Special Childrens' Concert!

This Saturday, December 8th, St. John's will host the Bennington Children's Chorus in concert at 3 p.m. There will be 30+ singers, ages 7-16 in the performance. Their program will include Christmas and Hanukkah pieces and will last 30 -35 minutes. Don't miss this opportunity to hear one of our area's treasures!

For more information about the chorus, visit www.benningtonchildrenschorus.com

Sweetwood Bingo!

Next Wednesday (Dec 12) all youth in 4th grade and above are invited to come to St. John's at 6:00 pm for Hot Tomatoes pizza, then head on over to Sweetwood to play Bingo with the residents! It's a great time, and brings a lot of joy to the folks there, so plan to come! We return to St. John's by 7:45 - call the church office to let us know you're going to come, or just show up!

Free Cello Recital!

David Gibson, acclaimed cellist, will present a free recital of Suites 1 and 6 for Unaccompanied cello by J.S. Bach in the santuary on Sunday, September 30 at 4 pm.

Mr. Gibson currently teaches cello at Mount Holyoke College and runs the theory and instrumental music program at Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute. He has been on the performance and chamber music faculties of the University at Albany, Georgetown University, Mannes College of Music, and Meadowmont School of Music.

As a performer, David Gibson has been a pioneer in the field of electronic music. His repertoire includes music from the 14th century to the present, and he feels as much at home with Brahms as he does with David Behrman. He has performed throughout this country as well as Canada and Europe.

Mr. Gibson holds degrees from the Juilliard School of Music '67 and Yale University '72. His primary field was cello performance, and his most influential teachers were Luigi Silva, Claus Adam, and Dorthy DeLay. He studied conducting with Jorge Mester at Juilliard, composition with Jacob Druckman at Yale and had a close association with Morton Feldman while a member of the Center for the Creative and Performing Arts in Buffalo, NY '72-'74.

As a cello teacher, Mr. Gibson has specialized in producing virtuoso performers. He has placed students in virtually every major conservatory in the country. His students have won major national and international competitions and many have significant musical careers.

Don't miss this chance to hear Mr. Gibson's compelling interpretations of these solo masterpieces!

Final Free Summer Noontime Concert!

Don't miss the final concert of our free Noontime Concert series this Wednesday, August 29, featuring baritone Avery Griffin and pianist Scott Bailey in a program of art songs by French, German and American composers. The concert will begin at noon and end by 12:45- you are invited to bring a bag lunch to eat; St. John's will provide drinks and cookies.

Avery Griffin is currently pursuing a master's degree in vocal performance/pedagogy at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ, where he studies privately with Elem Eley and is a member of both the Westminster Choir, run by Dr. Joe Miller, and Kantorei, a chamber ensemble dedicated to the performance of early and modern choral music directed by Dr. Andrew Megill. In addition to his studies, Avery is also an active church musician, singing with Trinity Church, Princeton, under Tom Whittemore and the St. Thomas men and boys choir on 5 th avenue in Manhattan, under John Scott.

Avery did his undergraduate work in voice at Boston University's College of Fine Arts, where he studied with Phyllis Hoffman. While a sophomore at BU, he received first place in Division 2 of the National Association of Teachers of Singing Boston chapter competition. He received the Harold Zulallian Jr. scholarship awarded to a junior for distinction in performance and academic achievement, and was one of two seniors selected to present the annual Ellalou Dimmock honors recital.

Avery is actively committed to the performance of new music. As a member of Time's Arrow, one of BU's student new music ensembles, he performed works by Dominick Argento, Wolfgang Rihm, Martin Amlin and James Radford. He is a founding member of NotaRiotous, a Boston-based chamber ensemble dedicated to the performance of microtonal music. He has performed the world premieres of James Bergin's Kyrie and Ezra Sims' Im Mirabell (the latter composed for NotaRiotous).

Scott Bailey is currently an adjunct professor of music at Westfield State College and private instructor of piano and accompanist at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. He has served on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and works as a freelance accompanist and teacher throughout the Pioneer Valley as well as Berkshire County. He has accompanied or worked for various organizations in Western Massachusetts including the Hampshire Choral Society, The New Opera, Berkshire Lyric Festival, Mass MoCA, The Drury Drama Team, and the Greylock Theater Project. He is the music director at the First Congregational Church of North Adams, United Church of Christ, and is coordinator of their North County Music Series, a concert series featuring local and emerging musicians from Berkshire County and beyond..

