Jon Manasse and Jon Nakamatsu
Artistic Directors
Paul Schwendener
Executive Director
CCCMF NEWS
2021 Season – a great success!
We did it! Live chamber music triumphed over the pandemic, and all nine concerts of the 2021 Festival were well attended by happy audiences. Henry David Thoreau – when he was not hiking over Cape Cod or living at Walden Pond – wrote “When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.” That’s how we felt in Cotuit, Wellfleet, and at the Cape Cod National Seashore Salt Pond Visitors Center, listening to Jon and Jon, the Escher Quartet, Brian Zeger and the Imani Winds filling our ears and hearts with great music. Here’s what the media were saying about the 2021 Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival:
“There was a collective sense of joy to be back to live music.” – Provincetown Independent
“The Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival is back in action with some musicians that New Yorkers know well, specifically the Co-Artistic Directors…the fabulous Jon Manasse and Jon Nakamatsu.” – WQXR and WQXR.org
Read and listen to more recent news coverage here, and below are some photo highlights from the past two weeks. Your support and enthusiasm made these concerts possible and, on behalf of all the artists, the Board, volunteers and staff of the Festival, WE THANK YOU!
Mission
To present the finest classical and contemporary chamber music by both world-class ensembles and exceptional young emerging artists to Cape Cod audiences; to develop new and younger audiences for chamber music; to commission new chamber works whenever possible; and to provide educational activities and programs which encourage, broaden and deepen appreciation of the chamber music art form.
“In Celebration of our Audience” August 3rd at the Cotuit Center for the Arts with Jon Manasse and Jon Nakamatsu
“The Escher Quartet and two Jons” perform Coleridge-Taylor and Schumann August 6th at First Congregational Church in Wellfleet
“A Family Concert in the Park” with the Imani Winds: August 12th at the Cape Cod National Seashore Salt Pond Visitors Center in Eastham
FEATURED ARTISTS
Jon Manasse and Jon Nakamatsu
Among the most distinguished classical artists of his generation, clarinetist Jon Manasse is internationally recognized for his inspiring artistry, uniquely glorious sound and charismatic performing style. As well as serving on the faculties of The Juilliard School, The Lynn Conservatory and the Mannes School of Music, Manasse is principal clarinetist of the American Ballet Theater Orchestra, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.
Since winning the Gold Medal at the 1997 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Jon Nakamatsu tours year-round, working with many of today’s leading conductors and orchestras, and appears in recital and chamber collaborations at festivals and music centers world-wide. Nakamatsu is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and is Artist-in-Residence of the Chautauqua Institution Piano Program.
Manasse/Nakamatsu Duo
Comprised of clarinetist Jon Manasse and pianist Jon Nakamatsu, two of America’s most distinguished artists, the Manasse/Nakamatsu Duo immediately established itself with a highly acclaimed 2004 performance in Boston. Subsequent coast-to-coast touring featured appearances on many of the country’s most prestigious series. Recent appearances abroad include the Duo’s first performances in Cuba in 2017. Since 2006, the Duo has served as Artistic Directors of the renowned Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, which celebrates 42 years of extraordinary concerts in its August 2021 season.
Escher Quartet
Hailed for its “sheer finesse” by Gramophone Magazine, the Escher String Quartet has received international acclaim for its expressive, nuanced performances that combine unusual textural clarity with a rich, blended sound. Currently String Quartet in Residence at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and Tuesday Musical in Akron, Ohio, the ensemble serves as Season Artists of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. The quartet has collaborated with numerous prestigious artists, including Leon Fleischer, Lynn Harrell and Joshua Bell. In 2013 the quartet became one of the very few chamber ensembles to be awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.
Imani Winds
The Grammy-nominated Imani Winds have led both a revolution and evolution of the wind quintet through their dynamic playing, adventurous programming and imaginative collaborations. Imani Winds regularly performs in prominent international concert venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center. Their touring schedule has taken them throughout the Asian continent, Brazil, Australia, England, New Zealand and across Europe. About their most recent CD Gramophone stated “the ensemble’s hot rapport churns with conviction throughout.” In 2016 the ensemble was added permanently to the classical music section of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History.
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CCCMF programs are supported in part by grants from the Eastham and Wellfleet Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.