Getting to Know Bargemusic
This week in the “Getting to Know You” blog series, we are featuring an interview between LMP’s Alexi Caruso and the Artistic Director of Bargemusic, Mark Peskanov.
Bargemusic’s website can be found at https://www.bargemusic.org/
By: Alexi Caruso in conjunction with Anna Smith
The interview began with questions about Bargemusic’s favorite performances, their audience, and their ambitions for growing in the NYC area.
Can you give us an example of a performance that you thought was particularly meaningful at Bargemusic? Why do you think it resonated with you and/or your audience that way?
“Our regular Music in Motion Admission Free concerts are a tradition that goes back over many years. At a recent concert, two 9-year-old children of unrelated musicians who themselves played at the Barge for the first time when they were teenagers, joined forces to play 5 minutes of music for the delighted audience before the scheduled performance of trios by Mendelssohn and Beethoven. This event was special in so many ways: the fathers of the two children had been invited almost 30 years ago to their first performances at Bargemusic and they continued to perform there as they developed their careers; the children have begun their own chamber playing; the generations were together on stage; audiences could just walk into a unique floating concert hall in New York City, with no financial barrier; the young musicians experienced an audience that warmly supported their performance. And then both young performers and the Admission Free audience members got treated to some really great music in the hands of world class artists. Anything can happen, musically speaking, on the Barge!”
What are some of the ways that you’d like to see your music scene in NYC grow?
“We would like to see many more venues in NYC that would present concerts year-round to give many opportunities for musicians to express themselves artistically and develop. We hope for people to have enough passion and commitment to create new venues and new series for live performances around the city and in every borough and to sustain these efforts.”
Bargemusic has clearly developed such a loyal following for their concert series. In which ways are you excited to see their work grow this year?
“Every concert being presented at Bargemusic this season is uniquely exciting. Older music played in fresh new interpretations, new music, and performers from all corners of the chamber music world are at the core of what Bargemusic is presenting this year. In September Artistic Director Mark Peskanov collaborated with the Harlem Chamber Players, and for the first time with pianist Sara Davis Buechner in a survey of the complete Beethoven piano and violin sonatas. In September Bargemusic presented its Labor Day Here and Now Festival of new music featuring cellist Thomas Mesa and pianist Zhenni Li. October featured: Grammy winner Pablo Ziegler and his Radiotango Chamber Quartet, the Complete Beethoven sonatas for cello and piano with Julian Schwarz and Marika Bournaki; the Chen Family Quartet; a celebration of the American Quartet’s 50th anniversary, and Semplice Players with Alexander Fiterstein, all within a few days of each other. In November, Bargemusic collaborates with Tania Leon’s Composers Now in “Dialogue,” presenting underrepresented composers’ works. The young winners of the BMTG competition will be performing new works of living composers. The Patricia Robinson Studio presents a concert celebration of African and Latino music. Thomas Piercy: Tokyo to New York presents premieres of works by Japanese and New York composers. In December Bargemusic will collaborate in concert with FMDG School of music for the visually impaired; and present the all female Cassatt Quartet; legendary pianists Jerome Lowenthal and Ursula Oppens; Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve all-Bach concerts; and Bargemusic’s Winter Festival of new music featuring premieres by Blair McMillan and friends as well as Dall’Ombra Ensemble, an all women ensemble performing premieres by New York women composers. The final day of the Winter Festival features pianist Lisa Moore Crux in a new duo with Lloyd Van’t Hoff.”
If you had to choose one word to describe Bargemusic, what would that word be?
“Opportunity: Bargemusic makes it its business to present many concerts throughout the year. Over the years it has given and continues to give opportunities to gifted performers at all stages of development. Because Bargemusic’s series are critically acclaimed in New York and around the world, performers have a unique opportunity to be heard. Bargemusic was created to give those kinds of opportunities and has presented hundreds of artists in thousands of concerts in its almost half century moored by the Brooklyn Bridge. Bargemusic has great impact on those musicians, many of whom return to the Barge and many of whom have become household names around the world.”
How has Bargemusic’s relationship with LMP changed over the years?
“It’s been nice to see LMP list Bargemusic concerts. We repost those listings on our social media and hope they become an important way of promoting musical events. We are very happy that LMP has the passion and commitment to become such an important resource for information about live music concerts.”
We’re really passionate at LMP about a culture of resource sharing to help uplift entire music communities. Are there any benefits you’ve experienced by having a strong relationship with LMP?
“When we post LMP listings on social media, we are pleased to see they get positive reactions, as people show that they care and like the posts.”
LMP’s Concert Calendar for the NYC area can be accessed at https://www.livemusicproject.org/events/?include=&near=new-york-ny
