2009

Luzerne Chamber Music Festival

(w/2010 Line-Up  TBA) 

Celebrating the Memory of Founder, Bert Phillips (12.03.1934 - 10.08.2008) and his legacy of teaching music students and performing in Lake Luzerne with wife, Toby Blumenthal Phillips, now President & CEO

July 6th  -  August 24th    

Eight Monday Evenings @ 8 p.m.

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July 6th:  OPENING NIGHT

The Luzerne Chamber Players celebrate Haydn and Mendelssohn with a dash of Dvorak

Repertoire: Haydn's London Trio, Mendelssohn's Octet and Dvorak's Piano Quintet

Musicians-in-Residence at Luzerne Music Center for the summer of 2009 open the Luzerne Chamber Music Festival with a tribute to Haydn (d. 1809)  and Mendelssohn (b. 1809).

All Luzerne Chamber Players are members of university faculties and symphony orchestras throughout the world.

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July 13th:   The Claremont Trio

with Master Class on July 14th

Repertoire: Mozart Trio in G Major, K 564; Ravel Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello & Dvorak Trio in F Minor, Op. 65

Twin sisters Emily Bruskin (violin) and Julia Bruskin (cello) formed the Trio with Donna Kwong (piano) in 1999 at The Juilliard School.  The Claremonts are based in New York City near their namesake: Claremont Avenue.

Widely regarded as the premier piano trio of its generation, the Claremont Trio is sought after for its thrillingly virtuosic and richly communicative performances.  First winners of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award and the only piano trio ever to win the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, the Claremonts are consistently lauded for their "aesthetic maturity, interpretive depth, and exuberance" (Palm Beach Daily News).  To celebrate their 10th anniversary season, the trio returns to New York's Carnegie Hall and Washington D.C's Kennedy Center, and appears in more than 60 halls throughout the country.  

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July 20th: 

JACOB BRAUN, TOBY BLUMENTHAL PHILLIPS & RAY GNIEWEK IN CONCERT

Jacob Braun, Cello                                

                                                  Steinway Artist                          Toby Blumenthal Phillips

Raymond Gniewek, Violin, Retired Concertmaster, Metropolitan Opera

Repertoire: Haydn - Piano Trio, Arensky - Piano Trio in D Minor, opus 32; Mendelssohn - Sextet for piano, violin, 2 violas & bass   

(Nathan Frantz & Rico McNeela, violas, Christoper Ewan, bass)

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July 27th: SYNERGY BRASS

"...a veritable fireworks display of outstanding musical ability combined with superb showmanship." -- Door Concerts, Inc.

 Acclaimed for “blazing precision [and] amazing technique” (The Watertown Daily Times), the Synergy Brass Quintet has emerged as one of the world's most exciting ensembles. Synergy "has hit on a magical approach...unadulterated exuberance, and a rock star approach of performing," (U.S.1). Their engagements have taken them to every corner of the United States including the Ravinia Music Festival in Illinois, the Bethlehem Musikfest in Pennsylvania, the Tanglewood Music Festival in Massachusetts, and internationally at the Festival de Musica de Camara de Aguascalientes. And, after hearing the ensemble at Tanglewood in 2003, Samuel Adler invited the Synergy Brass Quintet to perform on the premiere recording of his Transfiguration: An Ecumenical Mass. Synergy is often heard on National Public Radio, and in 2005 they broadcast on NBC with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

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August 3rd: 

Triple Play is the name given to three outstanding and versatile musicians, Peter Madcat Ruth (on harmonica, guitar, jaw harp, percussion & vocals), Joel Brown, (folk and classical acoustic guitar and vocals) and Chris Brubeck (electric bass, bass trombone, piano & vocals).  Collectively they bring a rare level of joy, virtuosity, and American spirit to the folk, blues, jazz and classical music they perform.

Triple Play’s musical roots go way back (nearly 40 years!) in each member's history. Chris and Madcat have toured and recorded together in different settings since 1969, first as young rock musicians in the group "New Heavenly Blue" (with albums on RCA and Atlantic Records), "Sky King" (on Columbia), and then as jazz musicians touring the world with Dave Brubeck. Madcat and Chris were audience favorites wherever the group played and were featured on two Atlantic Records released by Dave Brubeck.

