Music

In fourteen hundred ninety-two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue
It was a courageous thing to do
But someone was already here.

Guilford, Vt. –  Now in its 52nd season, Friends of Music at Guilford (FOMAG) has a long history with “Stage Music Projects.” These have ranged from musical theater song revues to concerts of arias and art song presented by some of the region’s acclaimed operatic performers. Also in the mix were fully staged but less well-known Broadway or off-Broadway shows and premieres of one-act or full-length operas created by some of the organization’s musically gifted founders, among other composers.
 
This fall, FOMAG is teaming up with New Hampshire’s Raylynmor Opera for a concert at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 1, in the sanctuary of Guilford Community Church, a program of the singers’ favorite arias. Since its founding in 1995, Raylynmor has presented 38 full-length operas at various locations in our “twin state.” Raylynmor’s artistic director since 2014 is tenor Benjamin Robinson, who has performed in professional productions and concert settings from Alaska to the East Coast. He was featured in Pirates of Penzance for Raylynmor in 2011 and has helped diversify and expand the organization’s vision since taking the reins.
 
Robinson has been working with FOMAG to create this weekend’s special potpourri of operatic delights, “Viva la Voce!” Featured singers, who have all appeared in Raylynmor productions, include sopranos Molly McCoy and Julie Olsson, as well as bass-baritone Tom Cochran. This trio of performers will be working with pianist Ken Olsson, himself a seasoned singer and musical director, as accompanist and coach.
 
Featured arias, to be presented with a bit of theatrical flair, are from Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and La Bohème, Menotti’s The Old Maid and The Thief, Verdi’s Aïda and La Forza del Destino, Mozart’s Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute, Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, Wagner’s Tannhäuser, and Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. This last offering, the Dew Fairy’s aria, is a preview for Raylynmor’s season, which includes Hoiby’s Bon Appétit, a Julia Child cooking episode set to music, which is being paired tongue-in-cheek with Hansel and Gretel in November. Puccini’s Madame Butterfly follows in March and Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolanthe in June. Tickets for these upcoming shows will be available at the concert on October 1.
 
Molly McCoy is a senior performance major at Keene State College, where she has been a student in Opera Workshop for three years and received the Julia McHale Award for performance excellence last year. She has been featured as Juliet in Britten’s The Little Sweep and Annette in Hans Krasa’s Brundibar. Last season she appeared as an ensemble member in Verdi’s Macbeth for Raylynmor and is returning as the Dew Fairy in this fall’s production of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel.
 
Julie Olsson and husband Ken Olsson, residents of Jamaica, Vt., have been performing for FOMAG audiences over the past six years. Julie is often a featured soloist, while Ken has appeared as piano accompanist in a variety of settings, as featured soloist for Organ Barn recitals in fall or spring, and as conductor of the Guilford Festival Orchestra that launches each season during Labor Day weekend. Julie and Ken met as Vocal Performance majors at Ithaca College, and both had extensive performing experience while there and with opera companies in the Northeast and Kansas City before settling together in Vermont. They have performed with a number of regional opera companies in the years since, including Raylynmor, and have appeared in or helped produce several Main Street Arts musicals in Chester. In 2013, the Olssons founded the Southern Vermont Lyric Theatre, which features an annual “Verdi in Vermont” concert and this season includes productions of La Bohème and A Little Night Music.
 
Tom Cochran, a 31-year resident of New Hampshire, grew up in a musical family in Pennsylvania, studying piano and baritone horn, and singing in glee club or church choir. He took up vocal study in the late 1990s with the Monadnock Chorus, moving on to maestro Phillip Lauriat and then mezzo-soprano Pamela Stevens to hone his command of performance and recital skills. He has sung with Granite State Opera, the Monadnock Music Festival, New England Chamber Choir, Nashua Symphony, and Raylynmor Opera. He is particularly fond of singing works in German and anything by Mozart.
 
Guilford Community Church is at 38 Church Dr. in the Algiers village of Guilford, just over a mile from Exit 1 off Interstate 91. Take Rt. 5 south to Bee Barn Rd. on the left just past the Guilford Country Store; Church Dr. heads left in just a couple hundred feet and leads right to the church and its large parking area. The building is handicap-accessible with an elevator from the ground floor to the sanctuary.
 
