WASHINGTON SQUARE MUSIC FESTIVAL - June 5th

From : http://www.washingtonsquaremusicfestival.org/

THE FIFTY-FIRST SEASON: STRAVINSKY PLUS on June 5 & 19, 8:30 pm in St. Joseph 's Church FREE!

On June 5 & 19, 2009 the Washington Square Music Festival, a free outdoor classical and Music of the Americas concert series, celebrates its 51st season by presenting Stravinsky Plus : two exciting evenings of great music performed by musicians who regularly play in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Opera & New York City Ballet orchestras and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. On Friday, June 5 at 8:30 pm the Festival Chamber Orchestra features Igor Stravinsky's Concerto for Piano and Winds with pianist David Oei – also works by Ludwig van Beethoven and David Taylor. On Friday, June 19 at 8:30 pm the Festival Chamber Ensemble performs Stravinsky's L'Histoire du soldat with Lutz Rath, Laila Maria Salins & David Taylor, actors, and works by Johannes Brahms & Franz Schubert with soprano Lucia Hyunju Song & pianist David Oei.
Venue is St. Joseph 's Roman Catholic Church, 371 Sixth Avenue at Washington Place in Manhattan 's Greenwich Village . FREE!
The Festival was founded in 1953 by violinist and neighbor Alexander Schneider: http://www.sasha-schneider.com/ member of the famed Budapest String Quartet, and the Washington Square Association, Inc. Over the years the concerts have become a venerable summer tradition, shaped by Peggy Friedman, executive director, our late music director Henry Schuman, and our current music director, Lutz Rath, as well as talented musicians, countless patrons, volunteers and neighborhood agencies that make the Festival such a popular cultural and civic event.
The sole activity of The Washington Square Music Festival is to present free concerts. New York has other free outdoor classical concert series, but only the Washington Square Music Festival is sponsored by a local civic organization, the Washington Square Association, Inc., which dates back to 1903 -- http://www.washingtonsquarenyc.org/ . Although traditionally out of doors in Washington Square , this summer the Festival must perform indoors because of on-going construction in the park.
The Festival often features young musicians. Several now-famous performers have appeared in Washington Square in early stages of their careers, including soprano Marilyn Horne and her husband, the late Henry Lewis, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, violinist Tom Chiu and conductor Gerard Schwarz. Internationally known musicians who have appeared in the Square include: conductor Gürer Aykal & violinist Suna Kan (The Presidential Orchestra of Turkey), conductor and oboist Henry Schuman; composer-conductor Virko Baley, and violinist Ole Böhn (concertmaster, Norwegian Opera Orchestra), soprano Gabriella Tucci. On the jazz front, the Charles Mingus Orchestra, Felix Swing Band and Panama Francis and His Savoy Sultans have made the audience in Washington Square Park dance in the aisles while Johnny Colon and His Orchestra brought classic salsa to the Park, and Cuartetango String Quartet brought sizzling Argentine tango with authentic dancers.
The Washington Square Music Festival is made possible with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation through the good offices of Senator Thomas K. Duane and Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick; and New York City Councilmember Alan J. Gerson. US Recording Companies fund in part the instrumental music for the series, as arranged by Local 802, American Federation of Musicians. Generous grants from The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, New York University, The Washington Square Association, Carmine Street Block Association, Salamon-Abrams Family Fund, Greenwich Village Block Associations, Earle T. & Katherine Moore Foundation Greenwich Village Block Associations, Washington Square Hotel, Greenwich Village/Chelsea Chamber of Commerce, BAMRA, Tio Pepe Restaurant, and Emigrant Savings Bank are deeply appreciated.

Peggy Friedman, Executive Director Jean Lyman Goetz, Festival Manager Laima Hood, chair, Board of Directors Suzette Jacobs, Associate Music Director Lutz Rath, Music Director

PO Box 1066 Village Station New York NY 10014-0706
212-252-3621
mailto:info@washingtonsquaremusicfestival.org
http://www.villagealliance.org/