Tenores de Aterue

Friday, November 30 - 8 pm

suggested donation $10 - $15

Tenores De Aterúe formed in 2008 and have become somewhat of a sensation. Their YouTube videos have gone viral in Sardinia, as they are the first non-natives ever to attempt the unusual cantu a tenore quartet vocal technique, which involves harmonic throat singing in parts! The effect is something otherworldly, often sounding more like instruments than human voice! Sardinian song will be showcased, complemented with some choice Corsican and Italian gems.

"Really good, dear friends. You've faced and overcome an ocean of difficulties, and the result is delicious." - YouTube comment from Sardinian viewer.

Here is a video from their 2012 performance at the Golden Festival in Brooklyn:

Art Exhibition opens Sunday, Oct 7

“ART WITHIN US”

Curator James Fissel  has given this title to St. John’s very first art exhibit in our renovated lower room, featuring parish artists.  The opening is set for Sunday, October 7, and coffee hour will be held there that morning.

Featured artists include Ghetta Hirsch, Young Ja Yoon Kim, Ann Kremers, Charles Bonenti, John Sprague, James Fissel,  Jean Russell-Morris, Alison Kolesar, Diana Elvin, Dieta von Matthiessen, Dee Scullin, Kathy McKnight, Kathy Pritchard, Henry Sanford, and Charlotte Sanford..  We’re grateful to James Fissel, John Ladd, and Jimmy Bergin for their roles in helping this wonderful show happen.

When the lower room was in its final stages, our Facilities Committee provided for wall lighting and a museum-quality hanging system that John Ladd installed for us.  We expect you’ll be pleased by the results in this exhibit!  It will run until November 18^th, and will be open primarily on Sunday mornings (other days and hours to be announced).

(A heads-up: this may also be a first for some parishioners to use the new drop-off spot behind the breezeway, an option for people challenged by stairs.  Drive through the Faculty House lot to reach this new location, intended not as a parking spot, but as a drop-off location.) 

Lucy Bergin in concert, Monday, Aug 20 at noon

Soprano Lucy Bergin and pianist Scott Bailey will perform works by Bach, Handel, Mozart, and Fauré on Monday, August 20. The concert will begin at noon and last 45 minutes.  Audience members are invited to bring a lunch to eat during the concert.  St. John's will provide drinks and cookies.

Admission is free; donations are gratefully accepted to help defray expenses.

 click to view an excerpt from Lucy's concert at St. John's last summer

Lucy Bergin is a recent graduate of Wellesley College with a B.A. degree in German Literature and Music. At Wellesley, she studied flute with Suzanne Stumpf and voice with Gale Fuller, in addition to participating in many of Wellesley’s performance ensembles. She was a member of Wellesley’s oldest all-female a cappella group, the Tupelos, for which she composed arrangements and served as the musical director for the group in her final year. Upon graduation, Lucy was hired for a 12-month grant position with Wellesley’s Library and Technology Services, and she is thrilled to be staying in the Boston area for the next few years. She currently sings with Canto Armonico and the First Lutheran Church choir in Boston, and she looks forward to auditioning for the Boston Choral Ensemble, under the direction of Andrew Shenton, in the fall. Having spent her junior year abroad in Vienna, Lucy hopes to return to Europe to pursue graduate studies in music. 

Andrew King in concert - Monday, Aug 13 at noon

Pianist Andrew King will perform works of Schumann, Liszt, Messiaen, and Chopin on Monday, August 13 at noon, part of our Summer Noontime concert series.  Audience members are invited to bring a lunch to eat during the concert.  St. John's will provide drinks and cookies.

Andrew earned his BA in Music from Bowdoin College and MM in Piano Performance from the Hartt School of Music, where he was the recipient of the WM Vincent Scholarship.  His principal teachers include Robert Durso (New York), David Westfall, Gerald Stofsky (Vienna), and Margreet Francis.  Andrew has competed internationally and performed in masterclasses for leading pianists, including Paul Roberts, Dorian Leljak, and Yael Weiss.  Active as both teacher and performer in the greater Hartford area, Andrew maintains a private studio at his home in Bloomfield and is on the faculty of the Community Division of the Hartt School.  Additionally, Andrew serves as the music director for the Enfield American Baptist Church, a position he has held since 2008.  Continuing his studies of the Taubman Approach with Robert Durso, Andrew is nearing certification as an Instructor of the Taubman Approach for the Golandsky Institute, based in New York City.

Trio Cafe Budapest plays jazz Monday, Aug 6

The Summer Noontime Concert series continues this Monday, August 6 with a performance by the Trio Cafe Budapest (Bill Wooters, piano; Jimmy Bergin, violin and viola; Ted Gilley, bass.  The program will feature jazz standards of Miles Davis, Horace Silver, Hoagy Carmichael and others.

The concert will begin at noon and last for 45 minutes.  Audience members are invited to bring a lunch to eat during the concert; St. John's will provide drinks and cookies.

Admission is free; donations to help defray expenses are welcome.

click here to see a brief video of the Trio

Free Cello Recital - Monday, July 30 at NOON

On Monday, July 30, cellist Perri Morris will present a free recital as part of the St. John's Summer Noontime Concert series.  She will be joined by pianist Scott Bailey and cellist Annabelle Hoffman in a program that includes the Sonata in E minor of Brahms and the Sonata for 2 Cellos in C of Boccherini.

The concert begins at noon, and lasts 45 minutes. Admission is free; donations are welcome to help defray expenses.  Audience members are invited to bring a lunch to eat during the concert; St. John's will provide drinks and cookies.

