PUTNEY — Yellow Barn, the renowned, international chamber music center, has returned to its roots to reimagine its annual festival as a series of summer artist residencies.
When faced with challenges that grew exponentially as the coronavirus pandemic escalated, Yellow Barn said in a news release that it looked to its very beginnings for inspiration and guidance.
In that first summer in 1969, before the original barn was used for performances, Yellow Barn was small enough to be hosted by individuals who opened their homes so that musicians could pursue their work, both separately and together.
The first residency program in this country for professional musicians, Yellow Barn's Artist Residencies offer an unforeseen model for this time, allowing its musicians to be present as representatives of the whole: living in separate guest homes, rehearsing while physically distancing, and streaming performances from the Big Barn.
The first performance will take place on what would have been Yellow Barn's opening night, Friday, July 10.
“Music must find its path even at a time when there is so much to hear in silence, and at a distance from where its most essential qualities are 'virtually' impossible to communicate. This balance has been the focus of our concern as we have contemplated Yellow Barn's summer,” wrote Yellow Barn's directors after its Board of Trustees voted unanimously that the festival could not go forward as planned.
Participants in the Young Artists Program that precedes Yellow Barn each summer will explore “from a distance” how one uses an inner sense of hearing in interpreting, without the benefit of making music together.
“We will better understand what we are missing by casting light on the work we can only do alone, striving (while failing) to communicate as fully as if we were with one another,” said Artistic Director Seth Knopp.
Throughout the summer and into the fall, Yellow Barn Music Haul will continue to bring music to health care facilities and food distribution sites, assisted living communities and rehabilitation centers, neighborhoods, and individuals.
As soon as it is safe to do so, Music Haul will lower its stage for open-air concerts throughout the region.
The schedule of residency performances and other musical offerings will be released in early June.
“Ours is not a summer lost but a festival delayed,” said Knopp. “Every musician who had planned for a Yellow Barn experience this year is invited to join us in 2021.”
“We look forward to our reunion with great hope and anticipation,” Knopp said.