Guilford, Vt. — Friends of Music at Guilford (FOMAG) presents its 6th annual Spring Organ Recital at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 25, in the Organ Barn at idyllic Tree Frog Farm in the Guilford countryside. For this Memorial Day Weekend recital, Ken Olsson has chosen a singularly appropriate program: music by 19th-century Americans. Not only does it suit this national holiday; it also reflects FOMAG’s continuing interest in American composers, most specifically those associated with New England. And it suits the organization’s Guilford Chamber Organ, with a console dating back to the late 19th century, when it was installed in a church in Maine.

There were organs in America as far back as the early colonial era, but not many; the Puritan tradition frowned on instrumental music in church services. Still, by 1800, Boston boasted eight church organs, New York and Philadelphia five or six, and many other cities throughout the colonies claimed at least one. Wealthy private households had organs, too. Early instruments were imported, but by the mid-18th century the emerging nation had developed an organ-building industry. There wasn’t much published organ music, since church organists mostly accompanied hymns; interludes were improvised. Organ music for concert use was virtually unknown until decades later.

The Windham Orchestra and PanOpera join forces to bring “TOSCA” to the region. Performances of Puccini’s “Tosca” will be at the Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro, Vermont on Friday, May 30 at 7:30pm, and Sunday, June 1 at 2 pm; and at the Academy of Music in Northampton, Massachusetts on Thursday, June 5 at 7:30 pm. 

“Tosca” tells the brutal truth about what drives us; our passions, and desires. It’s essential Puccini – lurid, ravishing, hugely enjoyable, and not to be missed. There are no gods or heroes, this is raw humanity on display.

“No-one needs to understand Italian or ‘know about opera’ to relate immediately and instinctively to the emotional states of the characters and the horrifying situations they are in,” explains Windham Orchestra Director Hugh Keelan. “Who has not experienced desperation in love, particularly when a loved one is in pain? Who does not know the struggle between the higher and lower self?  Who has not been helpless, overwhelmed in adversity—and tried to pretend they have it all handled?”