Past Concerts

Bach and Blue

November 21st, 2021

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ashford

Music

Brandenburg Concerto No. 3

- J. S. Bach
First Movement Arr. Merle J. Isaac

The Blue Danube

- Johann Strauss, Jr.
Arr. Robert D. McCashin

Blue Rhythmico

- Kirt N. Mosier

Blue Moon

- Lorenz Hart & Richard Rodgers
Violin Solo, Michael Geigert Arr. Miguel Fajardo

Blue Tango

- Leroy Anderson
Arr. William Zinn

Double Violin Concerto in D Minor

- J. S. Bach
Arr. William Zinn
Michael Winer, Violin * Selah Kwak, Violin * Jesse Owen, Harpsichord Continuo

Vivace
Largo ma non tanto
Allegro

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Past Concerts

Strings and Ivory

July 25th, 2021

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ashford

Soloist

Adrienne Owen

has been part of the Northeast Connecticut Community Orchestra for 3 years. She can usually be found in the viola section as principle violist, though today she will be playing the piano. Adrienne has been playing the piano for 10 years. She is a recent graduate of the The Little Women Academy and will be continuing her studies at Bennington College in Vermont.

Michael Geigert

has been playing violin in the Northeast Connecticut Community Orchestra for 10 years and has been active in the Willimantic Symphony Orchestra for 15 years. He is also a classical guitarist and chorister, but picked up classical violin at the age of 45 to fulfill his ambition to play in a string quartet. When not fiddling, he works in Hartford for CT DEEP as an air quality meteorologist or in his “pick your own blueberry patch” at Windsong Farm in Pomfret.

Music

Amadeus!: - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
From Symphony No. 25 as heard in the Oscar-winning film Amadeus, Arr. Jamin Hoffman.
Rondeau: - Jean Joseph Mouret
From “Sinfonies de Fanfare”, Arr. Lynn Latham
Piano Concerto Op. 7, No. 5 in E flat.: - J. S. Bach
Allegro di molto with soloist Adrienne Owen
Ashokan Farewell: - traditional arranged by Calvin Custer
with soloist Michael Geigert

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Holidays with Handel

December 14th and 16th, 2018

Clark Chapel, Pomfret

Guest Soloists

John Nisbet

is the organist at Trinity Episcopal Church, Milton, Conn., where he plays the 1823 Thomas Hall tracker-action organ. He studied organ with Wesley Parrott at St. Mark's Church, Philadelphia. John has been featured in concerts sponsored by the American Guild of Organists, and he has been a columnist for the American Organist Magazine as well as a presenter at an AGO national convention. A composer, John studied with Harold Boatrite and Joseph Castaldo. As a choral singer, he can be heard on several recordings with the Philadelphia Orchestra on the EMI label. John studied piano with Blanche Honegger Moyse at the New England Bach Festival and with Bruno Canino at the Marlboro Festival. He has performed at the Sarasota Music Festival and the Budapest Summer Festival. In Budapest, he studied with one of the great teachers of the latter 20th century, Ferenc Rados. In early 2019, John will present a program of little known English music for viola and piano with violist Dylan Lomangino, who is the conductor of the Northeast Connecticut Community Orchestra.

Lindsay Cabaniss

Mezzo-Soprano, is delighted to be performing the Alto solo in Handel’s Messiah. In 2017, Lindsay debuted at the Bushnell Center for Performing Arts in Hartford, CT as Dorothea in a new oratorio, Letter from Italy, 1944. She has performed with many summer programs including Respiro Opera NYC ’18, Utah Vocal Arts Academy as a Principe Role study preparing Charlotte from Werther, and with Bethesda Summer Music Festival singing the roles of Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd and Third Lady in Die Zauberflöte ‘17. Other notable roles include Public Opinion in Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, Baba in Menotti’s The Medium ‘16, Second Lady in The Magic Flute ‘15 with the Hartt School of Music, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro with Manhattan Opera Studio ‘15, The Witch in Into the Woods, Nettie Fowler in Carousel, Madame Thénardier in Les Miserable , Mabel in The Pajama Game and Mrs. Jones in How to Succeed in Business with the College Light Opera Company ‘14. Lindsay graduated summa cum laude from the Hartt School of Music with a BM in Vocal Performance ‘16.

