Returning after a highly successful inaugural year, Music@Menlo opens its second season on the San Francisco Peninsula July 29 - August 15, 2004. Greeted by overwhelming popular and critical acclaim in 2003, Music@Menlo continues to forge new inroads for chamber music in the heart of Silicon Valley. Situated at the epicenter of the Internet revolution, Music@Menlo captures the region’s spirit of exploration and innovation by reinventing the concept of the chamber music festival. With the determination to rejuvenate and transform the classical music experience, this coming season explores the languages of five definitive musical cultures: Italy, Vienna, France, Eastern Europe, and Russia. The programs offer sonic immersions into these diverse cultural environments, highlighted by vocal music sung in the composers’ native tongues.

American Public Media
In January of 2004, American Public Media produced four one-hour chamber music programs from the superb inaugural season of the Music@Menlo music festival. These four programs showcase highlights from last summer's chamber-music celebration that embraced students, an eager audience, and an A-list of performers from around the world. American Public Media was on-site for the run of the festival and recorded all the performances. A new series of produced shows from this summer's events is planned for early 2005.

Music@Menlo Founders
Music@Menlo Founders and Artistic Directors David Finckel and Wu Han are two of today’s most esteemed and influential classical musicians. Their appearances currently take them to the world’s most prestigious concert series and festivals as soloists, as a duo, and in David’s case, as a member of the Emerson String Quartet. In addition, they are the creators of classical music’s first musician-directed and Internet-based recording label, ArtistLed, a trend-setting industry innovation which released its seventh and eighth CDs this spring. David Finckel and Wu Han are passionate advocates of classical music access and education for listeners and performers of all ages, participating in distinguished international master classes, creating educational tools such as AudioNotes, and sharing their inspired musical perspectives with audiences from the concert stage.

Brian Newhouse
The program's host, Peabody Award-winner Brian Newhouse, enhances the enjoyment of classical music by sharing his artistic insight, the background of the works performed, and interviews with conductors, guest artists and composers. A musician himself, Newhouse holds degrees in voice and English, has been a soloist with the Minnesota-based Dale Warland Singers and was an Artist-in-Residence at the Oregon Bach Festival. Newhouse was also a founding producer for the award-winning public radio program, Speaking of Faith.

Engineer
Grammy Award-winning recording producer Da-Hong Seetoo returns to Music@Menlo this season to record the festival concerts. A Curtis Institute and Juilliard School-trained violinist, Da-Hong Seetoo has emerged as one of a handful of elite audio engineers, using his own custom-designed microphones, monitor speakers, and computer software. His recent recording clients include the Tokyo String Quartet, pianist Daniel Barenboim (for Mr. Barenboim’s recent performance of the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas at Carnegie Hall), and the Emerson String Quartet.

2004 Performers
Jorja Fleezanis, violinist and Concertmaster, Minnesota Orchestra; Ani Kavafian, violinist, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center; Elmar Oliveira, violinist; Philip Setzer, violinist, Emerson String Quartet; Ian Swensen, violinist; Sophie Arbuckle, violinist and festival Chamber Music Workshop co-director; Arik Braude, violinist and festival Chamber Music Workshop co-director; Hsin-Yun Huang, violist; Cynthia Phelps, Principal Violist, New York Philharmonic; Geraldine Walther, Principal Violist, San Francisco Symphony; Colin Carr, cellist, Sequenza; Ronald Thomas, cellist; Wendy Warner, cellist; Peter Wyrick, Associate Principle Cellist, San Francisco Symphony; Charles Chandler, bassist, San Francisco Symphony; distinguished pianists Jeffrey Kahane, Gilbert Kalish and Derek Han; and leading Baroque harpsichordist Kenneth Cooper. Singers will include sopranos, Dina Kuznetsova and Josephine Mongiardo; mezzo-soprano Milagro Vargas; and the young, emerging baritone Nathaniel Webster. Distinguished wind soloists also join the festival: acclaimed flutist Carol Wincenc; Anthony McGill, Associate Principal Clarinetist, Cincinnati Symphony; Allan Vogel, Principal Oboist, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; Dennis Godburn, bassoon; James Rodseth, trumpet; and David Washburn, Principal Trumpet, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.