WEST BRATTLEBORO — Brattleboro Music Center presents “Composers in Our Midst,” a unique opportunity to hear art songs written by composers in our region, featuring Kristen Carmichael-Bowers and friends, on Saturday, March 31 at 7 p.m., at All Souls Church.
Soprano Kristen Carmichael-Bowers, along with pianist Clifton J. Noble, guitarist Richard Ullman, and harpist Carol Wood, will bring to life works by Noble and Wood, as well as those by composers David Kidwell, Ronald Perera, and John Duke.
“Of all compositional forms, art song is my favorite,” says Noble. “Give me an evocative text full of visual images and a passionate, emotional, dramatic sweep, and I will do my best to give you a powerful song.”
Saturday's concert includes Noble's setting for some of his most beloved poetry. “[Rabindranath] Tagore's poetry ('When I Bring To You Coloured Toys,' 'The Day Is No More') is ideally suited for singing. [Robert] Frost's 'Stopping By Woods' conjures images from my childhood, 'The Road Not Taken' always reminds me why I chose to be a musician, and [Emily] Dickinson's poetry ('I'll Tell You How the Sun Rose,' 'Summer for Thee') never fails to raise an eyebrow or crystallize a tear.”
The program also includes David Kidwell's “Three Shakespeare Sonnets”; Carol Wood's “The Translation of Atlas” (John Wood), “The Night-Piece to Julia” (Robert Herrick), Ronald Perera's “Shakespeare Songs”; and John Duke's “From a Very Little Sphinx” (Edna St. Vincent Millay).
Although live performance are abundant in our region for many musical genres, opportunities to hear live music from the art song repertoire that is being composed right now within an hour's drive of Brattleboro is scarce. That is why Carmichael-Bowers decided to embark on the “Composers in our Midst” project.
“My fantasy is to have a weekend each year to celebrate local art song. To have students learn new music, coached by composers, that they did not first hear on the radio, YouTube or iTunes. To build it from the ground up and understand it in their own terms,” says Carmichael-Bowers.
Carmichael-Bowers studied at the New England Conservatory and completed both a B.A. and an M.A. in music with a focus on vocal pedagogy at Smith College.
She has performed in concert, operatic, and musical theater settings, and she enjoys singing a variety of music, from Renaissance to song cycles by contemporary composers.
In addition to teaching voice and directing “Get Real!” summer programs at the Brattleboro Music Center, she teaches at the Putney School and Northern Stage, where she works with singers whose skills range from amateur to professional.
Clifton “Jerry” Noble, Jr. will be featured as both pianist and composer. Noble's father taught him to play piano and guitar at age 5, and encouraged him to write music shortly thereafter.
He earned degrees from Amherst and Smith Colleges, and has served as the staff accompanist at the latter institution for 25 years. His compositions and arrangements include vocal, choral, chamber, and orchestral. Noble is an avid traditional jazz pianist and has recorded several CDs.
Richard Ullman has taught classical guitar and solfege at the Brattleboro Music Center since 1991. He has accompanied fellow faculty member Kristen Carmichael-Bowers, on guitar and lute, several times.
Ullman received a B.A. from Harvard College and M.F.A. in early music from Sarah Lawrence College. He is a graduate of the Kodaly Pedagogical Institute, Hungary and studied with Peter Pears at the Britten-Pears School, England. He is on the music faculty at Castleton State College.
Harpist and composer Carol Wood has written works for the pedal harp and other instruments. One of her major aims as a composer is to enlarge the repertoire of the Celtic harp. Before her retirement from McNeese University, Carol was a professor of English literature.
As a harpist, she has performed from Houston to Paris, and her music can be heard on several CDs.
Tickets for “Composers in Our Midst” are $15, $8 students, and free to BMC students under 21 and their companions. Contact the BMC at 802-257-4523 or visit www.bmcvt.org for more information.