Inaugural Season of New Mostly Modern Festival Features Eight Concerts

For its inaugural launch in June, Mostly Modern Festival (MMF), a new summer music festival that flips the traditional programming model by devoting most of its attention to the music of our time, will present eight concerts featuring an illustrious array of guest artists and ensembles, an orchestra largely made up of Mostly Modern Festival Institute (MMFI) participants, music by esteemed resident composers ... and more than 30 brand-new works in world premiere performances by 30 MMFI participating composers (see list below).

Founded by the husband and wife team of composer Robert Paterson and violinist Victoria Paterson, the inaugural festival's concerts take place June 8-18, 2018, at the Arthur Zankel Music Center on the campus of Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. The Mostly Modern Festival Institute, a two-week intensive (June 4-18) with a distinguished 24-member faculty, has registered, in addition to the composers, more than 70 instrumentalists and conductors.

"We are delighted to announce that for our first season we will have selected 30 composers from all around the world," said Robert Paterson, "from as far away as China and Australia, and representing over 20 different states. These composers represent a wide range of styles, everything from neo-Romanticism and post-minimalism, to new complexity, and everything in between. In a phrase, these composers are all over the map, and that's what makes our first season so exciting.

"Victoria and I were thrilled that for our first season, so many musicians placed their faith in us, and trusted that this would be an amazing experience. We wanted to create a contemporary music version of the glorious summer festival experience that is such a classical music tradition, and this just confirms to us that there is a craving to hear sounds that are new and fresh."

Ensembles, Composers, Artists, and Lecturers

The festival ensembles are the American Modern Ensemble - the acclaimed group founded by Robert and Victoria Paterson in 2004 - along with the American Modern Orchestra comprised of the Institute's participants and faculty. Guest ensembles are Imani Winds, Atlantic Brass Quintet,Euclid Quartet, and the Albany Pro Musica Masterworks Chorus, and concert guest artists include Larry Pine, narrator; Caitlin Lynch, soprano; and Chad Sloan, baritone.

Featured conductors, also on the faculty, are Alan Pierson, Christopher Rountree, and Kent Tritle.

Composers on the faculty are Robert Beaser, David Del Tredici, Hannah Lash, Robert Paterson, and Stephen Cabell, who will also be the composition program coordinator.

The artist faculty, most of whose members will coach the Institute's participants and perform alongside them in the American Modern Orchestra, include Rachel Rosales, soprano; Megan Ihnen, mezzo-soprano; Andrew Fuchs, tenor; Peter Stewart, bass-baritone; Sato Moughalian, flute;Keve Wilson, oboe; Tasha Warren-Yehuda, clarinet; Charles McCracken, bassoon; Seth Orgel, French horn; Thomas Bergeron, trumpet;Andrew Sorg, trumpet; Tim Albright, trombone; John Manning, tuba; Matthew Ward, percussion; Blair McMillen, piano; Lina Bahn, violin;Esther Noh, violin; Victoria Paterson, violin; Philip Payton, viola; Dave Eggar, cello; and Roger Wagner, bass.

The Programs

The programs (full schedule below) include music by MMFI faculty composers Robert Beaser, Stephen Cabell, David Del Tredici, and Hannah Lash, as well as works by Valerie Coleman, Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, Wynton Marsalis, John Patitucci, and Jeff Scott - along with music by Bartók, Vaughan Williams, and Stravinsky.

Robert Paterson will have several works in the festival, including the world premiere of his String Quartet No. 2, as well as Hell's Kitchen for strings, winds, percussion, and piano; Shine for brass quintet; Wind Quintet "Klezmeshugeh"; Sextet; and two major works for chorus and orchestra:Walt's America for soprano, baritone, chorus, and orchestra, a setting of poems from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass evoking his love of America and its people; and A New Eaarth for orchestra, chorus, and narrator, a work setting poems and quotes from around the world, including texts by Wendell Barry, James Joyce, Percy Bysshe Shelly and William Wordsworth, all relating to the dangers of climate change - a work that Bill McKibben, whose book Eaarth inspired it, called "quite powerful...a very inspiring piece."

