Award-Winning Raritan River Chamber Music Festival Announces Innovative Hybrid May Events
Winner of the National Award for Adventurous Programming from ASCAP/Chamber Music America
WHEN: Saturdays, May 8–29, 4 PM, no intermission
WHERE: in a unique,
outdoor, 100% covered venue: The internationally-renowned Blue Army
Shrine, located in the rolling hills of West-Central New Jersey at 647 Mountain
View Rd E, Asbury, NJ 08802.
TICKETS: In-person tickets are $20 and Live-Stream Family Viewing tickets are $20 (link to be provided).
Tickets will be sold to a limited capacity to ensure safe, socially-distanced seating. No ticket transactions will be accomplished at the venue, minimizing close interactions.
Tickets are available at www.RaritanRiverMusic.org.
For more information call 908-213-1100 or info@RaritanRiverMusic.org.
Please note: All tickets must be purchased in advance to ensure safe, socially-distanced seating, but tickets can be exchanged any time before the concert for a link to the live-stream of the concert. Social distancing is assured, guidelines posted by the federal CDC and the State of New Jersey Department of Health will be followed.
All concerts will take place live in-person and can also be viewed in real-time via live-stream.
The modern, fully covered, outdoor facility will protect all audience members, regardless of the weather.
All audience members will wear protective face masks.
RECEPTIONS TO GO!
Complementary pre-packaged yummies
will be available for all audience members following each concert.
Challenging times demand innovative thinking and action. With your support and enthusiastic encouragement, we have worked to weather the storm and have continued to provide music to the community throughout the past year, especially through schools and health care facilities.
For those living out of the area or not yet comfortable attending in-person events, each concert will be professionally live-streamed by our new partner, The Animal Farm music production studio. Program notes and artist info will be available through the website. As always, the festival will include a wide range of musical programs featuring music from around the world, celebrating the joy and healing powers of music, and bringing together communities during challenging times. With works by composers of Indian, African, Middle Eastern, Asian, Mexican, Cuban, Colombian and Argentine descent and crossing stylistic boundaries, the music reflects the vast cultural wealth of America today.
Poorwill Lane Duo: Hyeyung Sol Yoon, violin and Gregory Beaver cello: Between Worlds
As members of the famed Chiara String Quartet and as founding directors of the new organization Open Space Music, connecting artists and communities through digital technology throughout the world, the Poorwill Lane Duo are making their RRMF debut in a program that will include new music by Carlos Simon—inspired by the art of Bill Traylor, a Black man who was enslaved at birth and was an eyewitness to American history from Civil War to Jim Crow segregation—plus NJ premieres of works by Matthew Fuerst and Anjna Swaminathan.
Bridget Kibbey, harp: Counterpoint in Motion
America’s most renowned harpist returns to the RRMF for a program of harp solos throughout the centuries, featuring her famed virtuosic performance of Bach’s Toccata & Fugue, French and Spanish Romantic classics, along with new music by Latin Grammy Award-winning Colombian composer Samuel Torres.
duoJalal: Katherine Lockwood, viola and Yousif Sheronick, percussion: Lost in Time
Katheryn Lockwood of the Lark Quartet
and Yousif Sheronick of Ethos Percussion Group join forces as duoJalal to
provide an international blend of diverse musical styles. Their concert
will feature the NJ premiere performance of Changes by Allison Loggins-Hull,
written in June 2020, during the global pandemic era of COVID-19 and a period
that saw calls all over the world against systemic racism and for equality and
unity.
Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo: Laura Oltman and Michael Newman, guitars: Two to Tango
Celebrating the heritage of Hispanic and Latin-American tango traditions from Argentina and Uruguay, Newman & Oltman (top photo) have worked closely with Nuevo Tango masters Astor Piazzolla (centenary of his birth) and Daniel Binelli (75th birthday). The duo will present these composers’ works, along with Tango favorites for two guitars.
In addition, the festival, Raritan River Music continues to provide innovative enrichment presentations to school and health care facilities throughout the region. We are currently designing new programs – working with teachers at area high school and middle schools, along with leaders in senior services – to live stream and provide video content to serve the community at home and in senior living facilities
