⌘Untitled Document
Fiddler Alasdair Fraser and cellist Natalie Haas
Fiddler Alasdair Fraser and Cellist Natalie Haas in
Concert May 11
Master Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser’s
dynamic fiddling, engaging stage presence and deep understanding of
Scotland’s music have created a constant and international demand for
his solo appearances and concerts with a variety of ensembles. On Sunday,
May 11, Fraser will play at the Opera House at Boothbay Harbor with young
cellist Natalie Haas in an evening of rhythms, melodies and
musicianship.
Fraser has been a major force behind the resurgence of
traditional Scottish fiddling in his homeland and the United States,
inspiring legions of listeners and learners through his recordings, annual
fiddle camps and concerts. The Los Angeles Times
descrubes his musicianship as running “the
expressive gamut from deep Celtic melancholy to joyful jig, his fiddle
imitations of the bagpipe almost unbelievable, the whole rendered with a
humble sincerity, flawless virtuosity and just about the sweetest sound
since Fritz Kreisler.”
Cellist Natalie Haas makes “her instrument sound
like the drone of a hurdy gurdy, the jangle of a guitar, or the thump of a
string bass, and she can carry the tune of fast jigs and reels as
well,” says The Times. This young Juilliard graduate has brought a
fresh sound to an old tradition and when teamed with Fraser, the duo has
created a buzz among Celtic music lovers at festivals and concerts across
the United States and Europe.
The Mother’s Day evening concert begins at 7:30
p.m., with doors opening at 7 p.m. and the historic upstairs bar opening at
6:30 p.m. Tickets are $17 in advance and $20 on the day of the performance,
available by contacting the box office at 633-5159 or on-line at
www.boothbayoperahouse.com.
Premiere of Comolli Work Presented by DaPonte String
Quartet
DaPonte String Quartet
The DaPonte String Quartet (DSQ) will present the world
premiere of “Mourning Songs of Greek Women” by Gia Comolli
during the weekend of May 16, 17 and 18. In addition to the new work by
Comolli, the quartet will perform Franz Schubert’s
“Quartettsatz,” Ottorino Respighi’s “Il Tramonto,
“and Felix Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Opus
13.
The programs will be presented on Friday, May 16, at 7:
30 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Church in Newcastle; on Saturday, May 17, at
7:30 p.m. at the State Street Church in Portland; and on Sunday, May 18, at
3 p.m. at the Brunswick United Methodist Church. Tickets, priced at $22,
$20 for seniors, are available at the door.
Composer Gia Comolli
“Mourning Songs of Greek Women,” based on
five poems from a book of the same title by Konstantinos Lardos, will be
sung by soprano Roxana Tourigny. According to the composer, the quartet
plays the role of enhancing the text as interpreted by the singer. These
dramatic poems, entitled “There is no fragrance,”
“I’d borne six sons,” “Paradise,” “To
lose a child” and “Fate,” inspired Comolli to reach for a
style of composition different from her earlier works.
Tourigny is director of the Great Performances Series
at the University of Rhode Island and holds degrees in vocal performance
from the universities of New Hampshire and Michigan. Tourigny joins the DSQ
in performances of Respighi’s “Il Tramonto” (“The
Sunset”). Based on a text by Shelley, this work exemplifies
Respighi’s fascination with early music as he draws on the influence
of Italian Renaissance master Claudio Monteverdi.
“Quartettsatz” is a one-movement work
intended as the first movement of a large-scale quartet that Schubert wrote
in 1820 but never completed. This was followed several years later by works
for string quartet including “Rosamunde” and “Death and
the Maiden.”
Mendelssohn wrote his second string quartet at the age
of 18. The work is in tribute to Ludwig van Beethoven, who was revered by
the young Mendelssohn, and contains numerous quotes and illusions from
several of Beethoven’s quartets.
An Evening of Broadway Music at CHRHS
CHRHS will present its annual Spring Choral Concert on
May 13. Photo by Marti Stone Photography
On Tuesday, May 13, at 7:30 p.m. the Camden Hills
Regional High School (CHRHS) Chorale, Chamber Singers and Women’s
Choir will present their annual spring concert. Under the direction of
Kimberly Murphy and accompanied by Susan Iltis (piano) and Ian Mackenzie
(percussion), the performance will showcase a variety of selections from
Broadway shows and popular movies. Highlights include selections from
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s many musicals, plus selections from Spring Awakening, Wicked, Hairspray,
Sweeney Todd, The
Sound of Music and Fiddler
on the Roof. Student soloists include Michael
Weferling, Lindsey Young, Liza Morong, Caitlin Throne, Sarah Palermo, Sean
Fay, Allie Chilton, Emily Michalakes, Alistair Phaup and many more. CHRHS
graduate Kevin Mohollan will be the guest accompanist for the Women’s
Choir.
