Savannah Music Festival 2020 season announcement!

Savannah Music Festival announces 31^st festival season featuring more than 80 performances spanning classical music, dance, American roots music, and world music

39 SMF debuts including Camille Thomas, Dave Holland, Amythyst Kiah, Veronica Swift, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Escher String Quartet, Mandolin Orange, Alfredo Rodriguez & Pedrito Martinez, Kala Ramnath, Leo Kottke, Emmet Cohen, Madison Cunningham and more

Savannah, GA – From March 26 through April 11, 2020, the Savannah Music Festival (SMF) celebrates its 31st season with artist residencies, thrilling debuts, unique co-bills and special projects in myriad genres. Over 17 days, Savannah’s Historic District becomes home to visionaries and creative voices from across the United States, as well as from Brazil, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, France, India, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Trinidad, Venezuela and the United Kingdom.

Noteworthy performances include: orchestral and chamber concerts commemorating the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth (March 28, April 3, April 5); a dance program with Georgia ties by Troy Schumacher’s innovative company BalletCollective (March 31); a first-time trio showcase of fiddlers Martin Hayes and Jeremy Kittel with guitarist Roger Tallroth (April 9); a bluegrass concert honoring Doc Watson with acclaimed flatpickers Bryan Sutton and Jack Lawrence and bassist T. Michael Coleman (April 6); a celebration of fado, flamenco, and their offshoots featuring guitarist Marta Pereira da Costa and Canary Island timple virtuoso Germán López (March 28); and an evening of Afro-Cuban sounds with jazz pianist Harold López-Nussa and the astonishing piano/percussion duo of Alfredo Rodriguez and Pedrito Martinez (April 11).

This spring, Marcus Roberts and Mike Marshall return as leaders of SMF’s two workshop programs for aspiring young musicians – Swing Central Jazz and the Acoustic Music Seminar. Roberts also heads the Swing Central Jazz Finale, New Orleans Swing Time (April 3), while Marshall directs a special presentation of the Ger Mandolin Orchestra Project (April 2). In his new role as Artistic Advisor, Chamber Music, festival veteran and violist Philip Dukes joins returning and new musicians for an eight-concert chamber series.

“Our organization continues to elaborate upon a programming model that is artist driven,” says Artistic Director Ryan McMaken. “In late March and early April, Savannah hosts artists and music lovers from all over to experience creative collaborations, unique co-bills and residencies involving performance and education.”

Tickets to the 2020 Savannah Music Festival are available online at savannahmusicfestival.org, by phone at 912.525.5050, and in person at the Savannah Box Office (216 E. Broughton Street).

Classical and Dance

In his first season as Artistic Advisor, Philip Dukes builds on the incredible legacy of his predecessor and colleague, violinist Daniel Hope, to curate SMF’s core chamber music series. The first three explore themes of fantasy and drama (“Tales of the Unexpected,” March 30), love and romance (“From Prussia with Love,” April 1), and loss and tragedy (“Futility of Conflict,” April 3). Closing this four-concert series is an all-Beethoven extravaganza, showcasing some of the revered composer’s most celebrated works for piano and strings (April 5). The artist roster for this year’s chamber music series includes: violinists Giovanni Guzzo and Benny Kim; violists Robin Ashwell and Philip Dukes; cellists Eric Kim and Keith Robinson; harpist Bridget Kibbey; pianists Sebastian Knauer, Ana-Maria Vera, and Anna Tilbrook; flutist Tara Helen O'Connor; tenor Benjamin Hulett; and narrator Mervon Mehta.

The Beethoven celebration spreads to two other major classical programs in 2020. In its 15th consecutive season at SMF, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Robert Spano perform Beethoven’s Concerto for Piano No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73 (“The Emperor”) with soloist André Watts, alongside his Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92 (March 28). Prolific mandolinists Mike Marshall and Caterina Lichtenberg offer a duet program in which they spotlight the lesser-known Beethoven Sonatinas for mandolin and pianoforte (April 3).

The Dover Quartet – comprised of violinists Joel Link and Byan Lee, violist Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, and cellist Camden Shaw – holds an SMF residency this season, playing three concerts on opening weekend. The first is an all-Bach program with harpist Bridget Kibbey (March 26); the second a recital that features works by Mozart, Bartók and Mendelssohn (March 27); and the third a side-by-side collaboration with the New York City-based Escher String Quartet, highlighting octet pieces of Shostakovich, Enescu and Mendelssohn (March 29).

Classical artists giving solo, duo, or vocal recitals at SMF in the 2020 season include: flutist Tara Helen O’Connor, who is an Avery Fisher Career Grant winner and a season artist at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (March 31); Dutch-Bolivian-American pianist Ana-Maria Vera (April 2) and Puerto Rican soprano Meechot Marrero (April 4); Venezuelan-born violinist Giovanni Guzzo, accompanied by Ana-Maria Vera at the piano (April 4); festival regular and pianist Sebastian Knauer (April 6); violinist Robert McDuffie and pianist/conductor Robert Spano, who are commemorating more than 20 years of musical collaboration (April 9); 2017 American Pianists Awards winner pianist Drew Petersen (April 10); and Franco-Belgian cellist Camille Thomas, who is the first cellist to be signed by the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon label in over 40 years, with pianist Julien Brocal (April 11).

On the dance front, SMF welcomes back Troy Schumacher’s BalletCollective after its celebrated debut in 2017. This year’s program explores the rapid evolution of communication in our day and age (March 31). The work features three ballets, one of which was choreographed by Savannah native Gabrielle Lamb and the other two by Schumacher (an Atlanta native). Members of the Dover and Escher Quartets perform two of the ballets’ original scores live along with pianist David Fung, and Eliza Bagg performs Julianna Barwick’s score for the featured ballet, Translation.

Jazz, Blues, and More

As the largest musical arts event in the state of Georgia, SMF’s springtime offerings extend beyond classical music and dance. Jazz is off to an outstanding start this season with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, led by Artistic Director and virtuoso trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (March 27). Pianist Christian Sands brings his new project, the Three Piano Erroll Garner Summit, in which he leads and is joined on stage by pianists Helen Sung and Tadataka Unno on three Steinway Ds, and is accompanied by bassist Luques Curtis and drummer Terreon Gully (March 29). To complete his three-part residency, the Dr. Billy Taylor protégé performs a solo show and then headlines a set with his trio and Wycliffe Gordon & His International All-Stars (March 30). 2019 American Pianists Awards winner Emmet Cohen performs with his trio (March 31). Chilean-born saxophonist Melissa Aldana appears with the André Mehmari Trio presenting Visions, a program that explores the relationship between her own experiences as a saxophone player and those of Frida Kahlo as a visual artist – both women working in realms dominated by men (March 31). The supremely talented André Mehmari presents a solo piano set, and one of the top jazz and bebop singers on the scene today, Veronica Swift, collaborates with the Emmet Cohen Trio and composer/performer Vilray (April 1).

Other jazz highlights this season include: a tour stop by pianist and NEA Jazz Masters Kenny Barron and bassist Dave Holland, with drummer Jonathan Blake (April 2); the annual Late Night Jazz Jam, with a band led by Emmet Cohen (April 3); the ever-popular Swing Central Jazz Finale, celebrating the origins of jazz in New Orleans (April 3); John Jorgenson Quintet’s gypsy jazz, enhanced by guitarist Frank Vignola and gypsy swing band Velvet Caravan (April 9); and a co-bill by Trinidadian trumpeter-composer Etienne Charles and Cuban artist Brenda Navarrete (April 10).

Blues and funk are peppered into SMF’s new season: singer-guitarist and 2007 MacArthur Fellow Corey Harris, fiddler-accordionist Cedric Watson, guitarist Alvin Youngblood Hart, and guitarist/banjo player Amythyst Kiah share music and conversation during True Blues (March 26); funk pioneer George Porter, Jr. performs with his Runnin' Pardners and the Grammy-winning Rebirth Brass Band (March 27); and singer-songwriters Ruthie Foster and Marcia Ball co-bill a concert (March 28).

American Roots and World Music

In its 31^st season, SMF continues to spotlight the great music of our country alongside that of other cultures. The festival opens with Americana musician Amythyst Kiah in an eclectic acoustic show and a return appearance by the southern rock band Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (March 26). The gospel/bluegrass sounds of Foghorn Stringband are showcased in a headlining show and a co-bill with the fiddle and banjo duo of  Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves (March 27). De Groot and Hargeaves also headline their own concert (March 28).

Bluegrass and folk offerings abound throughout the 2020 festival. Grammy-winning troubadour Rodney Crowell brings his electric band Ships of the Sea (April 1) and the Mandolin Orange duo performs beautiful, downhome music (April 1). Two of bluegrass music’s most decorated ensembles, Balsam Range and Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, share the stage (April 3), Hawktail plays neo-stringband music in four parts (April 4), and the renowned band Béla Fleck & The Flecktones makes a highly anticipated appearance (April 4). Beloved singer-songwriter Aoife O’Donovan returns with a new collaborative project, “Songs and Strings,” on a co-bill with the Martin Hayes Quartet (April 5). Musical partners Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley impart their mutual love of bluegrass, blues, and country music, while the Darrell Scott Band plays the music of Hank Williams alongside Kaia Kater & Andrew Ryan (April 7).

In a closing weekend that is jam-packed with multiple shows each day, the headliners include: Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers and Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe (April 9); Junior Brown and Hot Club of Cowtown, and St. Paul & The Broken Bones (April 10); acoustic guitarist Leo Kottke, and singer-songwriters Sarah Jarosz and Madison Cunningham (April 11).

Other in-demand events include: a live taping of American Public Media’s Piano Puzzler with Bruce Adolphe and Fred Child (March 31); a Cajun Dance Party featuring Steve Riley & Racines and The Revelers (April 4); Stringband Spectacular, a showcase of music written, arranged, and performed by participants in this year’s Acoustic Music Seminar (April 10); and a Zydeco Dance Party with Jeffery Broussard & The Creole Cowboys (April 11).

The festival’s schedule is rounded out by a gamut of musical styles and international performers. In the spring of 2020, SMF holds the following world music shows: a Latin Dance Party with the Grammy-winning Spanish Harlem Orchestra (April 4); a showcase of Irish music by solo violinist Martin Hayes (April 6); a concert of Indian classical music featuring famed tabla player Zakir Hussain, violinist Kala Ramnath, and veena player Jayanthi Kumaresh (April 6); and the Swedish folk band Väsen in two concerts, one of which is a co-bill with Kittel & Co. (April 8).

SAVANNAH MUSIC FESTIVAL 2020

Amythyst Kiah
Thursday, March 26, 2020

Tennessee native Amythyst Kiah is one of the brightest new stars on the acoustic/Americana scene. Equally adept on banjo and acoustic guitar, Kiah draws on an eclectic range of influences from old-time music and alternative rock to folk, country and blues. Her recent collaboration with Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla and Allison Russell on the album Songs of Our Native Daughters has put Kiah in the spotlight as a vocalist of rare power, with characteristics akin to Odetta and Nina Simone. An opportunity to catch Kiah in a solo setting is not to be missed.

