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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. IN ADDITION TO OUR REGULAR SEASON OF CONCERTS & BENEFITS, posted below, we have presented two Community Outreach Programs since 2008-09: CONCERT SERIES FOR SENIORS: Over the past three years, we have presented a very enthusiastically received program of performances at Windham County retirement homes, public housing villages and activity centers, and rehabilitation and nursing home facilities serving the area’Äôs elderly. A wide variety of local musicians has shared classical music, jazz standards, popular music from several past decades, as well as original material and World Music with an audience that clamors for more! After two seasons of support chiefly through the Successful Aging grant program of the Council on Aging of Southeastern Vermont, we’Äôre now ’Äúon our own’Äù and must raise the money for this program through fundraisers and other grants. Watch this space for details. . . . MUSIC ENRICHMENT PROGRAM at GUILFORD CENTRAL SCHOOL. We have received four successive grants from the Max Y. Seaton Trust for support of our annual program at this K-8 school. In 2008-09 we offered a drumming workshop with Todd Roach and a concert by a BUHS a cappella group. The following year we moved to a couple of day-long residencies by groups with whom Todd performs Middle Eastern or World Music. Ensemble Datura returned in Spring 2011 to participate in a 3-day more in-depth residency and a concert for the general public, which included a festive samba finale with a dozen participating students. Another 3-day residency is scheduled for February 15-17, 2012, with partial support by grants from the Seaton Trust and Vermont Community Foundation, as well as our 2nd annual Spaghetti Supper at Guilford Central School. We also plan to offer an in-school concert by visiting high school music students later in the spring. Watch this space for details. . . . 2011/2012 OUR 46th SEASON n FEBRUARY 11 Winter Songs SATURDAY at 7:30, Guilford Community Church, 38 Church Dr., Guilford: A romantic evening awaits . . . . Julie Johnson Olsson, soprano, and Ken Olsson, piano, perform a recital of opera and art song in French, English, and German. The first part of the program includes songs by Satie, Poulenc, and Weill, followed by an aria from Massenet’Äôs opera ’ÄúHerodiade.’Äù Lee Hoiby’Äôs ’ÄúFour Dickinson Songs’Äù and an aria from Barber’Äôs ’ÄúVanessa’Äù form part two of the program, while four songs by Richard Strauss are followed by the aria ’ÄúDich, Teure Halle’Äù from Wagner’Äôs ’ÄúTannhˆ§user’Äù to bring the program to its close. The Olssons are veterans of the Tri-Cities Opera in New York State, and Julie has sung with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, the Raylynmor Opera of Keene and other regional companies, as well as Main Street Arts in Saxtons River. A delightful dessert reception follows. Snow date: Sunday, February 12. Admission: $15. n FEBRUARY 17 Ensemble Datura FRIDAY at 7:00, preceded by a Middle Eastern buffet from 5:30, Hooker-Dunham Theater & Gallery, 139 Main St., Brattleboro: Come early for a spread of Middle Eastern specialties prepared by Sarkis Market and other chefs; the cost of $10 per person includes a beverage and dessert. Fresh from their 3-day residency at Guilford Central School, the Ensemble Datura quartet performs eclectic World Music from a variety of ethnic traditions around the globe. Performers include Brattleboro drummer-percussion master Todd Roach; Mac Ritchey, his Massachusetts colleague in several ensembles, on guitar and oud (Arabic lute) primarily; N. Scott Robinson, an exotic percussion specialist from Maryland playing a variety of drums and other instruments; and K.S. Resmi, an expert in the Carnatic vocal techniques of South India (she is featured on a number of movie sound tracks and other recordings), also visiting from Maryland. Some of the middle-schoolers who participated in the residency workshops will join the group for the concert’Äôs festive finale on a mix of band instruments, drums, and percussion. Admission: $10 adults, $5 ages 5 to 16; buffet $10 per person. n APRIL 29 3rd Annual Women in Music Celebration SUNDAY at 4:00, in a PRIVATE HOME, Brattleboro: This fundraiser features works by women composers, including an excerpt from the Gena Branscombe Project by mezzo-soprano Kathleen Shimeta, which brings to life this Canadian-American composer, pianist, and choral director (1881-1977) through story and Romantic art song; pianist Julia Bady