Music

Get your tickets NOW for a great evening of music! Please join the Friends of Brooks Memorial Library in this fund raising event to celebrate James Joyce and Bloomsday. Dublin in Song and Story with musician and Irish folklorist Tom O’Carroll will be presented on Thursday, June 19, at 7:30 PM, in the Library’s Main Room. 

Dublin born folklorist, folk-singer and instrumentalist Tom O’Carroll brings a wealth of stories, humor, wit and history to his performances. In this program Tom tells the tales and sings the songs of his native city. This capital city on the River Liffey has an abundance of history and colorful characters and Tom will introduce you to some of them. This program is ideal for those interested in Irish Literature.

A Cappella Workshop

Starting Sunday, June 22, the  Brattleboro Music Center will be hosting a 2-week a cappella workshop for teens.  The workshop is led by Keira Carmichael and Riley Goodemote; and focuses on Collegiate Style a cappella arrangements of traditional & popular music, beat boxing and more

Overview:

A fun and musically educational co-ed a cappella camp for teens ranging in age from 13 to 19.  The workshop will cover basic a cappella theory and beat boxing skills.  Participants will prepare at least 5 to 6 songs for live performance. Focus will also be placed on building skills that give students the independence to begin their own groups and lead rehearsals.

Twilight Music continues its 12th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, rock, jazz, zydeco, Celtic, swing, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, June 15 with Kat Wright and Brett Hughes’ Americana music quartet. The seven concert series continues every other Sunday through August 24. All concerts begin at 6:00 pm in downtown Putney on the Putney Tavern lawn (bring a lawn chair or blanket) or at Next Stage at 15 Kimball Hill in case of rain. The series is sponsored by the Town of Putney, Soundview Paper Company, Next Stage Arts Project, The Stockwell Brothers and many other Putney businesses and organizations. The concerts are free to the public (donations are accepted) and food will be available.

July 21-25, 2014, 10am-12pm

 The Brattleboro Music Center’s Camp Presto is the perfect week long adventure for children who are interested in music, but not sure whether to commit to learning an instrument.

While learning the basics of playing the violin, campers will work together to complete a musical story book. Each child will tell a story through a simple violin composition, incorporating the very basics of note reading and rhythm, while simultaneously learning alternatives to musical notation.

Students will learn to perform their musical ideas, culminating in a final class CD that they can take home to share with their family & friends!

Have you ever wanted to travel back in time?

That’s what we’ll be doing in this week long journey through the course of music history. We will combine music and other artistic expressions to recreate a variety of musical periods starting all the way back in prehistoric times! We’ll make instruments and act like composers. We’ll listen to the differences in styles from one period to the next, and draw pictures of what we hear. Students will gain a comprehensive understanding of how music has been shaped over time in a playful and engaging environment. Each child’s creativity will be our time machine, which might even take us into the future!  Tuition $150 / Financial Aid Available.

GUILFORD, Vt. — Friends of Music at Guilford, now in its 48th season, presents an “A Cappella à la Carte” evening on Saturday, June 14, as the finale to its annual calendar. As usual, the evening’s three-part menu of membership meeting, all-community potluck, and a cappella concert takes place at Guilford Community Church, just a short distance from Exit 1 off Interstate 91.

The festivities begin at 6 pm with a brief and merry Friends of Music membership meeting. Folks can sign up on the spot and participate in voting for the upcoming year’s board of trustees, as well as symbolically ratify the current board’s actions in the fiscal year just ending. Preliminary plans for the 49th annual season of concerts are shared with everyone present.

BRATTLEBORO, VT – On Saturday, June 7th at 8:00 PM, the Vermont Jazz Center presents “Sounds of Shearing,” an all-star group comprised primarily of alumni from the working bands of the great pianist, George Shearing. Under the leadership of vibraphonist Charlie Shoemake, the ensemble pays tribute to George Shearing, performing his elegant arrangements and bringing to life his legendary sound. This music typifies a refined version of jazz often called “cool jazz.” His music was swinging but accessible, nimble but never loud, complex but beautiful. Shoemake and his associates take this to heart, they’ve distilled the essence and are revitalizing Shearing’s music with passion, experience and expertise.

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?”

There’s something about hearing really good bands in tiny spaces.  The intimacy is palpable.  You’re not just watching a band play — you’re two feet away from the guitarist who has just remarked, to no one in particular, that there’s a buzz in his amp, at which half the audience rushes over to help.  And some nights, you wonder if ten years from now, you’ll be thinking “I remember when…”  That’s the calibre of group that The Future Collective is bringing to Brattleboro, and last night the twin treat came from two unlikely places — Stamford, CT and Philadelphia, PA.  Ok, admittedly, Philadelphia has some popular caché but Stamford?

The Montpelier Community Gospel Choir, an ecumenical community choir with members from 19 Vermont towns, celebrates its 20th anniversary season with a special spring concert in Brattleboro on May 31. The choir’s mission is to share the joy, hope and inspiration of music, especially during these challenging times. Their concerts are a great time to celebrate spring with family, friends and community.

Electric Fence will play Thursday night, May 15, at Whetstone Station in Brattleboro. We’re very excited to have our friends Mark Trichka on mandolin and Lisa Brande on fiddle for the show. Electric Fence is Steve Carmichael, Howard Weiss-Tisman, Jonny Sheehan and Jeremy Holch. We play original music and cover rock, swing, rhythm and blues and country, finding the funky groove throughout. Music starts at 8:30 and is free.

