PUTNEY — Yellow Barn’s 57th summer season continues July 23-25 with three concerts, including the first performances of the season with accordionist James Crabb, plus cellist Laurence Lesser’s annual masterclass. Pre-concert “Patio Noise” talks take place on Friday and Saturday, moderated by Artistic Director Seth Knopp.
The third week of the five-week festival begins on Thursday with a tribute to pianist Leon Fleisher, who would have been 98 on July 23 and was a frequent guest at Yellow Barn during the last 25 years of his life. Knopp, a former student of Fleisher, has programmed a set of Schubert piano pieces and Korngold’s Suite for Piano and Strings, and Fleisher’s son Julian will return to Yellow Barn to perform “One For My Baby (And One More For The Road).” Also on Thursday, accordionist James Crabb makes his Yellow Barn debut, performing a set of songs by Kurt Weill, Olaf Bienert, and Joseph Kosma with baritone William Sharp.
On Friday, Crabb will perform a piece for violin, cello and accordion with his longtime duo partner, Anthony Marwood. Friday’s program also brings songs ranging from Beethoven’s “An die Hoffnung” (“To Hope”) to the world premiere of a new work by 19-year-old composer Alex Robertson for Lucy Shelton, who at 83 made her Metropolitan Opera debut last season. This is the latest in a series of works commissioned by Yellow Barn from young composers specifically for Shelton, who in this phase of her career is championing works for “old voice,” an under-appreciated art form in and of itself. Friday’s program also includes the virtuosic first string quartet by György Ligeti, “Pandora’s Box,” for soprano, with Melissa Wimbish.
Following Laurence Lesser’s morning masterclass, Week Three concludes on Saturday night with Mozart’s Adagio and Fugue in C Minor with Anthony Marwood, a work by James Wood for percussion and string quartet, and “L’Office des Naufregés” (“Service for the Shipwrecked”) by Olivier Greif for soprano, string quartet, and piano. Greif was born in Paris in 1950, his father was a Polish Jew who survived Auschwitz. Greif’s musical talent was identified when he was three and he entered the Paris Conservatoire aged 10 to study piano and composition. For this Yellow Barn performance, “L’Office des Naufregés” will be shared by two complete ensembles.
Performances start at 7:30 p.m. at the Big Barn on Main Street. Pre-concert talks on take place at 6:30 p.m. outside the Big Barn. Nicknamed “Patio Noise” for the boisterous conversations that take place between audience members and musicians during intermission at Yellow Barn concerts, pre-concert talks are led by Knopp and musicians from the evening’s performance.
Thursday Festival Concerts are free to all who wish to attend in memory of Putney resident and audience member Eva Mondon. They are also Yellow Barn “side-by-side” concerts. Yellow Barn musicians have their own balcony seating for concerts, but on Thursdays a portion sit among audience members on the floor, and in turn, a portion of audience members share the balcony side-by-side with musicians, giving everyone an opportunity to listen from a different perspective, with different listening companions.
Yellow Barn’s summer festival continues through Aug. 8, with over 20 concerts and other events. Full program details are available at www.yellowbarn.org. Tickets can be purchased or reserved online or by calling 802-387-6637.
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