Jon Manasse (l) and Jon Nakamatsu, artistic directors of the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival since 2006. Carla Bohnett/CB Photo Design Studio photograph
“Punching above its weight” proves an apt analogy for many summer chamber music festivals. The Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, opening July 25, certainly merits that compliment.
Look at this year’s roster: the adventurous saxophones of the Sinta Quartet for openers, with the Isidore, Danish, Borromeo and Emerson quartets to follow. A premiere from Vivian Fung. Brahms clarinet sonatas with artistic directors Jon Manasse and Jon Nakamatsu. The Lee Trio, and Imani Winds.
The musical quality has been like this since 1979, when the lovable Samuel Sanders started summer chamber music presentations on the Cape. It’s a tricky festival to manage, with venues spread from Falmouth to Wellfleet, and an audience that often prefers spending weekends with their toes in the sand.
Ray Salva, recently named executive director of the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival. Courtesy photograph
Performances find venues in Cotuit, Wellfleet, Dennis, Chatham, Eastham, and Falmouth during the week. “We’re going to them,” says executive director Ray Salva, in his first season. “We’re playing on every part of the Cape.”
The pandemic, and its recovery seasons (CCCMF missed 2020, streamed in 021 and returned to smaller audiences last year) have changed dynamics everywhere. Salva sees some opportunity, now that audiences seem robust again.
“In the aftermath of the pandemic, the year-round population on the Cape has soared,” he says. “We need to spend a couple years building our brand, and making sure everyone feels welcome to these performances. We have an international reputation, and strong partners in the community. It’s an interesting situation.”
Artistic directors Manasse and Nakamatsu, longtime duo partners as well, took over program decisions in 2006. Along with starry guests, and a challenging premiere from Fung (“it’s a real workout for the clarinet,” Salva says), performances include a spoken word evening with author Adam Gopnik.
Gopnik’s recent The Real Work examines mastery in the creative process, looking in particular at composers’s late works, like the two Brahms clarinet sonatas on the Aug. 14 program.
The retiring Emerson String Quartet gives its final New England appearance in Wellfleet Aug. 18. Jurgen Frank photograph
“He’s incorporated ideas from the book into a program with Jon and Jon,” Salva says of Gopnik,” with a structure but lots of room for improvisation.” And of historical note is the festival closing concert Aug. 18 in Wellfleet, the final New England appearance of frequent CCCMF guests, the retiring Emerson String Quartet.
The Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival opens July 25 with the Sinta Quartet. Through Aug. 18, the Emerson, Isidore, Danish and Borromeo quartets, the Lee Trio and Imani Winds, along with artistic directors Jon Nakamatsu and Jon Manasse, will perform at venues in Cotuit, Wellfleet, Dennis, Chatham, Eastham, and Falmouth.
AROUND NEW ENGLAND: Kingston, FCM at Tanglewood this week
Kingston Chamber Music Festival, always fun, has concerts July 26 through Aug. 6. Artistic director and pianist Natalie Zhu is joined this summer by the Dover Quartet, French cellist Dominique de Williencourt, guitarist Jason Vieaux and others.
At Tanglewood, the Festival of Contemporary Music runs July 27–31, a joint curatorial effort this summer shared among four composers: Gabriela Lena Frank, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Rena Esmail and Tebogo Monnakgotla. See you there.
Monadnock Music runs through the end of August, culminating in a gala featuring aerialists Duo Shadow. Artistic director and cellist Rafael Popper-Keizer sits in on many of the programs, and guests include violinists Gabriela Díaz and Charles Dimmick, flutist Rachel Braude, mezzo Carrie Chéron and tenor Frank Kelly. Programs all look inviting: composer Kaija Saariaho’s recent passing gets recognized July 27, with a performance of a pair of her string works (“Aure,” “Nocturne for solo violin”).
Venerable destination Yellow Barn opened July 7, with music of Saariaho and others; composer Hilda Paredes has lots of music later in July. Marlboro Music Festival opened July 15, with programs as usual announced at the last minute. North Country Chamber Players began its pay-as-you-wish season July 15/16, with five weekends of concerts in Franconia. Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival started five Tuesdays of music July 11. The starry Bowdoin International Music Festival runs through Aug 4, with tons of music and musical presentations.
Music at Land’s End in Wareham runs July 29 through Aug. 13. The Rockport Chamber Music Festival brings Chanticleer (July 25) and the remarkable Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer (Aug. 12) to the Shalin Liu Performance Center, the “Annex” portion of the recently completed summer festival. Landmarks Orchestra concerts, now much broader than just Wednesday picnics at the Hatch Shell, run through Aug. 23.
Coming in August: Manchester Summer Chamber Music is back after three missed seasons; Portland, Salt Bay and others in Maine, Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival opens Aug. 19.