Project Funded by Maurer Family Foundation and Arts Foundation of Cape Cod
North Eastham, Massachusetts, May 22, 2013— The Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival this month kicked off a combined educational and performance program, in conjunction with the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School, focused on the close relationship between music and verse across different genres of music. The seminar and subsequent concert are being funded by grants from the Maurer Family Foundation and the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod.
“This project exemplifies and furthers the Festival’s mission on many levels,” said Elaine Lipton, the Festival’s executive director, who is coordinating the seminar along with a Charter School faculty member. “It presents high-quality music, supports and enhances arts education, and contributes to the cultural life of the Cape Cod community.”
The performance component of this program will be an August 16th Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival concert featuring ‘The Journey for Mezzo Soprano and Strings’—a piece composed by Daniel Brewbaker, based on the poetry of Provincetowner Mary Oliver, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and numerous other awards; the concert, celebrating Wellfleet’s 250th anniversary, will be preceded by a lecture by the composer at Wellfleet Preservation Hall on August 15th.
The educational component involves a six-week spring seminar series at the Harwich, MA-based charter school, focused on reading, discussing, and writing nature verse, and. then combining it with music. Diverse sessions, facilitated by Cape- and New York-based experts, have been devoted to Mary Oliver’s poetry (Margaret Phillips, recently retired Provincetown High School English teacher); opera (Sarah Stephens, artists’ manager and Wagner scholar); and the process of putting together words and music (Matthias Bossi and Carla Kihlstedt, local singer songwriters). One session was conducted by Mr. Brewbaker, who played sections of the featured Festival concert piece, ‘The Journey,’ and discussed his approach to setting verse to music.
About the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival
Hailed by the New York Times as “A Triumph of Quality,” the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival has been offering exceptional chamber music concerts in August and throughout the year on Cape Cod for 34 years. As a prominent presenter of chamber music, the Festival has been a major contributor to the Cape’s cultural life, musical education, and social well-being since its inception. It is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. For further information: www.capecodchambermusic.org.
About the Maurer Family Foundation
The Maurer Family Foundation aims to provide financial assistance to those organizations and institutions whose goal is to enrich their communities and the lives of their patrons through programs of cultural value. This includes, but is not limited to, fine art, experimental art, applied and decorative art, film, television, music, literature, poetry, architecture, theatre, dance, opera, and folk traditions; in short, the entire realm of creative human endeavor. For further information: www.maurerfamilyfoundation.org.
About the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod
The Arts Foundation of Cape Cod is the regional arts agency for Barnstable County, committed to strengthening and promoting Cape Cod’s arts and cultural industry throughout the year. The organization serves individual artists, cultural organizations, fine and performing arts groups and businesses, and cultural and historical establishments such as museums and archives. For further information: www.artsfoundation.org.