Donna Dufresne

is a retired teacher, writer, singer/songwriter and storyteller who has developed several teacher workshops based upon her creative work. She is the owner of Out of the Box Learning, offering enrichment programs to the home school community and after school programs in theater and songwriting based on historical, social justice, and civil rights content. She portrays several historical characters, including Rachel Carson and Prudence Crandall, whom she researched to bring history alive in the classroom. Ms. Dufresne earned a master’s degree in Gifted and Talented Education at the University of Connecticut. She also performs original music with her quartet and jazz ensemble, Gypsy Romantique and has recorded three albums of original music, including a children’s album of environmental education songs, western swing and her latest gypsy jazz and swing album, Tango with the Moon, which features 15 original songs and 11 recorded novelettes. She has also written a children’s musical about global warming called Speaker for the Earth.

Guest Choir

The Concert Choir of Northeastern Connecticut

was started in 1959 by Warren Geissinger using the Pomfret School as a home base. CCNC is a non-audition community choir that welcomes all who wish to sing and bring joy into our community by performing larger choral pieces that just couldn't be done in a church choir with the demands of regular Sunday anthems. Through the years CCNC has had over ten extremely talented directors who have helped us to grow both musically and in numbers. The choir has performed Requiems by Brahms, Mozart and Faure, and of course Handel’s Messiah. This season CCNC performed the full parts of I & II of Messiah under the direction of Dr. Kevin Mack, who has been music director for the past six years. CCNC welcomes any and all who enjoy singing to contact ConcertChoirNECT@gmail.com. You can visit us on Facebook or visit our website www.ConcertChoirNECT.com.

