Music

Twilight Music presents acoustic swing and alt gypsy jazz quartet Caravan of Thieves, plus fiddler Emma Walsh, at Next Stage on Friday, January 17 at 7:30 pm.

For the past five years, Caravan of Thieves has roamed the North American continent recruiting a family of avid thrill seekers at their high energy shows. Driving gypsy jazz rhythms, acoustic guitars, upright bass and violin lay the foundation for mesmerizing vocal harmonies and fantastic stories. It’s theatrical and humorous. It’s musical and intense. It entertains, dazzles and defies classification while welcoming the spectator to join the band throughout the performance in momentary fits of claps, snaps and sing-alongs.

Windham Orchestra

BRUCKNER & SIBELIUS in Brattleboro & Saxtons River 

On Friday, January 17 in Saxtons River, and Sunday, January 19 in Brattleboro, the Windham Orchestra, under the direction of Maestro Hugh Keelan, presents a dynamic program ranging from Bruckner’s popular 19th century “Romantic” Fourth Symphony; to local composer Jan Norris’ new work “Melting Spring.”

Guitarist Freddie Bryant’s Kaleidoscope Quartet to feature the sounds of jazz from around the world at the VJC in a tribute to VJC founder, Attila Zoller

The Vermont Jazz Center kicks off 2014 with a concert featuring guitarist Freddie Bryant’s Kaleidoscope Quartet a band that features disparate grooves from around the world unified by Bryant’s simple truth that he is indeed an authentic global citizen. This show will be a tribute to VJC founder, the great guitarist, Attila Zoller.

Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present a twin bill of award-winning contemporary folk singer/songwriters Antje Duvekot and Seth Glier at Next Stage on Friday, January 10 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. They are the keys to the powerful, even revolutionary, empathy that informs everything she writes. She has won some of the top songwriting awards including the Grand Prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition, the Kerrville Folk Festival Best New Folk Award and the Boston Music Award for Outstanding Folk Act.

BMC Chamber Music Series

PIANIST JONATHAN BISS 

FRIDAY, January 10, 7:30 pm

Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT  05301

Brahms, Chopin, Beethoven 

American pianist Jonathan Biss is widely regarded for his artistry, musical intelligence and deeply felt interpretations, winning international recognition for his orchestral, recital, and chamber music performances and for his award-winning recordings. Biss, whom The New Yorker describes as playing with “unerring sophistication”, made his New York Philharmonic debut in 2001, and since then has appeared with the foremost orchestras of North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. He is a frequent performer at leading international music festivals and gives recitals in major music capitals both at home and abroad. Sponsored by Vermont Public Radio. Tickets:  $30, $20, $10   

Everyone is welcome to come and meet their favorite DJ’s from 107.7 FM WVEW.

Attendance to the event is free, and Backside Café will have their bar and a limited bar food menu available for attendees. A portion of the proceeds from the night’s drink sales will go towards the radio station.

Live DJ’s:
Selector D (host of One Drop)
Zig-Zag (host of Patterns of Chaos)
Wild Goose (host of The Future Collective Presents…)

Next Stage Arts Project presents two indie rock bands, Brattleboro-based quartet The Snaz and Keene-based trio Jake McKelvie & The Countertops, at Next Stage on Saturday, December 7 at 7:30 pm.

The Snaz is a young, original rock band featuring Dharma Ramirez (15, lead vocals and guitar), Mavis Eaton (15, keyboards and backup vocals), Zack James (13, drums) and Sally Fletcher (15, bass). They have won “Battle of the Bands” competitions in Brattleboro and Northampton. Their prize for the Brattleboro event was recording time at the Guilford Sound studios, where they recorded an EP with the help of Grammy nominated record producer Peter Solley.

On Friday, December 6th at 8:00 PM, the Vermont Jazz Center will present a Gala Performance with the VJC Big Band supporting internationally acclaimed vocalist, Kevin Mahogany. This is a dance concert and more than half the floor will remain open for people to move to the sounds of the VJC’s 18 piece orchestra.

Kevin Mahogany is well acquainted to singing with big bands as he has his own repertoire and custom-made charts, some of them arranged by the legendary Frank Mantooth. According to the respected jazz website, allmusic.com, Mahogany’s “swinging style is reminiscent, but not derivative of Joe Williams.” He takes pride in his Kansas City roots and, just like another Kansas City resident, Charlie Parker, his delivery is deeply saturated in the authentic blues. In one recent performance, Kevin joked that the state law in Kansas City required a minimum of two blues numbers per set!

For the second year running, the Kurn Hattin Children’s Select Choir has been invited to join Grammy-winning fiddler Natalie MacMaster on stage for her “Christmas in Cape Breton” concert. Kurn Hattin Music Director
Lisa Bianconi has chosen 26 out of the 64-member advanced choir to perform in the concert, which takes place at the Latchis Theater in downtown Brattleboro, Vermont on Friday, December 6 at 7:30 PM

Guilford, Vt. – Friends of Music’s 41st Annual Christmas at Christ Church program is set for 8:00 p.m. on Friday, December 13, and 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 15—note this departure from past years’ schedule for the reprise performance. Christ Church is at the corner of Rt. 5 south and Melendy Hill Road in the Algiers Village of Guilford.

        “Brightest & Best: Music to Welcome the Holy Child” is this season’s theme for the program. Since mid-September, Tom Baehr has been conducting rehearsals with sixteen Guilford Chamber Singers. Many have sung with Friends of Music for a long time, and others are new to this annual “pick-up” group but sing with other choirs and choruses in the area.

