Artistic Director Jeffrey Kahane has once again gathered together a roster of extraordinary artists for the sixth season of the Green Music Festival at Sonoma State University. The program this season celebrates the patriotic glories of the Fourth of July, the electric virtuosity of chamber music, and the infectious rhythms of jazz piano.
Cuban jazz keyboard virtuoso Gonzalo Rubalcaba and renowned jazz pianist Fred Hersch are featured this season in a series of dazzling piano performances. A group of chamber musicians unmatched in expertise and quality also offer four concerts in a week of inspired programs of expressive artistry and an electrically charged intimacy.
Staged during July in a beautiful wine country setting by the lakes on the Rohnert Park campus, the program will allow Festival goers to witness the groundbreaking activity of the new Donald and Maureen Green Music Center. The Center is expected to open by 2008 with a world class concert hall, conference and educational facility.
INDEPENDENCE DAY ON THE GREEN: STARS AND STRIPES AND SPLENDOR, 4 to 10 p.m., Monday, July 4, Campus Lawn --The Green Music Festival is delighted to welcome back conductor Jeff Tyzik to lead the Santa Rosa Symphony in a rousing Fourth of July celebration. Patriotic favorites, familiar tunes, and light classics are the theme for the day. Along with the concert by the Santa Rosa Symphony, enjoy fine art and wine, wonderful food, roving musicians, a children's play area and the region's most sensational fireworks. It all makes the Green Music Festival's Fourth of July event the ultimate Sonoma County patriotic experience. Tickets, $10-$55.
CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES, July 8-14, Evert B. Person Theatre -- Holding to his stellar reputation for imaginative programming and inspired musical "casting" that lifts the rooftop with the brilliant intensity of the performances, Jeffrey Kahane has assembled an illustrious line-up of the best musicians on the chamber music scene. Musicians in this year's festival include the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Lindsay Deutsch, Chee-Yun, Aloysia Friedmann, Nokuthula Ngwenyama, Alisa Weilerstein, Peter Wyrick, Stephen Tramontozzi, and Jon Kimura Parker. Kahane and Parker will perform a piano duo on July 12 featuring works by Gershwin, Rachmaninoff and Schubert. Tickets, $12-$35.
PIANO SERIES, July 17, 23, 30, Evert B. Person Theatre -- Pianos are a poppin' for two weeks in July as three gifted musicians take audiences on an exhilarating musical journey. From Jeffrey Kahane's inspired playing of Bach's "Goldberg" Variations to Fred Hersch's stylish jazz to the virtuosic brilliance of Gonzalo Rubalcaba, audiences will be thrilled by what unfolds before them on the eighty-eights. Tickets, $12-$35.
THE MARRIAGE OF ART & MUSIC: An Exhibit of Visual Arts Masterpieces --Masterworks Fine Art Institute presents The Marriage of Art & Music, a fine art exhibition running throughout the Festival, consists of works spanning 450 years of art history, from Rembrandt to contemporary art. Free.
GREENFARMFEST: Youth Performance Weekend, July 23, 24 -- Two days of performances cap the Greenfarm summer season of arts + education programs for youth. Don't miss the region's most promising young artists as they experience the joy of creative expression. Free.
All events take place at the Sonoma State University campus at 1801 E. Cotati Ave. in Rohnert Park, approximately 40 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge.
HOW TO ORDER TICKETS
To order by phone, call toll free (877) SSU-FEST. The box office is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. To order via the Internet, visit www.cityboxoffice.com or www.tickets.com.
Tickets may also be purchased in person Mondays through Fridays, 9:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m., at City Box Office, 180 Redwood St., Suite 100, San Francisco. All ticket orders received less than seven days prior to the performance will be held at Will Call for pick up on the day of the event.
For group sales, contact Linda Graham at (415) 346-7805.