Porter by Davenport!

On Wednesday, August 22, Peter Davenport will sing a concert of songs by Cole Porter, accompanied by Christopher Marlowe, piano. The concert is free, and will begin at noon. You are invited to bring a bag lunch - St. John's will provide drinks and cookies. Peter's concert was a sensation last year, so don't miss this one!

Actor and singer Peter Davenport is a veteran of Broadway, off-Broadway and regional theatres, having performed in such roles as Captain Georg von Trapp in the National tour of "The Sound of Music"; The Snake in "The Apple Tree"; Dr. Carrasco in "Man of La Mancha"; Young Roscoe and Young Ben in Stephen Sondheim's "Follies"; and he has performed as soloist in concerts around the country and the UK. He can be heard on a number of cast recordings, including "Follies" on TVT Records (for which he recorded a previously unrecorded alternative version of "Beautiful Girls"); as Captain Nemo in "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea"; and his on own CD entitled "Clear Day" on LML Records.

Peter is thrilled to be returning to the St. John's summer free concert series again this year. Since moving to the Berkshires, Peter has been busy doing voice over work for local radio and television, as the voice for Hoosac and Williamstown Savings Banks and Cranwell Spa, and done readings with Shakespeare and Company as well as most recently with our very own Williamstown Theatre Festival. He hopes to be performing on their main stages one day soon, and he is currently working on his second CD due to be released in early 2008, this time of
all Cole Porter songs.

Christopher Marlowe (yes, that's his real name!) was the recipient of the 1996 MAC Award for Music Director of the Year. He was principally associated with legendary singer Nancy LaMott until her untimely death in 1995, serving as her arranger and pianist for the last eleven years of her life. His recordings with her have been the recipients of Backstage's BISTRO award and the MAC award for Recording of the Year. From 1997 to 2004, Chris conducted and arranged for Kathie Lee Gifford around the country.

Most recently, Chris worked on a pre-Broadway one-woman show with Bernadette Peters. He was the music director for David Zippel's All Girl Band at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater in New York, as well as for It's Better With a Band at the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia. He has been the music director and/or arranger and co-producer for nearly 35 CDs of 23 different vocalists, including Peter Davenport's debut album "Clear Day". In addition to a soon-to-be-released CD of Chris' best loved arrangements, a CD of his own compositions, "Keepsake Lullabies" is now available.

Chris has performed on Good Morning, America; The Today Show; Live with Regis and Kathie Lee; The View; The Rosie O'Donnell Show; Late Night With David Letterman and twice at the Clinton White House.


Here's the program!

• Too Darn Hot - Kiss Me Kate, 1948
• I'm A Gigalo - Wake Up And Dream, 1929
  
• I've Got You Under My Skin - Born To Dance, 1936
  
• The Scampi - original 1926 version of his later "The Tale of theOyster" - Fifty Million Frenchmen, 1929
• Anything Goes - Anything Goes, 1934
• Night and Day/ I Concentrate On You - The Gay Divorce, 1932/ Broadway
• Melody of 1940 (film)
• You're The Top - Anything Goes, 1934
• Ridin' High - Red Hot and Blue, 1936
• Don't Fence Me In - Adios Argentina, 1934 (unproduced) sung by Roy
• Rogers in, "Hollywood Canteen", 1944

Doulbeheader Wednesday!!!

This Wednesday, August 15, St. John's will host two concerts, one by flutist Lucy Bergin, part of our Noontime Concert Series, the other by Village Harmony, at 7:30 pm (see below for more info)

Lucy will be accompanied by pianist Scott Bailey, in a program of works by Marais, Bloch and Poulenc. This free concert begins at noon and will end by 12:45. You are invited to bring a bag lunch to eat. St. John's will provide drinks and cookies.

Lucy Bergin, 17, will be a senior at Westford Academy this fall. She has played the flute since the third grade and is currently in her fourth year of study with Nina Barwell at the New England Conservatory Preparatory Division. Lucy has played in the Youth Repertory Orchestra, the Massachusetts Youth Wind Ensemble, and has sung in the Youth Chorale at NEC. She is active in her high school music and theatre program, organizes classical concerts by local teenagers through the Westford Teen Arts Council, and is a worship leader for her church youth group. She is planning to pursue studies in language and music in college. As a lover of the French language and musical style, Lucy is excited to include the Poulenc Sonata in today's concert.

