(Falls Village, Conn.) – America’s oldest continuing summer chamber music festival, Music Mountain. will celebrate its 82nd anniversary season starting Sunday, June 19, at 3, with an Opening Benefit and Reception featuring the legendary pianist Mischa Dichter in his Music Mountain debut and the acclaimed Harlem String Quartet performing the Schumann: Piano Quintet in E Flat Major, Opus 44 (1842). The Harlem String Quartet will also play the Borodin: String Quartet #2 in D Major (1881) and their spectacular piano quintet arrangement of Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the ‘A’ Train.”
The Music Mountain season will feature sixteen chamber music concerts, a series of jazz and country music concerts, and a number of special events slated through September 4. The overriding theme of the 82nd season will be the music of Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms: Beethoven, perhaps the greatest of all composers; Schubert, divine melodist and poet of song; and Brahms, the successor to Beethoven, a true immortal, who created music of extraordinary beauty which has never lost its power to move audiences.
Quartets to appear this coming summer will include the St. Petersburg String Quartet (June 26, July 3, August 21), the Shanghai String Quartet (September 3), with Van Cliburn Gold Medalist pianist Haochen Zhang (September 4), and the Penderecki String Quartet (July 30-31). Other string quartets scheduled include Cassatt (July 10), the Daedalus (July 17), with Naumburg Award-winning pianist Soyeon Lee (August 28), Arianna (July 24), the Amernet (August 6), Colorado (August 7), and Voxare (August 14).
In addition to the chamber series, the jazz series on Saturday nights at 6:30 will present the South Shore Syncopators in its Music Mountain debut (June 25), Swingtime New York (July 2), and Vince Giordano and his Nighthawks in their first Music Mountain appearance (July 9). The Galvanized Jazz Band will return for its 18th appearance at Music Mountain (August 20).
The 2011 Season will also see Music Mountain welcome country music to its stage for the very first time. The inaugural season of country brings the Cajun sensation the Bushwhack Band (July 23) followed by the Whiskey Boys (August 13th) and the award-winning group Gunsmoke (August 27), now celebrating its 25th season.
Located in Falls Village, Conn., Music Mountain is located at 225 Music Mountain Road, where a short scenic drive brings music lovers to Gordon Hall with ample free parking. Beer and wine are available and, as is the Music Mountain custom, audience members are invited to picnic before the concerts on the scenic grounds.
Ticket prices for the 82nd season of Music Mountain are $30 at the door, $27 in advance. (Admission is free for those 18 and under.) There are also three specially priced concerts in 2011. The Opening Benefit Concert and Reception and the Closing Benefit Concert and Reception are $75. The concert on Sunday, July 17, with Schubert’s “Shepard on the Rock,” “The Trout” Quintet and the Schubert Octet is $60. Concert times are 6:30 pm on Saturdays and 3 pm on Sundays. For a complete summer schedule, special ticket prices, and to download a ticket order form visit Music Mountain or call 860-824-7126.