CFO’s ClaverackLanding, a new series of classical concerts resident at Club Helsinki in Hudson, NY, presents its opening concert featuring the CFO strings and guest artist, Katie Hyun, violinist, performing Astor Piazzolla’s “Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.”  Program includes music of Osvaldo Golijov and Arvo Paert.

Click Here for information

3rd Annual Community Sing of Handel’s MESSIAH

Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 3:00 pm
St. James Church, Chatham, NY
(corner of Rtes 203 & 66)

Gwen Gould, conductor
with professional instrumental ensemble
Solos to be sung by entire sections!

What is a Sing? It’s when YOU, the members of the audience, become the performers. It’s what you dream about when you sing your favorite arias in the shower!  All who attend will sing the chorus parts and even the solos!  Listeners are welcome too!

“This is not a performance, it’s an event!” says conductor Gould, “and a joyful way to start the holiday season.” Scores will be provided and light refreshments will be served during the break.

Tickets are $10 at the door; $8 in advance (online only at columbiafestivalorchestra.org)

Columbia Festival Orchestra presents classical music and other concerts to the highest degree of excellence through diverse programming for smaller ensembles to full orchestra. Founded in 1988 by artistic director and conductor, Gwen Gould, CFO is comprised of outstanding professional musicians from the tri-state area. The successful student mentoring program “Take a Seat…in the Orchestra” cultivates the art of music in young people.

Eighteen music students (pictured above), ranging from sixth grade through high school, participated in the Columbia Festival Orchestra’s new education program “Take a Seat…in the Orchestra” in conjunction with CFO’s 3-day residency at PS21 (Performance Spaces for the 21st Century) in Chatham, NY, July 25-27, 2008.

The following students took their seats next to their CFO mentors: violins: Cathleen Alarcon, Jeffrey Girton, Elizabeth Moran, Trevor DePew, Lydia Curran and Deidre Kelly; viola: Samantha Oakes; cello: Patrick Jones; string basses: Alexander Toth; flutes: Glynnis MacDonald and Annalise Krajeski; clarinet: Angela Matthews and Sterlene Negron; trumpet: Michael Krajeski; french horns: Anna Costello, Austin Klein, and Bethany Meyers; trombone: Raja Pillai. School districts represented include Hudson, Chatham, Ichabod Crane, Taconic Hills and Germantown, as well as Cairo-Durham, Hawthorne Valley, Gt. Barrington Rudolph Steiner, John Jay, Averill Park, and Mineola Middle School.

For a complete program listing CLICK HERE.  For additional photos CLICK HERE.

CFO’s Take a Seat program will continue into the fall with two opportunities for students (both taking place at St. James Church in Chatham):

• October 19 – flute reading session with the 4 members of Flute Force
• December 20 – Community Sing of Handel’s Messiah

More information will be available shortly about these programs.

The Columbia Festival Orchestra, founded in 1988 by artistic director and conductor Gwen Gould, is a professional orchestra based in Columbia County, NY, whose mission is to present classical music and other concerts to the highest degree of excellence and to cultivate an appreciation of the art of music in young people and adults.

Click the links below for more information:
Columbia Festival Orchestra
Take a Seat…in the Orchestra

Summer Sings 2008
Mondays at 7:30 pm
Performance Spaces for the 21st Century (PS21)
Chatham, NY Directions
Tickets available at the door: $10, $8 (members of PS21)

Gwen Gould, conductor
Michael Clement, piano

WHAT IS A “SING?”
It’s when YOU, members of the AUDIENCE, sing the choruses of these magnificent choral works, under the stars at PS21 with professional soloists. Bring your voice out of the shower and join with your neighbors and fellow choral singers in these favorite masterworks. Music is provided and light refreshments are served at the break.

August 4: Bernstein Chichester Psalms
Zachary Pearson, boy soprano

August 11: Mendelssohn Elijah
Nancy Allen Lundy, soprano
Nina Fine, alto
tenor – sung by section
John Cheek, bass-baritone

August 18: Verdi Requiem
Sabina Kim, soprano
Mary Hack, alto
Jon Morrell, tenor
John Cheek, bass-baritone

August 25: Mozart Requiem
Nancy Allen Lundy, soprano
Nina Fine, alto
Ed Grossman, tenor
Steve Dahlin, bass

For information about the soloists click Artists

20th Anniversary Concert
A Classical Road Trip
Performance Spaces for the 21st Century (PS21)
Chatham, NY
Gwen Gould, founder and conductor
Chanel Wood, soprano, CFO Young Artists 2008
David Anderson, host
David Grunberg, composer

