Ellsworth Community Music Institute to host Trailblazers for a Midday Concert on October 4, 2024, at 1:00 PM at the Moore Community Center in the theater. Midday Concerts are Free and open to the public.

Trailblazers-shines a spotlight on music from the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Henriëtte Bosmans, Ethel Smyth, and Dora Pejačević–women who were unabashedly themselves, defying the social expectations of their time against the backdrop of world wars and a global pandemic. Originally written for cello and piano, all three sonatas are presented here in new arrangements for viola and piano, marking a significant contribution to the viola repertoire. All three sonatas are featured on the new album, Trailblazers, from Acis Productions.

Brass Roots Trio to perform a Midday Concert @ 1:00 on September 20th at Ellsworth Community Music Institute (ECMI).

ELLSWORTH - Ellsworth Community Music Institute (ECMI) offers its next Midday Concert @ 1:00 on September 20th with Brass Roots Trio (Trumpet, French Horn, and Piano).

The concert will be held at the Moore Community Center Theater at 125 State Street in Ellsworth, Maine. The series is sponsored by Ellsworth Community Music Institute (ECMI) with funding assistance from The City of Ellsworth. Admission is free to the public.

Brass Roots Trio (TRUMPET, FRENCH HORN, and PIANO plus the bonus of a brilliant operatic tenor) redefines the chamber music genre with a fusion of styles. With classical roots and eclectic content, Brass Roots Trio’s programs take unexpected twists and turns, from brilliant Baroque gems played on piccolo trumpet, to decadent tangos, to American masters Bernstein, Copland, and Gershwin.  

Travis Heath (trumpet & flugelhorn), Douglas Lundeen (French horn, Native American Flute & vocalist) and Rosetta Senkus Bacon (piano) infuse their music with exuberant energy. Their warmhearted presentation, with commentaries that are informative and often humorous, makes an immediate connection with the audience.

A pioneer of this instrumentation, Brass Roots Trio has performed in every corner of the US and England since 2004.  In 2009 the trio was honored to perform for President and Mrs. Obama and their guests at the White House. Individually the artists have demonstrated their prodigious talents across the country and around the world with engagements at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in NY, and at Cultural Centers and festivals in Switzerland, England, Ireland, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium, The Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Lithuania, Japan, China and Taiwan.

Exhilarating performances and imaginative programming have established BRASS ROOTS TRIO as one of the most compelling ensembles of the 21st century.

For more information, please call 207-664-9258 or email: info@ellsworthcommunitymusic.org. 

A Unique & fun Trio featuring: Kevin Morse-Guitar, Aija Kante-Cahn- Cello &Will Galison- Harmonica

This Midday Concert @ 1:00 will take place on September 29th in the theater of the Moore Community Center at 125 State Street in Ellsworth, Maine.

Noreen and Phillip Silver bring a wealth of performing experience to their highly regarded partnership. They have an enviable international reputation for chamber music playing of the highest caliber. The Duo, founded when Noreen and Phillip were students at the New England Conservatory of Music, has received accolades and acclaim from appreciative audiences and critics throughout Europe, Israel, the United States, Scandinavia, and the Czech Republic. Their imaginative programming, in which lesser-known works are given exposure alongside established repertoire favorites, has proven very popular and made them much in demand.

Noreen Silver has been described by Michael Tumelty in the Glasgow Herald as “an extraordinarily soulful player” who “demonstrates an uncommon depth of feeling and imagination.” Since 1999 she has been an adjunct faculty member at the University of Maine, where she directs the Chamber Music program, teaches cello and Music Theory. Noreen also holds the position of Principal Cellist in the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, and has appeared as soloist with the orchestra on numerous occasions. She grew up in Glasgow, Scotland, studied at the Royal College of Music in London, and at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA. She was fortunate to pursue independent study with the great cellists Jacqueline du Pré and Pierre Fournier. Much in demand as a teacher, Noreen has also served on the faculties of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Strathclyde University.

