Two Classical Concerts

in one weekend

Spring is the season for concerts involving students. Two groups I have the privilege of coaching and performing with will present concerts on the weekend of April 27th and 28th. 

 

Teen musicians who have been gathering to rehearse chamber music over the last few months will share their work in a concert on Saturday, April 27^th at 7 PM at The Little White Church in Eaton. Admission is free, but donations benefit The Little White Church. The Little White Church is located at 2371 Eaton Road in Eaton Center, New Hampshire.

These young musicians are developing leadership skills, discipline, and the ability to manage a long-term project. I organizes this program and coach the students as they prepare their music. It is certainly a highlight of my teaching year. This year, selections range from a siciliano from Bach's E Flat major flute sonata, to a difficult piece for piano and violin by Lilli Boulanger, to a woodwind quartet composed by one of the participants.

The Little White Church is a perfect venue for the concert with its beautiful setting, wonderful acoustics, and professional-level Steinway piano.

On Sunday, April 28th, another group of teens perform alongside some adults who love to play string orchestra music. Valley Strings is an accomplished local string orchestra. Accomplished Teens and adults meet every monday night during the school year at Fryeburg Academy's music building to practice repertoire specific to violin family instruments: violin, viola, violincello, and contrabass. On Sunday, April 28^th at 1 PM, Valley Strings performs at Fair Grounds Coffee in Fryeburg.

The concert features St. Paul's Suite by Gustav Holst, a lullaby composed for strings by George Gershwin, and a modern piece full of lush harmonies by Yukiko Nishimura. Fair Grounds Coffee, at 627 Main Street, offers lush acoustics perfect for the unique sound of blended stringed instruments in a friendly, comfortable atmosphere. For more information about either of these concerts, please e-mail me at  ellen.m.schwindt@gmail.com.

Two musical friends are joining me to present an afternoon of classical music on Sunday, April 7. Fryeburg New Church is located at 12 Oxford Street in Fryeburg, Maine.  Carren Webber, Charlotte Gill and I have been rehearsing as a trio for about a year. We are excited to share the fruits of our work together. The centerpiece of the concert is Mozart's Kegelstatt Trio, a work originally scored for clarinet, piano, and viola. We'll play it with violin, viola, and piano. It's a gem of a piece, full of sparkle and depth and perfectly constructed.

Also on the program is Enrique Granados first Spanish Dance for solo piano. I think of this piece as a great harbinger of the exuberance of summer to come. We'll be switching instruments around a little bit. Charlotte Gill will play a selection from Brahms,opus 118 for solo piano. Carren Webber and I will play a Mozart Duo for violin and viola. I also plan to play a new composition for solo piano that I'm in the process of finishing.

It's sure to be an afternoon of delicious musical treats followed by some cookies and coffee downstairs in the fellowship area of the church. This is a free performance. Donations benefit Fryeburg New Church.

I hope to see many of you there,

Ellen

Autumn Medley: Classical Chamber Music at Fryeburg New Church on November 26--new date

 

Autumn Medley: Rescheduled

An occasional concert series resumes on Sunday, November 26 at 2 PM at Fryeburg New Church at 12 Oxford Street. Some adults and teens convene to offer performances of music they love.

Saundra Bicknell was given a piano when she graduated from high school. Recently, she needed to sell it. That beautiful piano, well-cared for over many decades, now graces the sanctuary at Fryeburg New Church. Bicknell will be on hand to play a movement from a sonatina for violin and piano that I wrote a few years ago.

Gideon Richard, a senior at Fryeburg Academy who is planning to pursue music studies after high school, will perform two movements from Sibelius's violin concerto. Gideon loves this piece and his performance of it shows his dedication to the study of demanding music. I am pleased to have the privilege of accompanying him; a long time agao I was one of his child-hood violin teachers.

Maisie Brown, a senior at Kennett High School, has been perfecting her interpretations of a Debussy's Reverie. In her years of piano study she has become in independent learner and a leader in the music community. She'll be heading off to school next year, so this concert is a great chance to hear Maisie perform.

To round out the program, Anne Munstedt, a retired piano teacher who now resides in Denmark, will play an andante movement from a Mozart Sonata. I get to play my own fugue in F-sharp minor titled Living Forest Fugue.

A reception will follow the concert. Admission is free, but donations are gratefully accepted. These donations go to support Fryeburg New Church's efforts to share its beautiful space with the community. Contact me at ellen.m.schwindt@gmail.com for more information.

Bach on a Beautiful Chickering Piano

 

Bach aficianado and experienced piano teacher Anne Munstedt will perform Bach's E minor partita on Sunday, October 22 at Fryeburg New Church at 2:30 PM. This partita is worthy of a lifetime of study; using the form of a baroque dance suite, Bach writes in every mood with marvelous depth and concinnity. Bach deemed it worthy of inclusion in his first set of published music—the Clavier Ubung I published in 1726.