Music

An English Suite: IV. Caprice: - Sir Hubert Parry composed the 7 pieces that now make up this suite for his brilliant student, Emily Daymond. After Parry’s death in 1918, Dr. Daymond gathered the pieces together as a suite and even titled the unnamed fourth movement “Caprice.” It is an apt title. Caprices by English composers like capricci by Italians are typically lively, playful and free of form, but intense and often virtuosic. The English composers often added a little melancholy. Parry’s “Caprice” is fun to play but it is one of the more difficult pieces the orchestra has tackled over its 7-year history.
“Lascia ch’io pianga”: - George Frideric Handel composed this aria for the opera “Rinaldo” in 1711. The opera is set at the time of the First Crusade and is a story of love and war. . In “Rinaldo” the heroine Almirena, a prisoner of the king of Jerusalem” sings this aria. In today’s performance Handel’s same beautiful and emotional music is used by soprano Donna Dufresne, for a much different purpose, as the musical setting for the traditional prayer “Ave Maria”.
Organ Concerto in F Major, op. 4, No. 4: - George Frideric Handel often was called the greatest organist of his time. This was no small accomplishment in the age of Johann Sebastian Bach, his celebrated contemporary and a man he never met. Handel had an uncommon brilliancy and command of finger, but what distinguished him from all other players who possessed these same qualities was that amazing fullness, force, and energy, which he joined with them. Handel composed his first organ concertos in the mid-1730s, to be inserted into performances of his oratorios (such as Messiah). The concerto for organ and small orchestra was essentially Handel’s own invention, and his were written to be played by Handel himself—a way of demonstrating his virtuosity as a composer and as a performer at the same time. The F major concerto was designed to be performed as an interlude in the oratorio Athalia in April 1735 and combines brilliant fast and florid music with adagio movements that are essentially organ solos—moments that allowed Handel to take the spotlight and remind his audiences that he was not only a popular composer and celebrated performer, but also a peerless improviser. Notes provided by Phillip Huscher, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Christmas Suite for strings and piano: - Alec Rowley was a 20th century British composer, organist, pianist and dedicated teacher. Many of his compositions are miniatures appropriate for amateur musicians although he also gained renown through his large-scale works performed at the Promenade Concerts and elsewhere. In this suite of 7 English Christmas songs written in 1950, Rowley’s organizing principle is dance rhythm. The prelude opens the suite with a quiet tune based on “The Bitter Withy.” The second movement sets “The Holly and The Ivy” in a lilting 6/8 Sicilian rhythm. The third movement combines “The Holly and The Ivy” with “The Moon Shines Bright” in a sharply contrasting minuet. The fourth movement is a sarabande that recalls the haunting “Coventry Carol” and gives the dancers a breather before the fifth movement’s bourrée setting for “On Christmas Night” and “The Moon Shines Bright.” The sixth movement is a fughetta setting of a little known carol called “The Little Room” which is followed by a jig, jam packed with five carols: ‘Good Christian Men’ ‘What Child is this?’ ‘The Wassail Song’ ‘Good King Wenceslas’ and ‘God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen.’
Messiah: - George Frideric Handel received an invitation in 1741 to produce a series of concerts in Dublin. He traveled from London to Dublin in November 1741 and remained until August 1742. Without a doubt, the high point of Handel’s Dublin season was the premiere of his new oratorio, Messiah, which he composed over about three weeks while still in London during the summer of 1741. He organized the text into three discrete sections: the first relating to the prophecy of Christ’s coming and the circumstances of his birth; the second to the vicissitudes of his life on earth; and the third to the events surrounding the Resurrection and the promise of redemption. We will be performing selections from the first two sections, including the famous Hallelujah Chorus. When Messiah was first performed in London in 1780, when the chorus struck up ‘For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth,’ reportedly the audience and King stood and remained standing until the chorus had ended. The real reason why King George II stood is unknown. Perhaps he was moved by the power of this proclamation; the audience followed suit, out of respect, and a tradition was born. Or maybe His Majesty was tired and had to stretch his legs. Whatever the reason, feel free to rise for the conclusion of this masterpiece. Notes provided by James M. Keller of the New York Philharmonic.

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Chamber Music at Clark Chapel

June 24, 2018

Clark Chapel, Pomfret

Guest Soloists

Yulia Fedorov

A native of Ukraine, earned a degree in piano performance and music theory at Dnipro Conservatory and then graduated from Lviv Conservatory with a degree in music education and in music history. In Connecticut, she earned her Masters in Music Education at Western Connecticut State University. She has been teaching music for more than 15 years. Yulia has soloed with the orchestra in multiple concerts since 2012.

Emily Ferguson

A native of Brooklyn, NY, and holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School. She has enjoyed performing in the Sacramento Symphony and touring with the Western Opera Theater during her years in California. She has been a visiting professor in oboe instruction at the University of California, Davis and was a member of the faculty woodwind quintet. In 1990 she attended the University of South Dakota and earned her MD degree followed by 3 years of Family Medicine residency in Lewiston, ME. Dr. Ferguson is a family physician in Putnam, CT, practicing more medicine than music most days of the week.

Barbara Vaughan

Violinist, received her B.Mus degree from Manhattan School of Music, and her M.M from UCONN. She has performed with numerous orchestras including the Savannah Symphony, Augusta Symphony, the Florida Festival Orchestra, the American Philharmonic Orchestra, Newport Jazz Festival, and the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Ms. Vaughan was a member of the UCONN Chamber players from 1984-91, and she has performed annually with Hop River Chamber Music since 1986. Currently, she teaches Suzuki violin for the Mansfield Public Schools, plays regularly with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, and teaches violin and viola at ECSU.

NCCO Soloists

Kurt Kaufman

A native of New York, received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Juilliard School. He has worked as Principal cellist of the State Opera of Flanders, Belgium and in the Sacramento Symphony, and Portland (Maine) Opera. He has taught cello and chamber music at the University of California, Davis, and California State University at Chico. Kurt has been Principal cellist of the Northeast Connecticut Community Orchestra since it began in 2012 and also plays with the Willimantic Orchestra. Beside his musical activities, he has worked as a computer programmer and networking consultant, and as office manager for his wife Emily Ferguson's medical practice. Since 1998 they have lived in northeastern Connecticut, where they have raised their two daughters.

