Performance Archive
Spring 2024
Ragamala Paintings Alive!
Natraj
Sat. Mar 2
7:30 p.m.
Performance Hall
(Funded by the Ermanno Comparetti Concert Fund)
This collaborative work is a contemporary multimedia interpretation of Ragamala paintings dating from Mughal, India. Composer and musician Phil Scarff initiated the project and recruited Jayshree Bala Rajamani to contribute her choreographic vision and stellar dancing. Scarff composed the music, inspired by the selected paintings and guided by Rajamani’s interpretations. World-jazz group Natraj and Jayshree perform, and together bring these beautiful paintings to life through music, dance, images, spoken word, and special effects.
Orchestral Master Works
Colby Symphony Orchestra
Director, Jinwook Park
Sat. March 16
7:30 p.m.
Performance Hall
Our third program, Orchestral Master Works, presents two enduring Germanic orchestral pieces: Robert Schumann’s Romantic Symphony No. 3, Rhenish, and Carl Maria von Weber’s Overture to Der Freischütz, a magical, mysterious, and folk-inspired showcase of heroic horns and shimmering strings. The program also highlights the orchestra’s principal flutist and Colby Music Associate Nicole Rabata, who will perform Danish composer Carl Nielsen’s Concerto for Flute and Orchestra.
Afro Diasporic traditions of Puerto Rico and Cuba
Los Herederos
Saturday, April 6
7:30 p.m.
Performance Hall
(Funded by the Freda M. Charles Music Fund)
Los Herederos will present Afro-Diasporic Traditions of Puerto Rico and Cuba. Bomba is Puerto Rico’s oldest Indigenous music that is widely practiced. Bomba is music, song, and dance as well as storytelling that dates back to 400-450 years ago during the days of slavery in the Caribbean region. The ensemble will also perform Afro-Cuban traditions such as Palo, which has deep roots in the Congo/Bantu regions of south-central Africa and is connected to socio-religious practices of Congo’s ancestors, as well as Yoruba Batá drumming and singing. Members of Los Herederos represent Babalawos (high priests of the Yoruba religion) and Omó Añá (priests of the sacred Batá drums).
Looking Forward
Colby Wind Ensemble
Director, Brendon Wilkins
Sun. April 7
5:00 PM
Performance Hall
The Colby Wind Ensemble features two major works in this concert to conclude the academic year. Dream Elegy by Jonathan Bailey Holland is a moving work that was inspired by the #blacklivesmatter movement. Marchad, Hijos del Arte, written by Spanish composer Inma Tinmard, is a tribute to the music students who will embark on a new journey after graduation.
New School
Colby Jazz Band
Director, Brendon Wilkins
Sat. April 13
7:30 p.m.
Performance Hall
The Colby Jazz Band features the works of living composers with this varied selection of compositions. “Point, Counterpoint” by Ellen Rowe is a straight-ahead swing chart that showcases the interactive nature of Big Band jazz. Brett Zvacek’s composition Ocho Ocho is an energetic mambo that connects this style of Cuban dance music with jazz.
My Favorite Things
Colby Collegium
Director, Néviton Barros
Sat. April 20
7:30 p.m.
Performance Hall
The spring Collegium concert is a collaborative project among all its members, with the program selected from the singers’ favorite choral works. Come and enjoy the tributes by the choir members to the special memories from their choral experiences.
Choral Masterwork
Colby Symphony Orchestra
Director, Jinwook Park
Choirs at Colby
Director, Néviton Barros
Sat. May 4 at 7:30 p.m.
Sun. May 5 at 3:00 p.m.
Performance Hall
“O friends, not these tones! Rather let us tune our voices more pleasantly and more joyously.” Our final and jubilant program of the year, Choral Masterwork, is a collaboration among the orchestra, invited vocal soloists, and Colby Choirs to present Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, an epic ode to community and the joy of life. In addition, the concert will celebrate the student winner of the annual Music Department Concerto Competition and will include the overture to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s beloved opera buffa, Le Nozze de Figaro. With its celebratory overtone as well as vibrant combination of ensembles, this concert is part of this year’s Center for the Arts and Humanities theme–Play!
