Calendar

��

��

��

��

Friends of Music has a commitment to making its programs accessible to all. Please call us with your accessibility question, or email office@fomag.org.

n

AUGUST 30 & 31

43rd Labor Day Weekend Festival Our annual season ��kick-off�� event is at the Organ Barn in an idyllic rural setting, way off the beaten track in Guilford. SATURDAY at 7:30 PM: Our concert on the Guilford Tracker Organ features Friends of Music founder A. Graham Down in an all-French program of music by Vierne, Balbastre, d��Andrieu, Messiaen, and others, with additional instruments and voices. SUNDAY at 2:00 PM: This season��s Lawn Concert presents a program of works for chamber orchestra by Mozart, Puccini (it��s his 150th this year), Gluck, and Finzi, plus a salute to Leroy Anderson in honor of his Centennial year. The Guilford Festival Orchestra is conducted by David Kidwell of the Holyoke Civic Symphony. Grounds open on Sunday at 12:00 Noon for picnickers and others to claim their territory on the lawn; a hearty vegetarian lunch will be for sale at $10/person (include several salads, garlic/plain baguette, cheese, local fruit, and a drink); fresh lemonade and our famous warm chocolate chip cookies are also for sale. (In case of rain, the Sunday concert still goes on at Guilford Central School, 360 School Rd. off Guilford Center Rd. -- there will be signs to guide you -- and we still serve our famous lunch and cookies.) Receptions follow each Festival event, and admission is by donation for both.

DIRECTIONS TO THE ORGAN BARN:

From Brattleboro, Vermont: Take U.S. Route 5 SOUTH toward Guilford. Go up & over steep hill, and after about 1.3 miles you'll be in Guilford Village (also known as "Algiers") at bottom of hill; Guilford Country Store is on the left. TURN RIGHT opposite the Guilford Country Store, onto Guilford Center Road. Travel approximately 1.7 miles to Weatherhead Hollow Rd. on left. TURN LEFT onto Weatherhead Hollow Rd. You will travel on this road for about 4.9 miles to the next turn. As you travel this road, you'll note a long pond on your left. At the end of the pond, you'll pass straight through a crossroads intersection. Just past this intersection, you'll pass through a dairy farm, The Franklin Farm, house and barns on the right. Just past farm buildings, in the middle of pastures, look for the next road on the right, Packer Corners Rd. TURN RIGHT onto Packer Corners Road. You'll travel mostly uphill for about 2 miles, passing occasional houses, until you come to the top of the hill at Packer Corners (bank of mailboxes on left, houses on 3 of the 4 corners of a crossroad.) Drive straight through the crossroad, & continue a short distance. The road starts going downhill, there's a red cottage on the left, and just beyond, on the left is KOPKIND ROAD. Turn LEFT onto KOPKIND, & signs will lead you to the parking lot at the Organ Barn. During the Labor Day Weekend Festival (but only then!) "Organ Barn" signs will begin at the turn opposite the Country Store, and will appear at every intersection from there to the concert site.

Directions from Massachusetts & South: Take I-91 north to the last Massachusetts exit: Exit 28 B, "Bernardston." From exit ramp, turn RIGHT onto Route 10, & proceed short distance thru Bernardston village to stop sign at U.S. Route 5. Turn RIGHT onto Route 5 and proceed north for just under 4 miles to KEETS BROOK ROAD on the left. (The first "Guilford Organ Barn sign will be at that turn, and there will be signs at every intersection till you get to the concert!) Turn LEFT onto Keets Brook Rd & stay on it. (At one point, there's a fork to the right, but a sign will direct you to stay on the main road. The road begins in Bernardston, & becomes unpaved at the town line of Leyden, Mass. At a little settlement, another Organ Barn sign will direct you to continue, slightly bearing right. Shortly, you'll cross the state line into Guilford, Vt., and you'll then come to a CROSSROADS with WEATHERHEAD HOLLOW RD. An Organ Barn sign at this intersection directs you to TURN LEFT onto Weatherhead Hollow Rd. Travel about 3/10 mile on Weatherhead Hollow Rd past the Franklin dairy farm. In the middle of their pastures, you'll come to PACKER CORNERS RD on the right. Another sign indicates you TURN RIGHT onto Packer Corners Rd. Follow this road up the hill, about 2 miles, through the settlement of Packer Corners (crossroads; sign directs you Music Straight Ahead.) Go thru crossroads & a few tenths of a mile later the road starts to go downhill, passing a red cottage. Directly after that is the driveway to the concert, marked Guilford Organ Barn and a big sign "Concert." Turn LEFT onto that road, Kopkind Drive, & signs and parking attendants will direct you to one of our parking areas.

