Witch Hazel; a concert for the end of autumn

There is a shrub in the woods just now blooming. While other forest and field fauna have dropped their leaves and are going into the long rest of winter, the witch hazel blooms. She sends out small spiders of bright yellow petals, or are they bracts? At any rate, they are beautiful if you are so lucky to find one in full bloom while the maples still have a few bright leaves and the oaks are just going to russet.

Witch Hazel is my metaphor for my November community concert of the 2026 season at the Little White Church. I say “mine” because I'm the organizer and I get to perform some long-dormant pieces.

The concert is planned for November 15 at 4 PM. The other performers and I have planned a cornucopia of varied offerings for our listening pleasure. Or you might say that it is to be a wild potluck of musical dishes, jumping from one genre seamlessly to another, sometimes even within one single piece of music.

Highlights include singer/songwriter Alan Hunt’s medley of David Bowie’s Space Oddity and Elton John’s Rocket Man; Sweater Weather, a solo piano piece of mine that I started writing 48 years ago, Gordon Lightfoot’s Song for a Winter’s Night, flute and piano music played by Jane O’Brien and Jeanne Mason AND flute and piano music played by Dana Cunningham and Julia Hendrickson. As if that wasn’t far out enough, two little melodies by John Cage and a by-turns rowdy and beautiful piano and violin sonata by Alexy Shor and Mikhail Pletnev (which has a truly broadway-sounding ending) round out the genre-jumping fun.

Concert admission is by donation. Proceeds support the community-building work of The Little White Church. Suggested donation is $10-20, but please pay what feels good and come warm up a late autumn afternoon with yellow light and and lovely music. For more information, please contact Ellen Schwindt: ellen.m.schwindt@gmail.com.

An Art Show and Sale

 

Art moves us. An image or color or the story behind a piece of art can bring us to different places of the heart. Art can open the door to our souls. When we take in art with others, we often see different perspectives on the image. In the Fellowship Hall of the church, donated art pieces will be on display and offered for sale. Some pieces will be sold by way of silent auction. Art-Go-Round offers a chance to refresh art in your home or business while helping the church with its work of supporting people in the Fryeburg Community. The collection includes antique hand-colored prints, vintage Italian prints, a framed print by Bev Doolittle titled “Music in the Wind.” Come to Fryeburg New Church at 12 Oxford Street in Fryeburg Village on Saturday, May 2. The Art Sale will be active from 4-6:30 PM.  Payment forms we can accept are personal checks, cash, and paypal. 

Music is another art form that opens our hearts. We experience it in our various individual ways and it brings us together.  We hear it communally—especially when it is live music. At 7 PM a concert featuring the music of Ken Turley and classical favorites will take place in the sanctuary.  A trio of musicians offer this music: Laurie Turley, pianist, is joined by violinists Katie Moenkhaus and Karen Papetti. 

Upstairs, in the library of the church, enjoy refreshments and conversation. Afternoon music (between 4 and 5:30) in the sanctuary will offer attendees a chance to sit with one another. Admission is free of charge. Donations are welcome and proceeds from the art sale and concert  will support the work of Fryeburg New Church. FNC provides a variety of spiritual and community based offerings including Sunday morning services (10 AM in person and on-line),  twice monthly Sound Bath Meditations, yoga classes, and reiki treatments.  FNC also provides space to community groups such as Upper Saco Cultural Alliance and Da Capo for community pursuits.

Sheet Music Catalogue

I publish my music in various places around the internet. I'm always happy when my music is performed. So far, I have about 4K downloads on IMSLP. You can find a lot of my music there. You can also find it here. To receive a pdf copy of the music listed below, please e-mail me at 

ellenmschwindt@gmail.com 

I publish for the love of music and for the love of music-making in community. I believe in sharing my music with interested musicians. However, I really appreciate contributions. It takes a long time to write, perform, perfect, publish, and record a piece of music.  Please consider a donation commensurate with your ability to pay and the value you place on my work. Enjoy!

Catalogue

Light Pastorale:  This piece started out as a pastorale meditation which fell out of the sky on Christmas Day in 2016. It's help was needed in a later Christmas Season and it grew these lyrics. I hope it will serve many groups of singers in many places. Scored for Soprano, Alto, and piano. Can be sung by two soloists or a choir of women's voices. 

Lyrics: Light come, light. Light come light. Light come out of dark night. Light comes out of the dark night. Light comes out of night and shines and shines bright on all. Light comes out of the dark, comes out into light and shines on all, and light is within us one and all. Light comes out of the dark, comes out of the night: the light that shines on all. Take my light and let it shine. Let it shine until the whole is light, all light. Let it shine until the whole is light, all light. 

