MARLBORO \u2014 This weekend begins the 75th season of the Marlboro Music Festival\u00a0performing ensemble chamber music for the people of Southern Vermont.<\/p>\n
Marlboro Music was founded in 1951, after WWII, by Rudolf Serkin, Adolf and Hermann Busch and the Moyse family \u2014 all European refugees who \u201chad a vision for an idealistic community that could reclaim music from the nationalistic forces that had swept Europe,\u201d said Christopher Serkin, current president and chairman of Marlboro Music.<\/p>\n
Currently led by Mitsuko Uchida and Jonathan Biss, Marlboro Music gathers around 80 musicians to the former campus of Marlboro College for seven weeks of rehearsal, before they finally perform the repertoire for audiences from across Vermont and the world.<\/p>\n
Carys Sutherland, who plays the french horn, will be performing with Marlboro Music for the third time this summer, and has been playing music for about 15 years overall.<\/p>\n
Sutherland plays in an orchestra in Nova Scotia, Canada. \u201cMarlboro is specifically dedicated to chamber music, which is something that, as wind players, we don\u2019t get to do that often in the professional world,\u201d said Sutherland.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nowhere else in the world that gathers this many incredible musicians in the same place for this long \u2014 for seven weeks,\u201d said Sutherland. \u201c[Marlboro is] willing to program things that you would never play anywhere else, because they have the resources and the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the \u201creal world,\u201d according to Sutherland, musicians typically only have two rehearsals for a piece before performance, a far shorter amount of time than what they would have at Marlboro.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy for Sutherland to recognize when she meets someone that\u2019s played at Marlboro. \u201cIt\u2019s just a different way of playing, and it\u2019s just easier to connect with someone who\u2019s been through here than someone who hasn\u2019t,\u201d said Sutherland.<\/p>\n
For the upcoming season, Sutherland will be performing a piece by Philip Manoval, the artistic manager of Marlboro who is retiring. Additionally, this season will be featuring more contemporary, rather than classical, repertoire.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarlboro is interesting [because] there is … an emphasis on the classics \u2014 the Mozarts, Brahms, Schubert \u2014 which, when I\u2019ve heard it performed here, it\u2019s been at the highest caliber I\u2019ve ever heard,\u201d said Sutherland. \u201cBut also, there is an interest in contemporary music with the resonant composer program.\u201d The interest in contemporary music has only increased in recent years, according to Sutherland, as Marlboro initially began with a solely Classical focus.<\/p>\n
Chase Park, cellist, has been performing with Marlboro Music as a junior participant for five years this summer, and music overall for about 23 years, since he was 4.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarlboro has younger people who are studying, or recently graduated [and] just starting their careers work with people who\u2019ve just been doing [professional music] for a long time,\u201d explained Park. Junior participants usually audition, while senior participants, who were at one point juniors, are often paid to return as guides.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just get inspired by how brilliant other people are,\u201d said Park. \u201cThere\u2019s a legendary tradition \u2014 Marlboro used to have all the biggest names, from all over the world, gather. So it\u2019s really cool to continue that tradition, and also just to be in a really beautiful space with people who love music so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marlboro continues to house the \u201cbiggest names\u201d even today. \u201cIt was a huge honor [to perform with them],\u201d said Park. \u201cI\u2019ve learned so much from them, and it\u2019s so cool to also be able to interact with them outside of the rehearsal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery community, I think, needs some form of art to inspire and give us a reason to perform,\u201d said Park on the impact of the Festival. \u201cIt\u2019s so important … When I\u2019m here, I\u2019m reminded how much I love music, and how lucky I am to be playing music.\u201d<\/p>\n