David Soyer, cellist

Hugh Hinton, pianist

Cercie Miller, jazz sax

Kersenbaum-Olevsky

The Lonesome Brothers

Isle of Klezbos

Sol Y Canto

Friends and Neighbors

June 2. Tre 'Celli. Our season opens with an extraordinary evening of chamber music. Long time Guarneri String Quartet member David Soyer will perform with Peter Wiley, who succeeded him this year as cellist for the Quartet. They will be joined by Judith Serkin of the Windham Ensemble. All three cellists are regular performers at the Marlboro Festival of Music. POSTPONED DUE TO ILLNESS.

 

June 9. Piano Extraordinaire. Join us for the premiere performance of 1794 Meetinghouse's new grand piano. Three talented pianists will showcase the versatility of the new instrument: Hugh Hinton, classical artist; Mark Shilansky, jazz performer; and Freedom of Assembly, an improvisational trio with Bert Seager, piano, George Donchev on contrabass, and Nat Mugavero on drums and percussion. After the performance, audience members will have the opportunity to learn more about the restoration of the 1915 Mason-Hamlin piano.

 

June 16. Cercie Miller Quartet. Jazz saxophonist Cercie Miller hails from Washington D.C. but has become a staple of the Boston jazz scene. Miller's music reflects blues and bebop influences and is played with spirit and soul. The quartet also features Tim Ray on piano, David Clark playing bass, and Bob Savine on drums.

 

June 23. Colraine Road. Named after its practice venue in Greenfield, this Celtic band performs traditional acapella, jigs, and Irish-American sing-alongs. Rosemary Caine, a performer in her native Ireland, is featured on harp along with her daughter Jennie; Don Calsyn is on guitar, fiddle and vocals; Corki Demers and Jim Ferry on guitar and vocals; and Karmin Calsyn Boudreau on flute and tin whistle.

 

June 30. Estela Kersenbaum-Olevsky
Playing the Meetinghouse's new grand piano, this evening's artist will draw from her wide repertoire of classical solo piano music. A member of the faculty at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, she has appeared internationally as a solo, chamber and orchestra performer and has recently recorded albums of solo piano music by Chopin and South America composers.

 

July 7. Lonesome Brothers. The members of this local country-rock band performed last year on A Prairie Home Companion's annual "Talent from Towns Under 2000" radio broadcast. Featuring Westhampton guitarist Jim Armenti, Haydenville bassist Ray Mason, and Greenfield drummer Bob Grant, this band brings back-porch wisdom and rural warmth to country-rock music.

 

July 14. Yiddish Celebration. Explore the beauty and diversity of Yiddish cultural through its words and music. Through literature, music and story telling the evening will sample Yiddish traditions from the Old World and the American immigrant experiences. The New York based klezmer sextet, Isle of Klezbos, will share love songs and folk tunes as well as Yiddish theater and radio standards. They will be joined by storyteller David Arfa.

 

July 21. Sol Y Canto. Celebrate New Salem Old Home Day with this Boston-based band that performs a rich blend of Latin music including Afro-Latin, Caribbean, flamenco, and original music. From tender ballads to driving dance tunes, they feature rich harmony vocals, Spanish guitar, and a variety of wind and percussion instruments.

 

September 7, 8, 14, 15, 16.  Friends and Neighbors. A new and original musical that will answer the question, "How do we all get along in a SMALL town"? It's a challenge for playwright Dorothy Johnson and composer Andy Lichtenberg, when half the town is in the play and the other half is in the audience! This is true community theater, where the stories as well as the actors and producers are from the same town. It will be the fourth collaboration of the Johnson-Lichtenberg team at the 1794 Meetinghouse.