Presences: Concert Music in Central Massachusetts Then and Now

opens its 51st season with a visit to Fitchburg, MA, located in Central Massachusetts, highlighting composers from the region.

Pepperell-based composer Trevor Berens has provided a sextet arrangement especially for this concert of his solo piano work Pisces Rising, converting a “charcoal sketch” into a “watercolor version.” Aaron Jay Myers’ flute and sax duo invokes a Talmudic passage, “remind[ing] ourselves and each other how incredibly precious and fragile life is, and to be mindful of how our actions impact the world around us.” Brittany J. Green’s open-score work Intersections investigates the “finite yet infinite nature of moments where paths are crossed.” Clark University professor John Aylward’s trio The Undulations of Water references the E.E. Cummings poem “Summer Silence.” Pioneer Valley composer John Newell’s 5-movement solo viola work engages the listener to fully embrace “living the moments we are given.” A violin-cello duo by Carlos Simon, inspired by small family gatherings at church, invokes the “larger purpose of being present in small gatherings.”

The program is preceded by a talk from Susan Navarre, executive director of the Fitchburg Historical Society. The talk frames a month-long pop-up exhibition at the Historical Society and a mini-exhibition at the concert venue, both of which provide broader contexts for understanding the history of concert music in central Massachusetts.

Compositions

Trevor Berens: Pisces Rising
John Aylward: The Undulations of Water
Brittany Green: Intersections
John Newell: Pieces of Time
Aaron Jay Myers: Save One Life, You Save the World Entire
Carlos Simon: where two or three are gathered

Musicians

Sue-Ellen Hershman-Tcherepnin, flute
Seychelle Dunn-Corbin, baritone saxophone
Robert Schulz, percussion
Lilit Hartunian, violin
Anne Black, viola
Rafael Popper-Keizer, cello

The concert is made possible by the Massachusetts Cultural Council; the Fitchburg Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency; the Fitchburg Historical Society; and the Alice M. Ditson Fund.

Tickets available here on Eventbrite untl 11/8, day before concert, or at the ensemble's ticketing weblink. On day of concert, tickets available at weblink or at door.

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