What better place to enjoy the captivating power of music than the historic Boscobel House and Gardens in Garrison. Originally the dream house of the Loyalist Dyckman family, the grand, Federal-style mansion situated on the bank of the Hudson River included spaces for music to be played and enjoyed, and Boscobel’s renowned museum collection includes musical instruments and many furnishings decorated with references to music.
With last year’s inaugural Boscobel Chamber Music Festival, the nonprofit organization, in partnership with the Chamber Music Society of Palm Beach, paid tribute to that legacy while expanding the appeal of chamber music to a contemporary audience of over 1,000. This September 1 through 10, the festival returns for two weeks of performances and events that will showcase more than a dozen of the country’s most sought-after chamber musicians, and provide one-of-a-kind opportunities for the public to engage with chamber music through open rehearsals, school programs, VIP events, and field trips.
"We are so pleased to count the Chamber Music Festival among Boscobel’s widening variety of meaningful Hudson Valley experiences,” says Boscobel’s Executive Director and Curator Jennifer Carlquist. “Now in its second year, the Festival has become another one of Boscobel’s anticipated events in which our site celebrates history and beauty, and strives to inform and inspire local families, schools, artists, and patrons."
The festival opens on Friday, September with French Romantic composer Ernest Chausson’s “Concert for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet 1,” performed by acclaimed violinist Benjamin Beilman and pianist Michael Stephen Brown. Violinist Jennifer Frautschi, a two-time Grammy nominee, will also be featured on Chausson’s beloved “Poème.” Both pieces were dedicated to the Belgian virtuoso violinist Eugène Ysaÿe, whose own composition, “Rêve d’enfant,” will also be performed on opening night featuring the festival’s artistic director, celebrated violinist Arnaud Sussman. Sussmann will be accompanied by Benjamin Beilman performing on a violin once owned by Ysaÿe himself.
On Saturday, September 2 Master Luthier Samuel Zygmuntowicz, one of the world’s finest violin makers, will lead an engaging talk and demonstration that explores the mystery and science of the violin. Monday, September 4 will feature a performance of Dvorak’s “String Sextet in A major,” inspired by Czech folk dances, and Tchaikovsky’s “Souvenir de Florence” on the Great Lawn.
The second week of concerts kicks off on Saturday, September 9 with the incomparable Ehnes String Quartet led by superstar concert violinist James Ehnes, performing works by Haydn and Schubert. The quartet will then be joined by Sussmann for Mendelssohn’s “String Quintet in B flat,” a work emblematic of the composer’s evolving style from a more classical form towards drama and expression. The Ehnes Quartet will then close out the festival with a family concert in the afternoon on Sunday, September 10.
In addition to the can’t-miss concerts, music-themed tours of Boscobel’s house and grounds will take place throughout August and September, and an exhibition on period instruments including a flute purportedly owned by Major John André, the infamous British spy hanged for colluding with Benedict Arnold.
Tickets for the Boscobel Chamber Music Festival performances range from $25 to $85. For more information about the festival or to purchase tickets, visit Boscobel.org.
