Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Raritan River Music Festival

Raritan River Music Fest Goes Online

Most of the world’s summer music festivals have already thrown in the towel, but for one of the most local, the show must go on. This year’s Raritan River Music Festival concerts will continue, though perhaps not wholly as planned.

Now in its 31st year, Raritan River Music has built a loyal following with its series of May concerts presented by a variety of professional musicians and ensembles at historic venues throughout – and adjacent to – New Jersey’s Raritan Valley.

The venues may be closed, but the performances will take place as scheduled.

The festival will open tonight with the Argus Quartet, performing music by Bach, Fanny Mendelssohn, and Christopher Theofanidis, including the New Jersey premiere of Theofanidis’ “Conference of the Birds.”

Next Saturday, the Newman & Oltman Duo will be joined by Cuban guitarist Rene Izquierdo for “A la Cubana: A Century of Music from the Pearl of Antilles.”

On May 16, the instrumental and vocal ensemble Meridionalis will present “Selva Musical/Transatlantic Baroque: Music of Spain and the New World,” featuring selections spanning the mid-1500s – a generation after Columbus sailed – through the Baroque.

On May 23, the Philadelphia Flute Quartet will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, with a program which will include works by award-winning American women composers and the New Jersey premiere of “Hidden River” by Eric Sessler.

The concerts will be streamed FREE, Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m. EDT. If you enjoy them, please consider showing your support and helping to defray the costs by leaving a donation at the Raritan River Music website. Your generosity will help to secure the continuance of the festival in happier times ahead.

The Raritan River Music Festival was founded in 1989 by Michael Newman and Laura Oltman, of the Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo. The couple have strong ties to the area, making their home in lower Warren County along the Delaware River.

Newman is on the faculties of Mannes College of Music, in New York City, and The College of New Jersey. Oltman teaches at Princeton University and Lafayette College in Easton, PA. The duo co-founded the New York Guitar Seminar at Mannes. They have served as ensemble-in-residence there since 1987.

In reference to pulling together the technological threads to make this year’s Raritan River Music Festival possible, Newman writes, “It has been all-consuming for the past month, learning about audio engineering, video production, live streaming, etc., etc. But we were committed to making it happen, to pay the performers we had invited to play on the festival, and to bring the festival directly to all the friends and fans of the festival, many who have been attending every year for the past 31 years.”

The events will include introductions and discussions with participants and composers, live chats and Q&As, and of course plenty of great music-making.

The concerts will be streamed at Raritan’s homepage, http://www.RaritanRiverMusic.org, where you can also learn more about the organization and the upcoming concerts.

Follow Oltman’s advice in her recorded intro: open up a cold one and enjoy chamber music performances, Saturday evenings in May, from the resilient Raritan River Music Festival.

Newman & Oltman’s new recording of “El Libro de los Seres Imaginarios/The Book of Imaginary Beings,” by Cuban master Leo Brouwer, written specifically for the duo and given its world premiere at last year’s festival, is available now, on the MusicMasters label.

PHOTO: The Argus Quartet will perform, virtually, at the Raritan River Music Festival, tonight at 7:30 p.m.

May 2, 2020
Newman & Oltman at Raritan River Music Festival

On today’s Noontime Concert on The Classical Network, we’re all rarin’ to go. That is to say, we’re rarin’ to go to the Raritan River Music Festival.

Join me for the Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo and friends and a program titled “All Americas: Music of the New World.” The concert will include music from the United States and Brazil, as well as selections from the world premiere performance of “El Libro del los Seres Imaginarios” (“The Book of Imaginary Beings”), written specifically for the duo, by the Cuban master Leo Brouwer. Also on hand will be guitarist-composers Clarice Assad and João Luiz.

The Raritan River Music Festival was founded by Michael Newman and Laura Oltman in 1989 as a stimulating series of concerts that embrace new music, world music, and straightforward classical repertoire, presented by world-class musicians, in intimate, historic venues in Hunterdon and Warren Counties. The annual festival is held during the month of May. However, Raritan River Music also offers year-round outreach programs for students, seniors, and patients at healthcare facilities. You can learn more by visiting raritanrivermusic.org.

Then stick around! The heat index values are projected to be 100 again today. We’ll have plenty of cool music for you, from 12 to 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

August 20, 2019
Newman & Oltman Premiere Brouwer’s New Work

Here’s another one for your Classic Ross Amico pin-up collection:

At WWFM – The Classical Network with Michael Newman and Laura Oltman, of the Newman and Oltman Guitar Duo.

Newman and Oltman dropped by the WWFM studios on Monday to share conversation and music, including a generous live performance – the world broadcast premiere, as a matter of fact – of two movements from Leo Brouwer’s “The Book of Imaginary Beings.” This was music written expressly for them by arguably Cuba’s foremost living composer.

