Music section
One of the by products of the new ban on Baby, It’s Cold Outside is that I can’t stop humming it. It’s so eminently hummable. It doesn’t help that we listened to four hours of Christmas music last night, or that I’ve heard everyone from Dolly Parton to Dean Martin sing it in cover versions going back to the 1940s. In our extensive seasonal music collection, we must have at least a dozen versions and there are many more.
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present award-winning contemporary folk singer/songwriter Antje Duvekot and Americana, roots and acoustic blues singer/songwriter Brooks Williams at Next Stage on Friday, December 7 at 7:30 pm.
Antje Duvekot is a German-born, American-raised singer/songwriter whose songs have been critically praised for their hard-won wisdom, dark-eyed realism and street-smart romanticism. Her bicultural upbringing and relative newness to English have helped shape her unique way with a song, giving her a startlingly original poetic palette.
Guilford, Vt. — Friends of Music at Guilford (FOMAG) presents “Joyeux Noël,” its 46th Christmas at Christ Church program, at 7:30 on Friday, December 7, and again at 4:00 on Saturday, December 8. Traditional elements of this event include vocal and instrumental music of the season, an entertaining story with a holiday or winter theme, and a short carol sing.
This year’s program is dedicated in memory of Neil Quinn, who passed away in mid-September. He served as Guilford’s town moderator for many years and was a long-time member of Christ Church Guilford Society, the nonprofit group that maintains this historic site, performing much of that work himself. An avid cyclist and skier, he founded and ran the West Hill Shop in Putney from 1971 through 2004.
SAXTONS RIVER, Vt. – Main Streets Arts ushers in the holiday season with a benefit concert by Cameo Baroque Saturday, Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m.
With a theme of Wintertide, the four-piece group will offer music by English, Italian and German composers such as William Boyce, Antonio Caldara, Georg Philipp Telemann, George Frideric Handel and Tommaso Albinoni.
Members of the quartet performing on period instruments are Beth Hilgartner, recorder and voice, Leslie Stroud, traverso (Baroque flute), Ernie Drown, harpsichord, and Laurie Rabut, viola da gamba.
Brattleboro, Vt. – Friends of Music at Guilford (FOMAG) invites singers and music lovers in the Tri-State region to start their holiday season at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 1, with the 48th annual Community Messiah Sing, a benefit for the homeless. Centre Congregational Church, at 193 Main Street in Brattleboro, has been home for the Sing since 1982 and for a few prior seasons as well.
Kenneth Olsson, conducting the Sing for a second season, is well known in the region as a performer in opera and musical theater productions as well as pianist, organist, and choral conductor. He has led FOMAG’s season-opening Guilford Festival Orchestra concerts since 2012 and in 2014 co-founded the Southern Vermont Lyric Theatre.
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present an evening of contemporary bluegrass and folk music with The Lonely Heartstring Band and The Stockwell Brothers at Next Stage on Saturday, November 24 at 7:30 pm.
The Lonely Heartstring Band is Boston-based, Berklee College of Music graduates George Clements (guitar, vocals) Patrick M’Gonigle (fiddle, vocals) Charles Clements (bass, vocals) Matt Witler (mandolin) and Gabe Hirshfeld (banjo). Their music is a combination of old and new styles, melding the sounds of traditional bluegrass with modern songwriting and arranging.
The Brattleboro Women’s Chorus will present their annual fall concerts, “Keep Hope Alive,” on November 17 and 18 at The Brick Church (formerly the Baptist Church). Joining the eighty women and director Becky Graber will be Cathy Martin on piano, Julian McBrowne on bass, and Lisa McCormick on guitar and with her ukulele orchestra.
Several songs will feature arrangements by local musicians – Andy Davis’s four-part arrangement of “Let the Life I’ve Lived” and Peter Amidon’s “Crossing the Bar.” Graber arranged the wondrous song by India Arie, “I Am Light.”
Third Annual Halloweeny Ukulele FLASH MOB! All are welcome for this fun and spooky community sing-and-strum-along. All are welcome, whether you play ukulele or not. Brooks House Atrium, Main St. Brattleboro (across the street from The Shoe Tree). Free, Accessible, Presented by Lisa McCormick. This coming Friday, Oct. 26. Music from 6:00-6:30 pm. Costumes encouraged!
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present contemporary folk singer/songwriters Ellis Paul and Garrin Benfield at Next Stage on Friday, October 19 at 7:30 pm.