“Amythyst Kiah is one of roots music’s most exciting emerging talents, blending a deep knowledge of old time music with sensibilities spanning classic country to contemporary R&B.” - Rolling Stones

Celebrating Bach: Bridget Kibbey and Dover Quartet
Thursday, March 26, 2020

Acclaimed harpist Bridget Kibbey and the renowned Dover Quartet are collaborating for the first time in a celebration of the “father” of all western composers, J.S. Bach. An esteemed soloist and chamber musician who has toured and recorded with Dawn Upshaw and Gustavo Santaolalla, Kibbey brings virtuosic brilliance and musical charisma to all she plays. Sharing the stage with Kibbey is the phenomenal Dover Quartet. The quartet catapulted to international stardom following a stunning sweep of the 2013 Banff Competition, at which they won every prize. This performance features arrangements of Bach’s works, some transcribed by the members themselves.

Johann Sebastian Bach
Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BMV 565
Sonata in E-flat Major, BMV 1031
Excerpts from Goldberg Variations, BMV 1056
Violin Sonata in G minor, BMV 1020
The Art of Fugue, Contrapunctus I-IV, BMV 1048
Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BMV 1048

Bridget Kibbey, harp
Joel Link, violin
Byan Lee, violin
Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola
Camden Shaw, cello

True Blues: Corey Harris, Cedric Watson & Alvin Youngblood Hart / Amythyst Kiah
Thursday, March 26, 2020

Hosted by the powerful blues singer-guitarist Corey Harris, True Blues chronicles the living culture of the blues in an evening of music and conversation. For the SMF edition of True Blues, Harris will be joined by southwest Louisiana fiddler/accordionist extraordinaire Cedric Watson and guitar wizard Alvin Youngblood Hart. A guitarist, songwriter and bandleader, Harris began his career as a New Orleans street singer, forming a unique interpretation of the blues for which he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2007. Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist Watson is no stranger to SMF audiences, having graced the festival as recently as last year with Jourdan Thibodeaux et Les Rôdailleurs. Hart’s guitar prowess has been praised by everyone from Bob Dylan to Eric Clapton.

Tennessee native Amythyst Kiah is one of the brightest new stars on the acoustic/Americana scene. Equally adept on banjo and acoustic guitar, Kiah draws on an eclectic range of influences from old-time music and alternative rock to folk, country and blues. Her recent collaboration with Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla and Allison Russell on the album Songs of Our Native Daughters has put Kiah in the spotlight as a vocalist of rare power, with characteristics akin to Odetta and Nina Simone. An opportunity to catch Kiah in a solo setting is not to be missed.

“Amythyst Kiah is one of roots music’s most exciting emerging talents, blending a deep knowledge of old time music with sensibilities spanning classic country to contemporary R&B.” Rolling Stone

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Thursday, March 26, 2020

Two years after their appearance at SMF’s Trustees’ Garden Festival Finale, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit return to SMF. In the years since the release of Isbell’s breakthrough album, Southeastern (2013), which chronicled struggles with addiction and personal relationships, Isbell has emerged as one of our most celebrated troubadours. Born in Green Hill, Alabama, Isbell learned from his grandfather and uncle how to play a variety of instruments. As a teenager, he played at the Grand Ole Opry in a band with songwriter Chris Tompkins, and has gone on to win four Grammy Awards.

"...arguably the finest songwriter putting pen to paper these days." - Associated Press

True Blues: Corey Harris, Cedric Watson & Alvin Youngblood Hart / Amythyst Kiah
Thursday, March 26, 2020

Hosted by the powerful blues singer-guitarist Corey Harris, True Blues chronicles the living culture of the blues in an evening of music and conversation. For the SMF edition of True Blues, Harris will be joined by southwest Louisiana fiddler/accordionist extraordinaire Cedric Watson and guitar wizard Alvin Youngblood Hart. A guitarist, songwriter and bandleader, Harris began his career as a New Orleans street singer, forming a unique interpretation of the blues for which he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2007. Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist Watson is no stranger to SMF audiences, having graced the festival as recently as last year with Jourdan Thibodeaux et Les Rôdailleurs. Hart’s guitar prowess has been praised by everyone from Bob Dylan to Eric Clapton.

Tennessee native Amythyst Kiah is one of the brightest new stars on the acoustic/Americana scene. Equally adept on banjo and acoustic guitar, Kiah draws on an eclectic range of influences from old-time music and alternative rock to folk, country and blues. Her recent collaboration with Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla and Allison Russell on the album Songs of Our Native Daughters has put Kiah in the spotlight as a vocalist of rare power, with characteristics akin to Odetta and Nina Simone. An opportunity to catch Kiah in a solo setting is not to be missed.

“Amythyst Kiah is one of roots music’s most exciting emerging talents, blending a deep knowledge of old time music with sensibilities spanning classic country to contemporary R&B.” Rolling Stone

Foghorn Stringband
Friday, March 27, 2020

Founded in the late 1990s in Portland, Oregon, Foghorn Stringband specializes in old-time gospel, square dance tunes, ballads, Cajun waltzes, honky-tonk favorites and pre-bluegrass picking songs. With eight albums, thousands of shows and more than 15 years of touring under their belts, this acclaimed stringband sees itself not as a group of revivalists but rather as curators and ardent fans of a historical legacy. On stage, mandolinist Caleb Klauder, guitarist Reeb Willms, fiddler Sammy Lind and Nadine Landry on upright bass gather around one microphone, delivering their music on the fly with an intense, rousing abandon. Blending instrumental prowess with expert harmony singing, Foghorn Stringband creates a wondrously uplifting concert experience.

"All they have to do is play, and the power surges straight through your own chest. They let their own musicality and the tunes speak for themselves." - Old-Time Herald

Dover Quartet
Friday, March 27, 2020

With its burnished warmth, incisive rhythms and natural phrasing, the Dover Quartet’s distinctive sound has helped confirm its status as “the young American string quartet of the moment” (New Yorker). The Quartet serves as the quartet-in-residence for the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, Chamber Music Northwest, Artosphere, the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival and Peoples’ Symphony in New York, and was recently named the first-ever quartet-in-residence for the Kennedy Center. This SMF mini-residency marks their fourth appearance, following a variety of projects at our 2013, 2014 and 2017 festivals.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
String Quartet No. 19 in C Major, K. 465, "Dissonance"

Béla Bartók
String Quartet No. 2, Opus 17

Felix Mendelssohn
String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Opus 44, No. 1

Joel Link, violin
Bryan Lee, violin
Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola
Camden Shaw, cello

Foghorn Stringband / Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves
Friday, March 27, 2020

Founded in the late 1990s in Portland, Oregon, Foghorn Stringband specializes in old-time gospel, square dance tunes, ballads, Cajun waltzes, honky-tonk favorites and pre-bluegrass picking songs. With eight albums, thousands of shows and more than 15 years of touring under their belts, this acclaimed stringband sees itself not as a group of revivalists but rather as curators and ardent fans of a historical legacy. On stage, mandolinist Caleb Klauder, guitarist Reeb Willms, fiddler Sammy Lind and Nadine Landry on upright bass gather around one microphone, delivering their music on the fly with an intense, rousing abandon. Blending instrumental prowess with expert harmony singing, Foghorn Stringband creates a wondrously uplifting concert experience.

“All they have to do is play, and the power surges straight through your own chest. They let their own musicality and the tunes speak for themselves.” Old-Time Herald

Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves are on the leading edge of a generation of old-time, bluegrass and contemporary acoustic players who are pulling apart old narratives while acknowledging the diversity that has always existed in the genre. Together, de Groot, known for her intricate clawhammer banjo work with Molsky’s Mountain Drifters and The Goodbye Girls, and fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves (Gillian Welch, Laurie Lewis) produce an original, adventurous sound that honors its roots. From her hometown of Winnipeg, Canada, de Groot has toured the world, performing with various groups at the Newport Folk Festival, Celtic Connections, SMF and the Tønder Festival in Denmark. In 2012 and 2013, Hargreaves participated in SMF’s Acoustic Music Seminar. She currently teaches bluegrass fiddle at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Crescent City Funk: George Porter, Jr. and Runnin' Pardners / Rebirth Brass Band
Friday, March 27, 2020

Perhaps best known as the bassist for The Meters, George Porter, Jr. is one of the progenitors of the modern funky New Orleans sound. During the course of a career spanning more than four decades, Porter has worked with a galaxy of stars including Paul McCartney, Jimmy Buffett, David Byrne, Patti LaBelle, Robbie Robertson, Tori Amos, Taj Mahal, Ryan Montbleau and Mickey Hart. In the early days, Porter accompanied seminal New Orleans artists, such as Allen Toussaint, Earl King, Lee Dorsey, Johnny Adams, Irma Thomas and The Lastie Brothers. Porter also leads his own long-term project, the Runnin’ Pardners, which is best known for fusing rock, funk, jam band riffing and second line swing into a two-stepping, finger-popping, rolling good time.

Whether seen on HBO’s Tremé series or during one of their famous Tuesday night gigs at The Maple Leaf, the Grammy-winning Rebirth Brass Band represents an authentic New Orleans institution. Formed in 1983 by the Frazier brothers, the band has evolved from playing the streets of the French Quarter to performing for thousands on festival stages all over the world. While committed to upholding the tradition of brass bands, Rebirth has also extended its repertoire into the realms of funk, hip-hop, soul and rock to create a signature polyglot sound. These days, when one can hardly swing a bead necklace around one’s head without hitting a brass band, Rebirth remains the undisputed leader of the pack.

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
Friday, March 27, 2020

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO), led by Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis, is made up of 15 of the finest soloists, ensemble players and arrangers in jazz music today. Since its first downbeat as a summer concert series at Lincoln Center in 1987, the JLCO has stayed true to its mission, which is to entertain, enrich and expand a global community for jazz through performance, education and advocacy. Over the past three decades, the JLCO has performed in more than 446 cities in 41 countries on five continents, including their last SMF performance in 2012. The JLCO believes jazz is a metaphor for democracy, as it celebrates personal freedom and encourages individual expression. You don’t want to miss the chance to experience that sound in person!

Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves
Saturday, March 28, 2020

Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves are on the leading edge of a generation of old-time, bluegrass and contemporary acoustic players who are pulling apart old narratives while acknowledging the diversity that has always existed in the genre. Together, de Groot, known for her intricate clawhammer banjo work with Molsky’s Mountain Drifters and The Goodbye Girls, and fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves (Gillian Welch, Laurie Lewis) produce an original, adventurous sound that honors its roots. From her hometown of Winnipeg, Canada, de Groot has toured the world, performing with various groups at the Newport Folk Festival, Celtic Connections, SMF and the Tønder Festival in Denmark. In 2012 and 2013, Hargreaves participated in SMF’s Acoustic Music Seminar. She currently teaches bluegrass fiddle at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Gulf Coast Blues & Boogie: Ruthie Foster / Marcia Ball
Saturday, March 28, 2020

Ruthie Foster is renowned for packing a wallop of soul, blues, rock, folk and gospel into every performance. Born into a family of gospel singers in Texas, Foster was initially reluctant to sing, preferring to play the piano. She studied at McLennan Community College in Waco, followed by a tour of duty with the US Navy where she played in the Navy Band. Foster’s list of awards and achievements includes Best Female Vocalist in 2007, 2008 and 2013 from the Austin Music Awards, three Grammy nominations and a fellowship from United States Artists in 2018.

Born into a family whose female members all played piano, Marcia Ball grew up in Vinton, Louisiana, right across the state border with Texas. She began taking piano lessons at age 5, playing old Tin Pan Alley tunes from her grandmother’s collection. At Louisiana State University, Ball played with a blues-based rock band followed by a stint in Austin, Texas, with a progressive blues band, which led to a series of acclaimed albums for multiple labels. Ball has appeared on In Performance at the White House with B.B. King and Della Reese and in Clint Eastwood’s Piano Blues. In 2017, she performed on NPR’s A Jazz Piano Christmas live from the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

"The one thing you can count on from Ruthie Foster anytime she steps onto a stage is being blown away by both her powerhouse voice and her familial warmth." - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Rollicking, playful, good-times blues and intimate reflective balladry...her sons ring with emotional depth" - Rolling Stone

Marta Pereira da Costa / Germán López
Saturday, March 28, 2020

Marta Pereira da Costa is the first and likely only professional Portuguese female guitar player specifically versed in fado, which was recently deemed by UNESCO as one of the World‘s Intangible Cultural Heritages. She began piano lessons at the age of 4. After switching to classical guitar at age 18, she became a protégé of Portuguese guitar maestro Carlos Gonçalves, who accompanied legendary fado singer Amália Rodrigues on the traditional teardrop- shaped, double six-stringed instrument. In 2014, she achieved a historic breakthrough when the Amália Rodrigues Foundation awarded her top honors for instrumentalists. In performance, Marta Pereira da Costa draws on threads of fado, jazz and Brazilian folk music to weave a rich tapestry of tonal colors and sonorous imagery.

Two years after his sensational debut at SMF 2017, Germán López brings original instrumental music from the Canary Islands back to Savannah. López’s primary instrument, the five-string “timple” (pronounced teem-play), is a descendant of the ukulele and member of the same instrumental family that includes the cavaquinho, cuatro and charango. In his compositions and playing, López harnesses Spanish flamenco, West African rhythms and jazz elements to create an unmistakably 21st century version of “island music.” For this concert, López is joined by his collaborator Antonio Toledo on guitar, along with special guests.

Beethoven at 250: Atlanta Symphony Orchestra with André Watts
Saturday, March 28, 2020

2020 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven, a composer who shattered norms and set the bar for musicians of the future while composing some of the most extraordinary work ever committed to paper. In their 2020 return to SMF, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra welcomes revered pianist André Watts for one of the crown jewels of the repertoire, Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto. Music Director Robert Spano keeps the evening on a high note with one of the great revelations of symphonic music: Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.

Pianist André Watts first burst upon the music world at the age of 16 when Leonard Bernstein chose him to make his debut with the New York Philharmonic in one of the orchestra’s Young People’s Concerts, and then served as substitute for soloist Glenn Gould. More than half a century later, Watts remains one of America’s most distinguished and celebrated performing artists.

Ludwig Van Beethoven
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 5 in E-flat Major, Opus 73, "Emperor" Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Opus 92

Robert Spano, Music Director
André Watts, piano

"...a level of authority and command seldom heard from pianist of any age." - Los Angeles Times

Dover Quartet with Escher String Quartet
Sunday, March 29, 2020

In their third and final performance of this season, the Dover Quartet is joined by their friends in the Escher String Quartet in a performance of three works for string octet, each composed by a teenage musical prodigy. The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for bringing profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty to its performances. A former BBC New Generation Artist, the quartet has performed at the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall and is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall. In its hometown of New York City, the ensemble serves as season artists of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

With its burnished warmth, incisive rhythms and natural phrasing, the Dover Quartet’s distinctive sound has helped confirm its status as “the young American string quartet of the moment” (New Yorker). The Quartet serves as the quartet-in-residence for the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, Chamber Music Northwest, Artosphere, the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival and Peoples’ Symphony in New York, and was recently named the first-ever quartet-in-residence for the Kennedy Center. This SMF mini-residency marks their fourth appearance, following a variety of projects at our 2013, 2014 and 2017 festivals.

Dmitri Shostakovich
Two Pieces for String Octet, Opus 11

George Enescu
Octet in C Major, Opus 7

Felix Mendelssohn
Octet for Strings in E-flat Major, Opus 20

Dover Quartet
Joel Link, violin
Bryan Lee, violin
Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola
Camden Shaw, cello

Escher String Quartet
Adam Barnett-Hart, violin
Brendan Speltz, violin
Pierre Lapointe, viola
Brook Speltz, cello

Christian Sands Presents Three Piano Erroll Garner Summit
Sunday, March 29, 2020

Following up his SMF debut in 2014, when he performed both solo and with Christian McBride Trio, Christian Sands returns with three varied programs. This first concert features Sands leading a group of musicians through his Three Piano Erroll Garner Summit, which premiered in the summer of 2019 at the Newport Jazz Festival. He is joined by pianists Helen Sung and Tadataka Unno, along with bassist Luques Curtis and drummer Terreon Gully of his High Wire Trio. In early 2019, Sands was named creative ambassador to The Erroll Garner Jazz Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the legacy of the pianist Erroll Garner. Sands is a natural fit for the role (which he inherited from his mentor Geri Allen), given his recognition of audiences having an innate desire to be entertained as well as enlightened. A “don’t miss” performance for SMF jazz audiences!

"My hops is for other people to understand that this is someone who is very important to not only jazz history, but just history as a whole, American history." Christian Sands on Erroll Garner, from NPR's Jazz Night in America

Christian Sands, piano
Monday, March 30, 2020

By the time he was 11 years old, Christian Sands was recording and playing gigs in his hometown of New Haven, Connecticut. In high school, he was a protégé of Dr. Billy Taylor. The year he turned 20, Sands received two Grammy nominations. A few years later, Christian McBride invited Sands to tour with his trio. Now 30, the Steinway artist has shared the stage with numerous jazz luminaries including Wynton Marsalis, Dianne Reeves, Christian McBride, Sheila E, Geri Allen, James Moody, Terence Blanchard, Patti Austin, Kirk Whalum and Wycliffe Gordon.

Chamber I: Tales of the Unexpected
Monday, March 30, 2020

In a first for the SMF Chamber Series, we travel to the magnificent surroundings of Kehoe Iron Works for a program of fantasy and drama. In a semi-staged, partly programmatic concert, Impressionist France meets the mysterious world of Edgar Allan Poe, with a reading of Poe’s macabre tale “The Masque of the Red Death,” and in response we hear André Caplet’s brilliant setting of the same story to music. To add to the Impressionistic element there is Claude Debussy’s exquisite Trio for flute, viola and harp, and the program concludes with Maurice Ravel’s Pavane and his beguiling Piano Trio, perhaps one the finest trios ever written.

Ticket buyers are invited to join us an hour before the concert for a complimentary beverage to toast the start of SMF core chamber music programs under the leadership of Artistic Advisor Philip Dukes!

Claude Debussy Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp
Edgar Allan Poe "The Masque of the Red Death"
André Caplet Conte fantastique for Harp and String Quartet (after "The Masque of the Red Death")
Maurice Ravel Pavane pour une infante défunte Piano Trio in A minor

Giovanni Guzzo, violin
Benny Kim, violin
Robin Ashell, viola
Philip Dukes, viola
Eric Kim, cello
Keith Robinson, cello
Bridget Kibbey, harp
Sebastian Knauer, piano
Ana-Maria Vera, piano
Tara Helen O'Connor, flute
Mervon Mehta, narrator

Wycliffe Gordon & His International All-Stars / Christian Sands Trio
Monday, March 30, 2020

A world-renowned trombonist and multi-instrumentalist, and former member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and Wynton Marsalis Septet, Wycliffe Gordon is also Director of Jazz Studies at Augusta University in Augusta, Georgia. His 2019 Trombonist of the Year Award from the Jazz Journalists Association was his twelfth, an unprecedented record among trombone players. In addition to enjoying an extremely successful solo career, Gordon tours with his quintet—Wycliffe Gordon & His International All-Stars— headlining at legendary jazz venues and performing arts centers around the world. This is the group’s SMF debut, though Waynesboro native Gordon has been a regular presence as a commissioned artist, bandleader, soloist and educator since 2003.

For the past few years, Christian Sands has been touring the world with a trio that includes bassist Yasushi Nakamura and drummer Clarence Penn. Sands’ playing draws upon an extensive vocabulary of jazz and world music idioms, especially South American and Afro-Cuban styles, all while maintaining a strong sense of understatement, sensitivity, taste and swing. “I like the freedom of the trio format,” says Sands. “It’s more dramatic to me. It’s a smaller entity but with a big personality. I can fit into different situations dynamically, compositionally.”

"Wycliffe Gordon can outperform nearly anyone playing jazz." - The New York Times

Tara Helen O'Connor, flute
Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Tara Helen O’Connor is a charismatic performer noted for her artistic depth, brilliant technique and colorful tone regardless of musical era. Winner of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and a two-time Grammy nominee, she is now a season artist at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. A Wm. S. Haynes flute artist, O’Connor regularly participates in the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Music@Menlo, the Chamber Music Festival of the Bluegrass, Spoleto USA, Mainly Mozart Festival, Music from Angel Fire, the Banff Centre, the Great Mountains Music Festival, Chesapeake Music Festival and the Bravo! Vail Music Festival. In this recital debut at SMF, she is joined by a variety of artists from the festival’s chamber music series.

Johann Sebastian Bach
Flute Sonata in B minor, BWV 1030

Carl Reinecke
Sonata for Flute and Piano, Opus 167, "Undine"

Joseph Schwantner
Black Anemones, for Flute and Piano

Gabriel Fauré
Fantasie, Opus 70

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Flute Quartet No. 1 in D Major, K. 285

Tara Helen O'Connor, flute
Benny Kim, violin
Robin Ashwell, viola
Keith Robinson, cello
Sebastian Knauer, piano
Anna Tilbrook, piano

Emmet Cohen Trio
Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Twenty-nine-year-old jazz prodigy Emmet Cohen began Suzuki method piano instruction at age 3. In 2011, he was a finalist in the Thelonious Monk Jazz Piano Competition, and in 2019, he won the Cole Porter Fellowship, which is awarded every four years by the American Pianists Association. In addition to leading his own trio (with Russell Hall and Bryan Carter), Cohen is a renowned Hammond B-3 specialist and member of Christian McBride’s trio Tip City, the Ali Jackson Trio and the Herlin Riley Quartet. Cohen has performed with jazz luminaries such as Ron Carter, Benny Golson, Jimmy Cobb, George Coleman, Jimmy Heath, Tootie Heath, Houston Person, Kurt Elling, Billy Hart and Brian Lynch. Cohen is the producer of the “Masters Legacy Series,” which features recordings and interviews honoring legendary jazz musicians.