Music in the Museum
All performances begin at noon in the Colby College Museum of Art
“The Journey,” Piano Trios by Women Composers
Tues. March 5
(Funded in part by the Hazel Hoyt Witherell Memorial Concert Fund)
Christina Spurling (piano), Chris Nemeth (violin), and Marisa Solomon (cello) bring a program of piano trios in honor of Women’s History Month, featuring music by Florence Price, Lera Auerbach, and Clara Schumann.
Kamala Sankaram and Brian Shankar Adler, Crescent and Other New Works
Fri. April 12
This concert will present Crescent, a sonic exploration of global temperature data, microplastics, and the other impacts of catastrophic climate change. The program is rounded out with music inspired by philosophical explorations of the human condition as well as music from Sankaram and Shankar’s eclectic surf-noir band Bombay Rickey.
Fall 2023
Chamber Concert
Colby Music Department Faculty
Sat. Sept 30
7:30 p.m.
Performance Hall
(Funded by the Robert J. Strider Concert Fund)
Our opening concert in the Gordon Center features the talented cast of the Music Department faculty in three chamber works. The program includes the North American premiere of Colby assistant professor José Martínez’s Sobre Uno Mismo, the world premiere of Visions in Glimpse by Shane Scott Cook, and the magnificent Sextet in C Major by Ernö Dohnányi.
**CANCELLED**
atomic
Noa Even, saxophone
Will try and reschedule for spring
Beginning of a New Chapter
Colby Symphony Orchestra
Director, Jinwook Park
Sat. Oct 21
7:30 p.m.
Performance Hall
Don’t miss Beginning of a New Chapter, Colby Symphony Orchestra’s first concert in the Gordon Center. This inaugural program presents works spanning four centuries: George Frederick Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks; Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World,” written during the Czech composer’s residence in the United States; Samuel Barber’s colorful and brilliant Violin Concerto with soloist Eunae Koh of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; and Fanfare, a new composition by Colby’s own Samuel Xue ’24.
The Twenties Roar Again!
The Modernistics
Sun. Oct 29
3:00 p.m.
Performance Hall
Join us for exuberant songs and tap-dance numbers by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, and other master tunesmiths of the 1920s. A joyful and stylish portrait of the era, delivered with a 21st-century groove! Among the many audience favorites are “Blue Skies,” “Fascinating Rhythm,” “I Want To Be Happy,” “Stardust,” and “Let’s Misbehave.” The Modernistics are the acclaimed singing and tap-dancing team of Ted Powers and Pamela Powers, with virtuoso jazz musicians Mark Leighton, guitar; Peter H. Bloom, flute; and Dave Zox, double-bass.
Subtlety and Swing
Colby Jazz Band
Director, Brendon Wilkins
Sat. Nov 4
7:30 p.m.
Performance Hall
The Colby Jazz Band’s debut concert in the Gordon Center will feature two renowned arrangers from the jazz Big Band tradition. “Just Waiting,” a beautiful ballad composed by Melba Liston, will show the finesse and subtlety possible in the Big Band genre. A timeless classic from the Count Basie Orchestra, “Whirlybird” written by Neal Hefti, is sure to be a crowd favorite.
New Era
Colby Wind Ensemble
Director, Brendon Wilkins
Sat. Nov 11
7:30 p.m.
Performance Hall
The Colby Wind Ensemble’s debut concert in the Gordon Center marks the beginning of a new era in the arts at Colby College. This concert will feature one of the winners of the composition contest, Emily Chauhan ’25. William Owens’s exciting work, Silversides (To Answer the Call), brings contrast to the program through its exciting finish.
Canções D’Além Mar
Choirs at Colby
Director, Néviton Barros
Sat. Nov 18
7:30 p.m.
Performance Hall
Choirs at Colby join forces to bring a concert with songs from other lands. Reflecting the diversity of our communities, the program will include songs in Ukrainian, Creole, Mohawk, Portuguese, Tamil, Arabic, Turkish, Chinese, Hebrew, Spanish, Zulu, and the lost language of the Kraos. Featured on the program is Ariel Ramirez’s “Misa Criolla”, performed with the Elqui Ensemble. Members of the Colby Eight will also join in portions of the concert.
