Tuesdays in July: Washington Square Music Festival

NYU is a proud sponsor of the Washington Square Music Festival, which opens its 54th season of free weekly summer concerts this July. This year's program will feature the West Village Chorale, conducted by Michael Conley, the Festival Chamber Orchestra, soprano Lucia Hyunju Song, pianist David Oei, cellist Lutz Rath, the Deep Sahara Band, and more.

Join us for the first concert July 10, and browse the schedule below or visit the Washington Square Music Festival for more details about upcoming concerts.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012
8:00 PM
St. Joseph's Church
371 6th Avenue, at Washington Place

Sir John Tavener: "Svyati"; chorus and solo celloJohn Corigliano: "Fern Hill" Poems by Dylan Thomas; soprano, chamber orchestra, and chorus
Michael Conley: "This Bequest of Wings" An Emily Dickinson Cycle; chorus, soprano, string quartet and piano
Ludwig van Beethoven: "Fantasy in C Minor"; piano, chorus, and orchestra, op. 80

VIENNESE CHAMBER MUSIC OFFERED BY THE WASHINGTON SQUARE MUSIC FESTIVAL: Mahler, Schoenberg, Schubert

Tuesday, July 17, 2012
8:00 PM
St. Joseph's Church
371 6th Avenue, at Washington Place

Pianist David Oei and cellist Lutz Rath are joined by violinists Eriko Sato and Leonid Yanovskiy, violist Veronica, and cellist Amy Kang in a rare chamber music program with works ranging from 1828 to 1942.

Gustav Mahler: "Piano Quartet in A Minor"
Arnold Schoenberg: "Ode to Napoleon"; text from a poem by Lord Byron; piano quintet and speaker.
Franz Schubert: "Quintet in C Major, D. 956"; two cellos.

The Schubert "Quintet" is considered one of the most sublimely beautiful chamber music works ever written. "Napoleon," written in 1942 in reaction to Hitler, is a passionate denunciation of tyrants. Mahler's "Quartet in A Minor" is the rarely-performed first movement of an unfinished work by the master composer.

MUSIC FOR STRINGS & WINDS

Tuesday, July 24, 2012
8:00 PM
Washington Square Park
WSP Main Stage, South of Fifth Avenue
Rainspace: St. Joseph’s Church

The Washington Square Festival Chamber Ensemble

Carl Nielsen: "Serenata in Vano FS. 68"; clarinet, bassoon, horn, cello, and double bass.
Antonin Dvorák: "Serenade in D Minor, Op. 44"
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: "Divertimento in D for Winds and Strings, K.131"

THE DEEP SAHARA BAND

Tuesday, July 31, 2012
8:00 PM
Washington Square Park
WSP Main Stage, South of Fifth Avenue
Rainspace: St. Joseph’s Church

Abdoulaye Alhassane Touré, leader and vocal soloist, performs music of West Africa&mdah;the roots of American jazz—on guitar, kora, (African harp), ngoni (ancestor of American banjo), talking drum, tama, drum set, conga, and djembé (a rope-tuned skin-covered drum played with bare hands).

The Washington Square Music Festival is made possible with public funding through Councilwoman Margaret Chin and The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency. Generous grants from The Earle K. & Katherine F. Moore Foundation, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Washington Square Association, Music Performance Trust Fund, The Margaret Neubart Foundation Trust, New York University Community Affairs & NYU Community Fund, Salamon-Abrams Family Fund, Con Edison, Down the Hatch, and Emigrant Savings Bank are deeply appreciated, as is invaluable help from NYC Parks & Recreation and generous donors.