Yaddo Centennial
A Century Of Creativity In America

Since its founding nearly 100 years ago, creative artists have come to Yaddo to work, and the work they have done at Yaddo has been extraordinary. To celebrate this century of creativity, the artists' community in Saratoga Springs, New York, will join with other distinguished cultural organizations to present a festival of the creative arts in New York City and the Saratoga region from May to August 2000.

The festival will consist of concerts, readings, art exhibitions, symposia, open studios, and other notable public events featuring works by artists who have been to Yaddo. Participating institutions in New York City include Art in General, The New York Public Library, The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Poets House, Symphony Space, and Thread Waxing Space.

The inaugural event will be a recital at Alice Tully Hall on May 4th by the acclaimed young pianist Stephen Hough, including premieres of works written for the occasion by David Del Tredici and Lowell Liebermann, along with Piano Variations by Aaron Copland and Ghost Variations by George Tsontakis, both composed largely at Yaddo. Four new works will be premiered in a three-concert series offered by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra May 7, 11, and 13, including Daron Hagen's Angels, an orchestral piece scored for 17 solo string players that was partially written at Yaddo during the summer of 1999. In The Bartos Forum of The New York Public Library, a panel about creativity at Yaddo will feature such Yaddo artists as Allan Gurganus, Ann Lauterbach, Martin Puryear, Ned Rorem, and Robert Storr. An exhibition at Art in General will feature works by artists who have visited in the past decade paired with illuminating comments about them by writers who have also been to Yaddo.

A highlight in Saratoga Springs will be the premiere of a violin concerto by Richard Danielpour, another Yaddo composer, commissioned by The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center to honor the centennials of both Yaddo and the Orchestra. Other participating institutions in the region include The Hyde Collection, The Saratoga County Arts Council, and Skidmore College.

Yaddo's founding in 1900 by the financier Spencer Trask and his wife Katrina was a marvelous and courageous act of American idealistic philanthropy. The festival in 2000 will honor their generosity and vision, the work of the artists it has nourished, and the creative vigor of the arts in America today.

You can check the full festival schedule here: Festival Schedule

 

Contact:

Lesley Leduc

Public Affairs Coordinator

Telephone: (518) 584-0746 Fax: (518) 584-1312 E-mail: lleduc@yaddo.org