Cazenovia Counterpoint Festival
Cazenovia, NY – “Fields of Dreams: the arts in nature” is the theme of this July’s Cazenovia Counterpoint festival, a Society for New Music presentation. The festival takes place in and around the village of Cazenovia, NY, and is comprised of an art exhibit, “Rising Stars” programs, concerts, a staged opera, “Strawberry Fields,” a “Writers Corner,” a unique interactive sound/art installation, “Hilltop Pipe Dreams” and more. This is the 35th year of new music in Cazenovia featuring regional artists and performers, many of whom are internationally renowned.
As in previous years, prize-winning young performers and composers are highlighted for the “Rising Stars” lunch-hour concerts at St. Peter’s Episcopal. The “Young Composers Corner” (July 13 – 17) is open to middle and high school students interested in learning how to compose. That free weeklong mentoring program is in collaboration with the Cazenovia Public Library. The cast of Michael Torke’s opera “Strawberry Fields” also has young singers performing alongside professionals at Cazenovia Theater.
In addition to the popular “Writers Corner” (July 18th & July 21st), there is a panel on the “Creative Process” which will have visual artists, a poet, puppeteer, choreographer, and composer discussing what inspires them and how they work. The “Poetry Round-Robin” during “Family Arts Day” includes young poets and aspiring writers of all ages.
A very special feature of this summer’s festival is the month-long interactive sound/sculpture installation “Hilltop Pipe Dreams.” The general public is invited during the month of July to explore the installation at Stone Quarry Art Park, making their own sounds on the recycled organ pipes, sketching the various groupings, writing a poem or short story about the experience in this picturesque hilltop setting from which one can see Oneida Lake. (The Art Park is one of the top 10 sculpture parks in the U.S.) All those who wish to participate are welcome to share their creations, be it sound files, photos, sketches, or writing, during Family Arts Day July 25. That day will culminate with the world premiere of a new work by Edward Ruchalski for chamber ensemble and pre-recorded sounds. Ruchalski’s sound file will include sounds of nature as well as sounds of the various sized pipes – – some struck sounds and others triggered by movements activated by solar powered sensors embedded in the pipes.
CAZENOVIA COUNTERPOINT 2015 FIELDS OF DREAMS: the arts in nature
Presented by the Society for New Music
July 1 – 30 INVITATIONAL ART EXHIBIT throughout the village – Linda Bigness, Lauren Bristol, Jo Buffalo, Stephen Carpenter, Juan Cruz, Eric Dresser, Jude Ferencz, Rob Glisson, Wendy Harris, Judy Hand, David Harper, Gerald Hook, Tom Huff, John McCarthy, Mary Perrin Murphy, Paul Parpard, Phil Parsons, John Lyon Paul , Toloa Perry, Kathryn Petrillo, Michael Townsend, Peggy Van Arnam, Carolynne Whitefeather
July 1 – 30 HILLTOP PIPE DREAMS, an interactive sound/
sculpture installation at Stone Quarry Hill Art Park (SQHAP)
Enjoy strolling among the re-purposed organ pipes and make your own music, either with special mallets, movements triggering solar powered sound sensors, or as wind chimes. Record your sounds, write a poem, sketch or photograph the site, and bring your creations to share during Family Arts Day July 25.
July 11 4 – 7pm – HILLTOP PIPE DREAMS reception at SQHAP plus demonstration of the installation by the
collaborators/creators Steve Carpenter, Lorne Covington, Rob Bridge, Edward Ruchalski, David Harper
July 13 – 17 YOUNG COMPOSERS CORNER (YCC) for high school and middle school students, led by Eastman
doctoral composer & Syracuse native Nikolas A. Jeleniauskas, culminating in a performance of completed works during Family Arts Day. FREE
July 15 12:30pm RISING STARS lunch-hour concerts, sponsored by Allen & Nirelle Galson, at St. Peter’s Episcopal
Dunham Hall, saxophone, (Solvay); Ben Daly, piano (Manlius); Sophia Jeongyoon Han, violin (Manlius – Winners of the CMM/Symphoria concerto, OCMEA & CNYAMT competitions. The classics, plus premieres of new works written especially for these artists by emerging composers Kaziah White, Nikolas A. Jeleniauskas & Alex Ganes
July 15 7:30pm Round-Table on THE CREATIVE PROCESS with Q/A – Steve Carpenter, moderator:
choreographer Cheryl Wilkins-Mitchell, Open Hand Theater founder Geoff Navias, Ithaca artist John Lyon Paul,
composer Ed Ruchalski, artist Michael Townsend, poet James Longstaff at St. Peter’s Episcopal Hall
July 16 6:30 – 8:30pm – concert in the park – MERKLEY & MORGAN (Old Boy Records) (blues & Americana) at Lakeland Park. Cortland singers/songwriters Chris Merkley (guitar/harmonica/percussion/vocals) & Stiv Morgan (guitar/vocals).
July 18 2:30pm WRITERS CORNER double-header at St. Peter’s Episcopal – Dan Rosenberg & Naomi Guttman
July 18 3:30 – 5:30pm ART EXHIBIT RECEPTION at St. Peter’s with artist demonstrations & Silverwood Clarinet Sextet
July 21 7:30pm WRITERS CORNER doubleheader, St. Peter’s Episcopal – Rachel Guido DeVries & Linda Pennisi
July 22 12:30pm RISING STARS lunch hour concerts, sponsored by Allen & Nirelle Galson at St. Peter’s Episcopal Hall.
New works by young composers Gregg Welcher, Charles Van Tassel & Emmanuel Sikora for Gregg Welcher,
piano, (Baldwinsville) Phoebe Glowacki, soprano, (Skaneateles); Hank Sheehan, bass-baritone (Fayetteville) –
CNYAMT, Kilian, & OCMEA scholarship winners
July 22 7:30pm STRAWBERRY FIELDS (opera) by Michael Torke at Cazenovia College Theater
(1-act opera) libretto by A.R. Gurney (staged with chamber ensemble) Set in Central Park, NYC, at the John Lennon Memorial… A respectable but confused old lady wanders into the park, sits down on a bench imagining it is her seat at the opera, and sees the events unfolding around her as opera theatre. A family drama! Plus Mason Bates The Life of Birds, (with dance, choreographed by Cheryl Wilkins-Mitchell); Ping Jin Trio, 2015 PREMIERE
July 24 7:30pm BIG SKY concert at 1st Presbyterian, 27 Albany St.- music by young composer & Syracuse native George Nick Gianopoulos, Joan Tower Big Sky, 2000, tributes to former Society commissioned composers Robert Palmer (Centenary of birth) & Malcolm Lewis Etudes
July 25 1 – 6pm FAMILY ARTS DAY
1pm Poetry Round Robin – including Georgia Popoff’s young writers (YAA) & Reggie Seigler’s poetry (rap) group from Syracuse Housing Authority and S.U. Veterans Writers group, reading poems reflecting their experience with the installation (sight & sound). All poets invited to attend and read! Hilltop
2:30pm Young Composers Corner – musicians performing YCC completed works in the Music Room.
3:30pm – Audience participation in Hilltop Pipe Dreams, sharing what individuals have created (music, art, photography, poetry) reflecting the Pipe Dreams installation, followed by a premiere of a work by Ed Ruchalski for electronics (sampling of the pipe sounds) with chamber ensemble. Ice Cream & Lemonade under the trees.