"Emmet is one of the most dynamic young musicians on the scene today." - Christian McBride

Performance Today’s Piano Puzzler with Bruce Adolphe and Fred Child
Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Don’t miss this opportunity to participate in an episode of “Piano Puzzler,” the hugely popular weekly American Public Media (APM) program hosted by Fred Child as part of APM’s Performance Today. A proven hit among Savannah Music Festival-goers in 2014, “Piano Puzzler” features composer, scholar, author and educator Bruce Adolphe at the piano, challenging the audience to identify popular tunes performed in the style of classical composers. Adolphe is a renowned composer whose multifaceted career includes concurrent positions as resident lecturer and director of family concerts for The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, New York; composer-in-residence at the Brain and Creativity Institute, LA; founding creative director of The Learning Maestros education company; and artistic director of Off the Hook Arts Festival, Colorado. Child’s CD reviews appear on All Things Considered and his classical music reports appear on Morning Edition and Weekend Edition. He is a contributor to Billboard magazine, a commentator for BBC Radio 3 and host for Live from Lincoln Center.

Melissa Aldana Quartet: Visions / André Mehmari Trio
Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Inspired by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, Melissa Aldana explores the relationship between her experiences as a female saxophone player and Kahlo’s experience as a female visual artist working in realms dominated by men. Born in Santiago, Chile, Aldana began playing the saxophone when she was 6, tutored by her father, Marcos Aldana, a professional saxophonist. In her early teens she was performing in Santiago jazz clubs. At Berklee College of Music in Boston her tutors included Joe Lovano and Ralph Peterson. In 2013, she was the first woman and first South American musician to win the Thelonious Monk Jazz Saxophone Competition. Reporting on her win, the Washington Post described Aldana as representing “a new sense of possibility and direction in jazz.”

There is something special about the sound of the piano trio that propels master pianists to another level. The trios of Keith Jarrett and Brad Mehldau—to whom Brazilian pianist André Mehmari is often likened—provide evidence of the power of piano trio alchemy. Mehmari is joined by his trio, bassist Neymar Dias and drummer Sérgio Reze, blending ideas from pop, folk music, bossa nova, jazz and classical avant-garde to create hymns honoring friendship and dialogue that are among the greatest treasures of Brazilian music.

"Her tone is as beautiful as her personality... I am sure you will agree." - Jimmy "Little Bird" Heath

"Mehmari isn't simply prolific. His work has floored writers and fellow musicians around the globe." - Charleston City Paper

BalletCollective: Translation
Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Following their widely-praised debut at SMF 2017, BalletCollective’s 2020 return incorporates work by dancer-choreographers and Georgia natives Gabrielle Lamb and Artistic Director Troy Schumacher. Lamb grew up in Savannah and is now New York-based; she won a Princess Grace Award for Choreography in 2014. A magnetic soloist with the New York City Ballet (NYCB), Schumacher founded BalletCollective to produce collaborative works that expand the boundaries of artistic disciplines and resonate with a wide audience. This program features scores by composers Caleb Burhans, Ellis Ludwig-Leone and Julianna Barwick, and results from collaborations with artist and MacArthur Fellow Trevor Paglen, acclaimed post-pop painter David Salle, Chilean installation artist Sergio Mora Diaz and science fiction writer Ken Liu. Anchored by Schumacher’s Translation, the program takes the audience through several styles of ballet.

"Addressing central questions about the genre of ballet—music, gender, body language, academic vocabulary—and without strain." - The New York Times

Melissa Aldana Quartet: Visions / André Mehmari Trio
Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Inspired by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, Melissa Aldana explores the relationship between her experiences as a female saxophone player and Kahlo’s experience as a female visual artist working in realms dominated by men. Born in Santiago, Chile, Aldana began playing the saxophone when she was 6, tutored by her father, Marcos Aldana, a professional saxophonist. In her early teens she was performing in Santiago jazz clubs. At Berklee College of Music in Boston her tutors included Joe Lovano and Ralph Peterson. In 2013, she was the first woman and first South American musician to win the Thelonious Monk Jazz Saxophone Competition. Reporting on her win, the Washington Post described Aldana as representing “a new sense of possibility and direction in jazz.”

There is something special about the sound of the piano trio that propels master pianists to another level. The trios of Keith Jarrett and Brad Mehldau—to whom Brazilian pianist André Mehmari is often likened—provide evidence of the power of piano trio alchemy. Mehmari is joined by his trio, bassist Neymar Dias and drummer Sérgio Reze, blending ideas from pop, folk music, bossa nova, jazz and classical avant-garde to create hymns honoring friendship and dialogue that are among the greatest treasures of Brazilian music.

"Her tone is as beautiful as her personality... I am sure you will agree." - Jimmy "Little Bird" Heath

"Mehmari isn't simply prolific. His work has floored writers and fellow musicians around the globe." - Charleston City Paper

André Mehmari, piano
Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Pianist Andre´ Mehmari is considered one of Brazil's most prolific and talented musicians. His compositions have been performed by leading orchestras such as Orquestra Sinfo^nica do Estado de Sa~o Paulo and chamber ensembles such as the Sa~o Paulo String Quartet, and his career in jazz and Brazilian popular music has attained wide attention with performances in all of Brazil's major jazz festivals and abroad at Umbria Jazz, the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage and Juan Les-Pins in France. In his solo piano concerts, Mehmari delves into the musical cross-pollination that informed and influenced what is modern Brazilian piano, comparing the creation of Ernesto Nazareth’s pioneering style to that of Scott Joplin in ragtime and jazz.

Chamber II: From Prussia with Love
Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Expressions of love and romance have probably offered the best source of inspiration for composers down the ages, and in this program we hear from three for whom love was unquestionably at the heart of many of their compositions. The program opens with Rachmaninov’s sumptuous Cello Sonata, a massive musical tour de force, which paves the way for the beautiful Tchaikovsky songs that follow. Tchaikovsky wrote 40 songs, many of which feature “love” in their titles, and in this program we hear a selection of six of his finest. The program concludes with Brahms’ gem of a work, his Sextet in B-flat Major, last heard at SMF in 2010.

Sergei Rachmaninov Cello Sonata in G minor, Opus 19

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
"Moy geniy,  moy angel, moy drug" ("My Genius, my Angel, my Friend")
Six Romances, Opus 6
"To Bïlo ranneyu vesnoy" ("It was in the early spring"), No. 2
"Sred' shumnovo bala" ("Amid the din of the ball"), No. 3
"Serenada Don Zhuana" ("Don Juan's Serenade"), No. 1

Johannes Brahms String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat Major, Opus 18

Giovanni Guzzo, violin
Benny Kim, violin
Robin Ashwell, viola
Philip Dukes, viola
Eric Kim, cello
Keith Robinson, cello
Anna Tilbrook, piano
Behamin Hulett, tenor

Veronica Swift with Emmet Cohen Trio / Vilray
Wednesday, April 1, 2020

At age 25, Veronica Swift is one of the top young jazz singers on the scene. Hailing from Charlottesville, Virginia, Swift is the daughter of the late pianist Hod O’Brien and singer/educator/author Stephanie Nakasian. When she was 9 years old, Swift recorded her debut album, Veronica’s House of Jazz, featuring saxophonist Richie Cole playing with her father’s rhythm section. In 2015, she placed second in the Thelonious Monk Jazz Vocals Competition. Swift has toured with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and performed with jazz greats including Jon Hendricks, Esperanza Spalding, Joe Lovano and Danilo Pérez. In concert, her repertoire ranges from bebop and vocalese classics to standards from the ‘20s and ‘30s. Rounding out the trio led by pianist Emmet Cohen are Russell Hall on bass and Bryan Carter on drums.

Vilray (vill-ree) is a composer and performer from Brooklyn who sings and plays guitar, most notably in a duet with Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive. The duo’s sound, which grew out of a mutual appreciation for the pop music of the 1930s and ‘40s, recalls the warm intimacy of radio’s golden age. Vilray studied Jazz Composition at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where he and Price first met. A versatile composer and lyricist who has written for film and theater, Vilray counts Fats Waller, Charlie Christian, Les Paul and the Mills Brothers among his major influences. For recording sessions, Vilray is partial to using authentic ribbon microphones from the 1930s.

"A born be-bopper, it's literally impossible not to love the energy that 25 year old Veronica Swift brings to her game." - All About Jazz

Rodney Crowell
Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Multi-Grammy Award-winning troubadour Rodney Crowell, whose astute commentary helped propel the recently broadcast Ken Burns documentary, Country Music, last appeared at the Savannah Music Festival in 2013 with longtime collaborator Emmylou Harris at the Johnny Mercer Theatre. This time, Crowell is bringing his electric band to Ships of the Sea for what promises to be one of the highlights of SMF 2020. A protégé of Guy Clark and Mickey Newbury, and bandmate of Vince Gill and Tony Brown in the Cherry Bombs, Crowell was recognized in 2006 by the Americana Music Association with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting. The Houston-born, Nashville-based musician’s Ann Womack, Lyle Lovett and Ringo Starr.

Mandolin Orange
Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Formed in 2009 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Mandolin Orange is songwriter Andrew Marlin (vocals, mandolin, guitar, banjo) and Emily Frantz (vocals, violin, guitar). A decade down the road, a half-dozen albums and a family of their own to contend with, Mandolin Orange makes beautiful, downhome, contemporary acoustic folk music together with deceptive ease. In recent years, the duo has toured throughout the US and Europe including appearances at Austin City Limits, South by Southwest, Edmonton Folk Music Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Newport Folk Festival, Pickathon, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Rooster Walk and MerleFest.

"Now a decade into a career that has seen it help redefine American roots music for a younger generation, the duo Mandolin Orange has officially mastered blending engaging storytelling with acoustic elements of bluegrass, folk and country." - The Washington Post

Ana-Maria Vera, piano
Thursday, April 2, 2020

Ana-Maria Vera, whose playing has been described by The Times (UK) as “fierce and fearless, thrillingly mobile and sentient,” has been performing around the world since childhood. An American pianist of Dutch-Bolivian origin, Vera made her professional debut when she was 8. She performed at the White House for President Carter and at age 16 was honored by the Bolivian state with a commemorative postage stamp. In addition to soloist appearances the world over, Vera has given recitals at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Tivoli in Copenhagen, the Salle Gaveau in Paris and London’s Wigmore Hall. She is also the founder and director of Bolivia Clásica, a charitable organization with headquarters in London, La Paz and Washington DC, which promotes cultural exchanges. Don’t miss her SMF recital debut!

