Concert on the Farm This Weekend (Updated)

Seats are still available this Friday, Saturday, or Sunday at the Gastler Farm (on the Durham/Middlefield borderline) for the Kalmia Garden Farmhouse Concert. 

The series is in its fourth season and features young musicians, all of whom recently graduated from prestigious music programs at schools such as Yale, Rice, and Juilliard.  They have been in residency on the farm for the past few months and finish their stay with two weekends of concerts, two different programs. This weekend, various combinations of the resident ensemble will perform music composed by Schubert, Schumann, Shostakovich, and Xenakis.  These musicians include Tim Krippner (piano), Max Geissler (cello), Will Overcash (violin), Dian Zhanf (violin), and Kalmia Foundation originator and artistic director Leah Gastler (viola, pictured below).

Concerts are Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. as well as Sunday at 3 p.m.  If you arrive at least an hour before the concert, you will get a guided tour of the delightful gardens. To purchase tickets, you can call 860-349-8415 or email farmhouseconcerts@gmail.com. To find out more about the farm, the concert series, and the Kalmia Foundation, go to www.farmhouseconcerts.com.  

(UPDATE Friday):

We just arrived home from the concert. The music was delightful, the musicians engaging, and the surroundings comfortable and quite impressive.  Due to the absence of violinist Dian Zhanf, the program for the weekend ha been altered.  The three string players opened the concert with "Serenade (Trio) in C major, Opus 10" by Ernst von Dohnanyi (1877-1960), the Hungarian-born composer who spent the last 11 years of life living and teaching in the United States.  Next up was "Trio No. 1 in C minor, Opus 8" for violin, cello, and piano composed by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) when he was 17 years old.  After a short break, all four musicians returned to perform the "Piano Quartet in E-flat major, K.493" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791).  A joyous piece of music, the musicians had a delightful time negotiating the occasional flurry of notes, especially the knuckle-busting phrases pianist Krippner had to play - he did so with aplomb!

Tickets are still available for Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon.  Classical music comes alive in this lovely setting and the musicians not only love to perform, they also love to inform so that the music is not as mysterious.