News Releases

Concord, NH – "Thoroughly delightful" and “a consummate storyteller, musician, and artist?" are the ways in which Classical Voice of New England describes Emily Jaworski, mezzo-soprano, who will open the 2011-12 Musicians of Wall Street Recital Series in recital with Calvin Herst, piano. The recital will take place Friday, February 17^th at 7:30 p.m. in the Music School’s Recital Hall, located at 23 Wall Street in downtown Concord. This year’s series is once again sponsored by Harvest Capital.

Ms. Jaworski will perform a selection of songs that in her words “make my heart explode -- works I love the most,” including: Brahms’ Zigeunerlieder, highlights of Canciones Negras by Montsalvatge, Mozart’s Laudamus Te, and the Violin Aria from Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffman. In addition, Ms. Jaworski and Mr. Herst will offer arias by Handel and a selection of songs by Jonathan Hansen and Ricky Ian Gordon. Many of these pieces are works that Ms. Jaworski has prepared for the numerous competitions in which she has participated and will participate this spring.

Named for its location in downtown Concord, the Music School’s Musicians of Wall Street concerts showcase the talents of its 53 artist teachers. Additional information on the concert series featuring piano, string, woodwind and voice faculty from Concord Community Music School may be found on the School’s website.

Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for students and seniors, and may be purchased in advance by calling 228-1196 or by visiting www.ccmusicschool.org, where additional information about the Music School may be found as well.

About the artists:

Emily Jaworski, mezzo-soprano, is earning praise throughout New England for her charismatic stage presence and sensitive interpretations of a wide range of works. A passionate advocate of the song recital, she has received accolades for her work from the National Association of Teachers of Singing, The Friday Morning Music Club and Young Concert Artists, and was recently acknowledged as "a consummate storyteller, musician, and artist?" by Classical Voice of New England. On the opera stage, she has portrayed Idamante (Idomeneo), Dorabella (Cosi fan Tutte), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), and Mercedes (Carmen); recent concert appearances include Handel's Messiah and Mendelssohn's Magnificat. She won first place in the Northeast Region of the NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) Artist Award Competition 2008. Ms. Jaworski holds degrees from Susquehanna University and Boston University, and is in demand as a teacher and clinician.

Calvin Herst, piano, performs frequently as a collaborative pianist. In addition to his favorite pastime of accompanying students and faculty on stage at the Music School, he has appeared in concert at the Kennedy Center, the Philadelphia Academy of Music, and throughout the People’s Republic of China in a 1996 concert tour. He can be heard on Peggo Horstmann Hodes’ Summer Nights CD.  He was at the piano as Emily Jaworski won first place in the Northeast Region of the NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) Artist Award Competition 2008. He has been a member of the faculty of the Ithaca College School of Music, the Community Music Center of Boston, and Buckingham Browne & Nichols School. Currently director of education and community partnerships at the Music School, Mr. Herst regularly serves as a guest panelist, speaker, adjudicator and clinician for state and national arts organizations. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees magna cum laude in piano performance from Ithaca College, along with the Dalcroze Eurhythmics Teaching License. He has also studied conducting extensively, including a summer at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria.

CONCORD, NH – Concord Community Music School recently received a $5,000 operating grant from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation.

The Music School, committed to providing broad access to high-quality music instruction and performance, has a long history of support from Bank of America, including grants to support its statewide community partnerships through the Music in the Community Initiative, as well as recent operating support grants.

Peggy Senter, Music School president, said, “Bank of America is forward thinking in its support of operating grants for nonprofits in New Hampshire. For an organization like Concord Community Music School, the flexibility that operating support provides allows us to allocate grant funds where the need is greatest to meet the mission – that need could be community partnerships like our work with Beech Street School in Manchester, financial aid for African refugee families in Concord, or faculty planning grants to shape a future music program for adults with Alzheimer’s disease. For a non-profit that has served the community for 25-plus years and has developed mature, dependable programming for its constituents, the flexibility of operating support is paramount.”

“This grant will help the Music School continue to make high-quality music education accessible to all,” said Ken Sheldon, Bank of America New Hampshire president. “That includes individuals and families unable to visit Concord due to financial constraints, transportation issues or disability.”

For more information about Concord Community Music School, visit www.ccmusicschool.org.

