Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, the distinguished performance venue located on 153 sylvan acres in Tivoli, opens the spring season with two musical events, collectively called “An April Music Fête.” On Sunday, April 15 at 4 p.m., internationally renowned pianist Babette Hierholzer will perform Shostakovich’s Concerto No. 1, Opus 35 for piano, trumpet and string orchestra with the Northern Dutchess Symphony Orchestra under the baton of music director Kathleen Beckmann. Titled “A Celebration of Chamber Orchestra Music,” the concert will also include a performance of Gabriel Fauré’s Pavane in F sharp minor, Op. 50 as well as selections from Copland, Bartók and Wagner. Tickets cost $25 general admission, $10 for children and student rush.
All those names are pretty familiar, with the possible exception of Fauré. Explained Kaatsbaan program coordinator Prudence Garcia-Renart: “When I was a student at Bard, I discovered the songs of Gabriel Fauré and have loved them ever since. Why? When I discovered Fauré, it was akin to finding a new language: one that was immediately accessible, but subtly guided the ear to surprising and unfamiliar places.”
The Pavane in F-sharp minor, Op. 50 was written in 1886 for piano and later orchestrated, Garcia-Renart explained. The work was dedicated to the countess Elizabeth Greffulhe, a noted Parisian patroness of the arts, who was influential in establishing the career of James Whistler and Auguste Rodin and was a patroness of Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes. Garcia-Renart will give a preconcert talk at 3:30 p.m. explaining more about the Pavane, which derived from 16th-century court dance, and Fauré.
The following Friday, April 20 at 7:30 p.m., cabaret artist Adrienne Haan returns from Berlin to perform her program “Till the End of Time: Classic Songs of the Great American Songbook.” Haan’s swinging act will be accompanied by a four-piece band. Tickets cost $35 for seats at a café table and $25 general admission. For information and reservations, call (845) 757-5106, extension 10, e-mail thkaats@bestweb.net or visit ndsorchestra.org/kaatsbaantix.htm.