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.