Cooperstown Festival to Present Jasper String Quartet, Sinatra-Inspired Jazz & More

Cooperstown, NY -- An award-winning string quartet known for "guerilla chamber music" and a hand-picked quintet of jazz all-stars kick off an eventful August for the Cooperstown Summer Music Festival.

On Friday, August 5 at 7:30 pm, the Jasper String Quartet (J Freivogel and Sae Chonabayashi, violins; Sam Quintal, viola and Rachel Henderson Freivogel, cello) will perform works by Haydn, Mendelssohn and Amy Beach. The Quartet is named for Jasper National Park in Alberta Canada. It was there on a residency at the Banff Centre that the Quartet embarked on "guerilla chamber music," performing in non-traditional places around Alberta, including a mountain-top performance in 40 degree weather. They continue to make education and outreach a priority, having presented more than 100 programs at schools.

In 2008, the Jaspers swept through the competition circuit, winning the Grand Prize and the Audience Prize in the Plowman Chamber Music Competition, the Grand Prize at the Coleman Competition, First Prize at Chamber Music Yellow Springs, and the Silver Medal at the 2008 and 2009 Fischoff Chamber Music Competitions. They were also the first ensemble honored with Yale School of Music's Horatio Parker Memorial Prize, an award established in 1945 and selected by the faculty for "best fulfilling... lofty musical ideals." In 2010, they joined the roster of Astral Artists after winning their national auditions.

Festival artistic director and flutist Linda Chesis will join the Jaspers for Theme and Variations by Amy Beach, which premiered in September 1916. Born in 1867, Amy Beach was n internationally respected and prolific composer, and a leader in the American Romantic style, an especially noteworthy achievement for a woman of her era. "How inevitable it was that music should be my life's work, " Amy Beach said. "Both in composition and piano playing, there seemed to be such a strong attraction ... that no other life than that of a musician could ever have been possible for me." The concert will be held at Christ Episcopal Church, 46 River Street in Cooperstown.

Sinatra at 100

Jazz takes the Festival stage on Sunday, August 7 at 7:30 pm, as saxophonist Loren Schoenberg, pianist John DiMartino, bassist Mike Karn, trumpeter Jon-Erik Kellso, and drummer Aaron Kimmel present an instrumental tribute to Frank Sinatra.

"There were many different Frank Sinatras - singer, movie star, Rat-Packer, tough guy - but at the root of all of his various manifestations is the fact that he was a superb musician," explains Schoenberg, who is the founding director and senior scholar of The Jazz Museum in Harlem. "We hope this evening of instrumental, melodic and swinging jazz will complement your Sinatra collection in the best way possible."

Schoenberg, known for his encyclopedic knowledge of jazz, handpicked the musicians of the quintet. The concert will be held in the ballroom of the Otesaga Hotel, 60 Lake Street in Cooperstown. John di Martino is a jazz pianist, arranger and producer based in New York City. He has been described as a "shape-shifter" for his creativity across musical genres. His discography includes many Grammy nominated CD's, including: "Love" with Issac Delgado, "Freddy Cole Sings Mr. B,"?and "Live And In Clave" with Bobby Sanabria.

After having performed throughout the world as a tenor saxophonist with some of the jazz world's biggest names, Michael Karn has once again crisscrossed the globe as a top call bassist. Michael has played saxophone with Ray Charles, Harry Connick Jr. and Charles Earland; within a few years of beginning to seriously pursue the bass, he was again working with some of New York's top musicians, namely Freddie Cole, The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, John Pizzarelli, Jon Hendricks, George Coleman, Frank Wess, Bob Wilber, Joe Lovano, and Harry Allen.

Drummer Aaron Kimmel frequently appears at Smalls and Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, performing as a sideman with the Ken Peplowski and Harry Allen quartets, and the Eric Reed and Ehud Asherie trios. Kimmel, who performed at the Festival in 2013 with Hilary Kole, has also played with such jazz luminaries as Grant Stewart, Terell Stafford, Ryan Kisor, Jimmy Heath, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Brian Lynch, Ann Hampton Callaway, Mary Stallings, and Jon Faddis.

Trumpeter Jon-Erik Kellso joined Vince Giordano's Nighthawks in 1989. He has enjoyed performing and recording with the likes of Howard Alden, Bob Haggart, Dick Hyman, Catherine Russell, Linda Ronstadt, and Wycliffe Gordon, among others. Recent engagements include a week in Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola with Wynton Marsalis celebrating Louis Armstrong's Hot 5s and 7s. He has also made various appearances on Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion", a live cinecast with Elvis Costello, and performed concerts at the Kennedy Center with John Lithgow. He can also be seen and heard in the current HBO series, "Boardwalk Empire." Jon is on well over a hundred CDs, including five as a leader. His latest Arbors release, "Blue Roof Blues: A Love Letter to New Orleans," is dedicated to Jon's friends in the Crescent City and all those affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Festival continues with three more August performances

On August 19 the Festival presents Bach and Sons featuring Ayano Ninomiya, violin; Linda Chesis, flute; Quinn Bernegger, tenor; Alexis Pia Gerlach, cello; and Bradley Brookshire, harpsichord. On August 21 at Hyde Hall, lutenist Hopkinson Smith will perform works by John Dowland, John Johnson, and Anthony Holborne in the drawing room of historic Hyde Hall. On August 28, a busy August is capped off with an evening of Flamenco, a first for the Festival. The Sonia Olla Flamenco Dance Company will perform at the Otesaga Hotel, 60 Lake Street in Cooperstown.

The Festival's extended season continues September 11 with a concert of Debussy, Bax and Ravel featuring Linda Chesis, June Han, harp; and Dimitri Murrath, viola; and on October 2 the Season Finale features works by Mendelssohn, Smetana and Katterburg performed d by Linda Chesis, Ayano Ninomiya, violin; Clancy Newman, cello; and Alexandre Moutouzkine, piano.

Tickets are $25 for adults, $15 for students. Purchase online at cooperstownmusicfest.org; by phone through Brown Paper Tickets, 800/838-3006, or at the door.

Flutist Linda Chesis started the Cooperstown Summer Music Festival with three events in 1999, and since then the Festival has offered the region more than 100 concerts, from classical to contemporary, jazz to bluegrass, cabaret to kids' concerts. The Festival has featured: Midori, Hank Jones, the Tokyo String Quartet, the American String Quartet, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Kurt Elling, Tim Fain, Bill Charlap, Hilary Kole, Simone Dinnerstein, Mark O'Connor, and many more.

The Cooperstown Summer Music Festival is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.