Final Summer Concert - Brahms Violin Concerto!

Don't miss the final concert of our Summer Noontime concert series this Wednesday, August 27. Violinist Emily Kalish and pianist Scott Bailey will perform the Brahms Violin Concerto in D, one of the greatest concertos composed for this instrument. Audience members are invited to bring a bag lunch; St. John’s will provide drinks and cookies. The concert will begin at noon and last for 45 minutes. Admission is free; donations to help offset expenses are accepted.

Violinist Emily Kalish grew up in Great Barrington, where she was a student of Alla Zernitskaya. She recently received her master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where her teacher was Burton Kaplan. She is a member of the Berkshire Symphony and is on the faculty of the Enchanted Garden Conservatory in Ridgefield, CT.

Pianist Scott Bailey is the director of choral activities at Bay Path College, and an adjunct professor of music at Westfield State College and private instructor of piano and accompanist at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. 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.

St. John’s is located at 35 Park St. in Williamstown, and is wheelchair-accessible. More information can be found at www.saintjohnswilliamstown.org or by calling 413.458.8144

Avery Griffin concert

Our Summer Noontime Concert Series continues on Wednesday, August 20 with a performance by baritone Avery Griffin and pianist Scott Bailey. The concert will begin at noon and last for forty-five minutes and will include music by Vartan Aghababian, James Radford, Avery Griffin, as well as some folk songs. Audience members are welcome to bring a bag lunch and St. John’s will provide drinks and cookies. Admission is free; donations to help offset expenses are accepted.

Baritone Avery Griffin is a free-lance singer who performs regularly with such New York-based groups as the Trinity Choir at Trinity Church (Wall Street) and the St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys. The ’07-’08 season saw Avery participating in performances of Purcell’s King Arthur, the Monteverdi Vespers, two late Haydn masses, and the American premiere of John Tavener’s Solemnitas in Concepione Immaculata Mariae Virginis, among others. He is a member of NotaRiotous, the permanent chamber ensemble of the Boston Microtonal Society http://www.bostonmicrotonalsociety.org/ (directed by St. John's Special Events Coordinator James Bergin). Griffin teaches music theory at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. He is a graduate of Boston University, where he was the recipient of several awards, including the Harold Zulalaian cholarship and the Ellalou Dimmocock scholarship.

Pianist Scott Bailey is the director of choral activities at Baypath College; 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 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.

Final Summer Forum this Sunday

St. John’s summer forums will conclude this Sunday, August 17, when GreenFaith fellow and parishioner Tamara Adkins will help participants consider environmental stewardship. The forum will take place at 9:00 a.m. in the church’s upper room, and will include the showing of a segment of the film “Renewal”.

Adkins, who has a master’s degree in public health and is a doctoral candidate in Antioch University’s environmental studies program, studies the connections between plastics and public health through an environmental justice lens. As a GreenFaith fellow, she works to integrate spirit, stewardship, and justice.

In these summer forums, St. John’s welcomes the public to hear the experiences of people who have taken bold steps in faith and put their conviction and passion into action. The church is located at 35 Park Street, Williamstown, MA, and is accessible to the physically challenged. The upper room is reached by the ramp entrance on Park Street. Information: 413-458-8144.

Igor Lovchinski, pianist

Russian-born pianist Igor Lovchinski comes to St. John's this Wednesday August 13 to present a free concert of music by Chopin and Gershwin as part of our weekly Summer Noontime concert series. The concert will begin at noon and end by 12:45. Audience members are invited to bring a bag lunch to eat during the concert; St. John's will provide cookies and drinks.

Families are encouraged to bring their children to these concerts. You'll want to sit close to the front so you can see all the action!

Igor Lovchinsky has performed at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Auditorium, the Bushnell Center, the Eastman Theater and the Ohio Theater. Internationally, he has presented recitals at the National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw, the American Embassy in Beijing, and the Rosza Centre in Calgary. Upcoming engagements include performances with the Indianapolis Symphony and the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestras.

As concerto soloist, Mr. Lovchinsky has performed with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra (OH), the “Live Music Project” Ensemble (Quick Centre in Fairfield, CT) and the Florida International University Symphony Orchestra. In addition, his performance of Chopin’s First Concerto with the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra was broadcast on WQXR radio in New York and was featured as the soundtrack of the independent film "Romance Larghetto" by director Pablo Goldbarg.

Born in Kazan, Russia in 1984, Igor Lovchinsky began playing the piano at the age of two. In 1989, he entered the Kazan Special Music School for Gifted Children and after coming to the United States in 1994, garnered first prizes at the Eastman International Piano Competition and the National Chopin Piano Competition of the Kosciuszko Foundation.

Mr. Lovchinsky holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Juilliard School and is now in the graduate program at the New England Conservatory in Boston. His teachers have included Nina Polonsky, Steven Glaser, Jerome Lowenthal and Patricia Zander.

Summer Forum: Medical Mission to the Dominican Republic

St. John’s summer forums continue this Sunday, August 10, when medical missioners Laurie Glover and Bart Saxbe will speak about their experiences in The Dominican Republic this summer. The forum will take place at 9:00 a.m. in the church’s upper room.

Glover, who oversees the visual resource collection at the Clark Art Institute, is Senior Warden of St. John’s and helps coordinate the parish’s annual medical mission trip. Saxbe, also a parishioner, is a general surgeon in practice with Williamstown Medical Associates. Both are veterans of several mission trips the parish has sponsored to The Dominican Republic and Bolivia through Medical Ministry International. This year’s group of six teenagers and six adults worked for two weeks in surgical and dental clinics in Monte Plata.

In these summer forums, St. John’s welcomes the public to hear the experiences of people who have taken bold steps in faith and put their conviction and passion into action. The church is located at 35 Park Street, Williamstown, MA, and is accessible to the physically challenged. The upper room is reached by the ramp entrance on Park Street. Information: 413-458-8144.