Classical

This program will delve into groundbreaking Piano Quartets - one from each Century. They will start with the Mozart Piano Quartet in Gm, move on to the Romanticism of the Dvorak Piano Quartet in Eb, and then perform a 21st C Classical Rock n' Roll Piano Quartet written for Beryl and the Orion Piano Quartet by composer Joe Gianono.

In honor of National Poetry Month, violist Shane Barker has fashioned a program that pairs two art forms: Poetry and Music. Audiences will hear spoken aloud the words of Emily Dickinson, Alfred de Musset and William Shakespeare, and in the intimate listening space that is The Granite, hear the musical companion to each literary work: music of Töru Takemitsu, Rebecca Clarke and Sergei Prokofiev.

William Stafford’s poem, The Way It Is, speaks of a thread present in each of our lives, a thread that Stafford implores us to hold on to so we don’t get lost. Andrew will tell five stories drawn from his musical journey that speak to finding, holding on to, and sometimes losing the thread. Each story has a musical companion, weaving through various genres and styles.

Come enjoy the beauty of English Baroque song this May. Soprano Sarah Hawkey and lutenist Kevin Payne present Love’s Arc: Desire and Heartbreak in English Baroque Song, an intimate afternoon of music by beloved English Baroque composers Henry Purcell, John Dowland, and their contemporaries. Tracing love, passion, heartbreak, and grief, these centuries-old songs feel vividly alive today—inviting listeners to time-travel and experience the enduring emotional resonance of love across centuries.

America: the land of the tunesmith, the Tin Panhandler, the cacophonous rabble-rouser and the gentle hymnodist. From urban din to the quiet majesty of rivers, come listen to and celebrate the diversity that makes American music American, in music past and present.

This program dives deep into the very roots of what we have come to know as the “American sound,” through song. From Africa to the British Isles, to Mezzo-America, from Spirituals to Rock and Roll, from Appalachia to Danbury, we will explore the rich traditions of music from all over space and time that have come together to create the unique and kaleidoscopic world of American music that permeates the very air we breathe.