PUTNEY — Since 1969, Yellow Barn has drawn musicians and audiences to Putney for extraordinary experiences with chamber music.
For eight weeks, an international roster of musicians will collaborate and share chamber music repertoire spanning the 18th to the 21st centuries in a series of public performances at the Big Barn.
Opening on July 6 and coming to a close on Aug. 4, Yellow Barn's festival concerts include performances of every piece that is explored over the course of five weeks of rehearsals, giving audiences the opportunity to be a part of Yellow Barn's center - an “artistic center of gravity,” as one longtime faculty member describes it.
Known for programming that allows for dialogue between pieces of different eras, Yellow Barn's 49th anniversary season includes: Haydn's The Seven Last Words of Christ, Elliott Carter's First String Quartet, Mahler's Songs of a Wayfarer, Bernstein's Arias and Barcarolles, and Cage's Song Books.
Several notable premieres will take place, according to a news release, including the North American premiere of Jörg Widmann's Es war einmal... (Once Upon A Time...), large portions of which Widmann composed while in residence at Yellow Barn in 2015.
This summer Yellow Barn welcomes back composer and electric guitarist Steven Mackey for a residency week that includes multiple performances of his music.
Mackey will join Yellow Barn musicians for several performances, including his Four Iconoclastic Episodes for solo violin (Anthony Marwood), solo electric guitar, and string orchestra, an idea Marwood and Mackey conceived during Mackey's first Yellow Barn residency.
The annual Composer Portrait, an evening of music and conversation with Mackey and Yellow Barn musicians, takes place July 25.
On July 14, Yellow Barn honors Robert Mann, the founding first violinist of the Juilliard Quartet, who died last January at the age of 97.
His tribute includes a showing of the documentary, Speak the Music: Robert Mann and the Mysteries of Chamber Music, by Oscar Award-winning director Allan Miller at Next Stage, a pre-concert dinner at the Gleanery, and a Big Barn concert that includes the Schubert cello quintet and Robert Mann's own work, The Little Red Hen, variations for narrator and string quartet.
Audience members can choose to attend just the film or any combination of the evening's events.
Each summer, Yellow Barn welcomes visitors to its campus at the Greenwood School for a meal and open rehearsals during its annual Open House (July 21 at 12:30 p.m.) For another inside look at the creative process, Yellow Barn opens the Big Barn for four masterclasses by renowned teachers pianist Gilbert Kalish, violinist Donald Weilerstein, violist Kim Kashkashian, and cellist Laurence Lesser.
Before each Saturday night concert, audience members are invited to attend a pre-concert discussion at the Putney Public Library at 7 p.m. These discussions offer an intimate introduction to the evening's concert by Yellow Barn musicians moderated by Artistic Director Seth Knopp.
All events, with the exception of the Open House and the Robert Mann film, take place at the Big Barn on Main Street in Putney. The Big Barn offers comfortable seating and air-conditioning and is fully accessible.