MARLBORO — With the expectation that the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to recede, Marlboro Music has announced there will be in-person summer chamber music performances during five concert weekends from July 16 through Aug. 14.
However, Marlboro Music said, safety protocols will remain in place. Proof of vaccination will be required to attend all open rehearsals and performances, with vaccination and ID cards checked at the door. Audience members will be required to wear masks in the hall.
“At this time, to maintain some social distancing, we are making only about half of the seats at each concert available for sale,” they said in a news release. “If conditions this spring and summer permit, we will increase this number.”
They are offering general admission seating only, and are charging a flat rate of $30 per ticket. All seating will be distanced from the stage.
“We will continue to comply with CDC and state guidelines, and we will keep you informed of any changes to our protocols in the months ahead. Should there be an unexpected spike in the virus this summer and we cannot proceed with our performances, we will offer a full refund on all ticket purchases.”
Concerts will take place on Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons. There will be one additional evening performance on Friday, Aug. 12; this program will include the 50-minute chamber opera Into the Little Hill (2006) by one of their 2022 composers-in-residence, George Benjamin.
“At this time, we do not know if we can include our traditional closing work, the Beethoven Choral Fantasy, on Sunday, Aug. 14. We will confirm this as soon as possible,” organizers said. “Specific artists and repertoire will be announced about a week in advance of each concert.”
Free open rehearsals will take place during the day, beginning the week of July 11; audience members may contact the Marlboro reception desk each week this summer for more information.
All events take place in Persons Auditorium on the Potash Hill campus of the former Marlboro College. Tickets may be ordered online at marlboromusic.org or by contacting box office manager Patrick LaVecchia-Burke at 215-569-4690 or [email protected].
This year's residents
Artistic directors Mitsuko Uchida and Jonathan Biss will welcome more than 85 resident artists to Marlboro this summer - 22 of whom will be attending for the first time.
The roster of 2022 participating artists includes many “senior artists,” like Uchida and Biss, who first spent formative summers in Vermont at the beginning of their careers and have returned to share their Marlboro and personal musical experiences with new generations.
They include pianists Ieva Jokubaviciute, Cynthia Raim, and Ignat Solzhenitsyn; current and past members of the Doric, Guarneri, Juilliard, Mendelssohn, Muir, and Borromeo Quartets; and orchestra principals such as violist Beth Guterman Chu (St. Louis Symphony); oboists Frank Rosenwein (Cleveland Orchestra) and Mary Lynch (Seattle Symphony); and horn player Gabriel Kovach (Phoenix Symphony).
In addition, they welcome back pianists Bruno Canino and Juho Pohjonen, cellists Christoph Richter and Alice Neary, flutist Joshua Smith (Cleveland Orchestra), clarinetist Sang Yoon Kim (St. Paul Chamber Orchestra), and horn player Richard King (Cleveland Orchestra); as well as new senior artists, including violinists Alex Redington (of the Doric Quartet) and Meesun Hong Coleman (concertmaster of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra), and violist William Coleman (of the Kuss Quartet).
The vocal program will be led by returning artists Lydia Brown, Anja Strauss, and Benita Valente. This summer's composers-in-residence are Libby Larsen and George Benjamin.
Known world-wide as an institution devoted to artistic excellence and to developing new leaders who illuminate all areas of music, Marlboro Music is where the concept of having master artists play together with exceptional young professionals was born - initiating a dynamic, collaborative approach to learning.
Participants explore and exchange ideas on the approximately 250 works for seven weeks, involving a variety of instrumental and vocal combinations the musicians themselves have proposed to study.
As a retreat where the mission is to delve into music at great depth, less that 25 percent of the works rehearsed are presented in the weekend concerts. Programs are decided only a week in advance and are drawn from works the musicians select.