YELLOW BARN’s music influence is international and innovative. Artistic Director SETH KNOPP creates and explores new ways of experiencing music – chamber, classical and experiential – and brings a wide array of musicians to the annual Yellow Barn Festival. A pianist and educator, Seth also talks about exciting new developments outside the Big Barn, AND the 2026 Festival season which is Happening Now!
Guilford, Vt. — Friends of Music at Guilford (FOMAG) presents “An Olde New England Christmas” at 7:30 on Friday, December 13, and again at 4:00 on Saturday, December 14. By tradition, this 47th annual Christmas at Christ Church event includes choral and instrumental music for the season, a dramatic reading, and a few carols for everyone.
The a cappella vocal program was drawn from tune books by New England composers born in the middle of the 18th century: William Billings, Supply Belcher, Oliver Holden, Timothy Swan, and Samuel Adams Holyoke, as well as one English composer, Joseph Stephenson. These itinerant singing masters traveled the region from about 1770 through 1810, teaching sight-singing to select groups in church parishes. They gave concerts for local folks and then moved on to the next town. This practice fundamentally changed the place of music in worship, which finds its legacy in church choirs today.
