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Fifth House Ensemble returns for Summer Music Festival
The Greencastle Summer Music Festival continues Wednesday, July 12 at 7:30 p.m. in Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church with a performance by the Fifth House Ensemble (5HE).
On Wednesday’s concert, the Fifth House Ensemble is going to trace an arc of modern and contemporary classical music with masters and innovators such as Shostakovich, Bohuslav Martinů, George Crumb and Dan Visconti.
The musical program will include George Crumb’s Vox Balaenae and Soundings by 5HE’s Director of Artistic Programming Dan Visconti, featuring seven short movements that alternate between ensemble pieces and cadenzas, incorporating auxiliary offbeat noisemakers including rubber balloons, tuning pegs and ping-pong balls.
The festival’s free concerts are made possible by donations from individuals and businesses, including the festival’s main sponsor, the Inn at DePauw, as well as an endowment at the Putnam County Community Foundation.
The Greencastle Summer Music Festival’s founder, DePauw University School of Music cello professor and Eric Edberg will also be joining 5HE on stage for a transcription of two movements from Shostakovich’s “Five Pieces for Two Violins and Piano” and Bohuslav Martin’s “Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano.”
“It is a thrill to have members of Fifth House Ensemble back with us,” Edberg said, “and I’m very excited to make music with them. This is going to be a fun and adventurous event.”
Praised by The New York Times for its “conviction, authority and finesse,” Fifth House Ensemble takes its name from the astrological house of pleasure and the arts.
Recent seasons have seen Fifth House Ensemble at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival and Museum of Contemporary Art, New York’s Miller Theater and Texas Performing Arts. The ensemble has performed and premiered works by contemporary composers including Stacy Garrop, Caleb Burhans, Mason Bates and John Zorn.
The ensemble’s intrepid pursuit of music as a catalyst for community building has led to partnerships with Loyola University’s Center for Urban Research and Learning, residencies for at-risk youth and adults at Deborah’s Place, Teen Living Programs and Nancy B. Jefferson Alternative School at the Chicago Temporary Youth Detention Center, and performance projects with workers’ rights groups.
The ensemble also engages in curriculum design and emerging artist training with the Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Institute of Music and Eastman School of Music, among others. More information is available at www.fifth-house.com.