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Piano Sonata No. 12 in F Major, K. 332

Maurice Ravel Sonatine

Isaac Albéniz Selections from Suite espagñola No. 1, Opus 47

Enrique Granados Quejas, o La maja y el ruiseñor from Goyescas

Claude Debussy L'isle Joeuse

Ana-Maria Vera, piano

Kenny Barron and Dave Holland with Johnathan Blake
Thursday, April 2, 2020

After recruiting drummer Johnathan Blake, National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters pianist Kenny Barron and bassist Dave Holland are touring in support of a soon-to-be-released album. A Philadelphia native, the 76-year-old Barron has appeared on hundreds of recordings, received 11 Grammy nominations and collaborated with jazz luminaries ranging from Dizzy Gillespie and Chet Baker to Joe Henderson and Jack DeJohnette. Recognized as one of the all-time great jazz bassists, Holland was barely out of his teens when Miles Davis invited the Englishman to join the trumpeter’s band at the dawning of the Bitches Brew fusion era. Blake, the Philadelphia- born son of jazz violinist John Blake, Jr., has used his supple yet powerful drumming to anchor the Mingus Big Band and support artists such as Russell Malone, Randy Brecker, Oliver Lake and Roy Hargrove with swinging rhythmic precision.

"His touch is the stuff of legend: high polish but also subtlety and sensitivity, every note throwing a soft glow that you can all bus see." - JazzTimes

Ger Mandolin Orchestra
Thursday, April 2, 2020

Conceived by Israeli-American Avner Yonai, whose ancestral research led him to a tattered photograph of his relatives playing in a pre-WWII Jewish mandolin orchestra in Gora Kalwaria, Poland (“Ger” in Yiddish), Ger Mandolin Orchestra is a contemporary version of this rich pre-Holocaust cultural tradition. Following the group’s 2011 premiere at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, Yonai received an invitation from the current mayor of Gora Kalwaria, inviting the ensemble to perform there. Six months later the orchestra returned to the town of its origin, performing for a standing- room-only audience in the dilapidated remains of the old Ger synagogue. It was the first public event to take place in the building since the deportation of the town’s Jews in February 1941. SMF hosts the second US performance of this program, in which Mike Marshall leads an all-star cast of world-class mandolinists.

Mike Marshall, Music Director

"We have a lot of stone monuments, but this is a living monument...it brings something to life rather than honouring something that's dead." - Prod. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw

Swing Central Jazz: The Competition
Friday, April 3, 2020

After three days of intense workshops and clinics, Swing Central Jazz culminates in a free, daylong competition at the Lucas Theatre. Twelve high school jazz orchestras each perform a 25-minute set for a panel of judges led by Swing Central Jazz Associate Director Jim Ketch. After deliberation, three bands are named as finalists to perform on the first half of the Swing Central Jazz Finale that evening.

Caterina Lichtenberg & Mike Marshall: Beethoven and the Mandolin
Friday, April 3, 2020

In our second of three distinctly different celebrations for the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth, mandolinists Mike Marshall and Caterina Lichtenberg will play a program from their rich duet repertoire. Beethoven wrote four pieces for mandolin and Lichtenberg performs two of these accompanied by Adam Jaffe on fortepiano.

Chamber III: Futility of Conflict
Friday, April 3, 2020

The evocative English poet A. E. Housman inspired many English composers to set his beautiful, wistful and at times devastating texts. This deeply poignant program featuring several such compositions from 1909-19 including Ralph Vaughan Williams, friends Ivor Gurney and Herbert Howells, along with John Ireland and George Butterworth, a composer of great talent who was tragically killed at age 31 during the 1916 Battle of the Somme. This concert will take you on a moving journey from songs written literally in the trenches, to Howells’ Elegy written in memory of a dear friend killed in battle and culminating in a performance of Vaughan Williams’ immensely powerful work, On Wenlock Edge.

RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Four Hymns

EDWARD ELGAR Cello Concerto in E minor, Opus 85

JOHN IRELAND Settings of Rupert Brooke

IVOR GURNEY “In Flanders” and “Severn Meadows”

GEORGE BUTTERWORTH Six songs from A Shropshire Lad

HERBERT HOWELLS Elegy for Viola and Piano, Opus 15

IVOR GURNEY “By a Bierside”

RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS On Wenlock Edge

Giovanni Guzzo, violin
Benny Kim, violin
Robin Ashwell, viola
Philip Dukes, viola
Eric Kim, cello
Keith Robinson, cello
Sebastian Knauer, piano
Anna Tilbrook, piano
Benjamin Hulett, tenor

Blue Ridge Bluegrass: Balsam Range / Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out
Friday, April 3, 2020

The 2018 International Bluegrass Music Association’s (IBMA) Entertainer of the Year, Balsam Range is named for the mountains surrounding the band’s home base in Haywood County, North Carolina. Balsam Range draws on traditional bluegrass, jazz, country, gospel, swing and old-time elements, brightened by beautiful harmony singing, to produce contemporary roots music that resonates across categories and generations. Since forming in 2007, the group has garnered 13 IBMA awards on the heels of nine critically-acclaimed albums. Balsam Range has left audiences spellbound while headlining major festivals from coast to coast, selling out venues across the nation and in multiple appearances at the Grand Ole Opry. The band includes fiddler-singer Buddy Melton, bassist Tim Surrett, banjo player Marc Pruett, guitarist Caleb Smith and mandolinist Darren Nicholson.

Third time’s the charm for Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, which made its SMF debut in 2012 and returned in 2017. For more than three decades, the award-winning, North Georgia-based bluegrass quintet has maintained a reputation for compelling artistry, world-class harmony singing and crowd pleasing performances in the studio and onstage. In 1991, Moore, Mike Hartgrove and Ray Deaton formed IIIrd Tyme Out, which refers to the number of professional bands in which the trio had previously played. In 1994, they earned the first of an unsurpassed seven consecutive IBMA awards for Vocal Group of the Year, along with Moore’s first of two Male Vocalist of the Year titles. Moore repeated that feat in 2019, winning his sixth. The band’s current lineup includes mandolinist Wayne Benson, banjoist Keith McKinnon, bassist Dustin Pyrtle and fiddler Nathan Aldridge.

Late Night Jazz Jam with Emmet Cohen
Friday, April 3, 2020

One of the hottest tickets at SMF, the annual Late Night Jazz Jam caps off jazz week at the Morris Center. This year’s edition, with a house band led by Emmet Cohen, features an array of SMF favorites. Come out and experience some of the genre’s best instrumentalists in an intimate evening of jazz and blues standards!

Swing Central Jazz Finale: New Orleans Swing Time with Marcus Roberts & Friends
Friday, April 3, 2020

Following performances by Swing Central Jazz finalist bands, join Marcus Roberts, the Bob Faircloth Associate Artistic Director, for a concert program dedicated to the birthplace of jazz: New Orleans. New Orleans Swing Time celebrates the contributions of some of the great New Orleans jazz musicians to modern jazz, starting with Jelly Roll Morton— the self proclaimed father of jazz and one of the most colorful characters in its history. You’ll hear works by Morton’s contemporary, Sydney Bechet, whose fiery personality and amazing sound on the clarinet and soprano saxophone is legendary. No program celebrating “swing” would be complete without works by the incomparable Louis Armstrong, who taught the world how to swing nearly 100 years ago. Later, when Armstrong traveled to Chicago, he created one of the greatest musical partnerships in the history of jazz with the illustrious Earl “Fatha” Hines. This year’s Swing Central Jazz Finale will showcase the historic origins of jazz from the Crescent City with Marcus Roberts, dubbed “a genius of the modern piano” by Wynton Marsalis, at the helm.

Roberts is a well-known figure at SMF. At SMF 2013, Roberts premiered his first piano concerto, Spirit of the Blues: Piano Concerto in C minor, with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and at SMF 2019 he performed his Rhapsody in D with the Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra. Roberts is Director of SMF’s annual Swing Central Jazz program, which brings high school students from all over the country to Savannah to participate in educational programs and a band competition.

Giovanni Guzzo, violin & Ana-Maria Vera, piano
Saturday, April 4, 2020

Venezuelan-born violinist Giovanni Guzzo performs regularly in some of the most prestigious venues and festivals worldwide including Wigmore Hall, Lincoln Center, the BBC Proms, and the Salzburg and Verbier Festivals. A protégé of Maurice Hasson, Guzzo studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he was recently appointed as one of the youngest violin professors in the institution’s long history. A keen recitalist and chamber musician, Guzzo has worked closely with influential musicians such as Joshua Bell, Martha Argerich, Martin Fröst, Miklós Perényi, Daniel Hope, Stephen Hough, Mats Lidström, Gerhard Schulz, Gábor Takács-Nagy, and the Maggini and Takács Quartets. This is his SMF recital debut.

EDVARD GRIEG Violin Sonata No. 3 in C minor, Opus 45

MAURICE RAVEL Tzigane, Concert Rhapsody

RICHARD STRAUSS Violin Sonata in E-flat Major, Opus 18

Giovanni Guzzo, violin
Ana-Maria Vera, piano

Hawktail
Saturday, April 4, 2020

Hawktail is an acoustic quartet consisting of Brittany Haas on fiddle, Dominick Leslie on mandolin, Jordan Tice on guitar and vocals and Paul Kowert on bass. In addition to this ensemble, Hawktail’s members are and have been contributors to a wide range of projects including Punch Brothers, Dave Rawlings Machine, Sam Reider and the Human Hands, Crooked Still, The Deadly Gentlemen, and NPR’s Live from Here with Chris Thile. Together, they have created a unique sound, always giving lively performances that combine original material with perennial songs and tunes from the annals of bluegrass and old-time music.

“While they are well versed in the old-time traditions, their music is fresh, lively, and consequential. In other words they are not imitators or replicators.” No Depression

Meechot Marrero, soprano
Saturday, April 4, 2020

Puerto Rican soprano Meechot Marrero is no stranger to Savannah audiences, having been a frequent guest at the Savannah VOICE Festival in roles including Juliette in Roméo et Juliette, Mimì in La bohème and Lucy England in Menotti’s The Telephone. A member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin ensemble, the 2019-20 season has her performing Liù in Turandot, Oscar in Un ballo in maschera, a role debut, Micäela in Carmen, Adele in Die Fledermaus and many others. On the concert stage, she will perform Carmina burana with Donald Runnicles and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, as well as at the Grand Tetons Music Festival. Join us for her recital debut at SMF!

