GUILFORD — On Saturday, April 18, Friends of Music at Guilford presents its celebration of Women in Music, its signature annual fundraiser.
Patrons will enjoy a buffet of hors d'oeuvres and salads between 6 and 7 p.m. This year's concert then features vocalist Jessica Gelter and pianist Ken Olsson in a centennial tribute to legendary chanteuse Edith Piaf (1915-1963). An array of desserts prepared by area restaurant and bakery chefs follows.
Edith Piaf, who was “discovered” as a street singer while still in her teens, took the Paris cabaret scene by storm and became regarded as France's national diva. She was also one of its greatest international stars and mentored many other aspiring performers.
Piaf's music was often autobiographical: her singing reflected her life, a contemplation of femininity, love, and home, sprinkled liberally with loss and sorrow. The program will cover a mix of Piaf's iconic hits and less-familiar songs, among them “La Vie en Rose,” “Rien de Rien,” “La Belle Histoire d'Amour,” “Mon Dieu.”
The audience will also learn a bit about the singer's complex character, which, according to biographer Carolyn Burke (No Regrets: Edith Piaf, 2011), included “a thirst for knowledge, a joie de vivre, and a forceful will.”
A taste of work by pioneering French women writers and philosophers who influenced Piaf will be sampled, too. These include her contemporaries Simone de Beauvoir, Anaïs Nin, and Marguerite Yourcenar.
Jessica Gelter was featured soloist at Friends of Music's 2014 Labor Day Weekend orchestra concert and the critically acclaimed “Now and Then” musical at Actor's Theatre Playhouse last summer. In both instances, she collaborated with Ken Olsson, who was conductor and music director/pianist, respectively.
A trustee of Friends of Music since 2009, Gelter was alto soloist for its 2012 Messiah Sing and performed a house concert of Spanish love songs in May 2013. She has also been an actor, singer, and/or director for many plays and musicals at both New England Youth Theatre and Vermont Theatre Company, and served as VTC president for a time. Gelter is executive director of Monadnock Arts Alive in Keene, NH.
Ken Olsson has performed three organ recitals for Friends of Music at The Organ Barn in Guilford and has conducted its Labor Day Weekend Festival orchestra since 2012. Earlier that year, he accompanied wife Julie Johnson Olsson in a Friends of Music at Guilford program of arias and art songs.
With a degree in vocal performance, Olsson has performed in, and served as musical director for, many operas and musical plays in the region, most recently appearing in Les Misérables at Main Street Arts. He conducts the West River Valley Chorus in Townshend, Nordic Harmoni in Londonderry, and the Springfield Community Chorus.
These annual Friends of Music house-concert galas also traditionally include a Silent Auction of 2-for-1 tickets to a broad selection of regional music, theater, and dance performances, plus other items and gift certificates.
Admission is by a suggested donation of $35 per person. Reservations are required, so please contact the Friends of Music office for further information at 802-254-3600 or [email protected]; visit online at www.fomag.org.