Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival Begins in Randolph Aug. 6

The Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival celebrates its 15th anniversary in Randolph as it begins its two-week annual residency at Chandler Music Hall on Main St. in Randolph Monday, Aug. 6.

In the summer of 1993, cellist Peter Sanders, whose family were long-time Randolph Center summer residents, performed a concert at Chandler with some of his professional New York musician friends and the festival was born. It has developed into one of Chandler's popular festivals, featuring weekend evening concerts, a special program for young people, and a noontime picnic setting for lighter fare. In the past several years, the festival has branched out and added concerts in Montpelier and Woodstock.

For this summer's festival, Sanders has again chosen his good friends as his fellow musicians, all also familiar to the festival audience. Some have been with the event from the beginning, but all have appeared in one season or another over the years. Returning are violinists Basia Danilow, Arturo Delmoni, and Adela Pe“a; violist David Cerutti; pianists Albert Stanziano and Cameron Grant; and of course, cellist Peter Sanders. They all perform in the New York area with such major organizations as the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Orpheus, and the New York City Ballet, and have appeared in the major halls and festivals of the U.S. as well as abroad.

The first week's program is "A Trio of Trios," featuring piano trios by Haydn, Beethoven, and 19thcentury composer Joachim Raff, performed by Danilow, Delmoni, Sanders, and Stanziano. It will be performed first on Friday evening, Aug. 10 at the Montpelier Unitarian Church and then on Saturday evening, Aug. 11 at Chandler. Both concerts begin at 8 p.m. Tickets for the Montpelier concert are available at the door.

The second week features two great works for piano and strings: the Brahms second piano quartet and the Shostakovich g minor piano quintet, performed by Delmoni, Cerutti, Grant, Pe“a, and Sanders.

The first performance will be at Chandler Saturday, Aug. 18 at 8 p.m. The encore performance will take place in the afternoon of August 19 at 4 p.m. at the Woodstock Unitarian Universalist Church, presented by the Pentangle Council of the Arts. Tickets are available through the Council at 802-457-3981.

Tickets for both Chandler evening concerts are available through the Chandler box office at 728-6464 between the hours of 3- 6 p.m. or at www.chandlerarts. org. Complimentary student tickets are available, thanks to a special grant.

The traditional Sunday lunch concert at the Three Stallion Inn in Randolph will take place August 12 at 12:30 p.m. The featured musicians will be fiddler/violinist Paul Woodiel and pianist Susie Petrov, performing music of the grand Scottish violin masters. Admission is free and concertgoers are welcome to bring picnic lunches. Food and drink are also available at the inn. For more information, call 728-5575.

The special concert for young people will be offered at Chandler Friday, Aug. 17 at 11 a.m. Featured this summer is the beloved Saint-SaÎns composition, "Carnival of the Animals," performed in a special chamber version and narrated by Randolph's Charlie McMeekin. Tickets for this performance are available only at the door. This concert is made possible in part through a grant from the Lamson- Howell Foundation.

There are many ways to have sneak previews of the festival. There are two Thursday open rehearsals free for the viewing at Chandler on August 9 and 16, both beginning at 7 p.m.

There are also three opportunities to catch them on the radio. Vermont Notes with Linda Radtke on WCVT 101.7 FM will feature the Festival Sunday, Aug. 5 at 11 a.m. Walter Parker will host the first week's quartet Friday, Aug. 10 at 11 a.m. on Vermont Public Radio, and VPR's opera buff, Peter Fox Smith, will devote his program "Interlude" to the Festival Saturday, Aug. 17 at 12:20 p.m.

The Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival is presented in partnership with Chandler Center for the Arts and Chandler Music Hall is wheelchair accessible.