Scott Bailey is currently an adjunct professor of music at Westfield State College and private instructor of piano and accompanist at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. He has served on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and works as a freelance accompanist and teacher throughout the Pioneer Valley as well as Berkshire County. He has accompanied or worked for various organizations in Western Massachusetts including the Hampshire Choral Society, The New Opera, Berkshire Lyric Festival, Mass MoCA, The Drury Drama Team, and the Greylock Theater Project. He is the music director at the First Congregational Church of North Adams, United Church of Christ, and is coordinator of their North County Music Series, a concert series featuring local and emerging musicians from Berkshire County and beyond..

and, later that day....
7:30 pm to be exact....

Village Harmony

the unique teen world music ensemble based in Vermont,
with special guest leaders Suzannah Park and Marytha Paffrath, presents
a concert in the sanctuary at 7:30 pm.

Admission at the door is $8, $5 for students and seniors.

The ensemble is jointly led by Paffrath and Park. Paffrath, a singer,

accomplished percussionist and avid student of world rhythms and
techniques, tours nationally and internationally with the acclaimed
world music ensemble Libana. She is also the director of the
Instrumental Music and Dance Program at the Cambridge Friend’s School
in Cambridge, MA. Park, a long time singer and leader with Village
Harmony and Northern Harmony, comes from a family of three generations
of traditional musicians and singers, and is well known throughout New
England for her work as a teacher and performer of traditional
Appalachian music and dance.

The concert program also includes: rousing American shape-note and
gospel songs, body percussion, music from the Balkans; Appalachian and
old time harmony songs; powerful West African drumming, and more. The
24 dedicated young singers are drawn from ten states in the US as well
as England and Canada, and they have just spent eight days in intensive
rehearsal retreat in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom learning the music and
culture of these songs in preparation for this concert tour.

Each summer Village Harmony repeats this process ten times, with six
different ensembles traveling through New England and three or four
different groups overseas, this summer in Bulgaria, Caucasus Georgia
and South Africa. Each group develops its own unique sound, but all
share some common traits: a powerful, natural, unrestrained, yet
unforced vocal sound; a remarkable variety of vocal styles and timbres,
as appropriate to the many varieties of ethnic and traditional music;
and the vibrant community among the singers which always includes the
audience in a joyous celebration.

Village Harmony’s many recordings and songbooks will be available for
sale at the concert.

Songs of Summer Travel

This Wednesday, August 8, St. John's welcomes tenor Robert Scherr and pianist Edwin Lawrence, who will present a free concert of "Songs for Summer Travel". This concert is part of the Summer Noontime Concert Series, which will continue on Wednesdays throughout August. The concert will begin at noon, and end by 12:45. You are welcome to bring a lunch to eat, and St. John's will provide drinks and cookies.

Robert Scherr, tenor, has been heard in concert and many venues of musical performance throughout America for over three decades. Comfortably at home in classical recital, he also has appeared in musical theater productions and opera. Cantor Robert Scherr served congregations for thirty-five years, distinguishing himself as a creative artist, innovative programmer, sensitive spiritual leader, and gifted singer. Since 2004, he has served Williams College as Jewish Chaplain.

Edwin Lawrence, piano, is Adjunct Teacher of Piano, Organ and Harpsichord, and Teaching Assistant in Theory and Eartraining at Williams College, and is a member of the Williams Chamber Players. His teachers include Gabriel Chodos (piano), Preethi de Silva (harpsichord) and William Porter (organ). He is Minister of Music at the First Congregational Church in Williamstown, and Music Director of the Bennington County Choral Society. He is a producer with Dorian Recordings. Lawrence is a founding member of the Consortium of Vermont Composers and has conducted the Vermont Symphony. In 1990 he received the Citation of Merit from the Vermont Council on the Arts.

Mozart and Beethoven for lunch Wednesday, Aug 1

Bring your lunch this Wednesday, August 1, and enjoy sonatas for violin and piano by Mozart (K. 306) and Beethoven (Op. 30/1) as performed by violinist Emily Kalish and pianist Scott Bailey. This will be the fourth concert of our free Summer Noontime Concert series. The concert will begin at 12:00 and end by 12:45. The church will provide drinks and cookies.

Emily Kalish grew up in Great Barrington, where she was a student of Alla Zernitskaya. She has studied at Simon's Rock College, the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and the Hartt School, where she received a bachelor of music degree. She has participated in the Quartet Program at Bucknell, the Killington Music Festival and Musicorda. She has just completed the first year of a master's program in violin performance at the Manhattan School of Music, where her principal teacher is Burton Kaplan.