Chris went on to become co-leader of the group Crofut & Brubeck with the uniquely talented banjo player and folk singer Bill Crofut and also featured Joel on guitar.  A highly unusual and critically acclaimed CD, "Across Your Dreams", featuring famous mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, was released by Telarc.  Flicka sang in a more intimate style performing "art songs" written by Chris, Dave and Iola Brubeck.  Their next project was the recording of “Bach to Brubeck” at Abbey Road Studios with the London Symphony Orchestra, which was released on Koch International Classics.  

After Bill Crofut passed away in 1999, Madcat joined Chris and Joel to form the group Triple Play.    With an ever-expanding repertoire, the Trio continues to play in concert halls, clubs and festivals all over the country, including performing many of Chris' symphonic arrange­ments with orchestras across the U.S.    In September, 2006 they played a set at the Monterey Jazz Festival and later that evening were featured in the premiere of Dave Brubeck’s Cannery Row Suite.  

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August 10th:   PennPAT Artist David Pasbrig

and Fabulous Philadelphians Paul Arnold, Violin, Yumi Kendall, Cello & Melinda Daetsh, Viola

Celebrated as “one of most elegant pianists in the New Jersey-Philadelphia area” (Classical New Jersey Society Journal), David Pasbrig is acclaimed for his “...range of tonal qualities and technical finesse” (Schenectady Gazette). Appearances at Carnegie Hall, Kimmel Center, the Kennedy Center, Academy of Music, and in Seoul, Korea and Beijing, China have established his reputation as a charismatic and distinctive 21st century performing artist. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with artists including Sergiu Schwartz, David Arnold, and the Conwell Woodwind Quintet and is currently a member of the TRIPOD trio and the West Jersey Chamber Players. He can be heard on Centaur and New World Records.

Repertoire includes: Schubert - Three pieces, D. 946, Robert Muczinsky - Piano Sonata #2, Rachmaninoff - Piano Sonata # 2, Faure - Piano Quartet in c minor

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August 17:  

Memorial Concert

Celebrating the Life of Bert Phillips

Philadelphia Orchestra Cellists, Luzerne Chamber Players, Luzerne Music Center Alumni Perform Night

Repertoire to Include:

Popper - Requiem (Philadelphia Orchestra Members & David Pasbrig); Faure - Elegy (Gloria DePasquale, cello & David Pasbrig, piano); Schubert - Cello Quintet (Elizabeth Pitcairn & Danielle Belen, violins, Melinda Daetsch, viola, Troy Chang & Jacob Braun, cello); Mahler - Songs of the Wayfarer (Darrin Milling, trombone & Toby Blumenthal Phillips); Martinu - Revue de Cuisine - 1. Prologue, 2. Tango, 3. Charleston, 4. Finale (Robyn Jones, clarinet, Eric Schweingruber, trumpet, Sue Loegering, bassoon, Rico McNeela, violin, Jacob Braun, cello, Aniko Szokody, piano);   Brahms - Horn Trio (Jeffry Kirschen, Philadelphia Orchestra, horn, Elizabeth Pitcairn, violin, Toby Blumenthal Phillips, piano); Cello Choir (Members to be Announced);  Faure - Panane (Grande Finale with Everyone in Attendance)

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August 24th

THE RED VIOLIN EXTRAVAGANZA WITH ELIZABETH PITCAIRN

Repertoire to Include:

Schubert Piano Trio No. 2 in E Flat Major D. 929

with Jacob Braun, cello & Toby Blumenthal, piano

Saint-Saens: Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso

For more information about these performing artists, please see our faculty pages on this site!

Tuesday, July 28th Master Classes

with

Synergy Brass

Open to Outside Music Professionals, Teachers & Students by Reservation     (See Faculty Page 5)

Paul deBarros, writer for the Seattle Times and Downbeat, commented:  “Triple Play is what jazz always was and always should be about:  good-time rhythm, unbridled joy and the sweet release but bittersweet aftertaste of the blues. If there's a better old-time blues and jazz harmonica player out there than Madcat Ruth, I'd sure love to know where he lives.”

This project is partially supported by a grant from Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, a program developed and funded by The Heinz Endowments; the William Penn Foundation; the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency; and The Pew Charitable Trusts; and administered by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.

A week of residency activities underwritten by Penn PAT, the Pennsylvania Performing Arts Trust, will follow, and include lecture/demonstrations, piano master classes and workshops.