PUTNEY-Yellow Barn’s 57th summer season continues Thursday through Saturday, July 23–25, with three concerts, including the first performances of the season with accordionist James Crabb, plus cellist Laurence Lesser’s annual masterclass. Pre-concert “Patio Noise” talks take place on Friday and Saturday, moderated by Artistic Director Seth Knopp.
Week three of the five-week festival begins with a tribute to pianist Leon Fleisher. Fleisher, who would have been 98 on July 23, was a frequent guest at Yellow Barn during the last 25 years of his life.
Knopp, a former student of Fleisher, has programmed a set of Schubert piano pieces and Korngold’s Suite for Piano and Strings, and Fleisher’s son Julian will return to Yellow Barn to perform Arlen and Mercer’s “One for My Baby (and One More for the Road).”
Also on Thursday, Crabb makes his Yellow Barn debut, performing a set of songs by Kurt Weill, Olaf Bienert, and Joseph Kosma with baritone William Sharp.
Crabb, who traveled to Yellow Barn from Australia, where he is in permanent residence, is “possibly the greatest living exponent of his instrument,” wrote event promoters in a news release. Yet, they report, he says, “At the end of the day [...] it doesn’t really matter what you play, it’s what you have got to say that is actually interesting. I’m a communicator, so for me, it’s all about how the music speaks and what you have to express, what you have to say.”
Yellow Barn Composer-in-Residence Helena Tulve will perform two of her works during her residency week. On Friday, Crabb will perform a piece for violin, cello, and accordion with his longtime duo partner, Anthony Marwood.
Friday’s program also brings songs ranging from Beethoven’s “An die Hoffnung” (“To Hope”) to the world premiere of a work by 19-year-old composer Alex Robertson for Lucy Shelton, who at 83, made her Metropolitan Opera debut last season. This is the latest in a series of works commissioned by Yellow Barn from young composers specifically for Shelton, who in this phase of her celebrated career is championing works for “old voice,” an underappreciated art form in and of itself.
Friday’s program also includes String Quartet No. 1 “Métamorphoses nocturnes,” by György Ligeti and John Zorn’s “Pandora’s Box,” featuring soprano Melissa Wimbish.
Following Lesser’s morning masterclass, Week Three concludes on Saturday night with Mozart’s Adagio and Fugue in C Minor with violinist Anthony Marwood; a work by James Wood for percussion and string quartet; and “L’Office des Naufregés” (“Service for the Shipwrecked”) for soprano, string quartet, and piano, by Olivier Greif.
Performances start at 7:30 p.m. at the Big Barn on Main Street in Putney. Thursday’s performance is sold out, but to join the waitlist, contact 802-387-6337 or [email protected]. Unclaimed tickets will be released at 7:30 p.m.
Pre-concert talks take place at 6:30 p.m. outside the Big Barn. For tickets and other information, visit yellowbarn.org.
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.