Forest Scenes

Forest Scenes is the final concert of my summer season at The Little White Church in Eaton. The concert is on Sunday, September 15th at 4 PM. Admission to this concert is $20, with an invitation for students and seniors to pay what feels comfortable to them. Tickets are available here and at the door. 

What a summer of music it's been this year. I've had the privilege of playing with old friends and new friends, with grown students, and now, at the turn of seasons, with a whole string quartet plus a singer. More than a year ago, now, I wrote a set of miniature pieces called Forest Scenes. It is scored for string quartet, mezzo soprano, and piano. The piece of music came about during a late winter and early spring of walking through the woods behind my home--noticing the path of melting water and the lay of the land and the early beginnings of the growing season. Although I was trying to write a piano quintet, words kept coming to my mind embedded in melodies. Finally I gave in to my intuition and scored those words for a singer. 

Now, as we prepare to head into another winter in these woods, I get to announce the premier of this work. The Lakes Region String Quartet is premiering the work along with vocalist Julia Edwards. Quartet members are all principal players in The Lakes Region Symphony. 

Julia is a fine musician and educator. She spends her school year as a choral director in Maine. She says that her musical education began "in the womb" as she was born into a musical family and listened to Bach and other serious music from a young age. She is a sensitive singer and I look forward to hearing the words in my mind come to life in the resounding space of The Little White Church.

Other works on the program will be quartet repertoire and Mozart's Kegelstatt trio, featuring Margaret Hopkins on violin and Sally Wituszynski on viola. Margaret and Sally have both played pieces of mine in the past and I'm excited to work with them both again. 

As if that wasn't enough joy, my friend Dana Cunningham contributes her piece "Homecoming" from her album of the same name. I had the fun of arranging that piece for piano and string quartet and I will enjoy listening to the quartet and Dana bring it to life at the concert. I hope you can join me.

Summer Music

   Two friends who love classical music as much as I do are joining me for a concert. Julia Howell, violist from Wonalancet, Chris Nourse, violinist from Tamworth, and I are rehearsing music that reminds us of summer including Vivaldi's iconic piece by that name. The concert will take place at The Little White Church in Eaton on Sunday, August 25 at 4:00 PM. (Please note, in case of temperatures in the 90s, the concert will begin at 7 PM). Admission is free and donations support The Little White Church and the musicians.

Duos and trios make up the program. Chris and I will play two pieces by Henry Cowell. Both have the feel of church music, full of deep harmony and counterpoint. Julia and I get to play Rebecca Clark's “Morpheus.” Rebecca Clark was a composer in the 1920s and was also a violist. Her composition teacher told her to take up the viola so that she would be in the middle of the sound. Clark crafted music rich with the sounds of the early 20th century and formed with romantic grace.

Two much older trios round out the program. Scholarship has it that George Frederick Handel didn't actually write the Church Sonata published as Opus 2, number 8. It is beautiful music, nonetheless, and has made its way into the canon of chamber music for violins and piano. The pièce de résistance is Vivaldi's “Summer” arranged for piano viola and solo violin. Chris will play the solo violin part while Julia and I fill in the music usually played by the rest of the orchestra. For more information about this and other classical music programs please get in touch with me at ellen.m.schwindt@gmail.com.

An Off-To-College/Album Release Concert

I have been teaching music in Conway for more than 20 years. Maisie Brown has been my student for 13 years and Kaitlyn Sakash for 10 years. I often tell my students that I want them to become independent musicians. These two young ladies have achieved that in spades. On July 21, we will celebrate with an off-to-college/album release concert featuring classical solo piano music. Kaitlyn is headed for UNH's honors program in the fall. Her path there will include music, as well as dance and a wide array of academic interests. Maisie is headed for Brown University, where she will begin an open curriculum liberal arts program that includes music and academics. I will stay here and keep writing and teaching. 

Kaitlyn and Maisie achieved a high level of musical acumen and artistry while studying in my studio. Both young women tackled canon piano pieces and play them with expression and individuality. At the concert, to be played on the Steinway at The Little White Church in Eaton, Kaitlyn will showcase her penchant for Chopin with her interpretation of the Raindrop Prelude and the Nocturne in E flat major. Maisie's set will include a piece from the baroque era by Domenico Scarlatti and a movement of a Mozart Sonata. 

I often write piano pieces for fun. The original piano pieces I will play reflect those that Maisie and Kaitlyn will play; alements from pieces I play or teach often make their way into my music. I am in the process of publishing an album--that is, a book of notated piano pieces--dedicated to students I have had the privilege of teaching over the years.