accompanies Ms. Shimeta for this performance. William McKim presents piano pieces by Elise Grant, now a New England-based composer whose delightful works we have featured in several other concerts. Other composers and performers to be announced. Significant artistically and historically, these composers created fine works, often in the face of serious social, familial, economic, and ideological obstacles. Their music is, alas, still too infrequently heard. A lavish spread of hearty hors d’Äôoeuvres and delectable desserts enhances the experience of wonderful music in an intimate space. This event is sponsored in part by the Brattleboro Retreat, founded in 1834 by a bequest from Anna Hunt Marsh. Minimum donation: $35 per person to help support our 46th season of events and community outreach programs. n MAY 27 4th Annual Spring Organ Recital & Holiday Barbecue SUNDAY at 3:00 in the Organ Barn, Guilford, two miles up Packer Corners Rd. from its junction with Weatherhead Hollow Rd., Guilford: Friends of Music founder A. Graham Down, who has been helping to fund some additional adjustments to the organ’Äôs voicing over the past year, is guest organist this year. Repertoire to be announced but likely featuring voice and other instruments. Proceeds of this event, which is followed by a festive barbecue served at tables on the back deck and lawn, help to offset the costs of our annual Labor Day Weekend Festival at this site; we’Äôll set up the meal inside the barn in case of rain. We offer a spread of grilled options for both meat lovers and vegetarians, homemade baked beans, and salads galore; dessert is make-your-own ice cream sundaes, divine cakes, and refreshing watermelon! Cold drinks included; BYOBeer and Wine. Admission: $15 for concert only, $25 for concert & barbecue. DIRECTIONS FROM EXIT 1 off I-91 (there are signs to the Organ Barn at each intersection): Take Rt. 5 South for just over a mile to the Guilford Country Store. Turn right on Guilford Center Rd. and go just under 2 miles to the first left turn, onto Weatherhead Hollow Rd. Proceed for just under 5 miles to the junction with Packer Corners Rd. on the right (just after the Franklin Farm. Follow Packer Corners Rd. for about 2 miles to the Organ Barn on the left, which has a driveway sign for Kopkind Dr. FROM THE SOUTH: Follow signs from the junction of Keets Brook Rd. and Rt. 5 in Bernardston, Mass. to Weatherhead Hollow Rd. in Guilford, Vt.; go left past Franklin Farm just a short distance to Packer Corners Rd. Follow Packer Corners Rd. for about 2 miles to the Organ Barn on the left, which has a driveway sign for Kopkind Dr. n JUNE 9 A Cappella ˆÝ la Carte SATURDAY: Community Potluck at 6:30, Concert at 7:30 in Guilford Community Church, 38 Church Drive, off Rt. 5 south, Guilford: The evening’Äôs festivities are preceded at 6:00 pm by a very brief Annual Membership Meeting for Friends of Music at Guilford’Äînew folks can join and vote at the meeting. Attendees are welcome to participate in any or all parts of the evening. The music includes repertoire for unaccompanied voices by regional performers to be announced and is followed by a dessert reception. Admission to the concert by donation. PREVIOUS EVENTS THIS SEASON, fondly remembered . . . . 46th Annual Labor Day Weekend Festival SATURDAY & SUNDAY, SEPT. 3 & 4, at the ORGAN BARN, off Packer Corners Rd., Guilford: Our signature season kickoff since the mid-1960s was ’Äústaged’Äù in two parts at this idyllic country setting . . . . SATURDAY evening at 7:30 in the Barn: Guest organist KEN OLSSON performed ’ÄúBach in the Barn’Äù (two preludes and fugues, the familiar Toccata and Fugue, BWV 565, arias from Cantata #199, and Sonata #1 for cello and keyboard) with some assistance from soprano Lesley Cotter and members of the Guilford Chamber Players on oboe and cello; to our surprise, in spite of recent roadway washouts around the region from Hurricane Irene, the house was completely filled! SUNDAY at 2:00 on the Lawn: All started well on Sunday, with folks arriving for picnic lunches from noon onward, and then (in spite of forecasts) the skies opened up with rain from about 1:40 to 2:15. The musicians beginning to gather outside then went into the barn for cover, while most of the audience headed to their cars to wait it out. At 2:30, the GUILFORD FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA, for a 15th year under the baton of David Kidwell, performed works by Mozart (Divertimento in D), Wagner (Siegfried Idyll), and three Guilford composers’Äî Zeke Hecker, Don McLean, and the late Richard Blazej’Äîin honor of the town’Äôs 250th Anniversary this year. Clarinetist Karen Bressett and soprano soloists Evelyn McLean and Carolyn Taylor-Olson, along with a baker’Äôs dozen of Guilford Chamber Singers, were featured. The concert ended with our traditional audience-participation performance of Randall Thompson’Äôs ’ÄúAlleluia.’