During the concert, CHRHS choral seniors will be
recognized and annual awards will be given to the 33 choral students
accepted to the Maine Music Educators Association District III Festival and
the eight choral students accepted to the MMEA All State Festival.
Admission to the concert is free. For more information, call Murphy at
236-7800, extension 295.
Ashwood Presents The Music
Man
The middle-school students at Ashwood Waldorf School in
Rockport will present a public performance of the Broadway musical The Music Man at the Rockport
Opera House on Friday, May 16, at 7 p.m. Donations will be accepted.
The Music Man tells the
story of traveling salesman Harold Hill and his visit in 1912 to a small
Iowa town, where he meets and falls in love with the willful spinster
librarian Marian Paroo. With his fast-talking style,
“Professor” Hill convinces the town that unless they adopt his
revolutionary music program, the youngsters of River City will be forever
doomed. He gets the parents to buy instruments and expensive uniforms in
order to form the River City Boys Band. Chaos ensues as Hill’s
credentials are questioned and he is called upon to prove himself to the
citizens of River City. The sixth, seventh and eighth graders have been
learning the songs and rehearsing the dances with Ashwood parents Beverly
Scott and Wendy Poulston along with class teachers Jacob Eichenlaub and Lee
Chisholm.
Scott, a resident of Camden, helped run a
children’s theatre and performance camp in Kansas; she has acted,
sung and danced in plays and musicals for decades, earning a master’s
degree in communications with an emphasis in theatre and drama. Poulston,
who hails from England and has two daughters at Ashwood, studied viola,
piano and flute at the Royal Academy of Music in London. After graduating
she played with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the English
Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Radio Orchestra. Then followed a
freelance career playing in London’s West End theatres with shows
such as Evita, Me & My Girl and Phantom of the Opera, and session
work recording advertising jingles, film and radio music. More recently she
has concentrated on chamber music, playing both formal concerts with the
Landolfi and Ward string quartets and lighter background music for
functions with the Champagne String Quartet.
Ashwood Waldorf School is located on Park Street in
Rockport. For more information, call the office at 236-8021 or visit
www.ashwoodwaldorf.org.
World Premiere of Comedy Mildred’s
Chorus at Waldo
The cast of Mildred’s
Chorus features (counterclockwise from
left) Heidi Leinonen, Cole Christine, Dan MacCready and Lily Christine,
plus Dennis Boyd (not pictured).
The Waldo Theatre, located on Main Street in Waldoboro, will host the world premiere of Mildred’s Chorus, a comedy with music by Art Mayers, Friday and Saturday, May 16 and 17, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, May 18, at 2 p.m.
According to Mayers the character of Mildred springs
from his childhood in New Hampshire. Mildred directed seasonal musicals in
the living room of her tiny farmhouse, featuring neighborhood children who
sang old-time and popular music of the period for an audience of their
parents.
In the play Mayers jumps ahead many years. Mildred is
old and her husband, Jimmy, has died. A teenager, David, comes to the door
selling Grit magazine. She sees him as new talent for one of her shows and
invites him and his friends, Tommy, Bruce and Tammy over to practice.
However, they have their own band, called the Garbage Boats, which is punk.
The collaboration evolves through twists and turns but Mildred emerges to
create her musical.
Mildred is played by Heidi Leinonen, who returns to the
Waldoboro area by way of Framingham, Massachusetts, where she produced many
community theater productions. She is joined by teens Cole Christine, Dan
MacCready, Dennis Boyd and Lily Christine, all of whom have had extensive
theater experience with Camden Civic Theater and Lincoln County Community
Theater. They are also musicians, and have created their own arrangements
for the music.
Mayers is the author of over a dozen plays including
five musicals. His Reny’s: The Musical premiered at the Waldo in 2001 to sold-out houses.
Tickets are $8 for unreserved seating. For
reservations, call the box office at 832-6060.
Maskers Performance of Almost,
Maine Benefits Presque Isle Fuel Fund
John Cariani
On Friday, May 16, at 8 p.m., the Belfast Maskers will
present a benefit performance of John Cariani’s romantic comedy Almost, Maine. All of the proceeds
will benefit Presque Isle’s fuel relief fund.