Get ready, Brattleboro. The wolves are coming to church.

The Brattleboro Concert Choir, directed by Susan Dedell, joyfully present Paul Winter’s “Missa Gaia” on Saturday, May 17^th at 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday, May 18^th at 4 p.m.  Both concerts will be at Centre Congregational Church, downtown Brattleboro.

And the wolves?  Their recorded voices, along with those of loons, whales, and harp seals, will join with the men and women of the Brattleboro Concert Choir in interconnected harmony in this joyful, rhythmic, and contemporary mass for the earth.

The Brattleboro Music Center is offering a full line-up of new
programs this summer. 

Children as young as 5, teens and adults will find opportunities to play, sing and be part of ensembles.  

Programs for kids include “Camp Presto” for 5-9 year-olds, which provides a great introduction to music and playing an instrument; “Time Traveling Through Music” for 7-12 year olds creatively explores time through music; “Traditional Arts Camp” for 9-14 year-olds explores traditional music and arts;  “Musicals Workshop” for 7-12 year olds is all about singing for theater; “Chamber Music for Kids” for ages 9-12 and  “Piano Duets” for ages 10-17, explore the fun of making music with others; there is a beginning guitar camp for ages 8-10; and also a place for horn players in the BMC’s Trumpet Camp for elementary and middle school students.

VJC Presents a CD Release Concert with the Convergence Project, Saturday, May 17th at 8:00 PM.

Eugene Uman’s Convergence Project is back for their yearly Vermont Jazz Center concert on May 17th at 8:00 PM, presenting music that fuses jazz and rock with Colombian rhythms. This concert will celebrate the release of a new album, Six Elements, recorded last October at Guilford Sound and mixed at Northern Tracks Studio in Wilmington.

NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY!  

Instrument provided!

The Adult Beginning Violin Class is a GREAT opportunity to explore learning an instrument, with no pressure or expectations. Just 5 lessons, then you decide if it is right for you.

The Adult Beginning Violin Class, is for true beginners interested in “trying out” an instrument.  The ever patient and enthusiastic Michelle Liechti will lead this adult class on Thursdays, from 9:30-11 am, starting May 1, at the BMC. Tuition for 5 sessions is $50 and loaner violins are available.  

Marlboro, Vt. — Friends of Music at Guilford presents its 5th Annual Celebration of Women in Music, the organization’s signature season fundraiser, at a private home atop Ames Hill in Marlboro on Saturday, April 26. Guests are treated to a generous buffet of hearty hors d’oeuvres and salads to enjoy on arrival, then are offered a sampling of desserts after the concert program, which begins at 7.

Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present French-Algerian acoustic guitarist, singer and composer Pierre Bensusan at Next Stage on Friday, April 18 at 7:30 pm. If World Music is music that pays tribute to the spirit of a collection of human beings through distinct rhythms, traditional instruments and harmonic colors, Pierre Bensusan can be recognized as one of the most eloquent and diverse world musicians of our time.

Born in Oran, French-Algeria, in 1957, when France was decolonizing its Empire, Pierre Bensusan’s family moved to Paris when he was 4. He began formal studies on piano at the age of 7 and at 11 taught himself guitar. Influenced in those early days by the folk revival blooming in Britain, France and North America, Bensusan began first to explore his own diverse musical heritage and then moved to the horizons beyond. At 17, he signed his first recording contract, and one year later his first album “Pres de Paris” won the Grand Prix du Disque upon his debut at the Montreux Festival in Switzerland.

The Vermont Jazz Center will be presenting an evening dedicated to the memory of former board president, trumpeter and educator, Howard Brofsky on Saturday, April 19th at 8:00 PM. This special tribute will include performances by his close musical colleagues and family. In every community that Brofsky settled, be it Queens College, the Louis Armstrong House, the Vermont Jazz Center, or Brattleboro, Vermont, the people have benefited from his wisdom, charm and generosity. Like a single pebble in the water, his spirit lives on through the actions of his family, colleagues, students and friends who continue to channel his enthusiasm and his dedication to the spreading of jazz.

This Saturday evening concert will celebrate Howard’s life through music. Performers will include New York-based musicians Jay Clayton, Cordelia Tapping (voice), Alex Brofsky (horn), Tim Armacost (saxophones), Ray Gallon, Jorn Swart, (piano), Curtis Ostle (bass); local musicians will include Scott Mullett, Sherm Fox (saxophone), Draa Hobbs (guitar), Eugene Uman (piano), George Kaye (bass), Jon Fisher, Claire Arenius (drums). It is likely that surprise guests will appear at the last minute. It will be limited to two-hours.

Lee Chaney had a life-long love of musical instruments, especially those with keyboards.  Over the years he built a sizeable personal collection of instruments of a wide variety, even setting up a small museum in his home so that others could view his collection.  Formerly a Professor of Educational Psychology at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama for over 40 years, Chaney retired to Clinton, NC. He died there on March 4, 2012.

Recently, his son, John Chaney, decided that the Estey Organ Museum in Brattleboro was an appropriate home for a number of these instruments.  In addition to several Estey reed organs, the collection included instruments by other builders who had a historical relationship with Estey, notably Riley Burdett of Putney, as well as instruments illustrating the development of the American reed organ. Further, the collection consisted of framed posters about organ building and other important archival memorabilia.