Performances in the Spring 2008 concert season

• Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008, 5:00 pm: The National Yiddish Book Center presents Cantabile (the vocal ensemble in which Peter sings bass) performing Music of Salamone Rossi, Italian madrigals and canzonets, sonatas and dances, and Hebrew psalm settings from the cusp of the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods by Monteverdi's Jewish colleague. With guest instrumentalists and vocalists. National Yiddish Book Center, 1021 West St, Amherst, Ma, on the campus of Hampshire College. $8.
  
• Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008, 3:00 pm: Peter will be a featured performer with hornist Jean Jeffries and pianist David Kidwell on "Steps of Love," a program of vocal chamber music presented by the Music at South Church concert series. The concert will include premiere performances of several new and accessible works by local composers. South Congregational Church, 1066 South East St., on Fiddler's Green, South Amherst, Mass. Admission is free, with donations encouraged.  Also performing will be soprano Brenda McDonald of Shrewsbury, flutist Susan Dunbar of New Salem, and hornist Chris Mortensen of Goshen. The music is based on two themes - love and winter - both  appropriate to mid-February and the weekend before Valentine's Day. The vocal works will be sung chiefly in English. Mr. Kidwell, who conducts the Holyoke Civic Symphony and is music director at Edwards Church in Northampton, has composed three of the works on the program, including a new song written for this concert, "The world is too much with us," a setting of Wordsworth's poem for tenor, horn and piano. Other works composed or revised specifically for this program include "Psalm 92" by Willis Bridegam, Librarian Emeritus of Amherst College, "Liebeslied" by Harry Seelig, retired professor of  German at UMass Amherst, and three excerpts from "Steps of Love" a large-scale song cycle by renowned Pelham composer John Craig Cooper.  Two other works will be premiered on this concert: "Winter Dance," a duet for flute and horn, by hornist and teacher Thomas Hooper of North Amherst, and the song cycle, "Snow Storm," a setting of four Ralph Waldo Emerson poems by Zeke Hecker, retired teacher, oboist and composer, of Guilford, VT.  See a video excerpt from this concert on YouTube -- David Kidwell's "Storm" with the composer at the piano, written for Peter in 2005, preceded by a short poem read by hornist Jean Jeffries. Text of song, with more info on David.
• Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008, 7:30 pm: Peter will be a chorus member and one of several soloists in a benefit concert for the Cancer Connection, conducted by Katherine Fitzgibbon. Works will include Schütz's Musikalische Exequien and motets by Brahms. St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 3 Elm St., Northampton MA. Directions and maps
• Sunday, Mar. 9, 2008, 4:00 pm: Peter will be tenor soloist in the Offertorium Intende Voci by Franz Schubert, with the Greater Westfield Choral Association, Marc Winer, director. Schubert's Mass in G major and a selection of spirituals for choir and piano will also be on the program. First Congregational Church, 18 Broad St., Westfield MA $7 general admission, $5 students/seniors. Directions.
• Sunday, Mar. 16, 2008, 3:00 pm: Peter will be tenor soloist with the South Hadley Chorale, Deanna Joseph, director, in their performance of Beethoven's Mass in C major and Mendelssohn's Psalm 42.  Abbey Memorial Chapel on the Mount Holyoke College campus. General admission: $15.00; senior citizens: $10.00; students/children: $ 5.00. For more information see the Chorale's website.
  
