Music – Page 5 – White Meeting House Blog

Music for an April Afternoon

On Sunday, April 28th at 3:00 p.m. at least 20 professional musicians will gather to present “Music for an April Afternoon.” The concert will be held at the Unitarian Church at 130 Main Street and will highlight not only Monteverdi Music School’s (MMS) talented faculty (including Joni McCraw, Mary Jane Austin and Erik Kroncke) but will also feature Counterpoint, Vermont’s professional vocal ensemble, which calls MMS at the Center for Arts and Learning its home base for rehearsals. With such a diverse representation of faculty members performing there will be something for everyone on the program.

Karen Songhurst, board president, says “This concert is key to helping fund our annual fund as well as our scholarship program. We strive to make music education accessible to everyone in the community. We hope the local community will turn out to support their local community music nonprofit’s 25 years and celebrate the immense talent in our area.” A sample of the faculty on the program include Eliza Thomas playing a Schubert piano Impromptu and Doug Perkins playing a Bach Sonata on guitar. Clarinettist Joni McCraw, pianist Luke Rackers and mezzo soprano Lindsey Warren will perform a selection from VT composer Erik Nielsen’s “Until Time Itself…” Guitarist Daniel Gaviria will play La Catedral by Agustin Barrios Mangore.

In addition to the teaching faculty, Counterpoint, directed by Nathaniel Lew, will present selections from their Six Degrees program which is an educational project and musical panorama about the threat of climate change locally and worldwide. The title Six Degrees refers both to the cataclysmic result of the warming of the planet by six degrees Celsius, which would effectively end life on our planet, as well as to the “six degrees of separation” that connect all of humanity.

This year’s faculty concert will also have a special reception in honor of the organization’s 25th anniversary and to honor Joni McCraw, who is retiring from teaching after 30 years at Monteverdi. Tickets are $20 at the door, $15 for students & seniors, and kids 10 and under are free.

Increase the Light

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Calling all who wish to bring more love into our communities! In light of the Pittsburgh shooting, Rabbi David Fainsilber and the Jewish Community of Greater Stowe seek to bring people together in love to create song within community as you have never experienced before. Young and old, come stand with us — come sing with us! Make this your first time up on stage at the Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center as we learn the simplified arrangement of a song “Light is Returning/Banish the Darkness” and then sing it to produce a sound about bringing more light to ourselves, our communities, and our greater world. No need to be a superb singer; you just need to bring your love of singing. The final artistic product? An amazing video of the experience (featuring you) that will be promoted world-wide, with the backdrop of soulful voices and increased light.

Donations will be accepted for the Helen Day Art Center and Stowe Free Library’s recovery from a recent burst pipe, as well as HIAS –– Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society –– a refugee resettlement program in the U.S., an organization supported by the Tree of Life Synagogue and one of the reasons that congregation was attacked.

Presented by the Jewish Community of Greater Stowe, with our partners at Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center, the Helen Day Art Center, Stowe Performing Arts, and the Greater Stowe Interfaith Coalition, including St. John’s in the Mountains Episcopal Church, Stowe Community Church, Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Stowe, and Bahá’ís of Stowe. Special thanks to Stowe Media Group and the Stowe Reporter.

For more information, contact JCOGS at (802) 253-1800 or jcogs@jcogs.org.

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Waterbury Community Band

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