Collaboration
Colby Symphony Orchestra
Director, Jinwook Park
Sat. Dec 2
7:30 p.m.
Performance Hall
Our second orchestral concert of the season, Collaboration, features solo percussionist Hayoung Song performing Emmanuel Séjourné’s Concerto for Marimba and String Orchestra (2006), as well as an exciting first-time collaboration with Colby’s Performance, Theater, and Dance Department and the Portland Ballet for Claude Debussy’s dreamy tone poem Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and Maurice Ravel’s inexorable Boléro. The orchestra will also perform two contemporary works by Colby Assistant Professor of Music José Martínez: Images from Macondo, a sinfonietta based on striking moments in the novel One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, and On the Other Side, which evokes the physical and psychological experiences of undocumented migrants found in a scorching tractor-trailer in a San Antonio parking lot in 2017.
Music in the Museum
David Hyun-su Kim, Fortepiano
Fri. Oct 27
David Hyun-su Kim returns to Colby to present a program of Clara Schumann and Franz Schubert on a mid-19th-century Viennese fortepiano.
Duane Edwards Trio, New and Original Compositions
Fri. Nov 17
Colby Music Instructor Duane Edwards and his ensemble present selections from two solo releases, Time Machine (2019) and Birds (2023), and new compositions, playing improvisatory music in the spirit of jazz with modern takes on rock and Cuban music.
Spring 2023
J.S. Bach: The Art Of Fugue, BWV 1080
Fr. Sean Duggan, OSB, piano
Sunday, March 5, Noon
Lorimer Chapel
(Funded by the Freda M. Charles Music Fund)
Bach’s last great keyboard masterpiece will be performed by pianist Fr. Sean Duggan, OSB. This gigantic work consists of 14 fugues and four canons, all based on a single theme. Bach was in the midst of preparing it for publication when he died in 1750, leaving the final (14th) fugue incomplete. It has often been referred to not only as a stupendous musical composition but also as “one of the truly great creations of the human mind.” Because of its sheer complexity, it is not often performed live in its entirety, especially by pianists (more often by harpsichordists, organists, or in chamber ensemble arrangements). And yet, this piece is a moving testimony to Bach’s inner spirit as well as to his towering compositional genius—music full of passion and emotional expression. An opportunity to hear it performed in a live concert setting should not be missed.
CANCELLED — 20th and 21st Century
Colby Symphony Orchestra
Director, Jinwook Park
Saturday, March 11, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
This concert features two programmatic works by percussionist and Assistant Professor of Music José Martínez. Florence Price’s Third Symphony, a work that blends the composer’s unique voice with hints of Wagner and Shostakovich will close this dynamic concert.
To America
Colby Wind Ensemble
Director, Brendon Wilkins
Saturday, April 1, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
This program pays homage to America with two major works from the 20th and 21st century. American Hymn Song Suite by Dwayne S. Milburn, a piece for wind band that features four of America’s greatest hymn tunes, and Variations on America, a staple of the wind ensemble repertoire by American composer Charles Ives will close the concert in spectacular fashion.
Music, She Wrote
Colby Collegium
Director, Néviton Barros
Saturday, April 8, 7:30 p.m.
Greene Block + Studios
The Colby Collegium presents a concert of works by women composers. The program will feature works by Fanny Mendelssohn and others that have been overlooked and under-performed for generations, and also explore exciting new works by living women composers.
East Coast and West Coast
Colby Jazz Band
Director, Brendon Wilkins
Saturday, April 15, 7:30 p.m.
Given Auditorium
The Colby Jazz Ensemble continues its exploration of musical styles with work from arrangers and composers from coast to coast. Bill Holman’s arrangement of “Stompin’ at the Savoy” will immerse the listener in the sound of the Stan Kenton Big Band, and Toshiko Akiyoshi’s exciting samba “Deracinated Flower” will infuse the night with Latin energy.