Suggested donation for “Viva la Voce!” is $15 per person, which includes a teatime dessert reception. For additional information, contact the FOMAG office at (802) 254-3600 or by email at office@fomag.org. Visit online at www.fomag.org.

The official 2017 program and peformance schedule for all 18 bands performing at this year’s Brattleboro Youth Rock Festival has now been posted on the BrattRock website. Check out all the band bios and get tickets and more info at www.brattrock.org!

The Cookers at the Vermont Jazz Center, Friday, Sept. 15^th at 8:00 PM

Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present contemporary folk singer/songwriter and comedienne extraordinaire Cheryl Wheeler, plus Americana duo Willa Mamet and Paul Miller, at Next Stage on Saturday, September 9 at 7:30 pm.

Join the Ukulele-Wave and learn to play this fall, with instructor Lisa McCormick. Ukulele is a fun and easy way to get the joy music-making into your life! Beginners welcome, no musical background needed.

Eighteen youth rock bands and solo musical artists from around New England will take the stage at 118 Elliot in downtown Brattleboro, Vermont on Saturday, September 23 for BrattRock 2017, the second annual Brattleboro Youth Rock Festival. Performances will take place on two stages, one indoor and one outdoor, between 4:30 and 11:00 PM. Gates open to the public at 4:00 PM. In addition to six continous 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 event.

The Brattleboro Women’s Chorus will begin its 22nd fall session on September 6 & 7, with a repertoire that will feature an eclectic mix of songs about Love and Music. Any woman or girl age 10 or older is welcome to participate in the rejuvenating power of singing with others.

Guilford, Vt. – As it has done for over a half-century, Friends of Music at Guilford (FOMAG) opens its annual music season with a concert in a rural barn on Saturday night of Labor Day Weekend. The famed Organ Barn is in an idyllic setting near the state line where Guilford meets Leyden, Massachusetts. The intimate Barn seats about a hundred concertgoers, and on Sunday afternoon, two hundred or more people flock to the lawn outside the Barn for picnics and an orchestra concert.

Twilight Music concludes its 15th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk-rock, world beat, rock, pop, Celtic, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, August 20 with funk and world beat band Simba. The seventh and final concert of the 2017 series 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, Green Mountain Well, Soundview Paper Company, The Putney Food Co-op, 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. For more information, call 802-387-5772 or visit www.twilightmusic.org.

UKULELE-in-a-DAY! Quick-start workshop for beginners, taught by Certified Gateless Master Teacher, Lisa McCormick.

Twilight Music continues its 15th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk-rock, world beat, rock, pop, Celtic, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, August 6 with contemporary bluegrass and folk music quartet The Stockwell Brothers Band. The seven concert series continues every other Sunday through August 20. 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, Green Mountain Well, Soundview Paper Company, The Putney Food Co-op, 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. For more information, call 802-387-5772 or visit www.twilightmusic.org.

The VJC’s 42nd Annual Summer Jazz Workshop culminates with performances by participants. An evening of music with performers ages 14-85 and hailing from all over the globe!

An evening showcasing the wide breadth of experience and talent of the VJC’s Summer Program faculty members.

Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present The Seamus Egan Project, featuring the founding member of the seminal Irish-American band Solas, at Next Stage on Friday, July 28 at 7:30 pm. Beginning with tunes from his groundbreaking 1996 album “When Juniper Sleeps,” which was the impetus for the formation of Solas, through music from his 20-year career with that iconic band, and adding some brand new tunes, Seamus, with Moira Smiley (vocals, piano, banjo), Kyle Senna (guitar) and other musical friends, will continue to explore the further reaches of the Irish tradition and beyond.

Twilight Music continues its 15th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk-rock, world beat, rock, pop, Celtic, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, July 23 with The Gaslight Tinkers. The seven concert series continues every other Sunday through August 20. 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, Green Mountain Well, Soundview Paper Company, The Putney Food Co-op, 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. For more information, call 802-387-5772 or visit www.twilightmusic.org.

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 Band at Next Stage on Friday, June 30 at 7:30 pm.

Twilight Music continues its 15th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk-rock, world beat, rock, pop, Celtic, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, June 25 with indie folk-rock trio The Dupont Brothers. The seven concert series continues every other Sunday through August 20. 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, Green Mountain Well, Soundview Paper Company, The Putney Food Co-op, 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. For more information, call 802-387-5772 or visit www.twilightmusic.org.