After reading of the difficulties neighbors to the
north were experiencing and the denial of emergency funding by the federal
government, the Maskers board decided to lend a helping hand to its friends
in Aroostook County. According to Presque Isle city manager Tom Stevens,
heating assistance is the most needed of all services; general
assistance is often only available to those with no income and those with
very little income are literally left “out in the cold.” The
winter of 2007/2008 broke all Aroostook County records, with over 200
inches of snow, and its fiscal resources are strained to the breaking
point.
Cariani’s play is set in the fictional town of
Almost in northern Aroostook. The play was inspired by his growing up in
northern Maine and his love and respect that the world and the people in
it. The play weaves a tapestry of vignettes into a story of the losses and
triumphs, the sadness and the gladness which make up the most elevating and
frustrating of circumstances, love.
Cariani is an actor, playwright and Presque Isle
native. He is perhaps best known for his regular role as Julian Beck on
“Law and Order.” He saw his very first play at the Portland
Stage Company and that is where Almost, Maine received its world premiere in 2004. It became the most
successful production in PSC’s 32-year history. Almost, Maine opened off-Broadway
in the winter of 2005/2006. It has been professionally produced in the
United States, Australia, Canada and South Korea.
Presque Isle city council chair Walt Elish, city
manager Tom Stevens and playwright Cariani have expressed their gratitude
for the thoughtfulness of this gesture by the Belfast Maskers, and will
attend the benefit performance. Following the show, director Wendy
Schweikert will lead a question-and-answer session with the Presque Isle
representatives, the cast and crew, and officials from the Maskers and the
Belfast City Council.
The production will run for eight performances with the
preview on Thursday, May 15, at 8 p.m., the benefit on Friday, May 16, at 8
p.m., a Saturday show at 8 p.m. and a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. There will
be performances the following Thursday through Sunday at the same times.
Tickets are available for all performances by calling 338-9668; at Fertile
Mind Bookshop (Upper Main Street, Belfast); or at the box office (if still
available), 32 Front Street, one hour prior to the performance.
“Music for Moms” on Mother’s Day
The Rockland Congregational Church presents
“Music for Moms” on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 11, at 3:30
p.m. This is the third of the church’s Sounds of Second Sunday
musical series this year. A reception and opportunity to meet the musicians
follows the concert. A donation of $5 is requested.
“Music for Moms” features Robert Earle at
the piano accompanying soprano vocalist Sarah Tuttle. Earle is the organist
at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church and Tuttle is a soloist with Down
East Singers. They will present an afternoon of music from Mozart to
Mancini, designed to appeal to all mothers on their day.
The Sounds of Second Sunday series is coordinated by
Judy Waterman.For more information, call 594-8656.
New Vaudeville Revue —
Max (Jenny Tibbetts), right fielder for the Vaudeville
Munchkins, enjoys a cone after a day on the diamond in New Vaudeville
Revue’s final offering of the season. On Saturday, May 10, at 7 p.m.
at the American Legion Hall in Belfast, Tibbetts and her comic pals Kristen
Burkholder and Peter Conant plus guests singer/songwriter Julianne Gardner,
musicians Seth and Tyler Yentes and poet Chuck Smith will perform.
Admission is $10 at the door or in advance at the Fertile Mind Bookstore in
Belfast. For more information, call emcee Ando Anderson at 322-7123.
Enormous Room Band Performs at River School Benefit
The “Dance Your Pants Off” benefit dance for the River School
in Belfast on Saturday, May 10, will feature the debut of Enormous Room, featuring local talents Diantha Bovey, Jason Dean, Glenn DuBose, Vince Gabriel, Steve Neil, and Mike Whitehead. Their music will feature both original songs and favorites with a Latin-dance flair.
Members of the band have been part of other noted local bands such as Mr. Whoopie, the Bel Isle Trio, Blind Albert and Full Contact Kitty.
Food and drink will be for sale. This chem-free, all-ages dance will be held at the Belfast Shrine Club across from the City Park, starting at 7 p.m. and ending at 11:30. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for under 18, $20 for a family, and children under 5 are free.
The dance will also serve as the close of the River
School “Spring into Ecuador” silent auction. There are lots of
items and services to bid on; for more information, visit
www.riverschoolbelfast.com/events. All bidding will close at 8:30 p.m. on
May 10 at the dance, when winning bidders will be announced. Proceeds from
the auction and dance will help support the River School students’
trip to Ecuador in May. Call 338-0100 for more information.
