Arts

[email protected] returns this week for its 17th season with the theme Incredible Decades, revealing music’s extraordinary evolution in seven specific chapters, each a program dedicated to an especially rich and eventful decade.

The Incredible Decades festival will explore the ascent of J. S. Bach to the commanding throne of the Baroque era; the propulsive career that made Beethoven, during his lifetime, the world’s most famous musician; the artistic maelstrom of the Roaring Twenties; the brilliant mosaic of diverse musical voices that illuminated the twentieth century’s final decade; and much more.

Running from July 12 to August 3, the festival presents over 50 events on [email protected]’s three stages in Atherton and Menlo Park, California, including performances by many of the world’s most renowned artists and ensembles.

Over the course of 23 days, the Bay Area festival presents wide-ranging musical and educational offerings that will chart the course of Western classical music through seven of the most prolific and exciting decades in its rich history, including:

• Seven main-stage Concert Programs, featuring works that offer audiences opportunities to explore, savor, and be immersed in the festival’s theme

• Four artist-curated Carte Blanche Concerts, intimate recital programs that showcase the stunning virtuosity and imaginative programming of select festival artists

• Four Encounters—the festival’s signature series of multimedia symposia presented by the world’s leading musicologists, historians, composers, and musical experts—offer audiences immersive journeys through the festival’s seven Incredible Decades

• An Overture Concert that features world-renowned, seasoned festival artists sharing their knowledge and traditions with the up-and-coming International Program musicians in an exhilarating collaboration

• Fifteen free performances by the gifted young artists of [email protected]’s Chamber Music Institute

• Café Conversations—a unique forum for discussions on topics related to music and the arts—led by select festival artists and guests to showcase their wide-ranging expertise and imagination and to provide further insights into their remarkable careers and musical experiences

• A stellar lineup of master classes led by renowned festival artists, also free and open to the public

Founded by David Finckel and Wu Han, the mission of [email protected] is to engage and sustain an audience for chamber music, programmed, presented, and performed at the highest level of artistic excellence, and to provide deserving young musicians with comprehensive, festival-based educational opportunities.

Performances take place at Stent Family Hall and Martin Family Hall on the Menlo School campus (50 Valparaiso Ave., Atherton) and The Center for Performing Arts at Menlo-Atherton High School (555 Middlefield Rd. Atherton). Tickets and detailed information are available online.

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