Dylan Lomangino

has been music director and conductor of the Northeast Connecticut Community Orchestra since 2016. He graduated with a B.A. in Music from the University of Connecticut where he studied viola with Robert Merer, Steve Larson and Dr. Solomiya Ivakhiv. He studied conducting with UConn Orchestra Director Harvey Felder and in 2016 finished his B.S. in Music Education from the University of Bridgeport. Dylan currently lives in Manchester and teaches strings privately and in the public schools in the Hartford area. He plays viola in the Connecticut Valley Symphony Orchestra and Beth-El Symphony Orchestra.

Featured Composer

Bruce Lazarus

characterizes his extensive catalog of instrumental and vocal music as “diverse, concise, architectural, contemporary, and in turn meditative, energetic, humorous, moody, and exuberant.” His works have often been inspired by astronomical imagery, woodlands and mountain trails, and lifetime involvement in the worlds of theater and dance.
Bruce earned his B.M. and M.M. degrees in music composition at Julliard where he studied composition with Vincent Persichetti and Andrew Thomas, and later earned his Ph.D in music theory and composition at Rutgers University. He was also a private student of noted piano teacher and composer Donald Waxman. Lazarus has served as composer-in-residence for dance at Northwestern University and New World School of the Arts in Miami, music director / composer for numerous mainstage theater productions at Marymount Manhattan College, long-term company pianist for Dance Theater of Harlem and music coordinator for Mark Morris Dance Group, with composer guest residencies at Yaddo, Storm King Music Festival and ArtsAhimsa. Bruce Lazarus is currently in this third season as Music Director for the Joffrey Ballet School.

Music

Romance and Scherzo: - composed by Bruce Lazarus was commissioned by cellist Kurt Kaufman who premiered the ten-minute work at the 2016 ArtsAhimsa Music Festival in Lee, Massachusetts. Mr. Kaufman writes: "When I commissioned composer Bruce Lazarus for two solo cello pieces, I asked that they be written so that cellists of relatively modest accomplishment could play them without too much difficulty. I am happy to see that he has succeeded while maintaining variety and scope. From the opening of the pensive “Romance" to the more cheerful "Scherzo", with its darker middle section, the stylistic breadth and accessibility of “Romance and Scherzo” will I’m sure greatly appeal to cellists and audiences alike.”
Suite Hebraique Mvt. II Processional: - After moving to the United States in 1916 the Swiss born composer, Ernest Bloch, began to reflect on his Jewish heritage. This suite draws on traditional Jewish sources, as well as melodic and timbral inspirations, such as the sound of the shofar’s call. A march rhythm and a passionate theme from the viola characterize the second movement, titled “Processional.”
Suite No. 1 in G minor Op. 131d (IV. Molto Vivace): - When Max Reger composed this piece in 1915, Bach’s forms and methods served as a model which he intended to recreate according to modern appreciation and in a new and individual manner. This suite was written for the maximally reduced scoring of one string instrument, following Bach’s example; however Reger chose the viola, the one instrument for which Bach had not written solo works. He also adopted Bach’s title although he did not interpret it in the sense of a series of stylized baroque dance movements, but instead presented it as four movements in the (Classical) sonata form.
The Swan (Le Cygne): - written by Camille Saint-Saëns in 1886 is the 13th and penultimate movement from his suite “The Carnival of the Animals.” It was the only section published and performed during the composer’s lifetime, and has become a staple of the cello repertoire.
Trio (“Un ange passe”) for oboe, violin and cello: - by Bruce Lazarus, premiered at Clark Chapel today. It was commissioned in 2017 by oboist Emily Ferguson and cellist Kurt Kaufman. The trio is comprised of three movements: Un ange passe, Without Words and Patter Song. According to Thoughtco.com “Un ange passe” is a French expression (literally an angel is passing) “used to describe a sudden, unexpected break in conversation…” The composer embraced “un ange passe” as a metaphor for his own interest in silence as a pleasing structural and motivic device in his compositions, the multiple “pauses which let in light and air.” Indeed, not only the eponymous first movement but also the entire piece is brightened and refreshed by joyous silences. The second movement, Without Words is a lyrical interlude requiring no words of explanation, and the final, rapidly moving Patter Song features brief solos for each instrument. The melodies from each solo are combined in the lively Quodlibet which concludes the piece.
Adagio Cantabile: - This famous “slow and singing” movement from Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata was written in 1798 when the composer was 27 years old. It has been one of the most popular classical piano pieces for over two centuries.
Two Poems, Op. 32: - by Russian composer Alexander Scriabin were written in 1903 and Scriabin himself loved to perform them in concerts. The mysterious and magically colorful Poem No.1 is followed by unexpectedly loud opening chords of the Poem No.2, with its forceful fire-spitting elegance and confidence.
Oboe Quartet in F major: - was written by Mozart in 1781 for Friedrich Ramm, a virtuoso oboist in the Munich orchestra, in order to show off recent improvements in the design of the oboe at the time. One obvious example is the inclusion of a spotlighted high “F” note, towards the end of the piece.