And the programs will be filled by music by MMFI participant composers including William Anderson, Kyle Brown, Kenneth Eggert, Nicholas Fife, William Hawkins, Joshua Jandreau, Grayson Jarvis, Steven Juliani, Timothy Kiah, Suzanne Kosowitz, Oliver Kwapis, Katie Madonna Lee, Kevin McCarter, John McCarthy, Chris Meiner, Reid Merzbacher, Timothy Lee Miller, Thomas Palmer, Jonathan Posthuma, Marlene Radice, Joseph Rebman, Ari Sussman, Gregg Welcher, Ian Wiese, and Daniel Zlatkin.

Tickets to all concerts are $20, $10 for students, and are available at the Skidmore College tickets page. A Mostly Modern Festival "Insider Pass"includes admission to all performances and includes free admission to the opening and closing night parties on June 7th and June 17th.

Watch these MMF Facebook Live events with:

Robert Paterson, MMF founder and faculty composer

Alan Pierson, MMF faculty conductor (and Artistic Director/Conductor of Alarm Will Sound)

Peter Stewart, MMF faculty bass-baritone

Mostly Modern Institute Concerto Competition, Scholarships

Mostly Modern Institute offers a combination of intensive one-on-one instruction with its 26-member faculty as well as masterclasses, lectures, and professional performance experience as part of festival ensembles. All composers at the festival (students and faculty) will receive a performance of one of his or her works, and up to 20 composers will be eligible to receive an orchestral reading with AMO mentored by the MMFI composition faculty. Up to two composers will be selected by the conducting and composition faculty to receive a performance with AMO.

An important, and unique, aspect of the festival and its service to the Institute's participants, is that all public performances will be professionally videotaped, and the videos made available to participants for their use. Events may also be streamed live.

A concerto competition will be held for the Institute's student musicians, and the winner will perform a 20th or 21st century concerto with AMO in the 2019 festival.

Guest lecturers include William Holab of Bill Holab Music; Daniel Spreadbury of Steinberg, the company that recently released Dorico, a new music engraving software program, and Cia Toscanini of ASCAP and Deirdre Chadwick of BMI.

Robert Paterson (Artistic Director) writes music that is acclaimed for its elegance, wit, structural integrity, and wonderful sense of color. Paterson was awarded Composer of The Year from the Classical Recording Foundation, at Carnegie's Weill Hall in 2011. His music has been on the Grammy® ballot yearly, and his music was named "Best of 2012" on National Public Radio. Three Way, his opera with librettist David Cote, called "an excellent comic opera" by Opera News, premiered in 2017, and the recording was released later in the year. His works have been performed by the Louisville Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Austin Symphony, Vermont Symphony, among others. Paterson gives master classes at universities, including the Curtis Institute of Music, Aspen Music Festival, New York University, and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Paterson is the Artistic Director of the American Modern Ensemble and resides in NYC with his wife, Victoria, and their son, Dylan. www.robertpaterson.com.

Victoria Paterson (Executive Director) is a violinist in New York City equally comfortable with classical, modern, and popular music. She performs everywhere from Carnegie Hall, Birdland, and Madison Square Garden, to Late Night with Seth Meyers, to The Today Show. She is the founder of the Lumiere String Quartet, whose albums boast top classical rankings on Amazon and iTunes. Executive Director of the American Modern Ensemble, Victoria also contracts for opera companies including OnSite Opera, American Opera Projects, Prototype, and many others. Broadway shows include Sunset Boulevard, West Side Story, The Addams Family, Heathers, and many more. Her favorite outreach work is performing forMusic That Heals in hospitals all around New York City. www.victoriapaterson.com.

