Bard College Presents the Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle's 60th Anniversary Celebration Honoring the Memory of Margaret Creal Shafer

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—Bard College presents The Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle (HVCMC) celebrating its 60th anniversary with a benefit concert honoring the memory of Margaret Creal Shafer on Saturday, October 2. A musical program performed by Jaime Laredo, violin; Sharon Robinson, cello; and Joan Tower, piano, takes place at 4 p.m., at Bard’s Chapel of the Holy Innocents. A reception at Blithewood will follow. Tickets are $85 per person. For more information call 845-339-7907, or send an e-mail to [email protected].

For many years, the Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle was led by Margaret Creal Shafer, a beloved member of the Bard community. Shafer presided over the June concert series for more than 30 years, until her last season in 2000. The HVCMC is pleased to honor her legacy with a special event on the occasion of its 60th anniversary.

The program includes a talk by Alison Lankenau, president of the Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle. Tara Shafer, granddaughter of Margaret Shafer and HVCMC board member, will share a remembrance of her grandmother. The musical program includes performances of Handel-Halvorsen’s Passacaglia for Violin and Cello; Joan Tower’s Très Lent (Hommage à Messiaen) for Cello and Piano; and Duo, Opus 7, for Violin & Cello, by Zoltán Kodály. Bard College president Leon Botstein will present closing remarks.

The Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle celebrates its 60th year of concerts, which began in Helen Huntington Hull’s living room in Staatsburg with the assistance of Emil Hauser, original first violinist of the Budapest Quartet and then a member of the Bard faculty. The Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle has continued in ever-larger venues on the Bard campus since 1979. The series has been presented in Olin Hall since 1988 and is known for its excellence and creativity.

While the Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle continues the series of outstanding concerts every June, it also gives two annual awards of $1,000 each to distinguished Bard students, one for performance and one for composition. HVCMC regularly holds free concerts for families to encourage a young audience, and commissions original works from leading American composers. These are all projects that had special meaning to Margaret Shafer, and HVCMC is proud to support them in her memory.
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9/24/10

This event was last updated on 09-24-2010

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