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Spring Breeze

June 8 and 10, 2018

Knowlton Hall, Ashford and Clark Chapel, Pomfret

Guest Soloist

Jia-Yi He

World famous harmonica player is joining us for our spring 2018 concert ...

Jia-Yi He, a world-class harmonica virtuoso, has received numerous awards in international festivals and competitions in England, Germany, Israel, Japan and United States. He has served as a member of the judging committees in the Asia-Pacific Harmonica Competition in Taiwan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Hangzhou and Singapore. Mr. He has appeared as a soloist with the China National Symphony Orchestra, China National Ballet Symphonic Orchestra and the Nassau Pops Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared at many television stations including ABC-news, News 12 Long Island, Queens Public Television and Sino Television in the United States. Mr. He has recorded harmonica music for a number of movies, radio stations and CDs. He was invited to perform at the General Assembly Hall at the United Nations. The New York Mets have chosen him to perform a pre-game show at Shea Stadium. Currently, Mr. He is a harmonica teacher at the Turtle Bay Music School in New York City. taken from https://www.facebook.com/hharmonica

NCCO Soloist

Barbara Horn

has played first violin and has been Concertmaster of the Northeast Connecticut Community Orchestra since its founding. She has also played with the Willimantic Orchestra for many years. Barbara graduated from the Hartt School of Music with a Music Education Degree and has taught Strings and Orchestra in Shrewsbury MA. She currently lives in Ashford and teaches at Ashford School.

