May, 2004
The notion of noise at a place like The MacDowell Colony, the leading artist colony in America, seems contradictory. The 450 acres of woodland its studios dot produce little more than birdsong and breeze. But inside those studios, some of the most memorable sounds ever heard have been created. From Edward MacDowell's To A Wild Rose, Leonard Bernstein's Mass and Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring to the more contemporary pieces of Meredith Monk and Ned Rorem, MacDowell has been, in fact, a noisy place.

The Colony, which will be 100 in 2007, has had major resonance in all the artistic disciplines it supports. Writers, filmmakers, architects, visual and interdisciplinary artists have all ventured to Peterborough, New Hampshire to spend weeks creating, honing, and finishing works that have gone on to win worldwide recognition. On May 15th, at 8 pm at the Emmanuel Church on Newbury Street, MacDowell's long advocacy for composers and their craft finds the proper program with the Cambridge Madrigal Singers. Headed by Raymond Fahrner, a MacDowell composer himself, the group has put together an eclectic and dynamic look at the Colony through the century. Edward MacDowell, in whose memory his wife, Marian, founded the Colony, is on the program of course, and so is Rorem, Bernstein, and Monk, but there are also many other names. Names such as Louise Talma, as well as Bostonian Amy Beach, Eugene Borishansky, and Pulitzer Prize-winner Virgil Thomson.

“There was no other time in my life,” says Fahrner, “where I had lots of space and the kind of stimulation I had at MacDowell. I've titled the program Sacred Ground for a reason.” Fahrner says the idea for Sacred Ground: A Tribute to the MacDowell Colony and Its Composers came to him when he thought about how he could give back to the place that gave him a “benchmark experience.”

“The kind of working environment at MacDowell is hard to find. The stimulation of other artists on one's own artistry should not be underestimated; I don't have that kind of stimulation in my everyday life.” Like the more than 850 composers he considered for the program and the ones he ultimately chose, Fahrner was an artist in desperate need of time and space, the twin luxuries of the Colony. He says he has spent his artistic career since trying to get back to that “head space.”

It's a sentiment echoed often when artists leave the environs that have nurtured them with studios that are simultaneously spacious and intimate, three meals a day, and of course, the quiet. Aaron Copland, who enjoyed eight residencies at the Colony, said, “A place in America where the artist can really work is the simple idea behind The MacDowell Colony. That idea carried through magnificently has resulted in a unique contribution to the cultural life of America.”

As for The Cambridge Madrigal Singers, Fahrner says they are excited to take on the music that defines a century of creative output. He also mentions that he's circulated the program to other conductors and they're all astonished at the challenging spectrum. But with a second CD coming out in May and two European tours under their belts, The Singers were not only ready but willing to make a lot of noise for a place whose praise has not been sung enough.

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