Phillip Silver is an internationally acclaimed solo and collaborative artist who has performed in many of the world’s leading concert halls. The Frankfurter Rundschau described his playing as “virtuosic,” Haaretz commented upon his “...superb technical ability that enthralled the audience with melody, lyricism and poetry,” while the Boston Globe called him “an international collaborative pianist of the first rank,” and the Jerusalem Post described him as “a superb accompanist whose work is marked by sensitivity, felicity of style and an inborn musicianship which unerringly directs him to the most appropriate musical gesture.”

• Posted In: Midday Concert Series

IMPORTANT NOTE for ATTENDEES: This concert will be held in-person at the Moore Community Center, 125 State Street, Ellsworth, Maine. Due to COVID-19 restrictions the audience will be limited to 50 members and seats will be filled first come, first served. Masks will be required of all attendees, regardless of vaccination status.

Ellsworth Community Music Institute (ECMI) will begin a new series of live Midday Concerts @ 1:00 on October 22. After a long hiatus in live concerts at ECMI, the Halcyon String Quartet and Friends will play at the Moore Community Center, 125 State Street, Ellsworth, Maine. Musicians performing are Luke Fatora, violin; Colin Wheatley, viola; Josie Davis, violin; Sophie Davis, violin and Nora Willauer, cello.

Program:

Danish String Quartet 'O Fredrik, O Fredrik'
Chiquinha Gonzaga Suspiro Tango
Bonnie at Morn (Traditional)
William Grant Still "Summerland"
Philip Glass Movements from Quartet No. 3
Monthati Masebe 'Nomadic Nirvanah'
Mendelssohn String Quintet No. 2 in B-flat, I. Allegro Vivace
Take My Hand (Traditional)

This concert series is sponsored by Ellsworth Community Music Institute (ECMI) with funding from the Onion Foundation and the City of Ellsworth. Admission is free to the public.

For more information, please call 207-664-9258 or email: info@ellsworthcommunitymusic.org. The concert will be held in-person in the Moore Community Center Theater. Due to COVID-19 restrictions the audience will be limited to 50 members and seats will be filled first come, first served. Masks will be required of all attendees, regardless of vaccination status.

About the Musicians:

Hailing from the mountains of Colorado, LUKE FATORA was drawn to the violin after hearing fiddle music in the hills of Appalachia. He has performed in contexts that include fiddling for square dances, improvising with dancers and DJs, and performing contemporary and traditional classical music in the World Financial Center and Carnegie Hall. Also having pursued an interest in conducting, Luke served as the Music Director for the Summit Community Orchestra between completing a B.M. at the Oberlin Conservatory and a M.M. at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He served as a 2017-2019 Musician Fellow at Community MusicWorks in Providence, RI where he taught individuals and coached ensembles while also performing chamber music in experimental and traditional concert series. Luke’s multimedia works pair music with imagery to strive towards making abstract experiences more tangible – they draw inspiration from the ability music and imagery have to communicate what fleetingly escapes language. Works range anywhere from playing with giving imagery to abstract musical representations of landscapes and natural elements to using imagery and music to explore societal drivers of climate change.

COLIN WHEATLEY is the orchestra director at East Lyme Middle School in Connecticut where he teaches lessons and directs five orchestras. A native of Bellingham Washington, Colin earned his B.M. in viola performance at Oberlin Conservatory studying with Peter Slowik, his M.M. from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music under the tutelage of Atar Arad, and his Masters in Music Teaching from Oberlin Conservatory. An avid chamber musician, Colin has performed for members of the Emerson, Pacifica, Cleveland, Concord, and Takács quartets, and has played in a master class for Yo-Yo Ma. Colin has taught violin and viola for over ten years and is a certified Suzuki instructor. He has taught at the Rhode Island Philharmonic Music School, Oberlin Community Music School, alongside Mimi Zweig at the Indiana University String Academy, privately, and at Fairview Elementary School in Bloomington, IN as part of a grant-funded project studying the benefits of music education for urban youth. When not performing and teaching, Colin enjoys spending time outdoors, learning about beekeeping, running marathons, cooking, and traveling.