Scott Bailey is currently an adjunct professor of music at Westfield State College and private instructor of piano and accompanist at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. He has served on the faculty at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and works as a freelance accompanist and teacher throughout the Pioneer Valley as well as Berkshire County. He has accompanied or worked for various organizations in Western Massachusetts including the Hampshire Choral Society, The New Opera, Berkshire Lyric Festival, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, The Drury Drama Team, and the Greylock Theater Project.

He received his B.M. from SUNY Potsdam - Crane School of Music and his M.M. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is the music director at the First Congregational Church of North Adams, United Church of Christ, and is coordinator of their North County Music Series, a concert series featuring local and emerging musicians from Berkshire County and beyond.

Microtones! This Wednesday, July 25

Join us this Wednesday, July 25 at noon for a concert of microtonal improvisations by Boston-based musicians Noah Kaplan (sax) and Joe Moffett (trumpet), along with St. John's Jimmy Bergin (viola). The concert is free, and you are invited to bring a bag lunch to eat while you listen. We will provide drinks and cookies!

painting by Sonja Holzwarth Maneri
www.holzwarthmaneri.com

Noah Kaplan and Joe Moffett are both graduates of the New England Conservatory of Music and have busy playing and teaching schedules in the Boston area and beyond. Jimmy Bergin is our coordinator of special events, and is a composer and artistic director of the Boston Microtonal Society. www.bostonmicrotonalsociety.org

Come listen as they explore the melodic and rhythmic possibilities of the virtual pitch continuum!

Concert change for this week!

Our Noontime Concert series will continue this Wednesday, July 18 with a program by the Trio Cafe Budapest beginning at noon and ending by 12:45. Bring a bag lunch to eat -- St. John's will provide drinks and cookies. The concert is free and open to the public.

(note: Emily Kalish's violin recital, originally scheduled for this week will be given on Wednesday, August 1.)

With a name inspired by the ethnic music of central Europe, Trio Cafe Budapest performs a wide variety of folk, blues and jazz instrumentals as well as instrumental and sung versions of popular music of the 20th century. The Trio is part of the worship and outreach program at St. John’s, and plays for a variety of church services and functions, as well as at concerts in homes.

Call the church office at 458.8144 if you would like to have them play in your home!

Trio Cafe Budapest has performed in Bennington at the South Street Café and at Ava’s Boutique. They will be playing in Manchester at Frog Hollow on July 21 at 2 pm, and in Williamstown tomorrow night at the Images Cinema from 6:30 pm until the start of the 7:00 pm show!

Ted Gilley, guitar has played locally with Generation Tex, and now works at the Chapin Library at Williams College.

Bill Wootters been playing the piano for fun for about forty years. He teaches physics at Williams College.

Jimmy Bergin was the music director at Lexington Christian Academy for eighteen years before coming to the Berkshires five years ago to work in the orchestra department of Broude Brothers Limited. He is the Coordinator of Special Events at St. John’s. He is a composer and the the executive director of NotaRiotous, a Boston-based chamber ensemble dedicated to the performance of microtonal music (www.bostonmicrotonalsociety.org).

Summer Concert Series begins!

Come to the first of eight free concerts at St. John's, held on Wednesdays at noon in the sanctuary.

This week (July 11) organist and Williamstown resident Dwight Killam and Special Events Coordinator Jimmy Bergin (viola) will play a program of music by Buxtehude, Marcello, Boellman, Clokey and an original composition by Dwight! The concert begins at noon and will end by 12:40. You're welcome to bring a bag lunch to eat during the concert - we will provide drinks and cookies. Admission is free!



The series will continue on Wednesdays until August 29. Future programs:

July 18 - Emily Kalish, violin (music of Beethoven and Mozart)
July 25 - Microtonal improvisations with
Noah Kaplan, sax; Joe Morris, trumpet; James Bergin, viola

August 1 – Trio Café Budapest
August 8 – Bob Scherr, tenor (cantor, Williams College Jewish chaplain)
August 15 - Lucy Bergin, flute
August 22 – Peter Davenport, singer, recording artist (music of Cole Porter)
August 29 – Avery Griffin, baritone (lieder recital)

Gospel Concert Photos!

