PUTNEY — The fourth week of Yellow Barn's 48th summer season marks the arrival of acclaimed German composer and clarinetist Jörg Widmann.
Returning for his second summer as Yellow Barn's composer in residence, Widmann will spend a week working with Yellow Barn musicians on his compositions, performing in the Big Barn, and speaking to audiences about his work.
The annual Composer Portrait will take place on Wednesday, July 26, at 8 p.m. in the Big Barn. Audiences have the rare opportunity to spend an evening with Widmann as he discusses his life and work alongside five performances of his compositions.
This unusual concert begins with Widmann's Drei Schattentänze for solo clarinet, which will be performed by Widmann himself, according to a news release. Also on the program is percussionist Eduardo Leandro's first performance of the season.
On Thursday, July 27, at 8 p.m. in the Big Barn, Yellow Barn honors its business partners with a concert that explores the evolution of the string quartet.
The night begins with Widmann's String Quartet No. 1, the first of a cycle of five string quartets, which begins with a hesitancy that reflects the daunting task of composing a string quartet for the first time. Later in the program is Franz Joseph Haydn's String Quartet in E-flat Major. Haydn is known as the “father of the string quartet,” and audiences will thus experience two modern string quartets from very different eras.
Also on Thursday night's program is Brahms' Serenade in D Major, which was reconstructed by Alan Boustead from the composer's sketches.
At 8 p.m. on Friday, an immense and romantic program comes to the Big Barn. The concert begins with Beethoven's Spring Sonata in F Major for piano and violin, performed by Anthony Marwood and Tomer Gewirtzman, and concludes with the East Coast premiere of Widmann's song cycle Das Heiße Herz (The Fiery Heart), featuring baritone William Sharp and pianist and Yellow Barn Artistic Director Seth Knopp.
The song cycle, inspired by Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe song cycle, is romantic, theatrical, humorous, and breathtaking. Also featured in Friday night's concert are György Ligeti's String Quartet No. 2 and Alexander von Zemlinsky's Maiblumen Blühten Überall (Mayflowers Blossomed All Around) for soprano and string sextet.
Before the final concert of Widmann's residency at Yellow Barn, Seth Knopp will lead a conversation with the composer on the marriage of his musical loves and his own work.This pre-concert discussion will take place Saturday, July 29, at 7 p.m., in the Putney Public Library. All discussions are free of charge.
Following the discussion, audiences will make their way to the Big Barn for the final concert of the week at 8 p.m. The program includes Widmann's Oktett, which was written in 2004, but will receive its North American premiere that evening.
Pastoral elements come together in this program with Felix Mendelssohn's Lieder ohne Worte (Songs Without Words), and Franz Schubert's Der Hirt auf dem Felsen (The Shepherd on the Rock), performed by soprano Melanie Henley Heyn, pianist and Artist Director Seth Knopp, and Widmann on clarinet.