Cajun Dance Party: Steve Riley & Racines / The Revelers
Saturday, April 4, 2020

With Racines, which means “roots” in French, Steve Riley of Mamou Playboys fame has assembled a band of young, supremely talented practitioners of the Louisiana-born folk music rooted in the French-speaking Acadian culture of Canada. In addition to Riley (accordion, fiddle, guitar and vocals), the quartet includes Kevin Wimmer of Balfa Toujours and The Red Stick Ramblers (fiddle, vocals), Mitch Reed from BeauSoleil and Charivari (bass, fiddle) and Chris Stafford who plays with Feufollet and Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole (electric and acoustic guitar, lap steel). Attending a Steve Riley & Racines concert is like going on a mini-tour of southwest Louisiana musical styles with stops at Cajun, zydeco, swamp pop and blues.

Representing the new generation of Cajun musicians, The Revelers blend the fundamental elements of Cajun music with pop, rock and R&B to create their signature brand of Louisiana-bred party music. Between them, Blake Miller (accordion), Chas Justus (guitar), Daniel Coolik (fiddle, guitar), Chris Miller (saxophone), Trey Boudreaux (bass) and Glenn Fields (drums) are connected with many well-known Cajun bands including Pine Leaf Boys, Balfa Toujours, Les Malfecteurs, Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole and The Red Stick Ramblers. Like their co-bill cohorts, The Revelers are prone to performing setlists that combine familiar Cajun and zydeco tunes with original compositions, which draw from myriad contemporary sources. Don’t plan on sitting still for this special evening of two-stepping, hip-swaying, rolling good times.

Béla Fleck & The Flecktones
Saturday, April 4, 2020

In 1988, world-renowned banjoist and composer Béla Fleck founded the Flecktones, ostensibly for a single performance on PBS’ Lonesome Pine Special, with bassist Victor Wooten, keyboardist Howard Levy, and Victor’s brother, percussionist Roy Wooten. The special kinship between band members forged a bond, which led to an exhaustive touring schedule and a slew of acclaimed albums before Levy departed in 1992. The Flecktones carried on with varying personnel until 2008 when a collective hiatus was initiated. Recently reunited, the band’s original lineup returns to the Savannah Music Festival as part of the Flecktones’ 30th anniversary tour. Drawn from influences including classical, jazz, bluegrass, traditional and contemporary African music, blues and Eastern European folk dances, there is no mistaking the Flecktones’ compelling mix of eclectic sound and superb musicianship.

“Astoundingly adept musicians who are comfortable playing virtually any type of music.” JazzTimes

Latin Dance Party: Spanish Harlem Orchestra
Saturday, April 4, 2020

Founded in 2000 by composer-arranger Oscar Hernández, the Grammy-winning Spanish Harlem Orchestra is one of the most formidable, thrilling and authentic Latin jazz collectives working today. Born into a large Puerto Rican family living in the Bronx near Spanish Harlem, Hernández started playing trumpet at age 12, then switched to piano. By the 1970s, he was arranging and working with Latin luminaries, such as Tito Puente, Ray Barretto and Celia Cruz. In the ‘80s, Hernández produced, arranged and played piano for Rubén Blades and his band Seis del Solar. In 2000, he joined forces with producer Aaron Levinson to record a hand assembled Latin jazz ensemble, which became the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. If you like your music Latin hot, don’t miss the return of the Spanish Harlem Orchestra.

“They make you get up and dance, tap into the good natured, communal spirit characteristic of Salsa at its timeless best” Los Angeles Times

Chamber IV: Happy Birthday, Ludwig!
Sunday, April 5, 2020

There is perhaps no better way to conclude the chamber music series for 2020 than a special concert dedicated to the great master Ludwig van Beethoven on the 250th anniversary of his birth. Arguably one of the greatest exponents of the chamber music medium, the program opens with his electric and fiery C Major String Quintet, affectionately known as the “Storm Quintet.” It is followed by pianist Sebastian Knauer playing Beethoven’s D minor Piano Sonata, No. 17, also known as the “Tempest.” As we blow out the candles on Beethoven’s birthday celebration, we hear a performance of his majestic “Archduke” Piano Trio, a timeless classic, brimming with the same original freshness as the day it was first heard.

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
String Quintet in C Major, Opus 29
Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Opus 31, No. 2, “Tempest”
Piano Trio in B-flat Major, Opus 97, “Archduke”

Giovanni Guzzo, violin
Benny Kim, violin
Robin Ashwell, viola
Philip Dukes, viola
Eric Kim, cello
Keith Robinson, cello
Sebastian Knauer, piano
Ana-Maria Vera, piano

Martin Hayes Quartet / Aoife O'Donovan's Songs and Strings
Sunday, April 5, 2020

The Martin Hayes Quartet delivers an enchanting, hybrid sound, which originates in traditional Irish music but also contains elements of classical chamber music and jazz. Raised in rural Maghera, Feakle, East County Clare, Hayes first learned about music from his late father, P. Joe Hayes, the legendary leader of the long-lived Tulla Céilí Band. Hayes’ soulful interpretations of traditional Irish music are widely recognized for their exquisite musicality and irresistible rhythm. He has collaborated with musicians across the classical, folk and contemporary music worlds including Bill Frisell, Ricky Skaggs, Jordi Savall, Brooklyn Rider, Sting, Paul Simon and the Irish Chamber Orchestra. The Martin Hayes Quartet features Hayes with bass clarinetist Doug Wieselman, violist/violinist Liz Knowles and longtime collaborator guitarist Dennis Cahill with whom Hayes founded the seminal Irish-American band The Gloaming. In 2011, Hayes and Cahill performed for President Obama at the White House and for the House of Representatives.

Aoife O’Donovan returns to SMF with a new collaborative project. Songs and Strings features Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter accompanied by a string quartet in a performance of the song cycle “Bull Frogs Croon.” Written and developed with Jeremy Kittel and Teddy Abrams, “Bull Frogs Croon” is based on a text by the late poet laureate of Oregon, Peter Sears. The remainder of O’Donovan’s program features selections from her remarkable career, which includes founding the progressive string band Crooked Still and working with Sarah Jarosz and Sara Watkins in I’m With Her. In addition to touring with Punch Brothers, Milk Carton Kids and Elephant Revival, O’Donovan was featured vocalist on The Goat Rodeo Sessions, the Grammy-winning album by Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile. In addition to her festival performance, O’Donovan serves as clinician in this year’s Acoustic Music Seminar.

“Aoife O’Donovan [is] unafraid to push her genre’s often confining envelope into brave, exciting and fresh territory.” American Songwriter

Sebastian Knauer, piano
Monday, April 6, 2020

Pianist Sebastian Knauer needs little introduction to SMF audiences, having appeared in most every season since 2004 in roles including recitalist, soloist, conductor and chamber musician. He began playing piano at age 4, and made his debut at the age of 14 at the Laeiszhalle in his hometown of Hamburg. Knauer has performed in more than 50 countries across four continents, playing at venues such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Lincoln Center, the Harris Theater in Chicago, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing and Toppan Hall in Tokyo. In 2012, Knauer founded Mozart@Augsburg, which takes place in the “Mozart City” of Augsburg, Germany. He is also the artistic director of the Internationale Musikfestwoche in Bad Berleburg and the Beethoven Festival in Aachen, both in Germany.

FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN Piano Sonata No. 33 in C minor, Hob. XVI:20

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor, K. 457
12 Variations on “Ah, vous dirai-je maman,” K. 265/300e

EDVARD GRIEG Air from Holberg Suite, Opus 40

FELIX MENDELSSOHN Variations sérieuses, Opus 54

Sebastian Knauer, piano

Martin Hayes Solo
Monday, April 6, 2020

Martin Hayes’ soulful interpretations of traditional Irish music are widely recognized for their exquisite musicality and irresistible rhythm. A youthful violin prodigy, Hayes garnered six All-Ireland championships before the age of 19. He spent many years playing in the Tulla Céilí Band, the group founded by his late father, P. Joe Hayes, which has been together for more than 70 years. Hayes is the artistic director of Masters of Tradition, an annual festival in Bantry, County Cork, and a co-curator for the Marble City Sessions at the Kilkenny Arts Festival. Though his Irish credentials are bona fide, Hayes is an innovator who never met a reel he could not bend in a sonorously wonderful way.

“In the decades to come, we’ll surely talk of having seen this man in the way others talk of Miles Davis or Jimi Hendrix or John Coltrane.” The Irish Times

Zakir Hussain, Kala Ramnath & Jayanthi Kumaresh
Monday, April 6, 2020

An extraordinary concert of Indian classical music awaits audiences lucky enough to catch this trio of world-renowned virtuosos. No stranger to the Savannah Music Festival, Grammy Award winner Zakir Hussain has elevated the status of the tabla within India and globally among world music fans. Born into a dynasty of prodigious musical talent, violinist Kala Ramnath often draws upon diverse influences through her “singing violin” including Western classical, jazz, flamenco and traditional African music. With her mesmerizing glides, the purity of her notes and the soulfulness of her playing, Dr. Jayanthi Kumaresh has captivated audiences around the world for more than three decades. One of the world’s leading veena players, her music blends tradition and innovation.

“Kala Ramnath is like an angel in human form. Just to watch her play is an extraordinary thing... she’s one of the greatest musicians on the planet.” San Francisco Chronicle

Bryan Sutton, Jack Lawrence & T. Michael Coleman / Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley
Monday, April 6, 2020

Expect a few Doc Watson songs on the setlist for this special trio performance. SMF Acoustic Music Seminar (AMS) clinician Bryan Sutton was born and raised near Asheville, North Carolina. A flatpicking virtuoso, Sutton has plied his talents with Ricky Skaggs’ Kentucky Thunder, Hot Rize and Chris Thile’s How to Grow a Band (the precursor to Punch Brothers). A nine-time winner of the IBMA Guitarist of the Year Award, Sutton won a Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance for a duet with Doc Watson. Guitarist Jack Lawrence was Doc Watson's performing partner for more than 25 years. Prior to joining Watson, Lawrence played with The New Deal String Band and Bluegrass Alliance before forming a duo with Joe Smothers. Bassist T. Michael Coleman spent much of his life touring with Doc and Merle Watson. Later, he performed with the Seldom Scene and Chesapeake.

Based on a mutual love of bluegrass, country, blues, Western swing and string band music of all kinds, dobro and lap steel specialist Rob Ickes and guitarist Trey Hensley formed a partnership in 2015 after their debut album, Before The Sun Goes Down, was nominated for a Grammy. Since then, the duo has performed at music festivals across America as well as venues in Europe, England, Ireland and Australia. Ickes grew up in California’s Bay Area and cut his teeth on traditional bluegrass before moving to Nashville in the early ‘90s where he co-founded the highly influential bluegrass group Blue Highway, and won 15 IBMA Awards for Dobro Player of the Year. A Tennessee native, Hensley was 11 years old when Marty Stuart brought him onstage to play with him and Earl Scruggs at the Grand Ole Opry.

