented” musical interpretations.

Magic and Reality Mix it Up at Helsinki

HUDSON – The writing of Jorge Luis Borges was just what Argentina needed at the outbreak of World War I.  The author began by placing his protagonists in a gritty reality – a world where hard work wasn’t considered an “ethic”; it was a survival technique.  But, before long, the subjects had been written into incongruous or unfathomable situations – places where their daily lives became interspersed with – for lack of a better description – an alternate universe.

Welcome to magical realism, a writing style coined to describe Borges’ odd conjoining of daily life with anything-but daily happenings.  And, it is this same Magical Realism from the author’s first compendium of short stories, The Garden of Forking Paths,  that inspired composer Joseph Summer to create a string quartet in five movements.

On Sunday, May 15th, Club Helsinki will present the Kalmia String Quartet.  These four musicians, all attending the Bard College Conservatory of Music, will play the Summer music as an opening set for the Tisziji Munoz Quartet.

Violinists Shawn and Scot Moore are brothers from Elgin, Illinois, and have played music together since their youth.  They are joined by violist Leah Gastler, of Durham, Connecticut and cellist Tamas Zetenyi of Budapest, Hungary.  The Kalmia Quartet are promising young people whom, as a group, have received coaching from members of Orion, Juilliard and the Mendelssohn String Quartets.  They have also recently completed a summer residency at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival and have given performances throughout New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Main and the Chicago Area.

Joseph Summer, composer

This year, The Garden of Forking Paths will be part of Boston’s annual Shakespeare concert series – where Worcester-based composer Joseph Summer often presents his work.  In this piece, the composer’s ability to juxtapose Borges’ imagination and parallel universe interpretations with a musical continuity ends up being Magical Realism squared.  Here are some examples.

I: The author’s short story about Pierre Menard, an author who attempts to re-write the Cervantes’ classic, Don Quixote.  His work not only plagiarized extensively, but also re-conceived several scenes – not successfully.  So, the music is at times a mirror image of a Mozart piece, but is also a dissonant “anti” Mozart imitation.

II: In “Shakespeare’s Memory”, an individual – thought to be Borges himself – has not only his own memories, but those of the 17th Earl of Oxford and his pseudonym, William Shakespeare.  The resulting movement is an amalgam of English 17th century music and Buenos Aires tango selections.

III: Laudatores Temporis Acti – This story concerns an Asian religious sect that believed the past was completely disconnected from the present.  For this, the composer has created an “artificial” old-style music to reflect this belief, then played with the juxtaposition of this “fake” old-style music and the reality of the period.

Borges was taken with the interpretation of real events and how they could be manipulated to create alternatives. The  Kalmia Quartet is utilizing this same fascination in their use of traditional, classical music and it’s re-molding into new age music.

The concert takes place at Club Helsinki in Hudson on Sunday, May 15.  The performance begins at 8:00 p.m. with the Kalmia String quartet opening for the Tisziji Munoz Quartet. Tickets can be purchased by calling Club Helsinki at 518.828.4800 or visiting helsinkihudson.com.  Advance ticket buyers are guaranteed seats.

This performance is part of the Columbia Festival Orchestra’s ClaverackLanding…For Openers  series – a program designed to increase the classical music audience.  By presenting music in the intimate atmosphere of Club Helsinki in Hudson, virtuoso musicians of the CFO and highly acclaimed guest artists and ensembles can reach new listeners with both traditional and non-traditional concert music.  More information about this program is available at www.columbiafestivalorchestra.org.