The Little White Church in Eaton, New Hampshire is a perfect place for this celebratory concert. With its rebuilt Steinway and its visually beautiful space, the church offers a peaceful opportunity to listen to music. The concert begins at 4:00 P.M. on Sunday, July 21st. The concert is free to attend; donations are welcome and will benefit The Little White Church and its upkeep of the beautiful Steinway. Hand fans and ice cold water will be available. For more information e-mail ellen.m.schwindt@gmail.com. 

 

Classical Chamber Music Concert at The Little White Church July 11

On Thursday, July 11th at 7 PM, friends who play classical chamber music will gather at The Little White Church in Eaton. At this beautiful venue, using a fabulous Steinway piano, we will share music we really want to play. The program of mostly duos includes famous names like Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and Schubert spiced with accessible pieces by lesser known but inspired composers Alan Hovhaness and Nino Rota.

The players wear many hats in our community. Though I am acting in the role of concert organizer for this event, I spend most of my time these summer days farming at The Earle Family farm and on my own Davis Hill farm, and teaching piano and violin. During the school year, Phil Marshall and Charlotte Gill work with me to lead Valley Strings. Anne Munstedt helps organize programs for The Denmark Arts Center, Jane O'Brien plays flute in the Mountain Top Music community orchestra and may be heard singing from time to time at the Wildcat Tavern. Mike Sakash leads the Arts Department at Fryburg Academy, plays regularly on the Cold River Radio Show, The Portland Jazz Orchestra and with other outstanding jazz musicians far and wide. Ethan Chalmers teaches English at Kennett High School where Theo Gray is a student.

This concert is free to attend. Donations are welcome and benefit The Little White Church of Eaton. For more information, or to find out about playing chamber music with this group, please contact me: ellen.m.schwindt@gmail.com .

Improvisation upon a Ground

This summer is full of concerts and farming. I'm preparing concerts and I'm centrally involved in a group-work kind of community gardening project. It may sound like an unlikely combination, but each pursuit is informing the other. The first of the musical fruits of the summer is a return of Music as Meditation.

Misty view of the Little White Church from the Pianist's Point of View

On Sunday, June 30^th at 4 PM at The Little White Church in Eaton, New Hampshire, I am revisiting the concert form I call Music as Meditation. Friends will join me in a program titled Improvisation upon a Ground. The themes of the concert include creating organizational structures for social projects without a central person guiding the endeavor; the rich musical “grounds” of Johann Pachelbel and Solomon Eccles, improvisation in the face of constant change, and the delights of contemplating our very smallness as individuals and as a species.

Never fear, this program won't be weighed down with too much political philosopy, but rather be an exploration of forays into an improvisational space through the medium of poetry, stories about our Community Supported Agriculture adventure, music, and even participation. Expect a time to sink into the experience of sound: organized sound, improvisatory sound, and environmental sound. Expect to hear some fragments of Bach, poetry by Josefin Waltin selections from Arvo Pärt, new compositions and improvisations by Ellen Schwindt, and the dulcet sounds of a talented young violinist Isaac Houghton.

a mama turtle who made her way into Greenhouse 3 at The Earle Family Farm this summer

Music as Meditation is a free-to-attend program. Donations received will support the upkeep of The Little White Church and the work of its volunteer board. For more information, please contact Schwindt at ellen.m.schwindt@gmail.com.

Future concerts include:

• July 11th: Community Classical Chamber Music. At The Little White Church at 7 PM. Admission by donation. Selections include Handel, Schubert, Chopin and Rota. Piano, violin, and flute players perform.
• July 21: Graduates Kaitlyn Sakash and Maisie Brown join me to perform in an "album release party" concert. The album in question is the kind you put on the music desk of a piano and play from. The pieces to be performed are inspirations for my own piano compositions, and selections from my album of piano pieces. 
• August sometime--date and venue TBD: Julia Howell and Chris Nourse join me for more chamber music including music by Henry Cowell and a little original music. 
• September 8th: Artful Noise Quartet comes to the Little White Church in Eaton. One piece on the program is a new composition of mine titled Forest Scenes. This is a piano quintet piece that also includes some recitatives and arias for mezzo soprano. Julia Edwards will sing these and I get to play the piano. 

I will look forward to seeing music friends at all of these concerts and to talking about gardening and farming all summer long.

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