MOSTLY MODERN FESTIVAL 2018

Arthur Zankel Music Center

Skidmore College

Saratoga Springs, New York

Friday, June 8, 2018, at 7:30 PM

MOSTLY MODERN FESTIVAL:

AMERICAN MODERN ENSEMBLE

STEPHEN CABELL Quartet for clarinet/bass clarinet, violin, cello, and piano

ROBERT PATERSON Hell's Kitchen for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion, and piano

JOHN PATITUCCI Apogee for violin, cello, bass, and marimba

Works by 2018 Mostly Modern Festival Institute composers: Kyle Brown, Kenneth Eggert, William Hawkins, Suzanne Kosowitz, Chris Meiner, Timothy Lee Miller, Marlene Radice, and Daniel Zlatkin

Saturday, June 9, 2018, At 7:30 PM

MOSTLY MODERN FESTIVAL:

EUCLID QUARTET

DAVID DEL TREDICI String Quartet No. 2

WYNTON MARSALIS Creole Contradanzas from At The Octoroon Balls

ROBERT PATERSON String Quartet No. 2 (World Premiere)

Works by 2018 Mostly Modern Festival Institute composers: Joshua Berwald, Corey Chang, Paul Frucht, Eugene Marlow, and Alec Radecki

Sunday, June 10, 2018, at 3:00 PM

MOSTLY MODERN FESTIVAL:

AMERICAN MODERN ORCHESTRA

Christopher Rountree, conductor

BÉLA BARTÓK Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta

ROBERT BEASER Ground "0"

ROBERT PATERSON Symphony No. 1 (World Premiere)

Composer Participant Work TBD (World Premiere)*

*This work will be chosen for performance from the 20 works that receive orchestral readings earlier in the week at the festival, and will be conducted by one of the conducting students.

Wednesday, June 13, 2018, at 7:30 PM

MOSTLY MODERN FESTIVAL:

ATLANTIC BRASS QUINTET

ROBERT PATERSON Shine

Additional works to be announced

Works by 2018 Mostly Modern Festival Institute composers: Nicholas Fife, Steven Juliani, Oliver Kwapis, and Jonathan Posthuma

Thursday, June 14, 2018, at 7:30 PM

MOSTLY MODERN FESTIVAL:

AMERICAN MODERN ENSEMBLE

HANNAH LASH C for vibraphone and piano

ROBERT PATERSON Sextet for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion, and piano

Works by 2018 Mostly Modern Festival Institute composers: William Anderson, Grayson Jarvis, Timothy Kiah, Katie Madonna Lee, Kevin McCarter, John McCarthy, Joseph Rebman, Ari Sussman, and Gregg Welcher

Friday, June 15, 2018, at 7:30 PM

MOSTLY MODERN FESTIVAL:

IMANI WINDS

VALERIE COLEMAN Umoja

ROBERT PATERSON Wind Quintet: "Klezmeshugeh"

JEFF SCOTT Startin' Sumthin'

Works by 2018 Mostly Modern Festival Institute composers: Joshua Jandreau, Reid Merzbacher, Thomas Palmer, and Ian Wiese

Saturday, June 16, 2018, at 7:30 PM

MOSTLY MODERN FESTIVAL:

AMERICAN MODERN ORCHESTRA

Kent Tritle, conductor

Larry Pine, narrator

Caitlin Lynch, soprano

Chad Sloan, baritone

Philip Payton, viola

Albany Pro Musica Masterworks Chorus

RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Flos Campi (Flower of the Field), Suite for viola, chorus, and orchestra

ROBERT PATERSON Walt's America for soprano, baritone, chorus, and orchestra

ROBERT PATERSON A New Eaarth for narrator, chorus, and orchestra

Sunday, June 17, 2018, at 2:00 PM

AMERICAN MODERN ORCHESTRA

Alan Pierson, conductor

PELLE GUDMUNDSEN-HOLMGREEN Mirror II

ROBERT PATERSON Electric Lines

IGOR STRAVINSKY Symphony in Three Movements

Work by One Composition Participant (World Premiere)*

*This work will be chosen for performance from the twenty works that receive orchestral readings earlier in the week at the festival, and will be conducted by one of the conducting students.

Tickets to all concerts are $20, $10 for students, and are available at the Skidmore College tickets page. A Mostly Modern Festival "Insider Pass"includes admission to all performances and includes free admission to the opening and closing night parties on June 7th and June 17th.

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