In its 36th year, Raritan River Music Festival is celebrating with new and old friends bringing a wide variety of music to New Jersey, May 10 – 31. Each concert takes place in a different location, including one in Warren County, giving everyone the chance to partake and enjoy the music. All concerts start at 7:30pm.
“As we approach the 250th Anniversary of American Independence, along with New Jersey’s history as one of the founding thirteen colonies, we are reminded of the vast artistic creativity of the diverse cultures in the US, one of the genuinely revolutionary cornerstones of our society, reflected in our country’s motto “e pluribus unum” – out of many, one," stated Laura Oltman and Michael Newman, Founding Artistic Directors.
May 10 - Tempesta di Mare (Baroque Splendor: Music of Bach, Couperin, Marais, Telemann, & Morel, flute, recorder, viola da gamba, theorbo)
Bethlehem Presbyterian Church, Pittstown
One of America’s top Baroque ensembles returns with a program of music by 18th-century French and German masters J. S. Bach, G. F. Telemann, François Couperin, Jacques Morel, and Marin Marais. Tempesta di Mare’s performances convey to its listeners the emotional drama of the music through the composers’ use of rhetorical devices to express the unspoken feelings and passions that move the audience.
May 17 - David Korevaar (Heroic to Hammerklavier: Beethoven Piano Sonatas, pianoforte)
Old Greenwich Presbyterian Church 17 Greenwich Church Road, Stewartsville
Distinguished Professor of Music at University of Colorado at Boulder and international touring pianist, David Korevaar brings to life selections from his new recording of Beethoven Sonatas on the Prospero Classical label, entitled “Heroic to Hammerklavier.” Hailed for his “wonderfully warm, pliant, spontaneous playing” by the Washington Post, Korevaar comes to RRMF for the first time, while on his way to perform concerts throughout Brazil.
May 24 – Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo with Bergamot Quartet
Music from the NEW World: 21st-Century MasterpiecesMusic by Lowell Liebermann, Daniel Binelli, Ledah Finck, Caroline Shaw, Payton MacDonald (string quartet, guitar duo, sextets)
Stanton Reformed Church 1 Stanton Mountain Road, Stanton
Building on Raritan River's tradition of dynamic programming with an eye to the future of the art form, this concert will feature RRM-commissioned music by Daniel Binelli and Lowell Liebermann composed for the Duo, along with the premiere performance of a new string quartet by NJ composer Payton MacDonald. Various selections by Bergamot violinist and composer Ledah Finck and Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy Award-winning Princeton University alum Caroline Shaw will also be featured. as a national winner of the “Award for Adventurous Programming” presented by Chamber Music America/ASCAP.
May 31 - Greg Giannascoli & Friends - Americana Meets Old Masters: Classical Favorites for Marimba, Vibraphone, & Piano (Greg Giannascoli, marimba; Behn Gillece, vibraphone; Ron Stabinsky, piano)
Historic Hunterdon County Courthouse 71 Main Street, bldg.3, Flemington
Another new artist to the festival this year is marimba virtuoso Greg Giannascoli, who brings to the Historic Hunterdon County Courthouse in Flemington a spirited and innovative program of classical favorites and show pieces for marimba, vibraphone, and piano, composed by Gershwin, Piazzolla, Bach, Rimsky-Korsakov, and others. Classical New Jersey wrote of Giannascoli: “Here is music played so well it would capture and hold anybody’s attention indefinitely.”
The 36th Raritan River Music presents David Korevaar: Beethoven Piano Sonatas
Daedalus Quartet represents string quartet playing at its finest, being praised by The New Yorker as “a fresh and vital young participant in what is a golden age of American string quartets.” The Quartet has established itself as a leader among the new generation of string ensembles.