Newman and Oltman will perform the complete work for the first time in concert this weekend, on the final program of this year’s Raritan River Music Festival. The concert will take place on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., at Stanton Reformed Church, in Stanton, NJ. For details, look online at raritanrivermusic.org.

Newman and Oltman will then take the piece to New York City for a second performance, at the New York Guitar Seminar, with the composer in attendance, on June 26. You’ll find more information by following the link at N & O’s website, guitarduo.com.

And if you missed it, here’s our interview, complete with in-studio musical teasers:

May 23, 2019
Brouwer Premiere LIVE on The Classical Network

¡Hola!

Tune in this afternoon on The Classical Network to get a taste of LEO BROUWER, LIVE.

Join me for a special visit from Michael Newman and Laura Oltman of the Newman and Oltman Guitar Duo. Newman and Oltman will drop by to talk about the final concert of this year’s Raritan River Music Festival, which will take place this Saturday at 7:30 p.m., at Stanton Reformed Church, in Lebanon, NJ, and will include the WORLD PREMIERE of Brouwer’s “El Libro de los Seres Imaginarios” (“The Book of Imaginary Beings”).

Brouwer, who turned 80 in March, is Cuba’s foremost composer and arguably the most important living composer of music for the classical guitar. “El Libro” is a 16-minute, four movement work, inspired by a compendium of mythological beings by Jorge Luis Borges.

The fulfillment of the commission, which was planned to coincide with Newman and Oltman’s 40th anniversary as a guitar duo and the 30th anniversary of the Raritan River Music Festival, has been years in the making, the culmination of a successful pentathlon of sorts, guitarists and composer bounding over the hurdles of language, geography, culture, politics, and bureaucracy.

What makes Newman and Oltman’s visit today particularly exciting is that they plan to perform selections from Brouwer’s new work, LIVE, IN-STUDIO, which means the music will be heard FOR THE FIRST TIME ANYWHERE. Following Saturday’s premiere, the couple will take the piece to New York City for the opening of the New York Guitar Seminar on June 26. The duo holds exclusive performance and recording rights to the piece.

Saturday’s program, “New Music of the Americas: Compositions from Brazil, Cuba, & USA,” will also include music by Paul Moravec and works by festival guests Clarice Assad and João Luiz.

The Raritan River Music Festival was founded by Newman and Oltman in 1989, as a stimulating series of concerts that embrace new music, world music, and straightforward classical repertoire, presented by professional musicians, in intimate, historic venues in Hunterdon and Warren Counties.

This year’s festival has included concerts by the Horszowski Trio, performing Schumann and Elliot Carter, at Greenwich Presbyterian Church in Stewartsville; Eileen Ivers and the unIVERSal Roots Band, in a celebration of Americana music and its Irish roots, at Clinton Presbyterian Church in Clinton; and harmonicist Robert Bonfiglio and flutist Clare Hoffman, performing works by Native American and Grand Canyon-inspired composers, at Prallsville Mills in Stockton.

For more information about Saturday’s concert and the Raritan River Music Festival, visit raritanrivermusic.org; to learn more about Newman and Oltman, look online at guitarduo.com; and for scintillating music and conversation, tune in at 5:00, the core of today’s broadcast with Classic Ross Amico, which will take place, as always, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

May 20, 2019
Spanish Guitar Noontime Concert WWFM

¡Buenos días, amigos!

I hope you’ll join me today, as WWFM begins its fall series of “Noontime Concerts.” I’ll host a broadcast of Spanish guitar works performed by The Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo.

The concert took place on May 28 at Bethlehem Presbyterian Church in Pittstown, NJ, located in rural Hunterdon County, as part of the Raritan River Music Festival. Soprano Rochelle Ellis will join the duo for “Aranjuez, ma pensée,” after the famous adagio from Joaquín Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez,” and the composer’s “Four Love Madrigals,” as well as Manuel de Falla’s “Seven Spanish Folksongs.” Also on the program will be music by Isaac Albéniz.

The concert will open with the world premiere performance of “Incendia” by Ryan Sandor, an 8th grade student at Alexandria Middle School and a winner of the Hunterdon County Young Composers Contest.

Michael Newman has been on the faculty of Mannes College of Music in New York City for 37 years. Recently, he joined the faculty of The College of New Jersey. Laura Oltman is on the faculty of Lafayette College in Easton, PA. For more than three decades, she has also taught at Princeton University. Rochelle Ellis teaches at both Princeton University and Westminster Choir College.

The next Raritan River Music concert will be a special fall event, to honor America’s veterans. Singer-songwriter-storytellers Sally Rogers and Claudia Schmidt will appear at Bethlehem Presbyterian Church on November 6 at 2 p.m. For more information, visit RaritanRiverMusic.org.

Following today’s “Noontime Concert,” I will salute conductor Evgeny Svetlanov on his birthday anniversary with one of his many recordings of the symphonies of Nikolai Myaskovsky. Enjoy this and more, between 12 and 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

September 6, 2016

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