The Britt Classical Festival Pairs Contemporary and New Music with Core Classical Repertoire in 2015 Summer Season, 7/31-8/15

The Britt Classical Festival, led by Music Director and Conductor Teddy Abrams, has announced a wide-ranging, adventurous series of concerts of contemporary and new music paired with core classical repertoire for its three-week 2015 season, beginning July 31. The programs include the world premiere of a folk song cycle written and performed by vocalist and songwriter Aoife O'Donovan and fiddler Jeremy Kittel alongside work by Charles Ives, George Antheil and Copland; performances of John Adams' Absolute Jest string quartet showcase with the Dover Quartet and Samuel Adams' recent work Radial Play; orchestral showpieces including Brahms' Symphony No. 2 and Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring; Teddy Abrams performing on piano and clarinet with his own Sixth Floor Trio, playing music from a variety of genres in a program alongside music by Samuel Barber and Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique; and composer Mason Bates on electronica in his popular work Mothership with the Britt Orchestra, on a program that features James Ehnes in Barber's Violin Concerto. The festival takes place in the Britt Pavilion, an intimate, beautiful outdoor 2,200-capacity amphitheater in the historic Gold Rush town of Jacksonville, Oregon, 17 miles from Ashland. This is Teddy Abrams' second season as the Britt Classical Festival's music director.

Other highlights of the three-week festival include:

· Carmina burana, with soprano Celena Shafer, tenor Javier Abreu, and baritone Hugh Russell, and members of the San Francisco Girls Chorus, the Southern Oregon Repertory Singers, and the Rogue Valley Chorale;

· A performance of one of Abrams' own works, Visceral, to kick off the opening night program;

· An evening of music by Leonard Bernstein, sung by Broadway vocalist Morgan James with the Britt Orchestra, including songs from West Side Story, Wonderful Town, On the Town, and others;

· An all-French orchestral showcase for The Britt Orchestra, with Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe, Suite 2; Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice; Debussy's Jeux, and Guillaume Connesson's Cosmic Trilogy, Part 1: Aleph;

· A 20-voice ensemble drawn from the San Francisco Girls Chorus sings in the charming Performance Garden;

· Two free morning concerts for children, one with percussionist and educator Gabriel Globus-Hoenich.

Abrams, 27, a native of San Francisco now beginning his second year as the festival's music director, is a pianist and clarinetist as well as a conductor. Abrams is music director of the Louisville Orchestra, and a former conducting fellow at New World Symphony in Miami Beach. He was a member of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra for seven years and a graduate of San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Since he began at the Louisville Orchestra, Abrams has been a tireless evangelist in that community for the power of music: without categories, without labels. He is a common sight in town, riding his bicycle around, stopping in cafes to hand out concert tickets, playing jazz, klezmer music, or standards on his keyboard in the street, and inviting people, one by one, to come and experience the orchestra's music making. The Louisville Orchestra's original YouTube video web series, "Music Makes a City Now," is as much a document of Teddy's life as it is the transformative approach he is taking to reinvigorate the city's relationship with its resident "band," the Louisville Orchestra. Abrams is bringing that same inspired approach to the Britt Festival, and the way he envisions and crafts the musical experience at its concerts.

Abrams' choice of the work of several Bay Area composers this season is not a coincidence. He has had working relationships with John Adams, Samuel Adams, and Mason Bates, all with Bay Area ties, throughout his still-nascent career. "I've known John Adams since I was in the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra. He had me do several projects with him. Samuel Adams and Mason Bates both came to New World Symphony," Abrams said. "To be able to program their work here at the Britt Festival, and to bring these other really incredible artists, is a unique opportunity. You're not going to find this in Northern California, or anywhere else. There are only a few places in the country that could program these kinds of pieces. And the Britt Orchestra is performing at an incredibly high level."

CALENDAR OF PERFORMANCES

The complete concert schedule for the 2015 Britt Classical Festival follows. Tickets are on sale now at www.brittfest.org for all 2015 Britt Classical Festival concerts.

Friday, July 31 - 8 pm

Britt Pavilion, Jacksonville, Oregon

Teddy Abrams, conductor

Britt Orchestra

Celena Shafer, soprano

Javier Abreu, tenor

Hugh Russell, baritone

Southern Oregon Repertory Singers

Rogue Valley Chorale

San Francisco Girls Chorus - Chorissma

Program:

TEDDY ABRAMS: Visceral

SCRIABIN: Poem of Ecstasy

ORFF: Carmina burana

Trio Terra Nova performs in the Performance Garden from 6 to 6:45 pm, in the Table Rock City series. Jefferson Public Radio personalities host a pre-concert conversation at 7 pm in the Performance Garden.

The Friday, July 31 performance is preceded by a gala dinner at 6 pm. Tickets are sold separately. For gala dinner ticket information, visitwww.brittfest.org.

Saturday, August 1 - 8 p.m.

Britt Pavilion, Jacksonville, Oregon

Teddy Abrams, conductor

Britt Orchestra

The Dover Quartet

Program:

SAMUEL ADAMS: Radial Play

JOHN ADAMS: Absolute Jest

STRAVINSKY: The Rite of Spring

Siskiyou Violins performs in the Performance Garden from 6 to 6:45 pm, in the Table Rock City series. Jefferson Public Radio personalities host a pre-concert conversation at 7 pm in the Performance Garden.

