After two years of separately spotlighting the works and influence of two of history’s brightest musical lights — Beethoven and Mozart — the Music@Menlo chamber music festival this year spans the centuries.
Opening Sunday, July 22, the festival will feature music ranging from the Baroque to the late 20th century. In its fifth season, the three-week festival is billed, “Bridging the Ages.” It ends Aug. 10.
Festival concerts, master classes, lectures and other presentations are held primarily on the Menlo School campus in Atherton, with several concerts also performed at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Palo Alto.
This year, one concert will be performed at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church. That performance, “Sounds of Nature,” is billed as “an ideal introduction to chamber music for young listeners,” and will feature the music of Debussy, Saint-Saens, Barber, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, and George Crumb.
Music@Menlo was founded in 2003 by pianist Wu Han and cellist David Finckel, who serve as the festival’s artistic directors, and perform in several concerts as well.
A range of acclaimed musicians will perform, including violinists Jorja Fleezanis and Ian Swensen; violist Paul Neubauer; cellists Colin Carr and Andres Diaz; pianist Gilbert Kalish; Kenneth Cooper, harpsichord and fortepiano; Carol Wincenc, flute; Willian Bennett, oboe; soprano Heidi Grant Murphy; and baritone Christopheren Nomura.
The Escher String Quartet and Miami String Quartet will also perform.
In addition to the “Sounds of Nature” concert, the programs include:
• “Homage” — the music of Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Ravel and Alfred Schnittke.
• “Instrumental Inspirations” — the music of Bach, Handel, Boccherini, Giovanni Bottesini and Erich Wolfgang Korngold.
• “Death and Transfiguration” — the music of Bach, Schubert, Rachmaninov and Bruce Adolphe.
The festival includes a series of “Encounters,” multi-disciplinary presentations led by musicologists, musicians and journalists. Michael Steinberg, Bruce Adolphe and Robert Winter will return to lead this year’s Encounters along with newcomer Brian Newhouse.
Cost of the events range from $10 to $68. For details, call 330-2030 or go to www.musicatmenlo.org.