“Two musical phenoms” NPR

Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley
Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Based on a mutual love of bluegrass, country, blues, Western swing and string band music of all kinds, dobro and lap steel specialist Rob Ickes and guitarist Trey Hensley formed a partnership in 2015 after their debut album, Before The Sun Goes Down, was nominated for a Grammy. Since then, the duo has performed at music festivals across America as well as venues in Europe, England, Ireland and Australia. Ickes grew up in California’s Bay Area and cut his teeth on traditional bluegrass before moving to Nashville in the early ‘90s where he co-founded the highly influential bluegrass group Blue Highway, and won 15 IBMA Awards for Dobro Player of the Year. A Tennessee native, Hensley was 11 years old when Marty Stuart brought him onstage to play with him and Earl Scruggs at the Grand Ole Opry.

“Two musical phenoms”
NPR

Darrell Scott Band Plays Hank Williams / Kaia Kater & Andrew Ryan
Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Born in London, Kentucky, Darrell Scott is the son of singer-songwriter Wayne Scott. In 1995, Scott moved to Nashville where his talent as a solo artist, session player and songwriter was quickly recognized. A gifted multi-instrumentalist, he has played with hundreds of country and bluegrass music’s brightest stars from Randy Travis and Guy Clark to Kate Wallace and Martina McBride. Notable collaborators include Steve Earle, Sam Bush, Emmylou Harris, Verlon Thompson, Kate Rusby, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Mary Gauthier. In 2010, Scott went on tour as a member of Robert Plant’s Band of Joy. Scott is a songwriting guru and clinician at SMF’s Acoustic Music Seminar (AMS). His latest project pays tribute to country music legend Hank Williams. He is joined on this concert by Reese Wynans (Stevie Ray Vaughn, Joe Bonamassa) on B-3 and piano, Bryn Davies (Jack Black, Patty Griffin) on upright bass and Marco Giovino (Band of Joy, Buddy Miller) on drums.

This special SMF evening of Americana music also includes Montreal-born, Grenadian-Canadian Kaia Kater. Her family’s deep ties to folk music and the years she spent studying Appalachian music at West Virginia’s Davis & Elkins College helped her develop a distinctive voice, which blends traditional elements within a modern context. Kater’s old-time banjo-picking skills, deft arrangements and songwriting acumen have garnered critical acclaim in North America and the UK. A recent 18-month touring journey took Kater to stages at the Kennedy Center, Hillside Festival and London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush. She is joined by bassist Andrew Ryan, whose love for classical, jazz and American roots music make him an exceptional player, collaborator and composer. Kater and Ryan are both alumni of SMF’s Acoustic Music Seminar.

“...[Kater] writes and performs with the skill of a folk-circuit veteran...” Rolling Stone

Väsen
Wednesday, April 8, 2020

For the better part of three decades, Väsen (“vessen”) has honed a singular sound rooted in Swedish folk music, but conceived by modern ears, which have heard rock, jazz and post-modern chamber music. Formed in 1989 by Olov Johansson, who plays the nyckelharpa (a “keyed fiddle”), violist Mikael Marin and guitarist Roger Tallroth, Väsen takes its name from a Swedish word with multiple meanings: spirit, noise, a living being or essence. The combination of unusual instrumental tunings and the rhythmic pulsing characteristic of traditional Swedish folk music imbues Väsen’s music with an irresistible, deeply spiritual quality. This is a “must attend” concert for world music fans.

Väsen / Kittel & Co.
Wednesday, April 8, 2020

For the better part of three decades, Väsen (“vessen”) has honed a singular sound rooted in Swedish folk music, but conceived by modern ears, which have heard rock, jazz and post-modern chamber music. Formed in 1989 by Olov Johansson, who plays the nyckelharpa (a “keyed fiddle”), violist Mikael Marin and guitarist Roger Tallroth, Väsen takes its name from a Swedish word with multiple meanings: spirit, noise, a living being or essence. The combination of unusual instrumental tunings and the rhythmic pulsing characteristic of traditional Swedish folk music imbues Väsen’s music with an irresistible, deeply spiritual quality. This is a “must attend” concert for world music fans.

The music of Kittel & Co. envelops a space containing elements of late modern classical, acoustic roots, Celtic, bluegrass and jazz. As a composer, arranger and accompanist, Brooklyn-based violinist Jeremy Kittel has worked with Abigail Washburn and Béla Fleck, My Morning Jacket, Camera Obscura, Jars of Clay, Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, Laura Veirs and the Grammywinning Turtle Island Quartet of which he was a member for five years. He has also recorded with artists such as Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile, Mark O’Connor, Fleet Foxes and Mike Marshall. For the last several years, he has been composing a special repertoire for Kittel & Co. The band includes mandolinist Josh Pinkham, guitarist Quinn Bachand, cellist Nathaniel Smith (Sarah Jarosz, Kacey Musgraves) and hammered-dulcimer innovator Simon Chrisman.

“[Kittel & Co.]...takes the string band tradition to marvelously rarefied levels of collective virtuosity…thrillingly spontaneous.” The Times (UK)

Martin Hayes, Jeremy Kittel & Roger Tallroth
Thursday, April 9, 2020

Don’t miss this only-in-Savannah debut collaboration between fiddlers Martin Hayes and Jeremy Kittel and Swedish guitarist Roger Tallroth of Väsen, whose “Tallroth tuning” and guitar style has been vastly influential throughout the Nordic traditional music scene.

Robert McDuffie, violin & Robert Spano, piano
Thursday, April 9, 2020

Commemorating more than 20 years of musical collaboration, violinist Robert McDuffie and pianist/conductor Robert Spano jubilantly take the stage to celebrate the work of Beethoven, Brahms and American composer John Corigliano. Spano steps off the podium to sit down at the piano in the twilight of his transformative 20-year tenure as music director at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, where he created a special sense of inclusion and warmth among musicians and audiences. McDuffie enjoys a dynamic and multi-faceted career as a performer and as the founder of the Rome Chamber Music Festival in Italy and the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University in his hometown of Macon, Georgia. He also holds a faculty chair at the Aspen Music Festival and School, and has worked with artists ranging from Philip Glass to Mike Mills of R.E.M.

JOHANNES BRAHMS Violin Sonata No. 1 in G Major, Opus 78

JOHN CORIGLIANO Sonata for Violin and Piano

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN Violin Sonata No. 7 in C minor, Opus 30, No. 2

Robert McDuffie, violin
Robert Spano, piano

Route Django: John Jorgenson Quintet / Frank Vignola / Velvet Caravan
Thursday, April 9, 2020

Formed in 2004, the John Jorgenson Quintet is the only American act to ever headline the prestigious Django Reinhardt Festival in France. While the band’s style has been called “gypsy jazz” for its dynamic string-driven swing sound based on the music played by Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli in 1930s Paris, guitarist Jorgenson’s compositional approach draws on elements from Latin, Romanian, classical, rock and Greek music. In addition to its namesake founder, John Jorgenson Quintet includes guitarist Max O’Rourke, bassist Simon Planting, pianist Rory Hoffman and percussionist Rick Reed.

“John Jorgenson is one of the most respected guitarists in the world…” Los Angeles Times

One of America’s most talented and entertaining jazz guitarists, Frank Vignola has accompanied, performed and recorded with some of the world’s top musicians including Ringo Starr, Madonna, Donald Fagen, Wynton Marsalis, Tommy Emmanuel, the New York Pops and guitar legend Les Paul. In 1987, Vignola formed the Hot Club Quintet, named after the famed Quintette du Hot Club de France founded by Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli.

Savannah’s own Velvet Caravan rounds out this special bill at the Charles H. Morris Center. Founded by classically trained, Venezuelan-born violinist Ricardo Ochoa, the quintet is equally at home performing in an intimate club setting or sharing a concert stage with symphony orchestras. Velvet Caravan performs a repertoire combining gypsy jazz, Latin swing, southern honky-tonk and classical chamber music. In addition to Ochoa, Velvet Caravan includes bassist Eric Dunn, guitarist Ken Allday, percussionist Vuk Pavlovic and keyboardist-accordionist Jared Hall.

Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers
Thursday, April 9, 2020

Bruce Hornsby, the creatively insatiable pianist and singer-songwriter from Williamsburg, Virginia, always has succeeded on his exceptional gifts, his training and his work ethic. He has collaborated with Ricky Skaggs and the Grateful Dead. He has scored films and performed with symphony orchestras. Hornsby describes his new album Absolute Zero as “a compendium of what I like and moves me.” Prepare for a multi-faceted ride. Hornsby’s most recent Savannah Music Festival appearance was to a sold-out crowd in 2017.

Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe
Thursday, April 9, 2020

Saxophonist and singer Karl Denson fronts his band Tiny Universe as if he’s preaching the gospel. Merging funk, soul, rock, jazz, blues and more, his energy and spirit are contagious, while his songwriting serves a larger message of fellowship. A touring member of The Rolling Stones and the linchpin of storied jazz-funk outfit The Greyboy Allstars, Denson’s songwriting style draws from Sly & the Family Stone, Funkadelic, Rufus with Chaka Khan, Cymande, Stevie Wonder and other beloved soul, funk and R&B artists. Denson’s Tiny Universe consists of Greyboy bassist Chris Stillwell and former Greyboy drummer Zak Najor, as well as David Veith and Kenneth Crouch on keyboards, Chris Littlefield on trumpet, Seth Freeman on guitar and lap steel, and DJ Williams on guitar.

Drew Petersen, piano
Friday, April 10, 2020

Prodigious pianist Drew Petersen is the winner of the 2017 American Pianists Awards and the Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship of the American Pianists Association. He is a prizewinner in the Leeds International Piano Competition, the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Competition and the New York Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition. Petersen’s career had an auspicious and early beginning. Presented at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall at age 5, at age 9 he performed a solo recital at Steinway Hall in Manhattan for the company’s 150th Anniversary. His unique gifts have been profiled in The New York Times, New York Magazine, in the documentary Just Normal and in Andrew Solomon’s book, “Far From the Tree.”

ROBERT SCHUMANN Variations on the Name “Abegg” in F Major, Opus 1
Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Opus 14

FRANZ LISZT Valse oubliée, S. 215/1
Valse mélancolique, S. 214/2
Valse impromptu, S. 213

FRANZ SCHUBERT Fantasie in C Major, D. 760, “Wanderer Fantasy”

Drew Petersen, piano

Etienne Charles & Creole Soul / Brenda Navarrete
Friday, April 10, 2020

Born in 1983 in Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, trumpeter-composer Etienne Charles is one of the most compelling jazz artists on the contemporary scene. His Creole Soul project taps into his Afro-Caribbean background, which encompasses calypso and Haitian voodoo music, as well as his interest in jazz, reggae, rock and R&B. The Charles family legacy includes a great-grandfather who emigrated from Martinique to Trinidad and formed a band; a grandfather who performed with Growling Tiger on folk and calypso recordings of the time; and his father, Francis Charles, who was a member of Phase II Pan Groove, one of the world’s leading steel bands, which Etienne eventually joined. He studied with SMF Associate Artistic Director Marcus Roberts at Florida State University and earned a Master of Music from The Juilliard School of Music. This performance will feature music from Charles’ latest release, Carnival: The Sounds a People Vol. 1.