One of the leading voices in American songwriting, Ellis Paul was at the forefront of singer/songwriters that emerged from the Boston folk scene in the 1990s, creating a movement that revitalized the national acoustic music circuit with an urban, literate, folk pop style. Though he remains among the most pop-friendly of today’s singer/songwriters – his songs regularly appear in hit movie and TV soundtracks – he has bridged the gulf between the modern folk sound and the populist traditions of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger more successfully than perhaps any of his songwriting peers.
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present an evening of traditional Celtic and folk music from Quebec, Nova Scotia and New England by Quebec-based trio Genticorum and fiddler/singer Zoe Darrow at Next Stage on Friday, October 5 at 7:30 pm.
Over the past 18 years, Quebec-based Genticorum has become a fixture on the international world, trad, folk and Celtic music circuit, releasing six albums and performing over 800 concerts in Canada, the US and Europe.
Join us at 7 pm, on Friday, October 19th, as the Friends of Brooks Memorial Library present Jazz & Blues singer Samirah Evans and the diverse vocals of Evelyn Harris for an evening of dynamic music! They will be stylishly accompanied by the accomplished guitarist Joe Belmont and well-known bassist Wayne Roberts.
Making music is GOOD FOR YOU! Ukulele classes with Lisa McCormick start next week, in Brattleboro! No musical background needed. Ukuleles available.
Sixteen youth rock bands and solo music artists from around New England will take the stage at 118 Elliot in downtown Brattleboro, Vermont on Saturday, September 29 for BrattRock 2018, the third annual Brattleboro Youth Rock Festival. Performances will take place on two stages, one indoor and one outdoor, between 5:00 and 10:00 PM. Gates open to the public at 4:30 PM. In addition to six continuous hours of live music, the festival will feature food vendors, arts and crafts activities, and games. All are invited to attend this fun-for-all-ages community event.
The ukulele is baaaack! Discover the joy and ease of making music on the ukulele in this popular workshop, led by Master Teacher, Lisa McCormick.
No musical background needed! Take-home method and songbook included. Ukuleles available for rent or purchase, or, BYO.
On Sunday, September 23, Stage 33 Live in conjunction with Black Sheep Radio presents an afternoon of world-class jazz, including a workshop and concert, with guitarists Draa Hobbs and John Stowell. The event takes place at Stage 33 Live at 33 Bridge Street in Bellows Falls, and ticket sales benefit the venue and the radio station, two non-profit community arts organizations serving the greater Bellows Falls area.
The Vermont Jazz Center is excited to lift off its 2018-19 concert season on Saturday September 15th with Trinidadian trumpeter, composer and percussionist, Etienne Charles. He will be flying in from Michigan to perform with his band Creole Soul.
Creole Soul is one the many projects that Etienne Charles uses to investigate and perform music that aligns with his Caribbean heritage. He uses this ensemble as a musical laboratory to mesh the roots music of indigenous cultures with the language and arrangements of jazz. Etienne has traveled the world, seeking connections and differences between the rhythms and forms of Caribbean folkloric music.
Keene, NH/Brattleboro, Vt.-based bluegrass band Blackjack Crossing will unveil their new record, “Don’t Borrow Trouble”, at two special events in the region.
On Saturday, Sept. 22, the band will perform at the Mole Hill Theatre in Alstead, NH, in a co-bill with area punk/folk legends HUMANWINE. The following Friday, Sept. 28, Blackjack Crossing will appear at The Stone Church in Brattleboro, Vt., with Boston roots/country band Grain Thief.
UKULELE-in-a-DAY Workshop Returns to Brattleboro
Back by popular demand, Ukulele-in-a-Day, a 1-Day Quick-Start Workshop for Total Beginners, returns to the Brattleboro Music Center for two dates: Sat. Sept. 15 and Sat. Sept 22, from 10 am – 3 pm.
The fall session of the Brattleboro Women’s Chorus will begin on September 5 and 6 with open rehearsals for any women or girls over age 10 who would like to try out the chorus without obligation. Founder/director Becky Graber traveled with 18 chorus members to the Sister Singers Festival in Grand Rapids, MI in June, where they not only performed but also heard lots of wonderful music by other women’s choruses. Some of these songs will be included in the fall repertoire.
Guilford, Vt. – As it has done for over a half-century, Friends of Music at Guilford (FOMAG) opens its 53rd annual music season with a concert in a rural barn on Saturday night of Labor Day Weekend. The Organ Barn is in an idyllic setting near the state line where Guilford meets Leyden, Massachusetts. The intimate Barn seats close to a hundred concertgoers, and on Sunday afternoon, two hundred or more people flock to the lawn outside the Barn for picnicking and an orchestra concert.
