FOLLOWING FESTIVALS

FOLLOWING FESTIVALS

with Alfred Michael

Manchester Music Festival 50 anniversary

from newsletter

I received a Manchester Music Festival newsletter just before the 50^th annual event began on July 11^th. Unfortunately, that meant the communiqué arrived just after the office had to close down and posting to be suspended due to unforeseen cicrumstances.

However, sidetracks & detours have kept their readers updated since January 2024, previewing events and listing venues and dates and access to purchasing not only through our sidetracks and detours not-for-profit blogs outlet but also through my columns on our PASS IT ON Sunday Supplements platforms.

The Manchester Music Festival (MMF) 50th Anniversary Season, “The Romantic Journey,” opened on July 11th. The Festival is celebrating its Golden Anniversary with a curated season of more than 30 events, including performances, masterclasses, open rehearsals, talks, and outreach programs. Under the leadership of our Artistic Director, Philip Setzer, founder and violinist of the Emerson String Quartet, Season 50 celebrates “The Romantic Journey,” a theme that cuts to the heart of how art reflects our humanity.

Fans can enjoy the festival  feeling on Wednesday, August 21st from 5:30 PM to 10:00 PM  as MMF celebrates their golden jubilee on Wednesday, August 21. Guests can enjoy cocktails, dinner, an auction, and dancing at the Wilburton Inn.

Not only did the artistic director send out an invitational newsletter to fans and media alike but he also took part in a live radio interview on July 8^th on radio WAMC programme The Roundtable. He provided an exciting overview of the month long Manchester Music Festival, including the two aforementioned events.

That interview and his newsletter (see below) combined to give a comprehensive taster of the festival that is now drawing to a close.

Dear friends, 

It is with great excitement and pride that I welcome all of you to join us for the 50th Anniversary season of the Manchester Music Festival in beautiful Vermont.  This is my first festival serving as Artistic Director and I am so looking forward to bringing you along on what I’ve called “The Romantic Journey”

We start with Beethoven, who lit the romantic torch and brought music into the 19th Century.  He passed the torch on to Schubert, Mendelssohn, Robert and Clara Schumann, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, Debussy, Elgar, Respighi, Barber and Dvorak.  All of these composers are represented on the main Thursday night concerts, as well as a world premiere; a new string orchestra version of Sarah Kirkland Snider’s string quartet (the last work commissioned by my group, The Emerson String Quartet) called “Drink the Wild Ayre”.  I’ve also included a short Elegy that I wrote in Vermont many years ago.

We have been extremely fortunate to be able to present a great group of amazing musicians, including my trio with Wu Han and David Finckel.  When I look at this list, I can’t quite believe that we will have joining us:  Edward Arron, Jeewon Park, Sarah Couden, Jenny Lin (our great Executive Director as well as a top-notch pianist), David Shifrin, Lawrence Dutton (the Emerson Quartet violist), Colin Carr, Nancy Allen (Principal Harpist of the NY Philharmonic), Gilles Vonsattel, Sarah Crocker Vonsattel, Matthew Lipman, Estelle Choi and Christine Goerke (the great Metropolitan Opera soprano who starred as Brünnhilde in the Met’s most recent Ring Cycle of Wagner).

We will also have two concerts of our immensely gifted Young Artists, performing repertoire that reflects the main concert programs as well as a special concert called “Given a Chance”, which will feature great music that was neglected due to the composer’s gender or colour of their skin.

Returning to the Festival is piano virtuoso Vassily Primakov, performing 12 Etudes and Mussorgsky’s monumental Pictures at an Exhibition. Around all of our concerts are events that we share with our community partners Manchester Library, Green Mountain Academy for Lifelong Learning, and Northshire Bookstore, talks with featured authors and scholars, performances with our Young Artists as soloists, and most importantly, our Family Events for children.

I’m so looking forward to sharing all of this with you.  You can find out more details at the festival website:  MMFVT.org.   I promise you that this musical journey will be moving, exciting and enriching.  And, by the way, you’ll be seeing and hearing a lot of me as well.  See you there!

Philip Setzer, Artistic Director (right)

Manchester Music Festival looks forward to seeing you at your favourite events, so have you already visited  MMF’s Golden Anniversary, or will you be doing so  later in the festival.Check out Manchester Music Festival website for full details of dates, venue, events, ticket prices and availability.