CONCORD, NH – The 10^th annual March Mandolin Festival will take place March 2-4, 2012, at Concord Community Music School, 23 Wall St. This three-day event offers group lessons and workshops on a variety of topics and jam sessions (pre-registration is required and sells out early; there are only 50 spots available for participants). This year’s festival will feature nationally known musicians Jesse Brock, Claudine Langille, Skip Gorman and David Surette, with special guests Susie Burke and Baron Collins-Hill.

The festival concert, open to the public, takes place in the Music School’s Recital Hall on Saturday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m. The cost for admission is included for festival participants; general admission tickets for others are available through the Music School (www.ccmusicschool.org or 603-228-1196).

As in past years, the festival will present a Friday night concert (this is a separate ticket from the Concord events). This year, the concert will be held at 8 p.m. at The Elysium Arts Folk Club in Rollinsford, N.H. In honor of its 10^th anniversary, the festival also will offer a Sunday night party and string jazz performance at 8 p.m. at the Barley Pub in Dover, N.H.

“It’s exciting that this is our 10th year,” said festival organizer and Music School teacher David Surette. “I’ve had the chance to collaborate in performance with some of the finest mandolin players in the country. It’s also been gratifying to see an extended community develop around the festival. We get a strong percentage of returning students, and they really look forward to seeing each other year after year, to reconnect, swap stories, check out new instruments, and share new tunes.”

Festival sponsors include Sanborn, Head & Associates, the NH State Council on the Arts Traditional Arts program, and the Concord Courtyard by Marriott, where festival accommodations are available at a special rate. Support is also provided by www.MandolinCafe.com.

For more information on the festival and to pre-register for the weekend’s workshops, or to purchase general admission tickets for the Saturday evening concert, visit www.ccmusicschool.org. Tickets for the concert cost $15 for adults; $12 for students and seniors. The cost to participate in the weekend festival is $110.

The March Mandolin Festival artists:

Claudine Langille is best known for her mandolin, tenor banjo and vocal work with Touchstone, the highly acclaimed Irish-Appalachian fusion band. Touchstone recorded two award-winning albums on Green Linnet records, The New Land and Jealousy. She currently performs with Gypsy Reel, who has recorded six CDs in Langille’s Mount Hollywood Studio in Vermont and has received a National Endowment for the Arts award for touring artists. Langille maintains a musical connection with the traditional music of the maritime provinces of Canada, especially her father’s native Nova Scotia, and has been a guest singer at the Celtic Colours Festival in Cape Breton. Langille has led workshops at folk festivals in the United States, Canada and England, including the Swannanoa Gathering’s Celtic Week. She founded the Mount Holly Folk Club, a weekly gathering of singers and players in her Vermont community.  

The 2009 International Bluegrass Music Awards Mandolin Performer of the Year, Jesse Brock has spent a lifetime in bluegrass, starting with his family band at the age of nine, and later with national acts such as Chris Jones and the Night Drivers, The Lynn Morris Band and The Dale Ann Bradley Band. Brock was an integral part of Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper, who won numerous awards as instrumental group of the year. Brock is also a solo artist in his own right, with the IBMA award-nominated CD Kickin' Grass on Pinecastle Records that includes A-list pickers such as Jason Moore, Ron Stewart, Tom Adams, Jason Carter, Rob Ickes, Marshall Wilborn, Alan O’Bryant and many others. When Brock is not touring, he makes his home in Maine.

Skip Gorman is one of the leading teachers and players of Bill Monroe-style mandolin in the country, as well as being a masterful cowboy singer and fine fiddler. An encounter with Monroe at age 12 was a pivotal moment in the young musician's life, and he was lucky to have the opportunity to see musicians like Monroe, legendary Texas fiddler Eck Robertson and Mother Maybelle Carter at the historic Newport Folk Festival. He has taught bluegrass mandolin at top festivals such as IBMA World of Bluegrass, European World of Bluegrass and the Grass Valley Bluegrass Festival. He has released a number of fine recordings, including three acclaimed Rounder releases focusing on cowboy music and two focused on “old-style” bluegrass mandolin. His most recent release is a two-CD set of mandolin tunes titled Mandolin in the Cowcamp.

David Surette is highly regarded throughout New England and beyond for his work on the mandolin, guitar (both flatpick and fingerstyle) and bouzouki. Sing Out Magazine wrote that “Surette’s playing is always inventive, and sets a new standard for traditional instrumentalists.” As part of a duo with his wife, singer Susie Burke, they have performed regularly together for 20 years, recording several albums and building a reputation as one of New England’s top folk duos. Surette was a founding member of the Airdance band with fiddler Rodney Miller with whom he recorded four albums and toured nationally. He also has released five critically acclaimed solo CDs; his most recent solo release, Sun Dog, is a collection of original guitar solos. He also is an experienced teacher, and coordinates folk music programming and teaches regularly at Concord Community Music School.
 

