MMF Celebrates Beethoven’s 250th Birthday and 100th Anniversary of Women’s Right to Vote

The Manchester Music Festival has announced its upcoming 46th season at the Southern Vermont Arts Center will be dedicated to a “thrilling celebration” of two momentous events that will be honored around the world:  Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th birthday and the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment which gave American women the right to vote. 

Adam Neiman, MMF’s artistic director, said he is looking forward to a historic season of exciting performances.  “Our upcoming season will feature a glittering lineup of world-class musicians who will perform a series of chamber music delights including musical bon-bons that celebrate Beethoven and works by prominent female composers,” he said in a recent interview. 

Among the award-winning musical celebrities on stage this summer will be Ani Kavafian, a classical violinist and professor at the Yale School of Music; the Miró Quartet, an internationally-performing classical string quartet; Evelyne Brancart, a Belgian-born pianist and former Eastman School of Music faculty member; and Nicholas Daniel, an acclaimed British oboist and conductor who is also the artistic director of the Leicester International Music Festival.  Neiman said the Festival would also be welcoming back such audience favorites as cellist Amit Peled, violinist Axel Strauss, and Maestro Michael Stern.  

“Each concert will feature a piece by Beethoven and a piece by a female composer,” Neiman said.   One of the more notable Beethoven compositions is the Quintet in E-flat Major for Winds and Piano, Op. 16.  “This is Beethoven at his most optimistic and lighthearted, with an infectious spirit of joy through the piece,” he said.

Compositions by female composers will include Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17 and Amy Beach’s Piano Quintet in F-sharp minor Op. 67.  One of Beach’s symphonies was premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1896.  “These are not merely good compositions by women composers, but truly great compositions, period,” Neiman said.  “Clara Schumann was touted by Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann as the finest pianist of the 19th century.”  

The 2020 season begins July 9 and ends August 8, 2020.  The season includes seven Festival concerts at the Southern Vermont Arts Center, four young artists concerts, four free recitals, and eight masterclasses.  

Concert-goers can receive a substantial discount and first choice of seats by purchasing MMF subscriptions during the pre-buy period which ends on December 31st. Detailed concert program information and pre-buy subscriptions are now available on the Festival’s website at www.mmfvt.org or by calling 802-362-1956.