Last Friday (April 20) St. John's was the site of our annual Gospel concert, part of the Williamstown Jazz Festival, featuring the sweet sounds of the Williams Gospel Choir, performing music by composer-lyricist Walter Robinson, with guest artists Roscoe Mills (vocals) and Paul White, piano. Mr. Robinson spoke briefly about each of his songs, which which were drawn from complete gospel operas he has composed, and which have been performed all around the United States. The Williams Gospel choir sang heartfelt renditions of their own repertoire, and provided strong backup for soloist Roscoe Mills in the songs of Walter Robinson, concluding with the powerful and uplifting "Brave and Strong". If you missed the Gospel Choir on this occasion, plan to attend their final concert of the year on May 12 at 8 pm in Goodrich Hall.

Borderlinks Awareness Night - Wednesday, April 4

Come to a viewing of the documentary Dying to Live on Wed., April 4 from 6-7:30 p.m. in the Lower Room of the church. The film offers a glimpse into the stories of those in Latin America who are forced to leave their homes and search for work in North America.

After the film, there will be an opportunity to ask questions to a panel of those who have recently returned from a trip to the border country and who are concerned with humane border legislation.

For those who wish, the evening will conclude with an opportunity to walk a version of the Stations of the Cross that follows the story of the Passion from the perspective of the poor of Latin America. All are welcome!

Coffehouse Chapel!

Wednesday, March 14

A brand new monthly worship experience for 5th - 12h graders!

Meet in the Lower Room at St. John's from 6 - 7:30 pm for

- Dinner
- Music (Dylan, John and Jimmy, electric guitar, bass and keyboards
hot songs to listen to and sing!
- scripture and sharing
- lots of fun!

Bring your friends to check it out too! Brooke is cooking, and Amos will get it ALL if you don't come, so BE THERE!

Berkshire Composer's Concert & Workshop

The Cantilena Chamber Choir Presents

A Berkshire Composer’s Concert & Workshop

The Cantilena Chamber Choir will present a concert and workshop by area composers on Sunday, March 4, at 3 p.m. at St. John's Episcopal Church, 35 Park Street, Williamstown.

The event will include a presentation of new choral works followed by an open dialogue among the composers, the choir and conductor, Andrea Goodman, on various aspects of the piece and its performance with the score on view for the audience. After each work, discussion will revolve around the accuracy of the choir's interpretation of the composer's intentions, and how the work could have been more effectively written or performed.

"This is a unique opportunity for these composers to be able to hear their works performed by a choir of this calibre," Goodman said.

The concert is free and open to the public (but with a suggested donation of $15.00). Students are especially encouraged to attend at no cost thanks to generous grants from Berkshire Life Insurance Company, the High Meadow Foundation, and the Golub Foundation. Reservations (recommended) can be made by phone at 518-791-0185 or by email at satbchoir@yahoo.com. Those interested in more information can visit www.bhsinging.org/cdata/cant.

The featured composers at the March 4 concert and workshop are:

Steve Murray, Richmond: Singer, composer in residence for Albany Pro Musica, and local jazz band impresario.

Charles Fitzhugh, Lee: Choral singer, composer, and pianist for the Lee High School's upcoming production of “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” this March.

Alice Spatz, Lanesborough: Classical free-lance double bassist and teacher of double bass, music theory and composition at the Berkshire Music School..

James Bergin, Williamstown: Composer and Artistic Director of NotaRiotous, a Boston-based chamber ensemble dedicated to performance of microtonal music. North Adams resident, Special Events Coordinator at St. John’s Episcopal church in Williamstown.

John Newell, Pittsfield: Composer, pianist and conductor, founder and conductor of the Berkshire County Chamber Orchestra in Pittsfield. For many years served as music director for the Congregational Church of Worthington.

Clive Davis, Sheffield: Adjunct Professor of Electronic Music at Simon’s Rock College and the Director of Music at the Berkshire School.

Now in its third season, the 24-voice Cantilena ensemble includes professional singers and instrumentalists as well as music educators. It has been described by Berkshire Record music critic Simon Wainrib as having an “an appealing transparency of vocal texture, a clean articulation of the texts, a flawless vocal balance, and, above all, a near-perfect intonation of unaccompanied voices….”

The choir began its season in a joint appearance with the Empire Brass in their Sept. 30, 2006, concert at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield.

The group is under the artistic direction of Andrea Goodman, who is also the director of the Saratoga Choral Festival, an annual summer concert series for chorus and orchestra in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. In 2004, it was the chorus in residence with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.