FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: LuAnn Bielawa, Director of Operations
luann.bielawa@maverickconcerts.org
845-594-6518
Happy Traum with Cindy Cashdollar & Friends
Saturday, September 9, 8:00 – 10:00 PM
Reserved Hall Seats: $60.00, $30.00, $27.50 (partial obstruction)
General Admission/Outdoors/Uncovered: $25.00, Students: $10
happytraum.com
cindycashdollar.com
Cassatt String Quartet with Ursula Oppens
Sunday, September 3
Pre-concert talk with Alexander Platt and Tania Leon 2:45 PM
Concert: 4:00 – 6:00 PM
(Reserved Hall Seats: $50.00, $29.00, $25.00 (partial obstruction)
General Admission/Outdoors/Uncovered: $20.00, Students: $10.00
cassattquartet.com
tanialeon.com
Maverick Concerts
120 Maverick Road
Woodstock, NY 12498
https://maverickconcerts.org
Maverick Concerts concludes its 2023 by honoring two very different eminences of 20th and 21st century music: a Saturday evening performance by the iconic folk guitarist, roots scholar, and Woodstock community pillar Happy Traum accompanied by the Grammy-decorated steel and dobro guitarist Cindy Cashdollar and friends; and a Sunday afternoon tribute the Pulitzer-winning, Guggenheim-fellow Cuban American composer Tania Leon, featuring the Cassatt String Quartet joined by modernist pianist extraordinaire Ursula Oppens. Ms. Leon will be on hand for a pre-concert conversation with Maverick Musical Director Alexander Platt.
Now in their 80s, both Mr. Traum and Ms. Leon continue to display remarkable vibrancy, musical adventurousness, and stamina. In 2022, Mr. Traum continued a hot streak of 21st century recordings with There Must Be a Bright Side Somewhere, a highly personal and masterfully curated collection of historic and contemporary folk and blues (and several Traum originals) recorded by a multi-generational cast of Woodstock-connected musicians, from legendary old friends like John Sebastian and Geoff Muldaur to such roots virtuosi as Larry Campbell, Cindy Cashdollar, and Daryl Anger and a generous supply of younger musicians. These sessions took place nearly 60 years after Mr. Traum’s first recording date as a player, a historic session in 1963 when a group of young folk musicians including Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger, Peter LaFarge and The Freedom Singers gathered in Folkways Records’ studio for an album called Broadsides.
One of the founders of the Greenwich Village folk scene of the late ‘50s early ‘60s that introduced the likes of Dylan and Ochs to American tastes, Happy Traum is also one of the last artists from the period still standing and working. While he enjoyed success as a songwriter throughout the ‘70s on a string of major label records with his late brother Artie Traum, as his career has progressed, Mr. Traum has increasingly honored the curatorial and preservationist calling of folk music, the very thing that fist drew him to the form. Often considered to be of the school of Lead Belly, Mr. Traum’s actual teacher and mentor was the Piedmont blues guitarist and songwriter Brownie McGhee.
Over the decades, Mr. Traum has distinguished himself as a scholar of the acoustic blues and a master teacher and commentator as well as a performer of tireless vitality. He also keeps good company. For his September 9 Maverick performance, Mr. Traum will be joined by an all-star cast of friends.
This concert is supported in part by The Kvistad Foundation and is dedicated to the memory of musician and producer Bob Kaminsky, a beloved member of the Woodstock community.
Happy Traum, vocals, guitar
Cindy Cashdollar, slide and lap steel guitars
John Sebastian, harmonica and guitars
Eugene Ruffolo, vocals and guitar
Ryan Berg, bass
Kenny Kosek, fiddle
And Special Guests TBA
On Sunday, September 10, Maverick Concerts concludes its 2023 season with the sixth and final concert in the NEA-sponsored Latin Voices micro-series with a performance by the Cassatt String Quartet, joined by the pianist Ursula Oppens. Half of the program for this concert consists of works by the eminent Cuban-born American composer Tania Leon, who will be on hand for a pre-concert conversation with Alexander Platt.
The Cassatt String Quartet has performed across the world to critical acclaim since its founding in 1985, with appearances at Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Tanglewood Music Center, the Kennedy Center, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Centro National de las Artes, Maeda Hall, and Beijing’s Central Conservatory. The Cassatts have performed on the matched quartet of Stradivarius instruments at the Library of Congress; and as resident quartet at the University of Buffalo, three complete Slee Beethoven String Quartet cycles.
The Cassatt Quartet’s recordings were named three times by Alex Ross in his “10 Best Classical Recordings” feature in The New Yorker Magazine. The group’s discography, which includes over forty recordings, spans the Koch, Naxos, New World, Point, CRI, Tzadik, and Albany labels. They have been featured on NPR’s “Performance Today,” WGBH Boston, WQXR and WNYC of New York, Canada’s CBC Radio, and Radio France.
Muneko Otani, violin
Jennifer Leshnower, violin
Rosemary Nelis, viola
Gwen Krosnick, cello
A legend among American pianists, Ursula Oppens is especially known for his her dedication to the challenging and visionary works of mid-20th century American composers such as Elliot Carter, Conlon Nancarrow, Tania Leon, William Bolcom, Joan Tower, Charles Wuorinen and many more. She has also crossed the aisle into experimental jazz, commissioning works from the likes of Anthony Braxton and local resident Carla Bley.
A four-time Grammy-nominee known for her command of modern piano repertoire, Ms. Oppens is often credited for a direct influence on modern piano composition. Among the most notable of her countless recordings are an early, reputation-establishing performance of Frederic Rzewski’s The People United Will Never Be Defeated and a critically-lauded recording of Elliott Carter’s Night Fantasies. From 1994 until 2008, Oppens was on the summer faculty of the Tanglewood Music Center. She held the position of Distinguished Professor of Music at Northwestern University from 1994 to 2008, and in 2008 went on to take up a new post as Distinguished Professor of Music at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. Oppens is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Tania Leon is highly regarded as a composer, conductor, educator, and advisor to arts organizations. Her orchestral work Stride, commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, was awarded the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Music. In 2022, she was named a recipient of the 45th Annual Kennedy Center Honors for lifetime artistic achievements. In 2023, she was awarded the Michael Ludwig Nemmers Prize in Music Composition from Northwestern University. Most recently, León became the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s next Composer-in-Residence—a post she will hold for two seasons, beginning in September 2023. She will also hold Carnegie Hall’s Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair for its 2023-2024 season.
Mozart: String Quartet No.23 in F Major, K.590
Tania Leon: “Ethos”, for piano and string quartet (2014)
Tania Leon: “going…..gone”, for piano (2012)
Shostakovich: Piano Quintet in G Minor
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Maverick Concerts, the oldest continuous summer chamber music festival in America, is set amid the serene Catskill woodland just outside Woodstock, NY. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the uniquely charming rustic hall has superb acoustics and is the ideal venue for an intimate encounter with chamber music. Maverick presents concerts by internationally renowned classical, jazz, and contemporary music ensembles from July through early September. Maverick Concerts sustains the vision of its founder, Hervey White, who built the historic concert hall in 1916 and opened his land and hospitality to artists, musicians, and the community. Concerts are on Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons. Maverick Family Saturdays, short interactive events designed for kids of all ages, are free and open to everyone on Saturday mornings.
