Newsday, June 2004

New York State's summer music festivals offer concertgoers the chance to escape summer-in-the-city grime and enjoy top-notch performances in verdant settings, often at considerable savings over regular season prices.

Here's a look at three outstanding festivals within 90 minutes or so of Manhattan and, in the accompanying story, a handful of fine events farther upstate. Maps and information on area dining and lodging are available at the festival Web sites listed below.

Bard Music Festival
This brave and brainy festival celebrates one composer every year, presenting his or her music in the context of the literature, visual arts and ideas of its time. Events are held at Bard College in the Frank Gehry-designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, which merits a visit in its own right.

The music festival is part of Bard SummerScape (July 8-Aug. 22), which also offers related film, theater and cabaret events. This year's music festival (Aug. 13-15 and 20-22, with more concerts in November) focuses on the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-75), whose lifetime spanned the Bolshevik Revolution, Stalin's purges and the Cold War. Shostakovich had a sometimes cozy, sometimes tortured relationship with the Soviet state.

His immense output, ranging from chamber and symphonic music to film scores and popular tunes, still excites both wonder and controversy.

Each festival concert explores a particular theme ("The Progressive 1920s," "Music and Politics") and is preceded or followed by a lecture or symposium. Highlights include a Shostakovich-Mussorgsky program with soprano Lauren Skuce, bass Nikita Storojev and force-of-nature contralto Ewa Podles; and a re-creation of a popular music broadcast on Soviet radio of Shostakovich's time.

His opera "The Nose," based on Gogol's famous short story, will be staged by Francesca Zambello (who directed City Opera's "Alcina" last season), with sets by architect Rafael Viñoly. Many concerts feature the American Symphony Orchestra under Leon Botstein, artistic director and president of Bard College.

Bard College is about 100 miles north of Manhattan in Annendale-on-Hudson. Visit www.summerscape.bard.edu or call 845-758-7900.

Caramoor International Music Festival
Held on the lush northern Westchester estate of mid-20th century arts patrons Walter and Lucie Rosen, Caramoor may be the most sybaritic of New York's summer music festivals. Offerings include jazz and cabaret programs, as well as a sumptuous array of classical concerts.

A bel canto series led by Will Crutchfield will present three rarities, semi-staged: Gluck's "Paride ed Elena," the story of star-crossed lovers Helen of Troy and Paris (July 10); Pauline Viardot's enchanting salon operetta, "Cendrillon" ("Cinderella," July 18), and Francesco Conti's Baroque jewel, "Don Quixote in Sierra Morena" (July 23), under guest conductor Juan Carlos Rivas.

Other highlights include world premieres of works by John Harbison (July 1), Jennifer Higdon (July 2), David Horne (July 22) and Krystof Maratka (Aug. 14); Spanish love songs performed by mezzo Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and tenor Joseph Kaiser (July 9); a program of first symphonies by Beethoven, Bernstein and Shostakovich (July 24); and an all-Liszt recital by pianist Russell Sherman (Aug. 8). Family concerts include Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" (July 25).

Caramoor is about 45 miles north of Manhattan in Katonah. Visit www.caramoor.org or call 914-232-1252.

Music Festival of the Hamptons
This multi-venue festival (July 9-30) offers some two dozen jazz, chamber and orchestral concerts and solo recitals, including a world premiere, July 10, for Long Island Rail Road locomotive and orchestra.

Highlights include legendary duo William Bolcom and Joan Morris in a program of songs by Gershwin, Porter, Coward and others (July 19); works by Mendelssohn, Janácek and Debussy played by the Emerson Quartet (July 24), and a closing gala honoring the festival's artistic director, composer and conductor, Lukas Foss (July 30). Family events include a bagpipe concert and demonstration (July 24).

Events are held in Bridgehampton, Sagaponack and East Hampton. Visit www.music festivalofthehamptons.com or call 800-644-4418.