Gabriela Díaz (right) joins the Kronos Quartet this fall. Pictured here with her Winsor Music partners Peggy Pearson (left) and Rane Moore.
Summer has always felt aspirational: this season, festivals in Rockport, Portsmouth and at Tanglewood are already fixed on the calendar. Further aspirations include Portland, Kingston, Manchester (MA), Newburyport, Cape Cod for CCCMF and Meetinghouse, Boston for one or two Landmarks concerts. Maybe sneak away from Tanglewood for something in New York or Connecticut. Time for renewed energy, broader ideas, long light and outdoor sounds.
The Rockport Chamber Music Festival presents its usual exceptional programming this June, steered by artistic director Barry Shiffman. RCMF has its Celebrity Series–level presentations: Garrick Ohlsson opening night, Dover Quartet, Isserlis, Barnaton, Denk and Bell (for the July gala), King’s Singers.
Barry Shiffman, artistic director of the Rockport Chamber Music Festival, which runs June 7 through July 7. Jon Tadiello photograph
Equally RCMF has younger ensembles and players that Shiffman has encountered as an educator (Royal Conservatory in Toronto), competition director (Banff), and musician (founding member of the recently disbanded St. Lawrence String Quartet). Shiffman came to RCMF in 2018, and his contract was recently extended through 2028.
Third Coast Percussion tackles Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Violin and Percussion with Blake Pouliot at RCMF June 13. Saverio Truglia photograph
Viano and Terra quartets, both competition winners, perform multiple times with multiple collaborators. Among them, harpist Bridget Kibbey (with Viano June 27) visits repertory that ranges from early to new. Third Coast Percussion, with Blake Pouliot, ventures Lou Harrison’s Concerto for Violin and Percussion. Glass, Montgomery, Hamasyan are also on the program for this engagingly virtuosic quartet.
Bridget Kibbey performs at RCMF with the Viano Quartet, June 27: Ravel, Debussy.
Ohlsson, Dover and Barnaton all play standard rep programs (all appealing). New music from Dinuk Wijeratne (clarinet concerto with Kinan Azmeh/Criers), and a commission from Gavin Bryars performed by harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani and Viano, look promising. Steven Isserlis? Finally. His sonata program with Connie Shih (June 28) includes Adès, Fauré, N. Boulanger and Beethoven. Right?
The festival runs June 7 through July 7, with annex performances including an August 25 concert that brings back former artistic director David Deveau, with the Borromeo Quartet, in a program that includes the Brahms second piano quartet.
NOTES
Late to this reveal, although I did congratulate her myself a few months ago: Gabriela Díaz joins the Kronos Quartet. She’ll play violin in the second seat next to founder David Harrington. Ayanne Kozasa joins this year as well in the viola chair, with current cellist Paul Wiancko.
Fond thoughts not only to retiring Kronos mainstays John Sherba and Hank Dutt, who sat with Harrington and many fine cellists (remember Jeanrenaud?). But also to executive director Janet Cowperthwaite, retiring this year as well, who was a great help to a inexperienced journalist long ago, and more importantly helped build an outstanding business (KPAA) around four adventurous musicians, a business that fueled an incredible amount of commissioning (a thousand new works).
Kronos stands alone in its legacy of infusing the contemporary string quartet literature with vitality and international appeal. Gabby Díaz makes a perfect match for the group—how many just-finished scores have Boston audiences heard her read in the past decade or so? Cheers and best luck—please bring Kronos to Boston more often.
And fond farewell to Tony Beadle, retiring as executive director of Rockport Music. Extraordinarily calm and capable, Beadle was a great interview, and knew everyone. Not extracting enough war stories from him remains a regret. Rockport Music grew from a summer festival to a year-round venue, survived the pandemic, and flourishes. Beadle is one of the preeminent reasons why.