For Immediate Release
Woodstock, N.Y.—June 23, 2015—Maverick Concerts, the oldest continuous
professional summer chamber music festival in America, announces the
opening of its 100th season on Saturday, June 27, at 8:00 pm, with a concert by NEXUS, the masterful percussion group. The program features the premiere of Peter Schickele's Percussion Sonata No. 3, "Maverick." Mr.
Schickele will be in attendance for the premiere of his work, which was
commissioned by Garry and Diane Kvistad and the Woodstock Chimes Fund
for the Centenary of the Maverick Concerts.
All Maverick concerts are held in the historic concert hall, 120
Maverick Road, Woodstock, N.Y. 12498. The hall was hand-built in 1916 in
a woodland glade just two miles from the center of town.
In addition to the Schickele premiere, the program includes "Sky Ghost"
(with special guest performers Amy Fradon and Kirsti Gholson), by NEXUS
member Russell Hartenberger, as well as his Persian Songs, arrangements
by the renowned classical Iranian singer/instrumentalist Sepideh
Raissadat. Also on the program are ragtime tunes for xylophone by the
late Woodstock composer/xylophonist George Hamilton Green arranged by
NEXUS member Bob Becker.
NEXUS and Ms. Raissadat will be giving a free concert for young people on the same day, Sat., June 27, at 11:00 a.m.
About the Music
Mr. Schickele's Third Percussion Sonata is a work in three
movements, with a lively toccata, a quiet romanza, and a finale titled
"Vaudeville." "Sky Ghost" is from Hartenberger’s composition Invisible Proverb, which, along with Schickele's Percussion Sonata No. 2, is on the NEXUS album Drumtalker.
Persian Songs is an arrangement of music by Reza Ghassemi, an
enormously popular and influential expatriate Iranian musician and
novelist.
About the Musicians
The New York Times has called NEXUS “the high priests of the
percussion world.” Steve Reich declared them “probably the most
acclaimed percussion group on earth.” NEXUS is in the Percussion Hall of
Fame (along with Ringo Starr) and tours extensively. In the four
decades since its founding, the group has participated in international
festivals, at the Kennedy Center, at the BBC Proms, and in Carnegie
Hall. The group is made up of four master percussionists internationally
revered for their virtuosity, innovation, and extraordinary
music-making. NEXUS's famed collaborations with the Canadian Brass, the
Kronos Quartet, and others have created repertoire ranging from novelty
ragtime and haunting African rhythms through award-winning improvised
film music and ground-breaking compositions.
Composer, musician, author, parodist Peter Schickele is internationally
recognized as one of the most versatile musical artists in the world. He
has composed more than 100 works, for symphony orchestras, choral
groups, chamber ensembles, and voice. John Rockwell of The New York Times has
described him as having “a leading role in the ever-more-prominent
school of American composers who unselfconsciously blend all levels of
American music.” His commissions for distinguished instrumentalists and
singers are numerous and varied, and include works for the National
Symphony, the Saint Louis Symphony, the Minnesota Opera, the Chamber
Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Audubon and Lark String Quartets,
the Minnesota Orchestral Association, and many others. Mr. Schickele has
created music for feature films, documentaries, television programs and
commercials, and Broadway theater, including Oh! Calcutta! Besides
composing music under his own name, Mr. Schickele has developed an
elaborate parodic persona built around his "studies" of P.D.Q. Bach, the
fictional "youngest and the oddest of the twenty-odd children" of
Johann Sebastian Bach.
Sepideh Raissadat, a key figure in the new generation of classical
Persian song interpreters, is the most famous vocalist in Iran, a
country that does not permit solo public performances by women. Her fame
is all the more extraordinary in that her music is accessible in her
native country only by way of pirated recordings. Ms. Raissadat has
given concerts in Europe and North America under the auspices of the
Vatican, UNESCO, the BBC, and Voice of America. NEXUS and Sepideh have
collaborated on several concerts in Canada and the United States, and
their recording of Persian Songs will be released soon.
About Maverick Concerts
For additional details, including a schedule of concerts, ticket prices, and seating information, visit www.maverickconcerts.org or call Maverick’s recorded message line at 845-679-8217.
Maverick Concerts, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. The
concerts are made possible in part with an award from the National
Endowment for the Arts; funds from the New York State Council on the
Arts with the support of Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the New York State
Legislature; support from the County of Ulster’s Ulster County Cultural
Services & Promotions Fund, administered by Arts Mid-Hudson; the
Maverick Concerts Endowment Fund; Friends of Maverick; the towns of
Woodstock and Hurley; local businesses; individual donors; and other
public and private foundations. Yamaha is the Official Piano of Maverick
Concerts. The C7X grand piano in the Maverick Concert Hall is a
generous loan from Yamaha Artists Services.
Media contact:
Mary Fairchild
Administrator & PR Director
Maverick Concerts, Inc.
845-345-3234
Next up at Maverick
Sunday, June 28, 4 pm
The Shanghai Quartet
Ran Dank, piano
A re-creation of a concert from Maverick’s first season.
Haydn: String Quartet No. 66 in D Major, Op. 77, No. 1
Max Bruch: Kol Nidrei, Op. 47, for cello and piano
Robert Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44
The Following Weekend
Friday, July 3
Simone Dinnerstein, piano
Saturday, July 4
11 am: Young People's Concert with Elizabeth Mitchell & Family
6pm: Adam Tendler, piano
Sunday, July 5
Frederic Hand, guitar
Paula Robison, flute
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