The Windham Chamber Music Festival’s 17th anniversary season continues with the ever-popular standing-room-only Annual Gala Orchestra Concert on Saturday, July 19th at 8 pm. Robert Manno will conduct the Windham Festival Chamber Orchestra, featuring the acclaimed cellist Zuill Bailey and Metropolitan Opera baritone Christopher Feigum. The program includes selections from Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Schumann, Bartók, Mascagni and Manno – from his recently completed opera on the last days of Dylan Thomas, “Do Not Go Gentle.”
Zuill Bailey’s rare combination of compelling artistry, technical finesse, and engaging personality has secured his place as one of the most sought-after cellists today. Praised for his “virtuoso technique, strong, richly expressive tone and bold, individual manner of playing” (Gramophone Magazine), he has performed with the orchestras of Chicago, San Francisco, Minnesota, Dallas, Toronto and others as well as with prominent orchestras world-wide. His international appearances include celebrated performances with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra in its 50th anniversary tour of Russia, the Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall, and Carnegie Hall, where he made his debut with the U.S. premiere of Miklos Theodorakis’ Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra. Zuill Bailey performs on a 1693 Matteo Gofriller Cello, formerly owned by Mischa Schneider of the Budapest String Quartet
Christopher Feigum has been praised for his dynamic stage presence and elegant musicianship with America’s leading opera companies and orchestras. Critic John von Rhein in Opera Now praised his “mellifluously sung, elegantly acted Figaro . . . the quality of his voice and singing is matched by his amiably confident platform manner.”