Brattleboro, Vt. – Friends of Music at Guilford, for a 43rd year, invites singers and music lovers in the Tri-State region to start their holiday season with its annual Community Messiah Sing on the first Saturday in December. Set again at Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main Street in Brattleboro, the Sing’s permanent home since 1982, the event is a benefit for agencies serving the area’s homeless.

        This year the first Saturday falls on December 7, and the program is set to begin as usual at 1:00 p.m. with Clark Anderson at the helm as conductor for a third season. William McKim graciously stepped in for a 28th year as Sing organist when Christian Huebner, Centre Church’s resident organ master, learned that his ministerial ordination ceremony was set for the same afternoon. Messrs. Anderson and McKim will lead the assembled singers through the Christmas portion of Handel’s masterwork, plus a few other favorite sections from Parts II and III.

An old-time Gospel Hour is planned in West Dummerston on Sunday Dec. 1st.,from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Dummerston Community Center. Guitar and vocals will be by GinMillBill.

There will be no preacher and no preaching, just music and singing. Songbooks will be available. Light refreshments will be available. Donations will be accepted for the Community Center’s heating and maintenance fund.

Hugh Keelan and the Windham Orchestra recently collaborated with young musicians and singers from Kurn Hattin Homes to create a thing of immense beauty.

If you missed the concert earlier this month, you can catch the ! Goosebumps guaranteed!

Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present an evening of bluegrass and Americana music with the award-winning Claire Lynch Band and double banjo bluegrass quartet Hot Mustard at Next Stage on Friday, November 22 at 7:30 pm.

The Claire Lynch Band – Claire (guitar, vocals), Matt Wingate (guitar, mandolin, vocals), Mark Schatz (bass, clawhammer banjo, percussive dance) and Bryan McDowell (mandolin, fiddle, vocals) has the innate ability to perfectly interpret the beauty, subtlety and genre-defying sophistication of Claire’s music. By any measure, the quartet is high on the bluegrass world’s A-List, with musicians whose accolades include three International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Female Vocalist of the Year awards and two Grammy nominations for Best Bluegrass Album (Claire), two IBMA Bass Player of the Year awards (Mark), MerleFest Doc Watson Guitar Champion (Matt ) and an unprecedented first-place win in three instrument categories at the Walnut Valley National Flatpicking Championship (Bryan).

The Brattleboro Women’s Chorus directed by Becky Graber will present its eighteenth annual fall concerts entitled “Where There is Light” on November 23 and 24 at the First Baptist Church in Brattleboro. Seventy local women and girls will perform, accompanied by guest musician Kate Parsons on piano.

Included in the performance will be two of Graber’s compositions, “Travelin’ Light” and “Let Your Light Shine On.” From Minnesota composer Elizabeth Alexander is a Chinese proverb set to music about light, beauty, harmony, honor, and peace, “Where There is Light in the Soul.”  The Zulu song “Thula Sizwe” will be combined with Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released.”

Rocking-acoustic-swinging-soul music Friday night at Pleasant Valley Brewing in Saxtons River. Electric Fence returns with a night of free music, great beer and November cheer to take the chill off. Music starts at 8:00 and goes until 10:30.

Manuel Valera’s New Cuban Express to present a rhythmically charged evening at the Vermont Jazz Center on November 16th, 2013 at 8:00 PM

The Vermont Jazz Center will present Cuban pianist/composer Manuel Valera in concert with the New Cuban Express Quintet (NCE) on Saturday, November 16^th at 8:00 PM.  This international band is touring in support of a new, highly acclaimed recording, Expectativas, their second Grammy nominated disc in two years. Valera (Cuba) is on piano and keyboards, Joel Frahm (USA), saxophone, John Benitez (Puerto Rico), bass, Ludwig Alfonso (Cuba), drums and Mauricio Herrera (Cuba), percussion.

Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present Winnipeg, Canada-based roots music quintet The Duhks at Next Stage on Saturday, November 9 at 7:30 pm. The Grammy nominated and Juno award-winning band’s original members – Jessee Havey (vocals), Tania Elizabeth (fiddle), Jordan McConnell (guitar, pipes, whistles, vocals), Leonard Podolak (banjo, vocals) and Scott Senior (percussion) – have reunited after a three-year hiatus. Vermont-based, Americana, folk and roots music duo Red Heart The Ticker will open the show.

Theory & Musicianship I, an introduction to music theory for all instrumentalists & vocalists, will provide the fundamental skills related to music theory, analysis, and general musicianship. Designed for instrumental and vocal students, members of this course will use their primary instrument to help review basics of key, interval, and diatonic chord motions. Basic actions of harmony and voice leading will be discussed, providing students with insight into how a melodic line implies or demands certain chord movement. Discussion of melodic content, phrase, and motive will lead to an introduction of basic analytical techniques.

Vocalist and Composer, Kavita Shah to appear in VJC’s Emerging Artist Series, November 2^nd, 2013 at 8:00 PM

The Vermont Jazz Center launches its new Emerging Artist season with a choice that perfectly fits their concept.  The goal of the series is to present young musicians who deserve to be heard, individuals who are on the cutting edge, performing original, fresh, high quality music; artists with unfamiliar names whose personal statements are moving the music forward.  Kavita Shah is all of the above and more.  A talented singer, she is a tireless organizer with a vision and a body of work that challenges the definition of jazz while at the same time paying deep respect to its lineage.