When eminent conductor Lorin Maazel passed away suddenly at Castleton Farms last July, many wondered what might happen to the fledgling music festival that he founded on his Virginia estate in 2009. Would the Castleton Festival go on without its most ardent and illustrious advocate?
It is gratifying, then, to see Dietlinde Turban Maazel's announcement about the festival's upcoming 2015 summer season, taking place July 2 - August 2, 2015. Turban Maazel, wife of the late conductor and an award-winning actress, was recently named the festival's artistic and executive director.
The 2015 season will showcase Castleton's rising stars alongside world-renowned artists in new productions of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, Ravel's L'heure espagnole (The Spanish Hour), a world premiere of Derrick Wang's comic opera Scalia/Ginsburg and a Castleton production of Thornton Wilder's classic play Our Town.
As previously announced, Jazz at Lincoln Center, in conjunction with JALC founder Wynton Marsalis, is hosting a summer Jazz Academy residency for high school musicians, who will present four concerts at Castleton from July 19-August 2. The residency will culminate with a performance by Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.
Tickets for the 2015 festival will go on sale on January 5 at castletonfestival.org.
It had been the wish of the late Maestro Maazel to welcome Fabio Luisi, principal conductor of the Metropolitan Opera, as a conductor at Castleton, and the Festival will present Maestro Luisi as guest conductor on July 19 this coming season.
Two of Maestro Maazel's protégés will also join the conducting roster for next season: Salvatore Percacciolo, who was part of Castleton's Conductors' Seminar in 2014 and successfully took over Don Giovanni from Mr. Maazel in 2014, and Rafael Payare (winner of the 2012 Malko Competition) whom Castleton has named Principal Conductor.
"My husband invested his energy, love and resources into the Castleton Festival in order to create a forum, a national resource center for young performers who would ensure that classical music survives, and that new audiences are found and energized," Turban Maazel said in a statement released by the festival. "His baton is truly 'passed on' now to two extraordinary young conductors--talent my husband had identified and mentored--assuring the highest standard of music making. I am also deeply grateful that Maestro Luisi will conduct our concert on July 19."
Scalia/Ginsburg, a new American opera by Derrick Wang about U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia, will have its world premiere production on July 11 at the Castleton Festival in Virginia.
"I am excited to work with the Castleton Festival on the world premiere production of Scalia/Ginsburg," said Derrick Wang, the opera's composer and librettist. "Castleton embodies Maestro Lorin Maazel's dedication to new work, young artists, and the transformative power of opera. It is a great honor to take part in his musical legacy."
In the plot of this comic opera, Justices Ginsburg and Scalia must pass through three cosmic trials to secure their freedom. The catch: they have to agree on the Constitution. The law's leading players will go toe-to-toe and trill-to-trill in a parody of operatic proportions, in which opinions will be offered, dissents will be delivered and justice will be sung.
Scalia/Ginsburg began its journey in a presentation at the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2013, and since then, excerpts from the opera have been presented in concert by musical and legal organizations. One such concert presentation was at the Castleton Festival in June 2014, where selections from Scalia/Ginsburg were enthusiastically received as part of Justice Ginsburg's sold-out "Law in Opera" presentation. This presentation inspired the Castleton Festival to commission the world premiere production of Scalia/Ginsburg.
In addition to conductors Luisi, Payare, and Percacciolo, the 2015 roster of new and returning artists includes Tyler Nelson, Kate Allen, directors Maria Tucci and Dorothy Danner, and newly appointed Director of Castleton Artists Training Seminar (CATS) Stanford Olsen.