One of the brightest young talents on the world music scene, vocalist, songwriter and percussionist Brenda Navarrete is making her SMF debut. As a youngster, Navarrete studied percussion and dreamed of a career in music. She graduated from Cuba’s prestigious Amadeo Roldán Conservatory in 2009, earning accreditations as an instrumentalist, ensemble and percussion instructor. In 2010, during Cuba’s prestigious Fiesta del Tambor, she took first prize for her batá drumming prowess, as well as for best song interpretation by a female artist. Navarrete has worked with the all-female Afro-Cuban percussion troupe Obiní Batá, and as a singer with the internationally acclaimed band Interactivo led by pianist-composer Roberto Carcassés. Her own music is a thoroughly contemporary blend of Afro-Cuban polyrhythms, Latin jazz, R&B, hip-hop, reggae and electronica.

Junior Brown / Hot Club of Cowtown
Friday, April 10, 2020

Junior Brown’s inimitable brand of country music fuses western swing with the blues, rockabilly, bluegrass and rock ’n’ roll. A guitarist and lap steel player of the highest order, he and his luthier Michael Stevens developed his signature double-necked instrument, the “guit-steel,” in the mid-’80s, when it became too cumbersome to switch cables between his lap steel and guitar. Brown’s list of collaborators spans nearly five decades and includes time spent playing with Asleep at the Wheel, on duets with Ralph Stanley and Hank Thompson, as well as collaborations with George Jones, Doc Watson, Leona Williams, Ray Price and many others. Don’t miss what will be a hard-hitting return to SMF, Brown’s first since his 2011 debut alongside The Flatlanders.

Since its beginnings in the late 1990s, Hot Club of Cowtown has been known for jaw-dropping virtuosity and unforgettable live shows. The band has toured extensively worldwide for over 20 years, both on its own and with artists including Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Gatemouth Brown, The Avett Brothers and Dan Hicks, and appeared at SMF in 2015 for a run of six shows alongside Asleep at the Wheel. Praised by The Times (UK) for its “down-home melodies and exuberant improvisation” the Hot Club of Cowtown straddles a line between country music and swing.

St. Paul & The Broken Bones
Friday, April 10, 2020

Formed in 2012, St. Paul & The Broken Bones has spent the last seven years touring the world. The Birmingham, Alabama-based rock ‘n’ roll/soul band has opened for The Rolling Stones, headlined two nights at Ryman Auditorium and appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Conan, Austin City Limits and twice on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert including the latter’s debut episode. Singer-songwriter Paul Janeway abandoned a career in ministry to co-found the band with Jesse Phillips (bass, guitar). The current Broken Bones lineup features Browan Lollar (guitars), Kevin Leon (drums), Al Gamble (keyboards), Allen Branstetter (trumpet), Chad Fisher (trombone) and Amari Ansari (saxophone). St. Paul & The Broken Bones has released an EP (Greetings) and three albums: Half the City (2014), Sea of Noise (2016) and Young Sick Camellia (2018).

“...infectiously funky live performance...” Paste Magazine

Stringband Spectacular: Acoustic Music Seminar Finale
Friday, April 10, 2020

A perennial highlight of the Savannah Music Festival, the Stringband Spectacular caps off the week-long Acoustic Music Seminar (AMS). During AMS, a group of young (22 years old and under) virtuoso string players and songwriters engage in a series of intensive workshops organized and supervised by AMS Director and SMF Associate Artistic Director Mike Marshall and special guest clinicians. This year’s clinicians include Aoife O’Donovan, Darrell Scott and Bryan Sutton. Past AMS clinicians and guests include Julian Lage, Tim O’Brien, Béla Fleck, Abigail Washburn, Chris Eldridge, Avi Avital and Sarah Jarosz. Stringband Spectacular, which serves as an exclusive showcase for music written, arranged and performed by AMS participants, is always a thrilling experience for performers and audiences alike.

Camille Thomas, cello & Julien Brocal, piano
Saturday, April 11, 2020

Franco-Belgian cellist Camille Thomas blends a brilliant command of her instrument with a rare musicality. The first cellist to be signed by the prestigious Deutsche Grammophon label in over 40 years, Thomas’ standout talent was recognized at the European Broadcasting Union Competition in 2014, where she was awarded first prize and named New Talent of the Year. Thomas has already worked with conductors such as Paavo Järvi, Mikko Franck, Marc Soustrot, Darrell Ang, Kent Nagano and Stéphane Denève, as well as with orchestras including the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Academia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Sinfonia Varsovia, Staatsorchester Hamburg in the Elbphilharmonie, the Lucerne Festival Strings in the Herkulessaal in Munich, the Opera National de Bordeaux and Brussels Philharmonic. In her SMF debut, she is accompanied by French pianist Julien Brocal, whose recent solo album was given five stars by BBC Music Magazine, calling it “spellbinding Chopin.”

MAURICE RAVEL Kaddisch, from Two Hebrew Melodies

FRANZ SCHUBERT
“Gretchen am Spinnrade,” D. 118
“Erlkönig,” D. 328
“Litanei auf des Fest Allerseelen,” D. 343

MAX BRUCH Kol Nidre, Opus 47

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
Seven Variations on “Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen,” WoO 46

OLIVIER MESSIAEN
Louange à l’éternité de Jésus from Quatour pour la fin du temps

CÉSAR FRANCK
Sonata for Cello (Violin) and Piano in A Major (arr. Jules Delsart)

Camille Thomas, cello
Julien Brocal, piano

Leo Kottke
Saturday, April 11, 2020

A self-taught guitar player and songwriter, 74-year-old Leo Kottke was born in Athens, Georgia. A stint in the US Navy was followed by a move to Minneapolis, where he found a nurturing environment in the city’s thriving folk scene. Kottke’s breakthrough came in 1969 when his mentor, legendary guitarist John Fahey, invited him to record for his fledgling Takoma label. Known for prodigious technique and a languid, dulcet-toned voice, Kottke has performed and recorded with a wide array of musicians including Chet Atkins, Procol Harum and the Violent Femmes. His prowess on the six- and 12-string guitar has influenced a generation or three of acoustic guitarists including innovators, such as the late Michael Hedges, Preston Reed and Don Ross, and contemporary wunderkinds like Daniel Bachman.

Alfredo Rodríguez & Pedrito Martinez / Harold López-Nussa
Saturday, April 11, 2020

An evening of sublime Afro-Cuban artistry is on tap when pianist Alfredo Rodriguez and percussionist Pedrito Martinez take the stage with bassist Munir Hossn at Charles H. Morris Center. Both Rodriguez and Martinez started life in Havana, discovered a passion for music and eventually headed to America where they melded the music of their homeland with a wide variety of influences. Schooled in the rigorous classical conservatories of Havana, Rodriguez was mentored by Quincy Jones after defecting to the US in 2009. Martinez honed his percussion chops on the streets of Cayo Hueso, a neighborhood in Old Havana. He went on to perform with top artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Sting, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Angélique Kidjo, Chucho Valdés and James Taylor.

Harold López-Nussa was born in 1983 in Havana, Cuba, where he still lives. His father, Ruy, is an esteemed drummer and educator. His uncle, Ernán, is an acclaimed pianist. His late mother, Mayra Torres, was a highly regarded piano teacher. At age 8, López-Nussa began studying at the Manuel Saumell Elementary School of Music, then went to the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory, ultimately graduating with a degree in classical piano from the Instituto Superior de Arte. Early in his career, he recorded Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Fourth Piano Concerto with Cuba’s National Symphony Orchestra and won First Prize at the Jazz Solo Piano Competition at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland, in 2005. Lopéz-Nussa’s quartet features his younger brother, Ruy Adrián López-Nussa on drums and percussion, Mayquel González on trumpet, and bassist Julio César González.

Zydeco Dance Party: Jeffery Broussard & The Creole Cowboys
Saturday, April 11, 2020

One of the most influential accordionists and vocalists in contemporary zydeco music, Jeffery Broussard began his career playing drums in his father’s band, Delton Broussard & the Lawtell Playboys. The youngest of 11 children, Broussard was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, in 1967. During his teenage years, Broussard played drums in The Zydeco Machines, a band led by his oldest brother, Clinton. In the late 1980s, Broussard was a member of Zydeco Force, which also included his late brother Shelton, cousin Herbert, and co-founder Robert “Mann” Robinson. Together, they pioneered a sound that integrated R&B within a contemporary zydeco context. When Zydeco Force disbanded in 2005, Broussard formed The Creole Cowboys, returning full circle to his roots and a more traditional style of performance.

Sarah Jarosz / Madison Cunningham
Saturday, April 11, 2020

Since her SMF debut a decade ago as a teenager, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter Sarah Jarosz has evolved steadily as an artist and performer. The Austin Chronicle’s Jim Caligiuri recently declared “For Austinites who’ve followed her since her early teens, the fact that Wimberley native Sarah Jarosz blossomed into one of the most stirring musicians of her generation comes as absolutely no surprise.” At SMF alone, she has performed on separate co-bills with David Grisman and Richard Thompson, and in 2019 with her group I’m With Her, always engaging audiences as an exceptional player, a prolific songwriter and interpreter, and a consummate performer. Having won two Grammy Awards while still in her 20s, along with many other industry awards, the range of Jarosz’ artistry seems immeasurable.

“[Jarosz] refuses to dilute the raw sentiments with gloss or misdirection…direct, unadorned and thoroughly beautiful.” The Wall Street Journal

California native guitarist and songwriter Madison Cunningham, whose early champions include Chris Thile, Sara Watkins and the Milk Carton Kids’ Joey Ryan, opens the show. Over the past year, Cunningham has toured with the Punch Brothers and more recently Andrew Bird, standing out not only for her unique melodies, elastic voice and deft approach to the guitar, but also for her honest storytelling. Rolling Stone describes Madison Cunningham’s sound as “a new spin on West Coast folk-rock, with classical tendencies, electric guitars, jazz-school chord changes and alt-rock strut all living beneath the same roof.

About the Savannah Music Festival

A nonprofit performing arts organization, the Savannah Music Festival (SMF) is dedicated to presenting world-class celebrations of the musical arts by creating timeless and adventurous productions that stimulate arts education, foster economic growth and unite artists and audiences in Savannah. In addition to year-round music education and broadcast initiatives, SMF produces one of the most distinctive multi-genre music festivals in the world. The 2020 festival marks the organization’s 31^st festival season and runs March 26 through April 11, including performances in venues throughout Savannah’s historic district. For more information, visit www.savannahmusicfestival.org.

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