The Hols Are Here, And So Is the Music

It seems only fitting on this holiday to reflect on the extraordinary musical riches around us. From Tanglewood to Music Mountain, the Mahaiwe to the Warner, Infinity Music Hall to the Towne Crier, Bard to the Bardavon, and many music places in between, we are awash in places to enjoy music. What makes this more noteworthy is the incredible span of musical genres available to us. There is truly something for everyone. And let’s not forget the wealth of homegrown talent. We have several early music and Baroque ensembles, a nationally renowned performer of silent-film piano music, composers, singers, teachers, conservatory students and more. As we could expect, the pace quickens as the holidays approach. Here are just a few of the upcoming performances. This Saturday, Nov. 26, at 7:30 p.m., the Warner Theatre in Torrington has an unusual concert scheduled, “In My Life: The John Lennon Tribute from Beatlemania,” recreated by Carlo Cantamessa, who has portrayed John Lennon in Beatlemania shows for three decades. Tickets are $35; go to www.warnertheatre.org or call 860-489-7180 for tickets and information. On Sunday, Dec.4, at 3 p.m., the superb pianist Jeremy Denk joins the Bard Conservatory Orchestra (conducted by Leon Botstein) for a concert of Beethoven (Piano Concerto No. 3), Mahler (Symphony No. 5) and Ives. Suggested donations range from $5-$20. Go to www.fishercenter.bard.edu or call the Fisher Center box office at 845-758-7900 for tickets and information. Finally, on Saturday, Dec. 3, at 7 p.m., the Salisbury Association presents A Victorian Christmas Concert with Judith Dansker on oboe and recorders, Christopher Morrongiello on lute, and Marcia Young, soprano and Renaissance harp. The concert takes place in the Academy Building on Main Street in Salisbury. Tickets are $20 and include a Victorian dessert buffet. For reservations, call 860-435-0566.

Latest News

South Kent School’s unofficial March reunion

Elmarko Jackson was named a 2023 McDonald’s All American in his senior year at South Kent School. He helped lead the Cardinals to a New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) AAA title victory and was recruited to play at the University of Kansas. This March he will play point guard for the Jayhawks when they enter the tournament as a No. 4 seed against (13) Samford University.

Riley Klein

SOUTH KENT — March Madness will feature seven former South Kent Cardinals who now play on Division 1 NCAA teams.

The top-tier high school basketball program will be well represented with graduates from each of the past three years heading to “The Big Dance.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss grads dancing with Yale

Nick Townsend helped Yale win the Ivy League.

Screenshot from ESPN+ Broadcast

LAKEVILLE — Yale University advanced to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after a buzzer-beater win over Brown University in the Ivy League championship game Sunday, March 17.

On Yale’s roster this year are two graduates of The Hotchkiss School: Nick Townsend, class of ‘22, and Jack Molloy, class of ‘21. Townsend wears No. 42 and Molloy wears No. 33.

Keep ReadingShow less
Handbells of St. Andrew’s to ring out Easter morning

Anne Everett and Bonnie Rosborough wait their turn to sound notes as bell ringers practicing to take part in the Easter morning service at St. Andrew’s Church.

Kathryn Boughton

KENT—There will be a joyful noise in St. Andrew’s Church Easter morning when a set of handbells donated to the church some 40 years ago are used for the first time by a choir currently rehearsing with music director Susan Guse.

Guse said that the church got the valuable three-octave set when Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center closed in the late 1980s and the bells were donated to the church. “The center used the bells for music therapy for younger patients. Our priest then was chaplain there and when the center closed, he brought the bells here,” she explained.

Keep ReadingShow less
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Penguin Random House

‘Picasso’s War” by Foreign Affairs senior editor Hugh Eakin, who has written about the art world for publications like The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York Times, is not about Pablo Picasso’s time in Nazi-occupied Paris and being harassed by the Gestapo, nor about his 1937 oil painting “Guernica,” in response to the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.

Instead, the Penguin Random House book’s subtitle makes a clearer statement of intent: “How Modern Art Came To America.” This war was not between military forces but a cultural war combating America’s distaste for the emerging modernism that had flourished in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century.

Keep ReadingShow less