MARLBORO — A concert to benefit the Marlboro Alliance Scholarship Fund will feature Johann Sebastian Bach's Goldberg Variations BWV 988 arranged for string trio by Dmitry Sitkovetsky and performed by violinist Ida Kavafian, Steven Tenenbom, viola, and Peter Wiley, cello.
The program, at Ragle Hall in the Serkin Performing Arts Center at Marlboro College, is dedicated to outgoing Marlboro College President Ellen McCulloch-Lovell and her husband, Christopher Lovell, in appreciation for their support for the greater Marlboro community.
The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, was composed for harpsichord and is familiar as arranged for piano. The Sitkovetsy arrangement for string trio is rarely performed, and concert organizers say that the internationally known musicians “bring freshness and verve to this monumental work.”
Kavafian and Tenenbom graciously arranged to give this benefit performance in exchange for a major furniture commission by David and Michelle Holzapfel of Applewoods Studio in Marlboro. Michelle Holzapfel has been a member of the Marlboro Alliance Scholarship committee since 2007.
Kavafian and Tenembom's friend and colleague, Peter Wiley, agreed to participate.
The Marlboro Alliance is a community charitable nonprofit organization. Its projects include Marlboro Cares, the Marlboro Fair, and the Marlboro Mixer community newsletter.
Since 2007, the Scholarship Fund has raised more than $27,000 and made grants to dozens of Marlboro's elementary and high-school students for summer programs and for higher education.
The proceeds from this concert will establish an endowment that will serve as a buffer against the ups and downs of annual giving.
This concert will also honor Ellen McCulloch-Lovell and Chris Lovell in gratitude for their generous personal support of the Marlboro community beyond the college and for fostering strong and supportive ties between the college and the community.
Throughout McCulloch-Lovell's tenure as president of Marlboro College, the community has been welcomed on campus to attend lectures and concerts and to participate in a variety of other events, as well as to use the Rice-Aron Library, all without charge.
The Whittemore Theater has been the venue for the Marlboro junior high cabarets and the elementary school's annual holiday concerts; college students have worked with elementary-school students as tutors and have participated in the Big Brother Big Sisters program at the school.
The college has also hosted Marlboro Cares' senior lunches in the student center during the academic year. Community participation in the longstanding Wendell-Judd cross-country ski race is widely anticipated each year and has occasionally been supplemented by skating and sledding for families as organized by the Alliance.
The Lovells have also hosted the annual Trail Days to help maintain the network of ski trails traversing college and community lands.
Christopher Lovell, a professor at Union Institute and University, has served as a member of the Marlboro Historical Society and has championed the preservation of the historic murals in the Captain Dan Mather House, the president's residence at the college.
McCulloch-Lovell has taken the lead to assure that the college and the town remain in productive dialogue as they consider their respective futures; she was an enthusiastic participant in the series of community meetings hosted by the Vermont Council on Rural Development.
A post-concert reception with refreshments will be provided courtesy of the Marlboro Alliance and Marlboro College.