Student Pieces: My students inspire me. These solo piano pieces are dedicated to some of my piano students. I have written them from my heart. They range from intermediate difficulty to more advanced. I've dedicated each piece to a student who might love playing it. I hope many more students try them out and enjoy playing them. 

Three Little Pieces: These are piano pieces that are accessible to intermediate players. You can listen to them on bandcamp here .  The first is called The Beginning is the End, because it is. The second is called Two Part Invention: three part inversion. It is an invention whose structure comes from inverting chords that include extended harmonies. The third is Tryptych. It's a bit longer and a little harder and it takes some of its harmonies from the harmonic series. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Chamber Music Concert

All over our seven-town universe, people are practicing. Amid the flurry of winter sports, plans for town meetings, school activities, and seed-ordering, music is filling homes. These musicians will share their winter's work on Friday, March 13, at Fryeburg New Church.

The acoustics in that church's sanctuary make it an ideal place to listen to chamber music. The room is resonant and the piano is good. Some of the musicians have recently participated in a chamber music class designed to teach students how to be independent musicians. In the program, students work with their peers to perfect duets or trios. Students get the chance to run some rehearsals themselves, learning such skills as how to count in, how to communicate about dynamics, and how to develop an interpretation together.

Daniel Strahler, piano, and Jasper MacDougall, trombonist, are performing a piece by composer and organist John S. Dixon. This piece, an arrangement of a prelude for pipe organ, is aptly titled “Aria” and combines majestic and lyrical phrases with beautiful harmonies. Mr. Dixon graciously shares his compositions with musicians who want to perform them. Sparrow Bickford, pianist, will play the bass part of a piano duet called Judy's Waltz with the program's teacher Ellen Schwindt. Silas Krautman and Tristan Roll will play a piano duet called “Lost in the Wind,” Lilah and Tristan Roll will create some frivolity in their rendition of Bartok's “Frolic.”  Along with the duos, two students will perform chamber music solos. Honora Geier sings the most famouse song of Robert Schumann's “Widmung” or “Dedication” from the cycle “Myrthen.” Theo Gray, pianist, performs the allegro movement of Beethoven's F minor piano sonata.

Some adult players will join the students with selections of their own. Charlotte Gill, Phil Marshall, and Ellen Schwindt perform a Handel trio sonata. Ethan Chalmers, violinist and violin teacher, performs a selection from Prokofiev's 5 melodies for piano and violin. The concert begins at 7 PM on Friday, March 13 at 12 Oxford Street. Admission is free. Fryeburg New Church generously shares the use of its space with many community organizations. Donations to Fryeburg New Church for the upkeep of their building will be gratefully accepted.

Out of the File Cabinet and Into the World

 

Last September I turned 60. Somewhere along the way it dawned on me that I've been writing music seriously for more than 20 years. I have three file drawers crammed full of scores from musical compositions completed and performed long ago. I don't want them to languish in the file cabinet, I want them out in the world where musicians might find them, like them, and perform them. 

Now I'm getting serious about publishing and telling the world about my music. I'm going about this work in digital age fashion. This post is all about my efforts to make my compositions available. It's complete with links for listening and for scores. 

I've posted many compositions on two sites that allow people to download scores and parts. I've had a page on the site International Music Score Library Project for years. In fact almost 4000 downloads of my scores on that site have occurred. That has allowed a couple of people to find some music of mine and perform it. Violinist Mari Targo programmed a set of duets calle Five Rhythmic Recreations for a concert in Tallin, Estonia. 

More recently, I began a page on MusicaNeo.com .  Right now it holds my viola sonata and my recently completed album of student pieces. That viola sonata also exists on a site called Music4Viola , but that's the only piece I've managed to get there. 

I am hopeful that this dabbling around in the sea of websites will result in at least a few of my pieces reaching open ears. I am not aiming to be famous, I just want the works I've put my heart and soul into to be available to musicians and listeners. I think my music is accessible to players and I strive to make it as clear and consistent as I'm able; sometimes I taste that bit of sense that these particular notes, in this particular configuration are just the right notes. Those moments of certainty are why I really want to share what I do. 

I have a few recordings out in the world already and I'm working on getting more available. I'm using three different platforms for that. You can find me on Youtube, and on bandcamp, and on soundcloud. I haven't yet figured out how to get on streaming platforms, but perhaps that's in my future. It feels like a whole new (and slightly befuddling) world. 

