2023 Season Begins

By Patricia Platt

The Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, running from July 7 until Aug. 19, offers exciting changes to its facility and programming this season. Nearing completion is a $10 million renovation of the Music Shed, which includes air-conditioning, a remodeled entry, new restrooms, a small store and a new green room. A full annex at the back of the building for practice and rehearsals will completed by early August. The main hall, where concerts have been held since 1906, will keep its historic ambiance and excellent acoustics.

The tradition of having quartets in residence, who teach 38 fellows and perform concerts on weekends, will continue. The Brentano Quartet will be in Norfolk for the first two weeks, the Miro Quartet for weeks three and four, and the Emerson Quartet for the fifth week. “We think of ourselves as a teaching festival where the most talented students from around the country come to study chamber music and have opportunities to perform alongside the faculty,” explained Melvin Chen, the director of the festival.

On a bittersweet note, the Emerson Quartet will retire after many years as treasured festival mentors. The quartet, one of the premier chamber music ensembles of its time, is currently on a global farewell tour that will include Norfolk on Aug. 4 and end at Lincoln Center on Oct. 22. 

The new musical theme for the season is “Instrumental Insights.” Chen explained that “chamber music is not something fixed but something evolving and growing, and we need to participate in that. We will offer special insight into a variety of musical topics that will be illuminated through music.”

For example, the versatility of the clarinet is showcased in a program with the Miro Quartet that includes a Mozart quintet and a selection of Benny Goodman works. The Ukraine/Russia concert will explore the historic conflict that has existed between the two countries and will include a piece that had to be re-created after it was burned by the Russians in the mid-1900s.

The “Drawing from Tradition” concert will present three pieces that combine musical traditions: one fuses a Hindustani vocal tradition with a Western piano quintet; another draws from a Tibetan dance; and a final piano quintet draws from dance music composed by people enslaved in the United States.

Chen added, “My objective to having a theme for the summer and a theme for every program is that people will be attracted to the idea of the program. They may not know the specific pieces, but the idea of the program may be intriguing to them. So, the hope is that they will come and explore the idea. In that way, we hope to draw a wider audience. I’d like people to look at the program and think ‘let me find out what that sounds like.’”

The festival offers a variety of free concerts and events. Pre-concert conversations, during which Chen and professors from the Yale School of Music talk with festival artists, take place at the Battell Recital Hall each Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. before concerts. Free chamber music concerts are performed at the Music Shed on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. from July 6 to Aug. 12. Master classes and open rehearsals welcome audiences on select Wednesdays from July 5 until Aug. 9, but check the festival’s website for more information (https://music.yale.edu/Norfolk).

If you or your friends are animal lovers, be sure to attend the Festival Open House on Aug. 6. In addition to an art show, tours of Whitehouse, an ice cream social and a children’s concert, dogs trained to perform on Broadway will perform in “Broadway Tails,” presented by William Berloni, a Tony Award-winning animal trainer.

A major highlight of the season is the gala concert on Aug. 12, with an option for dinner. This year’s theme is “Isn’t It Bliss? Sondheim on Love.” Tony Award winner and Norfolk alum Ted Sperling will direct and host this special gala performance that looks at love through the Stephen Sondheim songbook. Scarlett Strallen and Bryce Pinkham will perform selections from “Sweeney Todd,” “A Little Night Music,” “Into the Woods,” and more. 

The season will close on Aug. 19 at 4 p.m. with a finale based on tradition. The Litchfield County Choral Union and members of the Yale choral ensembles will present the cantata “Hymn of Praise,” which was a highlight of the Music Shed’s first concert in 1906.The festival needs community volunteers to usher during each concert on Friday and Saturday nights, from 7 p.m. until the end of the concert, as well as volunteers for a few post-concert receptions. Volunteers will receive free concert tickets. If you are interested, please contact Tom Hodgkin at hodgkin.tom@gmail.com.