• Saturday, Mar. 29, 2008, 7:30 pm: Peter will sing in Arcadia Players' performance of Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass (Missa in angustiis). Also on the concert will be Haydn's Symphony no. 49  and Piano concerto in D major, with Monica Jackuc, fortepiano. Grace Episcopal Church, 14 Boltwood Ave., Amherst MA. General admission, pre-ordered $20; preferred seating, pre-ordered $30; at-door tickets $5 more; ($25 general, $35 preferred); student tickets always $10. For more information see the Arcadia Players website.
• Wednesday, Apr. 2, 2008, 4:00 pm: Peter will sing his annual recital of German lieder for the Amherst College German Dept and German House, with pianists Monica Jakuc and Gregory Hayes. This year's program will be Romantic Journeys, including Beethoven's An die ferne Geliebte, Conradin Kreutzer's Wanderlieder, Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, and Eichendorff Wanderlieder by Othmar Schoeck. Porter House, 46 Boltwood Ave., Amherst MA (next to the Lord Jeffery Inn). Free and open to the public.
• Sunday, Apr. 6, 2008, 4:00 pm: Cantabile (the vocal ensemble in which Peter sings bass) and the UMass Madrigal Singers present a free concert of
  English Madrigals, followed by a Musical Feast. The UMass Madrigal Singers will open the concert with a selection of ten a cappella English madrigals. Following the intermission Cantabile will be joined by lutenist Meg Pash and gambist Laurie Rabut in a smorgasbord of ballads, rounds, madrigals, motets and other works from the 12th to 18th centuries, all on the theme of a Musical Feast. The two ensembles will join forces at the conclusion in Tomas Luis da Victoria's Regina caeli, a motet for double chorus. All Saints Episcopal Church, 7 Woodbridge St, South Hadley, MA. Free and open to the public. Donations gratefully accepted.
• Sunday, Apr. 20, 2008, 4:00 pm: Novi Cantori, the Longmeadow-based chamber choir directed by Allan Taylor (in which Peter sings baritone and tenor), presents the first performance of its spring concert series at Granville Federated Church, Granville MA.
• Saturday, Apr. 26, 2008, 7:30 pm: Peter and pianist Elise Jackendoff will present their second performance of a program entitled Songs to Seraphine at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst, 121 North Pleasant St., Amherst MA. "Seraphine" is a cycle of fifteen short poems written by Heinrich Heine in the 1830s. It will serve as the framework of a musical kaleidoscope -- fifteen songs by fifteen composers, covering the widest possible range of styles, moods and languages, including English, French, Italian and Romanian, in addition to Heine's original German. The program will include songs by well-known composers such as Camille Saint-Saens, Hugo Wolf and Edvard Grieg, as well as several works composed especially for this program by area composers. To give the audience a sense of the often difficult selection process that goes into a project like this, they will be asked to participate by comparing and ranking several additional musical settings of one of the poems. Admission is free, with donations to benefit the Society's music fund gratefully accepted. Directions.  Flyer (PDF)
  
• Sunday, Apr. 27, 2008, 4:00 pm: Novi Cantori, the Longmeadow-based chamber choir directed by Allan Taylor (in which Peter sings baritone and tenor), presents the second performance of its spring concert series at St. John's Episcopal Church, Northampton MA.
• Sunday, May 2, 2008, 4:00 pm: Novi Cantori, the Longmeadow-based chamber choir directed by Allan Taylor (in which Peter sings baritone and tenor), presents the third performance of its spring concert series at Wilbraham United Church, Wilbraham MA.
  
• Friday, May 9, 2008, 7:30 pm: Peter will sing selections from 10 Scottish Songs by Carl Maria von Weber on a benefit concert for Arcadia Players. The program also includes music by Haydn and Beethoven, played by the Arcadia Players Chamber Ensemble (Christopher Krueger, flute; Lisa Rautenberg, violin; Monica Jakuc Leverett, fortepiano; Kivie Cahn-Lipman, cello). Skinner Memorial Chapel, United Congregational Church of Holyoke, 395 High Street, Holyoke MA. Suggested donation $10 at the door. Directions and map.
• Sunday, May 11, 2008, 4:00 pm: Peter will sing selections from 10 Scottish Songs by Carl Maria von Weber on a program presented by the Frederick Historic Piano Collection. The program also includes music by Haydn and Beethoven, played by the Arcadia Players Chamber Ensemble (Christopher Krueger, flute; Lisa Rautenberg, violin; Monica Jakuc Leverett, fortepiano; Kivie Cahn-Lipman, cello). Ashburnham Community Church, Ashburnham MA. Admission: $10.00 per adult. Children and students, free. Directions and map.
• Sunday, May 18, 2008, 3:00 pm: Chamber Music at Wistariahurst: Schumann & Brahms. Peter will be singing with the Schubertians Chorus, directed by Jane Hanson, other soloists, and the piano trio of Monica Jakuc Leverett, Sarah Cornelius Briggs, and Volcy Pelletier. This program includes Brahms Ziegeunerlieder (Gypsy songs) arranged for chorus, and Schumann's Spanisches Liederspiel, for four solo voices. The other soloists will be Mary Beth Taylor, soprano, Jane Hanson, mezzo-soprano, and Terry Ward, bass. Admission $15. Wistariahurst Museum, 238 Cabot Street (at the corner of Beech Street), Holyoke, MA. Directions and map.
• Friday, May 23, 2008, 8:00 pm: Valley Voices (in which Peter sings baritone) presents Songs of Farewell, a benefit performance of Herbert Howells' Requiem and Hubert Parry's Songs of Farewell, under the artistic direction of Deanna Joseph and Ryan Brandau. St. Mary's Catholic Church, 3 Elm St., Northampton MA. Free-will donations will be accepted at the door to benefit the victims of Cyclone Nargis in Burma. Tax-deductible checks can be made payable to Karuna Center for Peacebuilding.
• Sunday, May 25, 2008, 5:15 pm: Arcadia Players presents A Musical Feast with Cantabile (the vocal ensemble in which Peter sings bass) and guest artists Meg Pash, lute, and Laurie Rabut, viol, in an assortment of delightful ensemble pieces and solo ballads depicting delicacies from hunt to market to table. Cantabile’s selections touch on subjects ranging from herbs and their virtues to the miracle of the loaves and fishes to a lusty St. Martin’s goose, washed down with ample portions of wine, ale and coffee. Part of Arcadia Players' New Season Celebration. Free, followed by an auction to benefit Arcadia Players. Massachusetts Center for Renaissance Studies, 650 East Pleasant Street, Amherst. Read more about this program, including directions.
  