 

     Lately, I've been making my way to Mountain Top Music on Friday mornings to rehearse with my friend and colleague Chris Nourse. We are preparing a program of music for violin and piano. I've lost track of how many such concerts we've prepared together, but I am enormously grateful to get another chance to undertake this work, or is it play? After all, we don't call it "working" the violin or piano. 

     Our program includes a brand new sonatina of mine that I finished this past summer. It's a set of four movements in different moods that all seem to relate to an idea I've been playing with for a very long time: that we are all in the same situation in this very temporary and changeable life. The title of the sonatina is "We are all in one Pond." The title came from some art-therapy I engaged with a few years back. The photo below might give you a hint about the themes that were running through my mind when I made that piece of art. Then somehow, similar themes emerged when I began writing this sonatina last spring. I crafted them into a piece that includes these movements "We are all in one pond,"  "Heaven is a resting place," "There is always time for adagio," and "We might as well dance." 

After this new sonatina, we'll play two excerpts from a Keith Jarrett sonata for violin and piano. You did read that correctly, even though you may be thinking "isn't Keith Jarrett a jazz pianist?" That is certainly true, but Jarrett wrote some interesting chamber music as well and played with other classical musicians of his day. We've had fun making sense of two movements from his sonata: "Song" and "Dance." The first movement reminds me somehow, of Hindemith's Trauermusik; it has depth and a certain inexorableness in it. Both the violin and the piano get to explore the edges of their instrument's sound range. The dance movement is quite fun and might be taken in as a form of contemplative movement in the interpretation we've developed for it. 

We'll end the program with an old favorite of ours: Antonin Dvorăk's sonatina for violin and piano. Dvorak wrote this for his own children to play. Chris and I have worked on this music many times with various students over the years. It's been a great joy to play it together. 

We'll be performing this program on Friday, December 5 at 1 PM at The Majestic Theater in Conway. This is part of Mountain Top Music Center's First Friday series: a brainchild of Chris's which began in 2016 or so. Admission is free and donations support Mountain Top Music Center. 

Music for Earthlings 

All of us here live surrounded by another living being—the forest around us. Mary Edes and I are weaving together the sounds of the earth and forest with those of local musicians for a concert titled “Music for Earthlings.” On Thursday, June 12 at 7 PM many community musicians convene at The Brick Church for the Performing Arts in Lovell, Maine, to share celebratory music about living in our forest.

“This Forest is Alive,” a classical work I composed for narrator, forest sounds, string trio, and woodwind trio makes up most of this concert. My good friend Mary Edes narrates this work while a string trio (Tim Arnold, myself, and Chris Nourse) and a woodwind trio (Julia Edwards, Mike Sakash, and Nancy Goldenhar) play miniatures depicting the life of the forest around us. Recorded bird song, including a Robin who summered on Davis Hill in 2020, complete the mix. Later in the program, the chorus will join the instrumentalists for hymns to the beauty of the earth. Serena DiNucci, marimba, and Jenny Huang-Dale, cello, also join the instrumental ensemble.

Tickets to the concert are $15 and are available at the door. The Brick Church for The Performing Arts is at 502 Christian Hill Road in Lovell, ME. The building is air conditioned. 

 Musical Renewal

On Sunday February 2nd at 3:00 PM, I get to play chamber music with friends and students at Fryeburg New Church. Playing music I love with others is a great path to renewal for me. 

Music lovers should expect Vivaldi's Concerto in a minor for violin and, in this case, viola. This piece is usually played with a string orchestra but Ellen and one of her students will perform the work with two stringed instruments. Also on the program is a piano solo by the composer Margaret Bonds; an African American composer who gained recognition in the 1930s and continued composing through the 1960s. The title of the solo to be played is The Valley of the Dry Bones. It relates to the biblical text in the book of Ezekial that describes dry bones coming to life and dancing. It is a jubilant work merging idioms from classical piano and jazz and capturing the spirit of renewal. When I play it, I try to think the words of the spiritual on which it is based: “These old bones of mine shall rise together in the morning.”

Ethan Chalmers, violinist, joins me to present Eugene Ysaye's piece Reve d'Enfant. This very late romantic work includes extended harmonies and haunting melodies. Jane O'Brien, flutist, will join me to perform Nino Rota's Five Pieces for Flute and Piano. Several of my teen students will present pieces they have been polishing over the last few months.

Fryeburg New Church houses a beautiful piano and offers concerts open to everyone. Donations are welcome but not required. Donations support the work of Fryeburg New Church in the community.

 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

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.