July 25 Concert to Feature Music by Composer in Residence Marcos Balter
Marlboro Music's 75th anniversary season continues on Saturday, July 25 and Sunday, July 26 with the second weekend of concerts and free open rehearsals throughout the week in Persons Auditorium (2472 South Road, Marlboro, VT). Some 26 musicians will take the stage, representing the full spectrum of experienced and emerging musical talent that characterizes all of the collaborations at Marlboro. Weekend performances and open rehearsals will continue through August 16.
Saturday evening's program offers an opportunity to listen deeply to the work of Marlboro’s 2026 Composer in Residence, Marcos Balter. The Brazilian-born composer, whose music has been praised by The Chicago Tribune as "minutely crafted" and "utterly lovely," describes his compositional approach as "resonant humanism": placing human presence, vulnerability, and attentive listening at its center.
Written in 2012, Chambers, for string quartet, is a mesmerizing, three-movement exploration of texture, timbre, and psychoacoustic perception, to be performed by violinists Masha Lakisova and Laurel Gagnon, violist Brian Isaacs, and cellist Jay Campbell (JACK Quartet). Codex Seraphinianus, for flute, clarinet, bassoon, and viola, takes its inspiration from one of the most mysterious books in modern history: an illustrated, surrealist encyclopedia of an imaginary world, published in 1981 by Italian artist Luigi Serafini and written entirely in an invented script that has never been decoded. Fascinated by the book's strange beauty, Balter translated its visual catalog into an equally surreal sonic landscape, celebrating curiosity and interpretive ambiguity over literal meaning. The work will be performed by flutist Hannah Tassler, clarinetist Arthur Stockel, bassoonist Duncan Henry, and violist Beth Guterman Chu (Principal Viola of the St. Louis Symphony).
Saturday's program also includes Beethoven's Clarinet Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 11, performed by Stockel, cellist Nagyeom Jang, and senior pianist Ignat Solzhenitsyn; and Debussy's String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10, performed by violinists Sara Bitlloch (of the Elias Quartet) and Clara Neubauer, violist Sofia Gilchenok, and cellist Laura Navasardian.
Sunday's program opens with Britten's Canticle III: Still falls the Rain, Op. 55—a setting of Edith Sitwell's wartime poem for tenor, horn, and piano—performed by tenor Eric Finbarr Carey, hornist Carys Sutherland, and pianist Lydia Brown. Mozart's Piano Trio in G Major, K. 564, follows, with pianist Solomon Ge, Neubauer, and Campbell. Prokofiev's Quintet, Op. 39, famous for its circus-inspired energy, is performed by oboist Alexander Mayer, clarinetist Jonathan Leibovitz, violinist Joseph Lin (formerly of the Juilliard Quartet), violist Jonathan Chu, and bassist Tobias Vigneau. The program closes with Britten's String Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op. 25, performed by violinists Tiffany Chang and Lakisova, senior violist Hsin-Yun Huang, and cellist Dilshod Narzillaev.
Tickets ($20–$40) are available for Saturday evening’s concert and may be purchased at marlboromusic.org or by calling the Marlboro Box Office at 802-258-9331. Sunday’s performance is sold out; a waiting list is maintained for returned tickets. For more information, contact the Marlboro reception desk at 802-254-2394 or [email protected].
Throughout the week, audiences are invited to enjoy free open rehearsals in Persons Auditorium. Schedules are announced at the beginning of each week and include many of the works to be performed on the following weekend’s concerts. Admission is free, and no tickets or advance signup are needed. Please note: rehearsal schedules are subject to change.
Saturday, July 25 at 8 pm
Beethoven: Clarinet Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 11
Arthur Stockel, clarinet; Nagyeom Jang, cello; Ignat Solzhenitsyn, piano
Balter: Chambers
Masha Lakisova & Laurel Gagnon, violin; Brian Isaacs, viola; Jay Campbell, cello
Balter: Codex Seraphinianus
Hannah Tassler, flute; Arthur Stockel, clarinet; Duncan Henry, bassoon; Beth Guterman Chu, viola
Debussy: String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10
Sara Bitlloch & Clara Neubauer, violin; Sofia Gilchenok, viola; Laura Navasardian, cello
Sunday, July 26 at 2:30 pm
Britten: Canticle III: Still falls the Rain, Op. 55
Eric Finbarr Carey, tenor; Carys Sutherland, horn; Lydia Brown, piano
Mozart: Piano Trio in G Major, K. 564
Solomon Ge, piano; Clara Neubauer, violin; Jay Campbell, cello
Prokofiev: Quintet, Op. 39
Alexander Mayer, oboe; Jonathan Leibovitz, clarinet; Joseph Lin, violin; Jonathan Chu, viola; Tobias Vigneau, double bass
Britten: String Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op. 25
Tiffany Chang & Masha Lakisova, violin; Hsin-Yun Huang, viola; Dilshod Narzillaev, cello
About Marlboro Music
For 75 years, Marlboro Music has been a place like no other—an idealistic experiment where extraordinary musicians gather to explore music in depth, across generations, in a spirit of discovery and collaboration.
Founded in 1951 in the aftermath of World War II, Marlboro was built on a radical belief: that listening, trust, and artistic integrity could help heal a fractured world. Rejecting competition and display, it would offer something increasingly rare—time. Time to rehearse deeply. Time to question assumptions. Time to listen—to the music and to one another.
More than a school or festival, Marlboro is a living community and a set of values, renewed each summer in pursuit not of self-expression, but of revelation. From the hills of southern Vermont, it has shaped generations of artists who now serve as principal players, soloists, chamber musicians, educators, and artistic leaders, carrying its values into concert halls, classrooms, and communities worldwide.
Since the Guarneri String Quartet formed at Marlboro in 1964, former participants have formed or joined many outstanding ensembles, including the Borromeo, Brentano, Cleveland, Daedalus, Dover, Emerson, Juilliard, Mendelssohn, Orion, St. Lawrence, Takács, Tokyo, and Vermeer Quartets; the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; and many more prominent groups. Marlboro artists have also expanded the art form in innovative ensembles such as Brooklyn Rider, Decoda, the East Coast Chamber Orchestra, the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, TASHI, Windscape, and the Aizuri, Catalyst, JACK, and Momenta Quartets. Others are now principal chair members of leading symphonic and opera orchestras worldwide; are among today’s most sought-after recording and solo artists; or are acclaimed teachers at prominent conservatories and universities. Some have made vital contributions, through music, in promoting racial, economic, and social justice.
Founded by the eminent pianist Rudolf Serkin and co-founders Adolf and Hermann Busch and Marcel, Blanche, and Louis Moyse, Marlboro continues to thrive today under the leadership of Mitsuko Uchida and Jonathan Biss. In today's frenetic musical landscape, with ever-increasing financial and commercial pressures, Marlboro’s founding goals remain essential: that musicians have the freedom, time, and conditions to explore music in great depth; to learn together as equals; and to share new ideas and discoveries.
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