  
• Friday, May 30, 2008, 8:00 pm: Peter is baritone soloist in the Five Mystical Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the composer's death, in the concert Revel in the Romantics, presented by Da Camera Singers, Sheila Heffernon, director. The program also includes motets of Bruckner and Brahms. Instrumentalists are Nancy Babb, piano; Michelle Liechti and Kathy Andrew, violins; Laurie Rabut, viola; Sabine Rhyne, cello; and Marianne Lockwood, piano. Donations accepted. St. John's Episcopal Church, 48 Elm St., Northampton MA Maps and directions.

• Sunday, June 1, 2008, 3:00 pm: Peter is baritone soloist in the Five Mystical Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the composer's death, in the concert Revel in the Romantics, presented by Da Camera Singers, Sheila Heffernon, director. The program also includes motets of Bruckner and Brahms. Instrumentalists are Nancy Babb, piano; Michelle Liechti and Kathy Andrew, violins; Laurie Rabut, viola; Sabine Rhyne, cello; and Marianne Lockwood, piano. Donations accepted. Trinitarian Congregational Church, 147 Main St., Northfield MA   Click here for map and directions.

• Saturday, June 7, 8:00 PM: An offering of music you can’t refuse.  Archguitar virtuoso Peter Blanchette presents an evening of music from Italian cinema.  Featuring tenor Peter Shea, mezzo-soprano Dorie Goldman, violinist Colleen Jennings, guitarist/violinist Kenny Butler, keyboardist Greg Hayes, and the For A Few Dollars More singers.  Music at once accessible and profound.  Tickets $10 general, $8 student/senior, available at the door.  Unitarian Society of Northampton, 220 Main St. Northampton.  www.archguitar.com
  

  
  Few composers have made so significant a contribution to the art of their times as the Oscar-winning Italian film score specialists Nino Rota and Ennio Morricone. The two can be viewed as masters of opposite approaches to film scoring. Rota wrote aching themes; such as the opening solo trumpet in Coppola’s The Godfather, expressing an impoverished immigrant’s transformation into the all-powerful, corrupt Don.  Morricone favored tremoloed electric guitars and bombastic symphonic outpourings, drawing on influences as diverse as noise-music pioneer Edgar Varése and 50’s surf-guitar rock; his scores comment on the very falseness of cinematic character with a crude intensity that perfectly parallels the radical director Sergio Leone’s Spaghetti Western masterpieces. Archguitarist and composer Peter Blanchette, whose 2002 recording Cinema Italiano is an obsessive momument to the 1960s and 70s films of Fellini and Leone, has arranged a selection of their works and invited tenor Peter Shea, mezzo-soprano Dorie Goldman, violinist Colleen Jennings, guitarist/violinist Kenny Butler, keyboardist Gregory Hayes and a newly-formed chorus, the For a Few Dollars More Singers, to accompany him.  A rare and inventive collaboration that is not to be missed - "an offering of music you can’t refuse."