JOSIE DAVIS received her undergraduate degrees in violin and sociology at Oberlin College and Conservatory where she was a student of David Bowlin, and her Ed.M from Harvard University. She has performed in a wide-range of venues from Carnegie Hall to the Monte Music Festival in India and has appeared with her sister on NPR’s From the Top. She actively explores ways to share classical music in new contexts and has performed chamber music with Emanuel Ax in a taco shop, played solo Bach for Chris Thile, and is currently a member of Palaver Strings. Her teaching has brought her to Panama, India and Community MusicWorks in Rhode Island where she completed a two-year Fellowship. In past summers, she has studied at the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, Bowdoin International Music Festival and Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival. She is committed to creating more chamber music opportunities for young people and is the founder and director of summer workshops for young people in Maine and Connecticut. As a violinist, educator and arts administrator, Josie is interested in how the arts can be used as a form of cultural empowerment to build bridges and strengthen communities. In addition to her work at Bay Chamber, Josie plays with Halcyon String Quartet and Palaver Strings.

SOPHIE DAVIS grew up in Maine where she studied violin with Janet Ciano and Gilda Joffe. She received degrees in violin performance and environmental studies from Oberlin College and Conservatory. Playing and sharing music are integral to Sophie’s creative and professional practice. She has participated in the Perlman Chamber Music Workshop, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Program, as a soloist with Oberlin’s Contemporary Music Ensemble, and with her sister on NPR’s From the Top. She has performed at the Kennedy Center, Chicago’s Symphony Hall, the Monte Music Festival in India, and with the Jordan National Orchestra (JOrchestra) in Amman, Jordan. In 2017, Sophie was awarded a Fulbright Research Grant to spend nine months in the South Pacific island nation of Samoa where she explored the ways in which the arts can raise awareness of climate change. In addition to pursuing research, Sophie taught and performed with the National Orchestra of Samoa. Sophie divides her time between musical performance and pedagogy. She serves as violin faculty and chamber music coordinator at Bay Chamber Music School in Rockport and is the co-founder of Halcyon – an ensemble dedicated to using music and art to cultivate environmental stewardship. Sophie performs throughout New England with Halcyon, as a duo with her sister and plays frequently with the Portland-based chamber orchestra, Palaver Strings.

NORA WILLAUER is a passionate musician, devoted not only to her instrument, but also to the relationship between music and community. Last spring, Nora graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music with her Masters of Music Performance. She is currently pursuing a performance certificate with Dr. Melissa Kraut. In the past few years, Nora has performed as a soloist with the Eugene Symphony Orchestra, the Liceu Cello Ensemble in Barcelona, and the University of Oregon Symphony Orchestra. She has won numerous prizes including the Labberte-Hoedemaker Award from the Peter de Grote festival in the Netherlands, the University of Oregon Undergraduate Performance Award and the Eugene Symphony’s Young Artist Competition. Nora serves as Executive Director of DocSong, a non-profit dedicated to co-writing authentic songs with communities in crisis. She is the founder of “Songs of #MeToo,” a multimedia presentation that paired documentary songs written with women who had experienced sexual misconduct or domestic violence with the preludes from J.S. Bach’s cello suites. This performance raised over $8,000, benefitted the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, and included more than 20 different female artists from across the globe. Nora is excited to continue exploring the intersection between documentary songwriting and social justice: in the next few years she hopes to raise awareness around climate change through workshops and performances.

About Halcyon

HALCYON is a collective. At our core, we are a string quartet however we often collaborate with musicians and artists from Maine and beyond to create unique and varied programs and performances. Halcyon centers its work around projects that promote environmental stewardship and respond to the urgency of climate change. Learn more at halcyonstringquartet.com.