Classical Beat: Taconic Music Presents First Concert
We are entering the season of many wonderful holidays: Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas among them. It is time to celebrate together with family and friends, sit around the table, reminisce, enjoy the old traditions and create new ones, listen to music.
Cellist Michael Rudiakov established the tradition of holiday concerts about 20 years ago. After his passing in November of 2000, it was carried on by son Ariel and daughter-in-law Joana. For many years, the concerts were held at the Dorset Church as part of the Manchester Music Festival; this year for the first time it will be at the Manchester Community Library and presented by Taconic Music.
Co-founders and co-artistic directors of Taconic Music, violist Ariel Rudiakov and violinist Joana Genova-Rudiakov, will be joined by their friends, violinist Deborah Buck and cellist Sophie Shao, for a performance of Antonín Dvořák’s "American" string quartet. Then clarinetist Todd Palmer will dazzle with his virtuosity in Carl Maria von Weber's quintet for clarinet and strings.
Buck is the first violinist of the acclaimed Lark quartet and Assistant Professor at SUNY-Purchase. Genova-Rudiakov is artist associate at Williams College and a concert violinist. In addition to his active carrier as chamber and orchestra musician, Rudiakov is the music director and conductor of the Danbury Symphony. Shao earned an Avery Fisher Career grant at age 19 was a major prizewinner at the 2001 Rostropovich Competition, and a laureate of the XII Tchaikovsky Competition in 2002 and teaches at Vassar College. Palmer has appeared as soloist with many symphony and chamber orchestras including those of Houston, Atlanta, St. Paul, Cincinnati, Montreal, BBC Scotland and has served as principal clarinet for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, among other myriad distinctions.
Dvorak wrote his String Quartet in F major during his sojourn in the American town of Spillville, Iowa, where he spent his first summer holidays during his tenure at New York's National Conservatory of Music. After many months working in the hectic atmosphere of the big city, he now found himself in an environment he loved best: surrounded by nature. The village inhabited by the descendants of Czech emigrants reminded him of his summer residence in Bohemia and, after a long period of separation, he was now once more in the company of all his children, who had come to America for the holidays.
Weber's Clarinet Quintet is partially chamber music, partially virtuoso concerto and partially operatic fantasy. It is one of the most charismatic works for the clarinet, and one of the most technically demanding. It is full of light mood, beautiful melodies and dancing gaiety.
As the title suggests, "Rudiakovs and Friends, A Concert of Thanksgiving" is both an inauguration and a sincere expression of gratitude for the many people who encouraged the start of Taconic Music. The concert will take place on Saturday, Nov. 26, at 4 p.m. at Manchester Community Library, 138 Cemetery Avenue, Manchester Center, Vt. Admission is a $15 suggested donation at the door. For more information, visit the website.
Tags: classical music,