CONCORD, NH –   The Bach’s Lunch Series continues on February 2^nd with a lecture by Mark Shilansky entitled “Sing! Vocal Explorations in Jazz.” On February 9^th, Peggo Horstmann Hodes, vocalist, and Kent Allyn, piano, bass and guitar, will present “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love: Recession-Proof Valentines.” Bach’s Lunch programs are free, and take place in the Music School’s Recital Hall, 23 Wall St., downtown Concord, from 12:10 to 12:50 p.m.

Mr. Shilansky’s lecture on Thursday, February 2^nd will feature the music of jazz artists who have wedded vocal and instrumental approaches in significant ways, from the wordless vocals featured in the music of such artists as Pat Metheny and Luciana Souza, to the practice of artists such as George Benson singing along with their solos, to the equally proficient trumpet and vocal improvisations by Chet Baker, to the lyricization of jazz solos engaged in by Jon Hendricks and Kurt Elling. “Sing! Vocal Explorations in Jazz” offers an exploration of jazz vocalists and instrumentalists who sing what they play and play what they sing.

The following Thursday, February 9^th, Peggo Horstmann Hodes and Kent Allyn return for their annual and well-loved Valentine's Bach's Lunch. Their concert, “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love: Recession-Proof Valentines,” will include such economic and emotional truths as “Can't Buy Me Love” by The Beatles, the nostalgic “If I Were a Carpenter,” and the sassy “Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend.” Join us for a little humor and a lot of love.

The Bach’s Lunch Series received a 2007 Best of NH Award from New Hampshire Magazine, named as an Editor's Pick - “best place to bring a brown-bag lunch.” The Bach’s Lunch Series is sponsored by The Timothy and Abigail B. Walker Lecture Fund and The Couch Trusts, TD Bank, N.A., Trustee. Call 603-228-1196 for information, or visit the website www.ccmusicschool.org .

About the speaker/artists:

Mark Shilansky holds a B.A. in Music Performance from UNH (1992), and an M.M. in Jazz Performance from New England Conservatory (1994). He is active as a pianist, singer, composer, and producer of Jazz and other popular idioms of music, and has performed and/or recorded in these capacities with such artists as Luciana Souza, Kenny Wheeler, Lisa Thorson, Jerry Bergonzi, Patrice Williamson, and Rebecca Parris. He has two CDs as a leader: First Look (1997), a jazz trio CD, and Different Songs (2000), a collection of original popular songs. Since 1998 he has taught Ear Training and Ensembles at Berklee College of Music. Visit www.markshilansky.com for a complete discography and performance calendar.

Peggo Horstmann Hodes is widely hailed as an extraordinarily versatile performer. She holds masters’ degrees in Elementary Education from Lesley College and in Vocal Pedagogy from New England Conservatory. A member of the Voice Department at the Concord Community Music School where she leads the vocal ensemble Karitas, Peggo has been the soloist with the New Hampshire Symphony, the Granite State Symphony, the Concord Chorale and the Musicians of Wall Street. In recital, she has premiered works written for her by William Fletcher and Thomas Oboe Lee. In 2009, Peggo premiered “Kaddish,” a new work about the Holocaust by Lawrence Siegel. .Peggo is a founding member of femme m’amie, the seven-woman a cappella ensemble which has recorded two highly acclaimed CDs. Peggo is also half of the duo Peggo and Paul, the New Hampshire recording artists who have gained an international reputation for their original family recordings, two of which won Parent's Choice Awards. Peggo has recorded six CDs with her husband, Paul Hodes, in their groups Peggosus and Peggo & Paul.  Peggo's first solo recording, Peggo: In Love, a striking collection of timeless love songs, will be released by Parma Records. Peggo loves to sing anytime...anywhere.

Kent Allyn is widely considered to be everyone’s favorite sideman by both audiences and performers. In addition to his work with Susie Burke and David Surette, his long list of recording and performing credits includes Ben Baldwin & the Big Note, Paul and Peggo, Cosy Sheridan, Brooks Williams, and The Night Heron Consort, to name just a few. Kent teaches at Berwick Academy in South Berwick, Maine.