After several weeks of great performances, the Geneva Music Festival is wrapping up for the 2024 season. The final week of performances begins on June 4, with a free lakefront concert. This concert is followed by a photography exhibition and chamber performance on June 7 while June 9 marks the end of the season, with an outdoors blues concert closing out the festival.
Violinist Geoffrey Herd founded the Geneva Music Festival in 2011, as a weekend to spread appreciation of classical music. The festival soon evolved into a four-week long celebration, attracting artists from across the globe. While originally based in classical music, the festival also now highlights jazz, and bluegrass artists. The festival’s mission is to spread music appreciation to everyone, being an all-ages event. The event now attracts thousands of concert-goers from across the Finger Lakes.
2024 has already been a busy season for the Geneva Music Festival, hosting a number of spectacular performances. The festival kicked off with a sold-out Musicology Mixer night at Geneva’s Linden Social Club. Week two of the festival saw the acclaimed Brentano Quartet play Hobart and William Smith Colleges’ Gearan Center. The Juilliard-formed quartet played a selection from Haydn, Shostakovich, and Mendelssohn.
The festival’s final week will kick off with a free lakefront concert on June 4th, at 8:15pm. This concert will be a preview for the festival’s final artist-in-residence concert. The theme of this year’s final concert is “Night and Day,” with pieces meant to illustrate the progression from dawn to dusk. World-renowned cellist Clive Greensmith, pianist Anna Petrova, and other talented musicians will perform. The concert will begin with “String Quartet Op. 76, No.4” by Haydn, meant to represent the sunrise. It will also feature modern composer Mark Olivieri’s “Artifacts of a Valiant Past”, a Scriabin solo by pianist Anna Petrova, a piano trio by Kaija Saariaho, and a Schoenberg tone-poem for a string sextet.
“The solo piano piece that I’m playing has to do with day and night. The first movement represents the day and the sea in daylight. [Scriabin] was inspired to write this piece when he first saw the sea, and so you can hear the peacefulness and the beauty of that; and the second movement is very turbulent and represents the stormy sea”
– Pianist Anna Petrova
Hobart and William Smith Colleges’ Gearan Center will host the concert on June 7th, at 7:30pm. Prior to the concert, a photography exhibition highlighting local artists will be held at the center’s Melly Lobby.
The final concert of the season will be The Brothers Blue, a local cross-genre bluegrass band. Back by popular demand, the concert will be held outdoors at Geneva on the Lake. The Brothers Blue will close out the season with their invigorating fiddle, mandolin, and banjo playing. This concert will take place June 9th, at 2:00pm.
Tickets for these concerts are currently on sale. Standard ticket price is $35, with discounts for college students available. Children under 18 can attend concerts for free. For more information on the Geneva Music Festival and ticketing, visit the link here.
The post Geneva Music Festival Announces Schedule for Final Week appeared first on NYS Music.