Music

St.Paul's: - Around 1904 Gustav Holst was appointed Musical Director at St. Paul's Girls' School, Hammersmith, his biggest teaching post and one that he greatly enjoyed, remaining there until his death. When a music wing was added onto the St. Paul's Girls' School, a sound-proof teaching room was built for Holst. For the nearly twenty years of his remaining lifetime, this was where he wrote nearly all of his music. The St. Paul's Suite for the school orchestra is the first composition he wrote there. Originally written for strings, Holst added wind parts to include an entire orchestra if necessary. The first movement begins with a robust "Jig" in alternating 6/8 and 9/8 time. Holst introduces a contrasting theme, then skillfully develops and blends the two themes. In the "Intermezzo" a solo violin introduces the principal theme over pizzicato chords, then the solo viola joins the violin in a duet. After an animated section the original melody is again heard, now performed by a quartet of soloists. Finally the folksong "Dargason" is introduced very softly, then cellos enter playing the beautiful "Greensleeves" and the two folksongs are played together to end the suite.
Spanish Gypsy Dance: - España cañi” was written by Pascual Marquina Narro in 1923 and first recorded in 1926 and may be the best known snippet of Spanish music worldwide. Here the strings get into the familiar rhythm of the “Pasodoble” (double step), with it’s 120 beats / steps per minute, as bullfighter Jiayi He plays “the largest harmonica in the world.”
The Blue Danube Waltz: - Composed by Johann Strauss II in 1867 this waltz has been one of the most consistently popular pieces in the classical repertoire. This version arranged by Jiayi has multiple key changes, just as in Strauss’ original, which poses a problem for the harmonica, which can only play in a single. Jiayi overcomes this obstacle by playing the waltz on his “wheel harmonica” – 6 harmonicas in one!
Juke: - was composed and recorded by harmonica virtuoso “Little Walter” Jacobs in the 1950s and surely altered listeners’ expectations of what was possible on blues harmonica. Juke was a number-one hit on the Billboard R&B chart for eight weeks in 1952. Jiayi He’s arrangement has him playing Little Walters’ melody on diatonic harmonica as the strings have fun playing “chops”
The Fairy Couple: - is a song from the Huangmei Opera from China by the same name. Jiayi He’s arrangement is played on a bass harmonica and diatonic harmonica with accompanying strings. The Fairy Couple is a love story of a fairy who marries a man (the fairy and man are represented by the diatonic and bass harmonica respectively). The fairy’s mother disapproves of the marriage and forbids and captures her daughter away. The man never gives up and eventually they are allowed to see each other once a year. That day is called Qixi, or Chinese Valentine’s Day.
Oh! Susanna: - composed by Stephen Foster in 1848 this tune is among the most popular American songs ever written. It is played here by Jiayi He on “the smallest harmonica in the world” with the strings playing mostly pizzicato (or plucked) “chops.”
Nessun Dorma: - “None shall sleep” is an aria from Giacomo Puccini’s opera Turandot. This arrangement by Ted Ricketts for string orchestra features solos from Barbara Horn (violin) and Sondra Boyer (cello). The piece utilizes string techniques such as pizzicato (plucked), sul ponticello (bowed over the bridge) and tremolo (rapid repetition of a note) to create a sensitive, expressive and powerful presentation of the aria in a grand operatic style.
A Suite of Five Pieces for Harmonica: - Gordon Jacob (1895-1984) was one of the most prolific of English composers noted for his symphonies and other orchestral music. Known for his virtuosity, craftsmanship and wit, he characteristically looked out for areas where there were gaps in the available repertoire. In 1957 when the prowess of the brilliant harmonica-player Tommy Reilly became known to him, he composed the Suite of Five Pieces for Harmonica and Piano, arranged here for strings by Jiayi He and played on the chromatic harmonica in today’s program. The perky Caprice, lilting Cradle Song, thrilling Russian Dance, haunting Threnody and the lively Country Dance have been fun (and challenging) for the orchestra and highlight both Jiayi He’s and Gordon Jacob’s virtuosity.
Minuetto No. 1: - Puccini is certainly best known for his operas but he did compose a few works for strings. This minuet is one of a set of three string quartets he composed in 1892 and it has much of the lyrical quality his music is so well know for. Jim Bump, a founding member of the orchestra who passed away in 2017, initially suggested it to us and it has been a favorite of orchestra members this semester.
Turkish March (Rondo alla Turca): - is the 3rd movement from The Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and is often heard on its own. It was composed to resemble an Ottoman military band march and is one of Mozart’s best-known piano pieces. In this arrangement by Jiayi He for harmonica and strings, the key changes and dynamics are accomplished by his playing four harmonicas at once!
Caro Nome: - the Italian opera Rigoletto by Guiseppe Verdi premiered in 1851. One of the most famous arias of all time, Caro Nome (Dearest Name), is sung by Gilda Rigoletto in meditation of her love for the licentious Duke of Mantua, who tricks Gilda into believing he is someone he is not. Here the aria will not be sung, but played with solos by Barbara Horn on violin and Jiayi He on harmonica.

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