Äù Fall House Concert Fundraiser SUNDAY, SEPT. 25, in a PRIVATE HOME, Guilford: A lavish spread of hearty hors d’Äôoeuvres and delectable desserts from area restaurants and bakeries enhanced the experience of wonderful music in an intimate space. Our guest artists were Metropolitan Opera tenor Irwin Reese and pianist Julia Bady, performing a truly moving program of African-American art song, spirituals, Broadway, and Schubert. We hosted about thirty guests and grossed over $1,100 in general support. Broad Brook Anthology SATURDAY & SUNDAY, NOV. 26 & 27, in the GUILFORD CENTER MEETINGHOUSE, Guilford: This ’ÄúPlay for Voices,’Äù read by some of the area’Äôs best actors, was a collaboration between the Guilford 250th Anniversary Committee, Friends of Music at Guilford, and Vermont Performance Lab. The script was developed by Verandah Porche from her ’ÄúKitchen Talks’Äù with Guilford elders. Incidental music was composed by Don McLean, and projections of historical photos and stunning portraits of the featured elders by Guilford photographer Jeff Woodward set the scene. Saturday welcomed a pretty full house, and Sunday hosted an overflow crowd, forcing us to bring in at least a dozen additional chairs from the Library next door. 41st Community Messiah Sing: A Benefit for the Homeless SATURDAY, DEC. 3, at Centre Congregational Church, Brattleboro: Conductor Clark Anderson, organist Christian Huebner, trumpeter Charlie Schneeweis, and soloists Lesley Cotter, Jenna Rae, Michael Duffin, and Andrew Semegram were joined by a very full house of close to 300 singers from the Tri-State region. A goodly number of other folks came to luxuriate in the amazing sound of such a gathering! The good weather surely helped bring the crowd, who were extra generous this year: We raised over $2,250 to divide between Morningside Shelter and the Brattleboro Area Drop In Center for their work with the homeless at holiday time. (We’Äôve now raised over $8,000 for the cause over these past five seasons!) The Drop In Center’Äôs Van outside the church once again collected bags of nonperishable food plus winter outerwear (hats, coats, gloves/mittens) and longjohns, as well as blankets/sheets for the Overflow Shelter at the Baptist Church across the way. 39th Annual Christmas at Christ Church: ’ÄúA Guilford Christmas’Äù FRIDAY & SATURDAY, DEC. 9 & 10, at Historic Christ Church, Guilford: Jenny Holan and Tom Baehr played recorder and flute duets pairing French carols with Baroque melodies. A quartet of Guilford Chamber Singers (Evelyn McLean and Jenny Holan, soprano/alto, Tom Baehr, tenor, and Ijod Schroeder, bass) performed Renaissance Christmas works, and the women’Äôs a cappella quartet Singcrony (Carrie Walker, Ruth Allard, Beth Kiendl, and Andrea Matthews) offered pop-jazz classics such as ’ÄúLet It Snow!’Äù and ’ÄúIt’Äôs the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,’Äù among others. Don McLean read Helen Marynuk’Äôs brief memory of rural electrification in Guilford during the mid-1940s, taken from Verandah Porche’Äôs ’ÄúKitchen Talks’Äù collection, and brought to life Mimi Morton’Äôs story ’ÄúA Guilford Christmas,’Äù written in honor of the town’Äôs 250th Anniversary in 2011. The audience joined in on a few carols, two with roots in Vermont. Door donations of about $1,270 were shared, as usual, with the Christ Church Preservation Fund. Spaghetti Supper Fundraiser for School Enrichment Program TUESDAY, JAN. 17, at Guilford Central School, Guilford: We served a delicious meal of pasta with homemade sauce and optional Italian meatballs, tossed salad, garlic bread (or plain butter), plus dessert options including an ice cream sundae bar, homemade chocolate chip cookies, and almond petit-fours, as well as an assortment of beverages. A pasting counting contest (the winner was just 6 away from the actual 3,460 pieces!), a 50-50 raffle, and a small silent-auction selection added some extra opportunities. In spite of somewhat threatening weather, we raised a helpful $600 in Guilford School enrichment program support. mailto:office@fomag.org?subject=shapeimage_1_link_0
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FRIENDS OF MUSIC AT GUILFORD
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