Program
Prokofiev – Symphony No. 1 “Classical”
Barber – Knoxville: Summer of 1915
Grunberg – Overture to a New Theatre (world premiere)*
Beethoven – Symphony No.7

for detailed program click HERE

*performed with student interns from Take a Seat…in the Orchestra! - a new education initiative in connection with this concert. Student interns will be in residence for three days with their CFO mentors, culminating in a joint performance of Overture to a New Theatre by Chatham graduate, David Grunberg. For more info about Take a Seat… CLICK HERE

West Village Chorale Summer Sing
Verdi’s Requiem
at the Church of St. Luke in the Fields
487 Hudson Street, New York, NY
Monday, July 14 at 7:30 pm

Gwen Gould, conductor
David Ralph, piano

Amy Grable, soprano
Mary Hack, alto
Rob Zimmerman, tenor
Charles Perry Sprawls, bass-baritone

Gwen Gould founded the West Village Chorale in 1971 and established the WVC Summer Sings in 1972. She was Artistic Director/Conductor for 27 years. The chorale is resident at the historic Church of St. Luke in the Fields in New York City’s Greenwich Village, where Ms. Gould served as an organist in the church and teacher in the school.

For information about the West Village Chorale, CLICK HERE

WHAT IS A “SING?”
It’s when YOU, members of the AUDIENCE, sing the choruses of this magnificent choral work with professional soloists singing the solos. Bring your voice out of the shower and join with your neighbors and fellow choral singers in this favorite masterwork. Music is provided and light refreshments are served at the break.

Twenty music students, ranging from fifth grade through high school, have been accepted to participate in the Columbia Festival Orchestra’s new education program “Take a Seat…in the Orchestra.” This program will take place in conjunction with CFO’s 3-day residency at PS21 (Performance Spaces for the 21st Century) in Chatham, NY, July 25-27, 2008.

Student interns will be seated with their mentors in the orchestra for rehearsals and two performances of a new work, written for the occasion by Chatham graduate, David Grunberg. Overture to a New Theatre, is scored for orchestra and incorporates sections that will be orchestrated specifically for the students participating in this program. They met for the first time to rehearse their parts with the composer on July 21st (see photo).

The following students will Take their Seats… violins: Cathleen Alarcon, Victor Feldman, Jeffrey Girton, Elizabeth Moran, Trevor DePew, Lydia Curran and Deidre Kelly; viola: Samantha Oakes; cello: Patrick Jones; string basses: Alexander Toth and Oliver Kress; flutes: Glynnis MacDonald and Annalise Krajeski; clarinet: Angela Matthews and Sterlene Negron; trumpet: Michael Krajeski; french horns: Anna Costello, Austin Klein, and Bethany Meyers; trombone: Raja Pillai. School districts represented include Hudson, Chatham, Ichabod Crane, Taconic Hills and Germantown, as well as Cairo-Durham, Hawthorne Valley, Gt. Barrington Rudolph Steiner, John Jay, Averill Park, Mineola Middle School, and one student is home-schooled.

The residency of the CFO and its associated education program “Take a Seat…in the Orchestra” have been made possible through the generous support of the the following corporations and foundations: Arcon Construction, Berkshire Taconic Foundation Fund for Columbia County, Melanie and Howard Brandston Fund, Francis Greenburger Charitable Fund, Ed Herrington, Inc., Hudson River Bank & Trust Foundation, JSL Computer Services, Lavelle & Finn, Marilyn and Bob Laurie Fund, Mario’s True Value Home Center, Metz Wood Harder Insurance, Old Chatham Sheepherding Company. Price Chopper’s Golub Foundation, Stewart’s, David G. Whitcomb Foundation and many individuals (list in preparation).

Performances take place on Saturday, July 26 at 6 pm and on Sunday, July 27 at 2 pm. The program will also include Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1, the “Classical,” Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with CFO Young Artist Chanel Wood, soprano, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.

Order TICKETS ONLINE or print out and mail the TICKET ORDER FORM.

The Columbia Festival Orchestra, founded in 1988 by artistic director and conductor Gwen Gould, is a professional orchestra based in Columbia County, NY, whose mission is to present classical music and other concerts to the highest degree of excellence and to cultivate an appreciation of the art of music in young people and adults.

Click the links below for more information:
Columbia Festival Orchestra
Take a Seat…in the Orchestra

A night of classical, popular and traditional music

ARTISTS ON FIRE!—a concert of popular, classical and traditional music—will be presented at 8 p.m. on June 6, 2008, at St. James Roman Catholic Church, Rte 66, Chatham, NY. A group of artists will offer their talents to help raise funds for an up-to-date fire station to serve the Malden Bridge, Chatham Center and Old Chatham areas.

