Burnett Thompson at Castleton Theatre

Complete Article

A note from Burnett Thompson: "On June 7 and June 21, 1997, a remarkable phenomenon was launched in the foothills of the Shenandoah mountains. Conceived by Maestro Lorin Maazel and his wife Dietlinde, Castleton Theatre and the Chateauville Foundation began it's life as an educational institution and performance venue. My own role began when our swing band performed for the two opening evenings at the Theatre. At midnight on June 7, while loading out our equipment, I had a long conversation with Dietlinde Maazel. We discussed our children, our concerns about education, music education, and her dreams for the future of Castleton, the Hearthstone School that was hosted on the property, and ultimately the Castleton Festival itself. This chat led to my own role in the development of programming for the Theatre, recording projects for Maestro Maazel, and not least, the music program for the 30-student school.

At a dinner with Maestro Maazel and Dietlinde Maazel in September of 1997, we laid out plans for an expanded music education program at Hearthstone. My presence at the farm led to numerous fascinating projects with Maestro Maazel himself. These included:

--A Deutsche Welle television spot in which the maestro greeted the German public while as we performed music of Dvorak and Kreisler for violin and piano.

--Maestro Maazel was inspired to compose a song in honor of a recently deceased child. I arranged the song for jazz quartet, produced the recording session and the result was a beautiful recording featuring vocalist Debra Tidwell. This occasion was similar to others in that there was limited time during the conductor's visit to the farm and we had 24 hours to do arranging, rehearsing, and recording. The maestro oversaw a late-night recording session in the only recording studio I could find that night, a rather dingy location in a basement in Bethesda, MD.

--For an upcoming performance in Berlin, the Maestro wanted to extensively rehearse the Dvorak Piano Quintet. For this occasion, I brought National Symphony members violinist Lisa-Beth Lambert and violist Jennifer Mondie. We were joined by a Polish cellist and the Maestro played first violin. Prior to the quintet rehearsal, the Maestro and I spent two solid hours going through the piece note by note with violin and piano alone. We then spent two hours rehearsing with the group. Needless to say, I had a different concept of the Dvorak by the end of the day.