Contemporary Clarinet Concert in Widow Jane Mine Evokes Local Botanicals

Sunday, 26 July at 3 PM

Widow Jane Mine, 668 Rt. 213, Rosendale, NY

Tickets available on a sliding scale at the event

Naumberg Chamber Music Award winner Marianne Gythfeldt will give a rare solo recital of contemporary music for bass clarinet inside the Widow Jane Mine, a large cave with stunning natural acoustics. The program will feature the world premiere of Jason Eckardt’s composition “Eastern Hemlock,” the latest in his series “A Compendium of Catskill Native Botanicals.”

In a rare opportunity to hear the deep, resonant sound of a bass clarinet played by an acclaimed virtuoso in the spectacular acoustic setting of the Widow Jane Mine, performer Marianne Gythfeldt and composer Jason Eckardt present a concert that will be remembered. Set in a cave with a small stage in front of an interior pond, audiences will hear music based on local botanicals including Jo Kondo’s “New Buds On the Elderberry Tree” and the world premiere of “Eastern Hemlock,” a work commissioned through an Arts Mid-Hudson Grant.

Eckardt’s composition acknowledges the unusual and sometimes troubled local history of the Eastern Hemlock tree, from its overlogging by the tanning industry in the 19th century to the more recent threat of the invasive Woolly Adelgid. Despite these challenges, the Hemlock, a “foundation species,” remains the third most common tree in New York.  The trees provide food and homes for many animals and are natural filtration systems for forest streams.

The Widow Jane Mine is approximately 65 degrees so audience members should plan appropriately. There is no seating so folding chairs should be brought; the cave naturally slopes toward the stage providing excellent sightlines.

“Gythfeldt is setting a new standard for her instrument.”

- FANFARE

“Harmonically and rhythmically [Eckardt’s] music thrives on complex, constantly changing relationships… he tempers the more prickly, jagged elements of the post-tonal style with humor and eclecticism.”

- THE NEW YORK TIMES

Clarinetist Marianne Gythfeldt has played a central role in the music scene of New York City for three decades, as a chamber ensemble player, an electroacoustic music soloist, and educator. Winning the Naumburg chamber music award with New Millennium Ensemble in 1995 launched a wide-ranging career as clarinetist with Ensemble Sospeso, SEM ensemble, Absolute Ensemble, Collide-o-scope Music, Da Capo Chamber Players, Zephyros Winds and Talea Ensemble. She has also performed with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and many others. Currently the head of woodwinds at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College, she has also held positions at William Paterson University and the University of Delaware.

Jason Eckardt played guitar in jazz and metal bands until, upon first hearing the music of composer Anton Webern, he immediately devoted himself to composition. Since then, his music has been influenced by his interests in perceptual complexity, the physical and psychological dimensions of performance, political activism, and the natural world. He has received commissions from Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, the Koussevitzky Foundation in the Library of Congress, the Fromm Foundation at Harvard University, and the Guggenheim Museum; awards from the Rockefeller and Guggenheim Foundations, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Deutschen Musikrat-Stadt Wesel, the Aaron Copland Fund, and the New York State Council on the Arts. Eckardt's music has been performed at major festivals including the Festival d'Automne a Paris, Tanglewood, ISCM World Music Days, and Musica Strasbourg and recorded on 22 albums including three portrait releases.