Performances by seniors in my piano-teaching studio round out the performance. We expect to hear a Schubert Impromptu, a movement from a Mozart Sonata or perhaps a prelude by Gershwin.

This concert is possible because of Fryeburg New Church's generosity with its space-a beautiful sanctuary with a live acoustic character that houses a Chickering piano. Admission to the concert is free, but donations may be made to benefit Fryeburg New Church's stewardship of these musical treasures. For more information please contact Ellen Schwindt at ellen.m.schwindt@gmail.com.

 Music to Welcome Autumn

a back-to-school concert for students, teachers, and the rest of us

On Wednesday, September 6^th, Eaton's Little White Church will ring with autumn music. Ellen Schwindt, students, and friends present a classical program of mostly piano music to welcome in the new season and begin the school-year with joy. Some of the performers are teachers and former teachers, some are students who've worked hard to prepare music all summer long.

Schwindt will be joined by friends Carren Webber, viola; and Charlotte Gill playing violin to present a movement from Mozart's Kegelstatt trio. Gill will present a piece from Brahm's oevre on piano. Two students from Schwindt's studio will perform. Emma Williams will play a well-rehearsed fast piano dance. Gideon Richard will grace the program with a movement from one of Bach's partitas for solo violin.

Schwindt will perform some variations on a hymn loved by her grandmother. She'll also offer a peek into a new work she's composing called “Forest Scenes.” Other music on the program includes some Bach keyboard works and an etude or two to celebrate the beginning of school.

This concert is a chance for community pianists to play the beautiful Steinway piano at The Little White Church. Contact Ellen for a spot on the program or for more information: ellen.m.schwindt@gmail.com.

Six Beautiful Days: Producing a Chamber Music and a Kid's Music and Arts Camp in One Week

 Six Beautiful Days

Producing a Kid's Music and Arts Camp

AND

a World-Class Chamber Music Concert

in 6 Days

    Summers have a way of getting busy, but this one takes the cake. July is quite full of musical activities--to be pursued around the usual July activities of harvesting, planting fall crops, and tending the flax and chickens, not to mention rehabbing a shed into a deep-litter chicken coop for next winter. This post is all about the community music events I'm planning this month.

    First up is Music and Arts Camp in Fryeburg. I and four other teachers, at least two teen helpers, and some willing parents are planning a week-long day camp for kids ages 8-11. Please help us spread the word. It's going to be great fun and no matter what the weather, we will have 5 beautiful days of singing, crafting, playing games, eating lunch together, and generally enjoying the leisure summer has to offer. Please get in touch with me if you know of families who might like to learn about this camp. Read more about it here.

    As if camp wasn't enough fun, I get to produce a concert of chamber music played by world-class musicians in Fryeburg on July 22. You can read more about that concert here. 

    The impetus is for all this musical and artistic fun is that people asked me to help with these resources, and I said yes. So if there is a community music event YOU wish to have available, please talk to me. I might be able to help you bring it into reality. 

Very old music beautifully performed by teen and adult musicians

 Concerto Concert

performed by Valley Strings

featuring three teen soloists: Isaac Houghton, Jennifer Noh, and Gideon Richard

Teen and adult musicians who play stringed instruments come together each Monday to play music they love. On Monday, May 22, the group performs its final concert of the 2022-2023 school year. The concert features three accomplished teen soloists playing very old music.

On the program are two complete concerti. About 1720, Vivaldi wrote four violin concertos themed on the four seasons, using sonnets describing the seasons as his guide. Gideon Richard, a junior at Fryeburg Academy and Isaac Houghton, a sophomore at the academy play the virtuosic violin solo parts. Valley strings provides the beautiful and descriptive accompaniment. From the comfort of spring, listeners can look back on the rigors and pleasures of the season just behind us.

Jennifer Noh, a fine flute player who attends the academy, is our soloist for a flute concerto written in Mannheim, Germany around the time Mozart was in Mannheim. Carl Philip Stamitz wrote this concerto in G Major in 1780, following in the footsteps of one written by Mozart two years earlier. It's a beautifully crafted piece of very classical repertoire—full of perfect proportions, contrasts, and consonant harmonies.

The orchestra will perform an Overture by Johann Christoph Pez, composed around 1700. The concert will take place at the Leura Hill Eastman Performing Arts Center on the campus of Fryeburg Academy on Monday, May 22 at 7 PM. It is free and open to the public. Donations to support the future work of the ensemble are welcome. Contact ellen.m.schwindt@gmail.com for more information.