Click to hear a sample of Perri's playing

FREE organ recital - Monday, July 23 at NOON

North Adams organist Matthew McConnell will perform works by Frescobaldi, Pinkham, McConnell, and Joyce on Monday, July 23.  The concert will begin at noon and last for 45 minutes.

Admission is free; donations to help defray expenses are welcome.  Audience members are invited to bring a lunch to eat during the concert. St. John's will provide drinks and cookies.

Free violin duo concert Monday, July 16 at noon!

Jessica Meyer

Emily Kalish

Violinists Jessica Meyer and Emily Kalish will perform the Sonata for 2 Violins by Sergei Prokofiev on Monday, July 16 at noon.  The concert is free and audience members are invited to bring a lunch to eat during the concert.  St. John's will provide drinks and cookies.

The program will also feature the Concerto for 2 Violins in D Minor by J.S. Bach; Jessica and Emily will be joined by cellist Perri Morris and pianist Scott Bailey.

Summer Noontime concert series begins Monday, July 9

David Kealhofer

Cellist David Kealhofer and pianist Scott Bailey perform the Elgar Cello Concerto on the first concert of this seasons's Summer Noontime Concert series.  The concert begins at noon, and will last approximately 45 minutes.  Admission is free; donations to defray expenses are welcome.

Audience members are invited to bring a lunch to eat during the concert.  St. John's will provide drinks and cookies.

click to see video of David's performance of the Dvorak Concerto with the Berkshire Symphony this past spring!

Music Without Borders
A benefit flute recital
suggested donation $20

Friday, June 15

7:30 pm

Anthea Kechley, flute

Manon Hutton-DeWys, piano

Adrian Pintea, violin
Music by Mozart, Piazzolla, 

Messiaen, Kechley, Doppler

Music Without Borders is being presented to raise funds for Anthea's participation this summer at the Aspen Music Festival and School, where she has been accepted into the Orchestral Studies program. Donations will help to cover travel, tuition, room and board for two months.

  

Your contribution is greatly appreciated! A reception will follow at the Kechley's home.

Anthea Kechley

Manon Hutton-DeWys

Adrian Pintea

Figaro at St. John's

On Wednesday evening, May 23, the sanctuary of St. John's was host to an entire orchestra, conducted by Peabody School of Music faculty member Richard Giarusso (whom many may remember from his Williams College days as a student member of the choir) and an ensemble of young singers, including prize-winning local artists Erin Nafzinger, Gwen Tunnicliffe, and Elaina Pullano, for a concert performance of Act II of Mozart's masterpiece The Marriage of Figaro, presented by The New Opera of Williamstown.

The New Opera was founded in 2003 by Giarusso and Keith Kibler, noted baritone and Williams College artist associate in voice, to provide performance opportunities for young singers starting their professional careers, who are always eager for the chance to sing with a real orchestra. A concert performance of a one-act opera or of selections from longer works is presented each spring. Past performances have ranged from Purcell and Handel to Mozart, Puccini, Debussy, and Richard Strauss; these were presented in Williams College's Chapin Hall on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, when much of the potential audience was out of town. It was suggested that offering a performance earlier in the week would make it more accessible to a wider audience. Since Chapin Hall would not be available, Jimmy Bergin, Coordinator of Special Events at St. John's, offered the church, with its beautiful acoustics, as a venue, and, indeed, St. John's was full of eager opera-lovers of all ages, including many college students and some even younger.

Richard Giarusso

Erin Nafziger

Keith Kibler

Tenores de Aterue in concert, this Friday Feb 24 - 8 pm

suggested donation: $10 - $15

Click to see a brief  video clip of the group!

Come join Tenores de Aterúe ("Singers from Elsewhere" in Sardinian) for some beautiful Cantu a Tenore songs, and a smattering of songs from Corsica and the Italian lauda tradition. Cantu a Tenore is an a cappella quartet tradition from the Island of Sardinia that was declared aMasterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

Our quartet has been singing Sardinian songs together for about four years, and we'd love to share this unique, powerful, and subtle polyphonic tradition with you! 

We'd also be very grateful for your support in funding our first study trip to Sardinia!

Singing Supper Friday Feb. 17 - 5:30

Come to a SINGING SUPPER this Friday, February 17 at 5:30 p.m. in the Lower Room. Join us for hearty soups and bread from Wild Oats. Nominal fee for adults, children free.

Our Singing Suppers bring together all our generations, as all of us like to eat, and many of us like to sing (or at least enjoy hearing the results).

After enjoying our meal, we sing a mixture of hymns old and new: chestnuts from the hymnal, rounds, and songs from Worship Outside the Box, led by our Youth Band.

Housetop in Concert - Friday, Feb. 10 at 8pm

Peter Siegel, Erica Morse, Anna Patton, Naomi Morse

Admission: $15 ($10 students, seniors, or low-income)

Housetop is the musical playground of four musicians from New England's traditional music and dance scene, milking rich 4-part harmonies and and unabashedly funny lyrics.

In April, 2011, they released their debut album, Two Foot Jumpin', which combines unique arrangements of popular songs from the swing era, charming originals, and songs lifted from some of America's finest harmony singers. They have performed at festivals and concerts all over the Northeast, including Jay Ungar's Dancing on the Air and Saratoga Dance Flurry.

Click here to go to the Housetop website!

Enjoy swinging music in a coffeehouse atmosphere (with coffee and sweets) in our newly-renovated Lower Room!