The artists for this benefit include: internationally and locally known performers Lincoln Mayorga, piano, and Franco Spoto, tenor; Sherry Bauer Mayorga, singer/song-writer; Madalyn and Cicely Parnas, two young virtuosi on violin and cello respectively; and Mary Deyerle Hack, mezzo-soprano, a resident of Hudson, NY, formerly of NYC. Rounding out the evening’s entertainers are Chatham resident Otto Gardner, bass player, and Eric Valdina, the evening’s emcee and a veteran of many stages.

Tickets can be purchased at The Chatham Bookstore in Chatham or contact Rose Ross at eddypond@fairpoint.net or phone 518 392-4614. A minimum donation of $35 includes a preconcert reception at 7 p.m. This is a tax-deductible donation. Additional donations are encouraged and welcome.

Chanel Wood, soprano, Columbia Festival Orchestra’s Young Artist 2008, will perform a short program and lead a masterclass with vocal students in the Chatham School District on Tuesday, May 20th, 8-10 am. The Chatham masterclass with Chanel Wood is an educational initiative of the Columbia Festival Orchestra. Ms. Wood is from the Graduate Program in Vocal Arts at the Bard College Conservatory of Music.

Students of Christian Ritter, vocal teacher in the Chatham High School, have prepared solos for the NYSSMA (New York State School Music Association) Festival in May and will work on them with Ms. Wood in a masterclass setting. A tentative list of students and their repertoire includes the following:

Stacey Williams: Apres un Reve—Faure
Adam Harrison: O Del Mio Dolce Ardor from Paride ed Elena—Gluck
Brittney Gerber: O Mio Babbino Caro from Gianni Schicchi—Puccini
Isabelle Curran: Someone to Watch over Me – Gershwin
Katherine Minahan: Habanera (L’amour Est) from Carmen—Bizet
Michael Franklin: It Is Enough from Elijah—Mendelsohn
Dylan Kazmierowicztrimm: Lullaby from The Consul—Menotti
Kristen Bervy: Vittoria, mio Core–Carissimi
Erin Lanphear: On My Own – from Les Mis – Schönberg

Another new CFO mentoring program for student instrumentalists, “Take a Seat…in the Orchestra,” will take place during the CFO’s residency at PS21 (Performance Spaces for the 21st Century) in Chatham July 25-27, 2008. Instrumental teachers are encouraged to recommend students for this program who play orchestral instruments: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, french horn, trumpet, percussion and all strings. The deadline for submitting an application is June 1st.

Ms. Wood will perform Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (text by James Agee) with the Columbia Festival Orchestra on July 26 at 6 pm and July 27 at 2 pm at PS21, conducted by Gwen Gould. Other works on the program are Prokofiev Classical Symphony, Grunberg Prelude to a New Theatre (world premiere performed with student interns from “Take a Seat…” and conducted by the composer) and Beethoven Symphony No 7.

Elizabeth Brown, C flute and energy chime, alto flute
Sheryl Henze, C flute, piccolo and energy chime, alto flute
Rie Schmidt, C flute and alto flute
Wendy Stern, C flute and bass flute

Additional Photos CLICK  HERE

Program:

Igor Stravinsky:  Pastorale
Friedrich Kuhlau :  Grand Quartet, 3rd & 4th mvts
Elizabeth Brown :  Baths of Caracalla
INTERMISSION
Samuel Barber:  Adagio for Strings (arr. Rie Schmidt)
Joseph Schwantner: Silver Halo

About Flute Force

Flute Force is a flute quartet, perhaps the first professional flute quartet to have formed in the United States.  Founded in 1981, Flute Force has maintained a presence on the chamber music scene offering innovative and varied programs with a dedication to virtuosic performances.  They have mined the existing original literature, created their own transcriptions, and commissioned and premiered a substantial number of new works. Each member of Flute Force plays all the flutes of the flute family: the piccolo, flute, alto and bass flutes-sometimes in a single concert.

Musical America has called Flute Force “an extremely persuasive advocate for the flute quartet medium: four top-quality players in a perfectly balanced and expressive ensemble.”

Flute Force performs chamber music programs for all types of audiences and presents educational concerts and masterclasses for students of all levels.  Recipients of grants from the National Endowment, Chamber Music America, the New York State Council on the Arts and Meet the Composer, the New York City based ensemble has been featured in venues throughout the United States and Canada as well as at the Australian Flute Festival in Melbourne, Australia.