daily festival recaps
- Music@Menlo Wraps Up Spectacular Sixth Season (August 08)
- Voices of Our Time (August 07)
- "without whom we would be mute" (August 06)
- Just Another Day at Music@Menlo (August 05)
- Private Music Made Public (August 04)
- Modernist Marathon (August 03)
- The Musical Imagination (August 03)
- Delicious Dissonance (August 01)
- What Ithaka Means (August 01)
- Romantic Cadence (July 30)
- Brahms the Progressive (July 30)
- "Vissi d'arte..." (July 29)
- "...and all the world is fresh and bright again." (July 27)
- Festive Day, Romantic Evening (July 27)
- Open House (July 25)
- "Origins of Modern String Playing" and Today's Rising Stars (July 25)
- Classical Bookends (July 23)
- Lesser Gives More (July 22)
- Fame is the Spur (July 22)
- Yes! (and Bird! and Bach!) (July 20)
- Baroque Heroics (July 19)
- Towards Bach (July 18)
- A Grand Beginning (July 17)
Music@Menlo Wraps Up Spectacular Sixth Season
Posted: August 08
As if reluctant to let another magical festival season go, Music@Menlo added two master classes at the last minute on Friday morning, led by violinist Joseph Swensen and pianist Gary Graffman, venerated members of the festival’s artist faculty. “The Unfolding of Music II” closed with a stirring cadence, beginning in the afternoon and lasting well into the evening. At the season’s final Koret Young Performers Concert, the Chamber Music Institute’s gifted young artists impressed listeners with works by Dvorak and Gade. The International Program musicians followed with a reprise of Thursday evening’s Prelude Performance, offering works by each of the season’s visiting composers, Gabriela Lena Frank, Kenneth Frazelle, and Jennifer Higdon.
For the season finale, listeners enjoyed a thrilling program of works by living composers: “Music Now: Voices of Our Time” featured Jennifer’s “Scenes from the Poet’s Dreams;” selections from Gabriela’s “Songs of Cifar and the Sweet Sea;” and the world premiere of Kenneth’s Piano Trio, commissioned by Music@Menlo for pianist Jeffrey Kahane. The evening ended with Tan Dun’s captivating “Elegy: Snow in June,” a captivating work for amplified cello and percussion quartet, which met with a rousing standing ovation.
Thanks to all artists, guests, young musicians, and audiences who helped to make Music@Menlo 2008 another outstanding success! Stay tuned throughout the year for festival updates, including the upcoming release of the 2008 volume of Music@Menlo LIVE festival recordings, and please join us next summer for Music@Menlo 2009.