n

NOVEMBER 8

Alison Hale��s Golden Flute SATURDAY at 8:00 PM: A former Friends of Music trustee and a resident of Brattleboro, Alison Hale performs with the Portland Symphony in Maine and is a professor of music at Mt. Holyoke College in Massachusetts. Accompanied on the piano for this recital at Centre Congregational Church, she performs works by regional composers including Zeke Hecker, Don McLean, Elise Grant, Nicholas Humez, and Louis Moyse. Tickets: $15, $10 for students.

n

DECEMBER 6

38th Annual Community Messiah Sing: A Fundraiser for the Homeless SATURDAY at 1:00 PM: Our popular sing-along of the choruses from Handel��s Messiah -- featuring conductor Terry Larsen, four soloists, organ, and trumpet -- attracts 250 to 300 singers and an audience contingent from the greater Brattleboro area and well beyond. In 2007 we gave all $1,400 in door donations to the Drop In Center and Morningside Shelter. We expect to raise even more funds this season and offer the public other ways to help the needy at holiday time. Co-sponsored by our hosts, Centre Congregational Church in Brattleboro, as well as other area businesses and individuals. Admission by donation.

n

DECEMBER 12 & 13

36th Annual Christmas at Historic Christ Church FRIDAY & SATURDAY at 8:00 PM: This season we present Schola Nova, a 20-voice choir from Western Massachusetts, led by Terry Larsen (our Messiah Sing conductor), performing a cappella sacred music from the Renaissance. Don McLean returns with a dramatic reading of ��A Child��s Christmas in Wales,�� and the audience joins in on a few carols to get in the holiday spirit. Admission by donation; the door is shared with this Guilford landmark to help fund its maintenance and restoration.

n

FEBRUARY 28, 2009

Fundraising Auction Gala & Cabaret SATURDAY at 5:00 PM: It has been 10 years since our last auction extravaganza, and this one, too, features hearty hors d��oeuvres and delectable desserts, delightful musical entertainments, and both Silent and Live Auction items to tempt every taste. Date and location to be confirmed. Admission: $15, $10 for students.

n

APRIL 18 & 19

Spring Chamber Music Festival SATURDAY at 8:00 PM: Could this be the launch of another annual tradition? Presented at Centre Congregational Church in Brattleboro, Saturday evening��s concert features Margery McCrum, soprano, David Runnion, cello, and guests on flute and piano in a program of Ravel, Duparc, Debussy, and more. SUNDAY at 2:00 PM: This afternoon concert features Peter Shea, tenor, Jean Jeffries, horn, and David Kidwell, piano, in a program of works by Kidwell, Paul Dedell, Zeke Hecker, Don McLean, and other composers from Vermont and Western Massachusetts. Admission to each concert is $15, $10 for students. Festival tickets for the two-concert series are also offered at $25 and $15.

n

JUNE 6

Concert, Potluck Dinner & Annual Meeting Every other year, between biennial Garden Tour seasons, we host an evening of food and music for the general public on the heels of our very brief Annual Membership meeting. This particular Saturday evening begins with the Meeting at 6:00, moves to the Community Potluck Dinner by 6:30, and at 7:30 is a guest concert by SHOULDER NARROWS, a very talented a cappella group from Brattleboro Union High School. A dessert buffet follows. Concert admission by donation.

��

��

��

��