The Celebration Brass Band of Southern Vermont and the Christ Church Guilford Society invite everyone to a free concert on the lawn of Christ Church on Route 5 in the Village of Algiers, this Sunday, September 10 at 2:00 pm. This event was postponed from July due to rain.
The concert will honor those lost during the Covid-19 pandemic. Those attending are invited to write down the names, birthdates and dates of passage, cause of death, and/or any family related information that they might want to share, omitting whatever they prefer to keep private. Or, you may simply call out the name during this part of the program. At the end of each set, a reader will call out memories of the deceased over a slow drumroll, and invite members of the audience, and the band, to call out their name. Then the band will roll into a dirge, in the timeless New Orleans tradition.
This is the second outdoor concert at the historic 1817 church this summer. The series began with the BUHS Jazz Band and honored retiring director Steve Rice.
These concerts provide an opportunity for the community to visit the building while it is closed for repairs. Guests will be able to sneak a peek inside the historic 1817 building while it is closed for repairs.
The Celebration Brass Band is Southern Vermont’s signature ensemble for the distinctively vibrant music known as the New Orleans Brass Band sound. The band was founded by New Orleans native, Peter Simoneaux, of Langdon, New Hampshire. Linda Simoneaux joins on sousaphone and vocals.
Other members of the band include clarinetist, Walter Slowinski, Ron Kelley on reeds, Dan DeWalt and Chuck Over, trombones, Anders Burrows and Sam Johnson, trumpets, Tim Ellis, sousaphone, Stephen Voorhees, snare drum. The group is often joined by Bill Shontz on reeds, Brian Bender, on trombone, and Julian Gerstin, percussion.
Traditionally, since the late 1800s, New Orleans Brass Band music has been the music of jazz funerals and street parades in New Orleans, the style that gave birth to the careers of Buddy Bolden, Louis Armstrong, and Sidney Bechet, whose lineage continues to this day.
Christ Church was the first Episcopal Church in Vermont. Though the building is owned by the Diocese, its care and management are the responsibility of a 501(c)3 non-profit, Christ Church Guilford Society, which is currently raising funds for the repairs, information about which will be shared with the audience on Sunday.
Admission to this concert is free, but donations will be greatly welcome both in support of the Brass Band and the Church.
In addition to the concert, and complimentary light refreshments, the Christ Church Cemetery Association will have a table offering, for any size donation, a print of the drawing by internationally-noted artist Wolf Kahn, depicting the church. Donations will benefit the Cemetery Association which is a separate organization from the Church Society.
There is a restroom on the premises. Bring a blanket or lawn chair – kids welcome!
Christ Church is the distinctive white church on the knoll on Melendy Hill Rd., off Rt 5, just south of the Guilford Country Store.
