The Hamptons Festival of Music presents Ástor Piazzolla’s 'Four Seasons of Buenos Aires' at LongHouse Reserve

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 7, 2023

East Hampton, NY? On August 19 at 5 p.m., The Hamptons Festival of Music returns to LongHouse Reserve for its final Salon performance, “The Seasons @ LongHouse,” in an immersive concert experience focused on Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. The concert presents Piazzolla’s tango-inspired, virtuosic music in the unique setting of the glassed-in lower level of the LongHouse Pavilion, featuring violin soloist Annie Chalex Boyle with Maestro Palmer conducting the TH·FM Salon Orchestra, performed against the backdrop of the natural beauty and art on the LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton, NY. Limited VIP and single tickets remain available by visiting the LongHouse site at: longhouse.org/products/hamptons-festival-of-music-astor-piazzolla-the-four-seasons-of-buenos-aries.

“Maestro Palmer and I have worked together many times in the past, and I am thrilled to bring this eclectic work to the Hamptons with such a renowned conductor. This Argentinian music allows me to bring out a freedom in my violin playing, truly allowing me to create colors and energy on stage. I can’t wait to share this incredible work!” ~Annie Chalex Boyle, violin soloist

TH·FM’s mission to promote and preserve the legacy of classical music and related arts is evidenced in its commitment to these Salon Series concerts, which aim to embrace the wide-ranging and diverse communities within the Hamptons. The Hamptons Festival of Music returns in early September for its second mainstage season of three orchestral concerts featuring The New American Sinfonietta, a 41-member orchestra comprised of top-level musicians and principal players with major North American orchestras led by TH·FM Artistic Director Michael Palmer. TH· FM’s full orchestra concerts return to LTV Studios on 3, 8 & 10 September 2023.

For more details, visit: www.thehamptonsfestivalofmusic.com

ABOUT ÁSTOR PIAZZOLLA

“For me, tango was always for the ear rather than the feet.” ~Astor Piazzolla.

Ástor Piazzolla (1921 – 1992) was an Argentine composer and virtuoso bandoneon player whose “nuevo tango” compositions revolutionized the traditional tango, a style of dance and music that originated in the late 19th century in Argentina and Uruguay.

Astor Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 1921. In 1925 his family moved to New York City. At home, he would listen to his father’s records of the tango orchestras of Carlos Gardel and Julio de Caro. He also was exposed to jazz and classical music from an early age. He began to play the bandoneon in 1929 after his father bought one from a New York pawn shop.

Piazzolla’s family returned to Mar del Plata in 1936, and two years later, he moved to Buenos Aires, where, in 1941, he began studying composition with the Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera. In 1953 Piazzolla won a grant from the French government to study in Paris with the legendary French composition teacher Nadia Boulanger.

Piazzolla’s innovative “nuevo tango” style incorporates elements drawn from jazz and classical music into the tango tradition. As a virtuoso player of the bandoneon (a large, resonant type of accordion typically found in tango ensembles), he regularly performed his own compositions with various tango groups. Upon his death, New York Times music critic Stephen Holden hailed Piazzolla as “the world’s foremost composer of Tango music.”

ABOUT PIAZZOLLA’S “FOUR SEASONS OF BUENOS AIRES”

Piazzolla composed his Four Seasons of Buenos Aires (“Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas”) as separate pieces scored for his tango quintet: bandoneon, piano, violin, electric guitar, and double bass. He wrote Summer in 1965, Autumn in 1969, and Winter and Spring in 1970. Piazzolla did not envision them together as a suite, although he and his Quinteto performed them together occasionally.

Not long after Piazzolla’s death, the virtuoso violinist Gidon Kremer commissioned Russian composer Leonid Desyatnikov to rearrange the four pieces as a suite for solo violin and string orchestra. It was Desyatnikov who gave the four pieces with a more obvious link between Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and Piazzolla’s by incorporating several quotations from Vivaldi’s work, reasoning that an authentic Piazzolla concert experience was itself full of improvisation.

