Victoria Chertok

Yolanda Kondonassis will be training six harp students, ages 14 to 24, in a 10-day intensive training program at Potash Hill in Marlboro.

For young harpists, a chance to ‘stop time, just for a brief bit’

‘The importance of summer programs for young musicians can’t be overstated,’ says world-renowned concert harpist Yolanda Kondonassis, who brings the American Harp Institute to Potash Hill in Marlboro for intensive training

MARLBORO-The famed Marlboro Music Festival is not the only musical event happening on the former campus of Marlboro College - now called Potash Hill - this summer.

From May 31 until June 9, world-renowned concert harpist Yolanda Kondonassis brings the American Harp Institute to Potash Hill, along with six concert harps and six harp students ages 14 to 24, for an intensive training experience.

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Honoring the darkness, unearthing the joy

Brattleboro School of Dance students prepare for annual spring show: ‘Shadows & Glimmers’

BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro School of Dance's annual spring show, "Shadows & Glimmers: An Evening of Dance," will feature more than 50 dancers, ages 6 to 72, who live, work, and attend school in the community. "Evoking themes of shadows, where light and darkness meet, and glimmers, where inescapable joy bursts...

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Musician sings of complex characters, distinct places

‘I like the tightrope walk of playing solo,’ says Margaret Glaspy, who performs in Brattleboro on Friday, May 10

BRATTLEBORO-Singer-songwriter Margaret Glaspy is having a moment in the spotlight. Her new EP The Sun Doesn't Think was released on April 26, less than a year after her critically acclaimed album Echo the Diamond emerged to garner national attention from The New York Times, NPR, The New Yorker, Rolling...

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‘The importance of this music is to bring people from all walks of life together’

BRATTLEBORO-Samirah Evans of Brattleboro (samirahevans.com) will be a special guest soloist joining the Brattleboro Women's Chorus for the group's May 12 concert. The Commons caught up with her by phone recently to find out more. Here's an excerpt from the conversation. * * * Victoria Chertok: Hi, Samirah! What have you been up to musically? Samirah Evans: I'm happy to be coming up on 10 years of teaching jazz vocals at Williams College. I just completed my last day presenting...

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‘I love finding songs that speak to me and sharing them with others’

BRATTLEBORO-The Commons met Brattleboro Women's Chorus Director Becky Graber at her home recently to talk about the chorus's upcoming spring concert, her long career, and what this repertoire means to her. Here's an excerpt of the conversation. Victoria Chertok: Tell me about your early career. How did you start the Brattleboro Women's Chorus? Becky Graber: I moved to Brattleboro in 1977, straight out of college. There was a folk music scene that was welcoming, and one of my first jobs...

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Honoring, and crediting, a rich musical heritage

BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Women's Chorus spring concert, "Better Days," will showcase powerful and poignant songs by composers hailing from the African diaspora and will feature Brattleboro's own Samirah Evans as guest soloist. According to Graber, the concert, which takes place on Sunday, May 12, at the Latchis Theatre, was inspired by the teachings and repertoire of singer and composer Ysaÿe Barnwell and the work of the Black Lives Matter Commissioning Project. "The chorus aims to honor the rich cultural heritage and...

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For live musicians only

BRATTLEBORO-On a recent Monday night, The Commons stopped in to see and hear what all the fuss was about at the weekly Open Mic at the River Garden Marketplace at 157 Main St. There, 15 or so musicians - guitarists, banjo players, pianists, accordion players, and many singers - each awaited the chance to perform a 10-minute set of two or three songs for an audience of approximately 25 people. Kevin Parry, a local musician and teacher who has run...

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Joy factory

BRATTLEBORO-In 1999, when her daughters were young, Nancy Heydinger says she "wanted to find a way to ensure that they would grow up loving themselves, feeling complete." "I wanted them to celebrate and embrace their natural gifts, to know that what they communicated was of value, and to believe that they could make an important impact in their communities and in our world," the Vernon resident told The Commons. So Heydinger looked at opportunities for her daughters and found that...

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