BOWDOIN — On Friday, July 31, the Bowdoin International Music Festival will present composer George Crumb’s “Sun and Shadow (Spanish Songbook II),” based on the poems of Federico Garcia Lorca.
A veteran of many summers at the Bowdoin Festival, Crumb has received numerous grants and awards from national and international foundations, including a Pulitzer Prize in Music in 1968 and a Grammy in 2001.
Crumb’s music is known for its striking originality, explorations of unusual timbers and theatricality.
Featured at the July 31 performance will be Crumb’s daughter, soprano Ann Crumb, and pianist Peter Basquin.
Virtuoso guitarist Ricard Iznaloa will open the concert with a solo performance of four Spanish vignettes composed by Isaac Albeniz.
The evening’s entertainment will close with Franz Schubert’s Piano Trio No. 2 in E Flat Major, D. 929. Edward Auer returns to the festival on piano, accompanied by Dennis Kim, violin, and Amir Eldan, cello.
Crumb has appeared as a guest composer at the Bowdoin International Music Festival more than 20 times since 1966, when the festival commissioned and premiered his “Eleven Echoes of Autumn.” In the intervening years, the festival has presented many of his most important chamber works and piano music, including “Night of the Four Moons,” “Ancient Voices of Children,” “Vox Balaenae (Voice of the Whale),” “Makrokosmos I and II” and “Eine Kleine Mitternacht Musik.” Crumb is the focus of the BIMF’s Gamper Festival of Contemporary Music and all but “Ancient Voices of Children” will be presented again at concerts July 29-Aug. 2.
Bowdoin festival concerts run through Aug. 7. Ticketed performances are $25 to $35 for adults. Artists of Tomorrow concerts, master classes and other events are presented free of charge. For an up-to-date schedule and ticket information, visit www.bowdoinfestival.org or call 725-3895.


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