MOSTLY MODERN FESTIVAL Launches June 2018 in Saratoga Springs

Mostly Modern Festival (MMF), a new summer music festival launching in 2018, flips the traditional programming model by devoting most of its attention to the music of our time, with occasional forays into the standard repertoire.

Founded by the husband and wife team of composer Robert Paterson and violinist Victoria Paterson, the inaugural festival takes place June 4-18, 2018, at the Arthur Zankel Music Center on the campus of Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, encompassing nine orchestral, choral, and chamber concerts by festival and guest ensembles of mostly new and recent music. The festival also hosts the Mostly Modern Festival Institute, a two-week intensive with a distinguished 26-member faculty, for up to 70 instrumentalists, 60 singers, 30 composers, and 8 conductors.

"Victoria and I wanted to create a contemporary music focus in the context of the glorious summer festival experience that is such a classical music tradition," said Robert Paterson, MMF Artistic Director. "Having five composers on the faculty and 30 composition students, who will have the opportunity to have their works performed, flips the emphasis of most programming models instead to favor the new, and flavor with the old as it relates to the new. We are finding that increasingly today, new music can be the gateway to old music."

An important, and unique, aspect of the festival and its service to the Institute's students, 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.

Application to the Institute can be made online: https://mostlymodernfestival.org/apply/

Ensembles, Composers, Artists, and Lecturers

The festival's ensembles-in-residence are the American Modern Ensemble - the acclaimed group founded by Robert and Victoria Paterson in 2004 - along with the American Modern Orchestra and American Modern Choir, two groups comprising the Institute's participants and faculty. Guest ensembles are Imani Winds, Atlantic Brass Quintet, and the Euclid Quartet.

Featured conductors are David Amado, Nicol Matt, Christopher Rountree, and Kent Tritle.

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

The artist faculty, whose members will coach the Institute's students and perform alongside them in the American Modern Orchestra, include 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.

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.

Mostly Modern Festival Concerts

Nine public concerts will be held in Skidmore's Arthur Zankel Music Center:

Thursday, June 7: American Modern Ensemble

Friday, June 8: Euclid Quartet

Saturday, June 9: American Modern Choir, conducted by Nicol Matt

Sunday, June 10: American Modern Orchestra, conducted by Christopher Rountree

Wednesday, June 13: Atlantic Brass Quintet

Thursday, June 14: American Modern Ensemble

Friday, June 15: Imani Winds

Saturday, June 16: American Modern Choir & Orchestra, conducted by Kent Tritle

Sunday, June 17: American Modern Orchestra, conducted by David Amado

Among the program highlights will be the world premieres of Robert Paterson's Symphony No. 1 and String Quartet No. 2, as well as performances of his works for orchestra, chorus, and soloists: Walt's America and A New Eaarth.

Full program details will be announced in early 2018.

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.

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, for more than 150 students. The Institute is open to musicians and composers 18 and older, and welcomes participants in all stages of their careers.

All 35 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 and mentored by the MMF composition faculty. Up to two composers will be selected by the conducting and composition faculty to receive a performance with AMO.

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.

Scholarships and work-study opportunities will be available for Institute students.

For more information, visit www.mostlymodernfestival.org.

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; the recording will be released later this 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 for Music That Heals in hospitals all around New York City. www.victoriapaterson.com.

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