Sunday, August 2 - 8 p.m.

Britt Festival Performance Garden, Jacksonville, Oregon

Members of San Francisco Girls Chorus

Program: A 30-voice ensemble of the San Francisco Girls Chorus performs.

Tickets: $5 general admission

Tuesday, August 4 - 10:30 a.m.

Britt Festival Performance Garden, Jacksonville, Oregon

Britt Orchestra Oboe Section, Principal Oboe Joseph Salvalaggio

Children's Concert: When Giant Babies Attack!

Program: "When Giant Babies Attack" is the story of a family that lives in a town called Beetville where there is nothing to eat except for beets. Clementine and Susanna (represented by two familiar children's tunes) feed their beets to their baby brother Danny and he grows to giant proportions, inadvertently unleashing havoc on their quiet town. The dramatic conclusion recalls the King Kong story, with Danny swatting at helicopters atop Beetville's tallest building to Ride of the Valkyries. Everything ends well as their mom comes to the rescue in the nick of time.

Tickets: This event is free; no tickets required. Suitable for ages 4-9. Concert is approximately 30-40 minutes.

Friday, August 7 - 8 p.m.

Britt Pavilion, Jacksonville, Oregon

Teddy Abrams, conductor

Britt Orchestra

Aoife O'Donovan, vocalist

Jeremy Kittel, fiddle

Program:

IVES: Putnam's Camp from Three Places in New England

AOIFE O'DONOVAN/ JEREMY KITTEL: Folk Song Cycle (world premiere)

ANTHEIL: A Jazz Symphony

IVES: Ragtime Dance No. 3

COPLAND: Suite from Billy The Kid

Mazama Saxophone Quartet performs in the Performance Garden from 6 to 6:45 pm, in the Table Rock City series. Jefferson Public Radio personalities host a pre-concert conversation at 7 pm in the Performance Garden.

Saturday, August 8 - 8 p.m.

Britt Pavilion, Jacksonville, Oregon

Teddy Abrams, conductor

Britt Orchestra

Sixth Floor Trio

Program:

BARBER: Second Essay

Set featuring Sixth Floor Trio (with Teddy Abrams)

BERLIOZ: Symphonie fantastique

Southern Oregon University Faculty Brass Quintet performs in the Performance Garden from 6 to 6:45 pm, in the Table Rock City series. Jefferson Public Radio personalities host a pre-concert conversation at 7 pm in the Performance Garden.

Sunday, August 9 - 7:30 p.m.

Britt Pavilion, Jacksonville, Oregon

Teddy Abrams, conductor

Morgan James, vocalist

Britt Orchestra

Program: The Symphony Pops night returns with an all-Bernstein program, featuring vocalist and Broadway star Morgan James. The program includes songs from West Side Story, On the Town, Wonderful Town and more.

Tickets: $15 reserved/$5 lawn

Tuesday, August 11 - 10:30 a.m.

Britt Festival Performance Garden, Jacksonville, Oregon

Children's Concert featuring Gabriel Globus-Hoenich

Program: Percussionist and educator Gabriel Globus-Hoenich will be in residence at Britt Music & Arts Festival for the 2015 season. Gabriel is one of the founders of Drumming for Social Change, an organization dedicated to researching and developing percussion based educational programming.

Tickets: This concert is free; no tickets required. Suitable for ages 4-9. Concert is approximately 30-40 minutes.

Friday, August 14 - 8 p.m.

Britt Pavilion, Jacksonville, Oregon

Teddy Abrams, conductor

Britt Orchestra

James Ehnes, violin

Mason Bates, electronica

Program:

MASON BATES: Mothership

BARBER: Violin Concerto

BRAHMS: Symphony No. 2

Harris-Fitch Trio performs in the Performance Garden from 6 to 6:45 pm, in the Table Rock City series. Jefferson Public Radio personalities host a pre-concert conversation at 7 pm in the Performance Garden.

Saturday, August 15 - 8 p.m.

Britt Pavilion, Jacksonville, Oregon

Teddy Abrams, conductor

Britt Orchestra

Program:

GUILLAUME CONNESSON: Cosmic Trilogy, Part 1: Aleph

DEBUSSY: Jeux

DUKAS: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

RAVEL: Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2

Heavenly Harp & Flute Duo performs in the Performance Garden from 6 to 6:45 pm, in the Table Rock City series. Jefferson Public Radio personalities host a pre-concert conversation at 7 pm in the Performance Garden.

TICKETS: Unless noted above, tickets for the orchestra concerts are $45 reserved, $32 adult lawn, $10 child/student lawn. Classical Festival tickets can be purchased at www.brittfest.org. In addition to tickets for single concerts, the popular Classical Lawn Pass, a flexible package of three lawn tickets, is available, along with a special package price for students. Call the box office at 1-800-882-7488 or 773-6077 or visit www.brittfest.org. Full program and guest artist information for all concerts is also available at www.brittfest.org.

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