VOM music fest brings Schumann to Sonoma

Tickets on sale now for “Schumann’s World”|

The Valley of the Moon Music Festival returns to Hanna Boys Center in this month for the festival’s annual summer event.

This year the festival celebrates the world of 19th century German composer Robert Schumann over three weekends, from July 16 to 30.

Making their Festival debut are violinists Jennifer Frautschi and pianist Jeffrey LaDeur.

Artists returning this year include Liana Bérubé, Elizabeth Blumenstock, Nikki Einfeld, Cynthia Freivogel, Eric Hoeprich, Monica Huggett, Carla Moore, Holly Piccoli, Kyle Stegall, and Festival Directors Tanya Tomkins and Eric Zivian.

Festival officials describe VOM as “the only organization in the U.S. devoted exclusively to presenting the chamber music of the Classical and Romantic eras, performed on instruments built when the music was written.”

“Schumann was not only a brilliant composer, he was also an influential critic who wrote with passion and humor about the struggles and ecstasies of his contemporaries and musical precursors,” says festival codirector Tanya Tomkins. “This year’s program presents Schumann’s music alongside the music of composers he listened to and relevant excerpts of his criticism in an effort to immerse audiences more deeply into his world. This summer Schumann is both our mentor and tour guide.”

“To give two examples,” adds codirector Eric Zivian, “Schumann loved Mozart and was Chopin’s greatest fan, but he heard these composers in a way that would be unfamiliar to an audience hearing their music on modern instruments. By performing on period instruments with attention to historical practices, our musicians aspire to present Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet or Chopin’s Cello Sonata as Schumann might have heard these works during his lifetime.”

Highlights of the festival include the opening concert on Sunday, July 16, featuring Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet with clarinetist Eric Hoeprich.

Kyle Stegall, a tenor who performed in the 2016 festival, returns for the second weekend. On Saturday, July 22, he performs songs and arias by Schumann and Chopin, including rarely performed selections from Chopin’s collection of Polish songs.

The following day’s concert takes its title, “Fair Queen of my Heart,” from a verse in Schumann’s Liederkreis referring to the fatal power of love. Rounding out the program is Mozart’s Piano Quartet in E-flat, performed by the festival’s apprentices. The apprentices, comprising a handpicked group of young chamber musicians with an interest in historic instruments, will join the festival’s seasoned artists for each of the final four concerts.

This weekend features three concerts including a matinee on Sunday, July 30, at 11 a.m.

The third weekend of the festival welcomes violinists Huggett and Freivogel and, in the final concert, two-time Grammy nominee Jennifer Frautschi in a rare performance on gut strings.

On Saturday, July 29, the festival explores the chamber music of three composers Schumann championed: Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms. The following day’s matinee at 11 a.m., titled “Only Genius Entirely Understands Genius,” explores the music of Schumann’s wife Clara, a piano prodigy, in her Romances for Violin and Piano, followed by one of Schumann’s own string quartets and Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D minor.

The festival comes to a close with a second concert on Sunday, July 30 at 4 p.m. Niccolò Paganini’s famous Caprice No. 24 in A minor for solo violin, performed by Frautschi, sets the tone for the works to follow.

Admission to each concert is $45 including all fees, with a 50 percent discount to attendees under age 30.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit valleyofthemoonmusicfestival.org.

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