“In this music, Piazzolla gives us a lively, colorful impression of the four seasons in Argentina’s capital city. From intense rhythmic passages to moments of melancholic tranquility, these ‘Four Seasons of Buenos Aires’ offer an ideal introduction to the composer’s unique ‘nuevo tango’ fusion of styles and serve as a fresh alternative or even companion to the much-loved famous ‘Four Seasons’ of Vivaldi.” ~Michael Palmer, artistic director, TH·FM

ABOUT ANNIE CHALEX BOYLE

Internationally recognized violinist Annie Chalex Boyle has had a wide-ranging career as a chamber musician, soloist, orchestral player, and teacher. As a soloist, Ms. Chalex Boyle has performed recitals and been concerto soloist throughout North and South America. As first violinist of the Harrington String Quartet, she toured with the quartet extensively nationally and internationally, including a performance at Carnegie’s Weill Hall and on the roster of Mid-America Arts Alliance. The Quartet performed with guest artists including David Shifrin, Robert Levin, James Dunham, and Pepe Romero. She has been featured in three PBS television documentaries, heard frequently on NPR’s “Performance Today”, and has recorded on the Albany, Hänssler Classics, and Summit labels. Her website can be found at: anniechalexboyle.net

ABOUT MAESTRO MICHAEL PALMER

Michael Palmer (born May 8, 1945, in Indianapolis, Indiana) is an American orchestral conductor. Palmer began his professional career at age 21 when he became Assistant Conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 1967 under its legendary Music Director, Robert Shaw. Palmer was later named the ASO’s Associate Conductor. In that capacity, he founded and became the first director of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra in 1974. In 1975 Palmer was one of the first young American conductors selected as an EXXON/Arts Endowment Conductor by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Palmer left the ASO in 1977 to become Music Director of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra (1977–1990), followed by the posts of Music Director of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra (1989–1997) and the American Sinfonietta (1991–2002), with whom he toured Europe for 10 consecutive seasons. Beginning in 1993, he served as Founder and Artistic Director of the Bellingham Festival of Music (Bellingham, Washington) and, as of 2023, is now Conductor Laureate.

Palmer also was Guest Conductor for three seasons for the Houston Symphony Orchestra (1978–1981) and Co-Principal Guest Conductor of the Denver Symphony Orchestra (1979–1982) and has made international appearances as a conductor in Canada, Europe, and China. He has also held academic conducting posts as Director of Orchestras for Wichita State University (1999–2004) and Distinguished Professor of Orchestral Studies at Georgia State University (2004–2023).

ABOUT THE HAMPTONS FESTIVAL OF MUSIC

The Hamptons Festival of Music (TH·FM) is the brainchild of Maestro Michael Palmer, who has established, maintained, and sustained the Bellingham Festival of Music, the premier orchestral music festival in the Pacific Northwest, for over 29 years. (www.bellinghamfestival.org)

Maestro Palmer recognized the artistic gravitational pull of Long Island’s East End, which is deeply rooted in the works of many legendary artists. He set in motion plans to create a similar yet unique classical music and festival experience, specifically serving the local, year-round residents in East Hampton and the surrounding hamlets and villages.

Following the success of its inaugural pilot season, TH·FM returns to the Hamptons to provide concertgoers the opportunity to experience full orchestral concerts in the intimate performance space at LTV Studio 3. Festival offerings will present audiences with unforgettable experiences of live performances of some of the greatest classical masterworks.

TH·FM features internationally recognized guest artists performing with The New American Sinfonietta, the resident orchestra of TH·FM. This orchestra comprises top orchestral musicians from the US, Canada, and abroad, including many who hold principal positions with leading orchestras and ensembles.

WEBLINKS:

For more information about Maestro Michael Palmer, visit: maestropalmer.com

For more information about TH·FM, visit: thehamptonsfestivalofmusic.com

FESTIVAL CONTACT:

E-mail: contact@thehamptonsfestivalofmusic.com


NATIONAL MEDIA CONTACT:

Mark Gresham
Lux Nova Media
e-mail: media@luxnovamedia.com tel: 404-664-0759

# # #

©2023 The Hamptons Festival of Music, All rights reserved.