Mexico; A Musical Journey
Cuarteto Latinoamericano
Saturday, April 22, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
(Funded by the Ermanno Comparetti Concert Fund)
In this unique concert, the Latin Grammy Award-winning Cuarteto Latinoamericano and scholar Benjamin Juarez, professor emeritus at Boston University, explore connections in Mexican visual art, history, and culture through the music of six iconic composers alongside a narrated multimedia presentation of paintings ranging from artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera to artists of today.
Choral Masterworks
Colby Symphony Orchestra
Director, Jinwook Park
Choirs at Colby
Néviton Barros, Director
Saturday, April 29, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 30, 3 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
The final concert of the season will feature two masterworks by Schubert, the Unfinished Symphony and the Stabat Mater in F Minor, D. 383. In the concluding choral work—the heartfelt Stabat Mater— Dr. Néviton Barros will lead the Colby Chorale and Colby Kennebec Chorale with the CSO to bring back this wonderful tradition of collaboration between our ensembles. This concert will also feature Concerto Competition winner Joshua Zhang ’26 as featured soloist for Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra, Mvt I by Danish composer Launy Grøndahl.
Music in the Museum and Other Events
All performances begin at noon at referenced locations in the Colby College Museum of Art or the Greene Block + Studios
Welcome Fall 2022: Colby Jazz Collective + Fall Exhibitions
Tues., Sept. 20
Paul J. Schupf Wing for the Works of Alex Katz
Join the Colby College Museum of Art and the Music Department for a fall celebration of music and art. We’ll kick off our Music in the Museum series with an outdoor performance by the Colby Jazz Collective, featuring Colby music department faculty playing a collection of well-known tunes from the standard Jazz repertoire. Visit the Museum’s special exhibitions—Alex Katz: Theater and Dance, All in One: Selections from the Katz Foundation Collection, Andrew Wyeth: Life and Death, and Sarah Cain: hand in hand. Enjoy food and drink, gallery conversations, self-guided poetry prompts, art-making projects, and more.
BOOM—Baroque Orchestra of Maine
Wed., Oct. 12
Paul J. Schupf Wing for the Works of Alex Katz
(Funded in part by the Hazel Hoyt Witherell Memorial Concert Fund)
At this program, BOOM-Baroque Orchestra of Maine will perform J.H. Schmeltzer’s Ciaconna in A and violin solo and ensemble works by Nicola Matteis (?-post 1713). Solos for archlute by Piccinini and Galilei round out the program.
From the Shakuhachi to the Modern Flute: a Timeless and Cross-Cultural Tradition
Fri., Nov. 4
Lower Jetté Gallery
The shakuhachi is a relatively obscure end-blown, bamboo flute; yet it produces perhaps the most quintessential sound associated with Japanese traditional music. The shakuhachi has in turn been a great inspiration upon several contemporary composers of works for the modern flute. Sixth-generation shakuhachi grand master Hanzaburo Araki and flutist Nicole Rabata will present both traditional shakuhachi and modern flute works.
Meadowlark Trio at Greene Block + Studios
Fri., March 10
Greene Block + Studios, Downtown Waterville
A program from a Boston-based piano trio that explores three centuries of art music and popular music from America, China, and Germany.
Duo Edelen – Baroque Seminar and Lecture Recital
Wed., April 12
Paul J. Schupf Wing for the Works of Alex Katz
A seminar presentation in a lecture recital format in which the audience will receive an introduction and demonstration of the essential elements of Baroque performance and interpretation.
Fall 2022
Wache
Gaitas y Tambores: Colombian Roots From the Caribbean Coast
Saturday, Oct. 15, 7:30 p.m.
Greene Block + Studios, downtown Waterville
(Funded by the Robert J. Strider Concert Fund)
Wache brings you the ancestral sounds of Gaita flutes, tambores (traditional hand drums), and call-and-response vocals for a lively trip to the Caribbean coast of Colombia! Join Wache as they explore the roots of Cumbia, Porro, and other traditional Colombian rhythms that celebrate community, love, and life through music.
MasterWorks
Colby Symphony Orchestra
Director, Jinwook Park
Saturday, Oct. 22, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
The Colby Symphony Orchestra performs masterworks from the 19th century. Mendelssohn’s evocative Hebrides Overture begins the program, but Debussy’s delightful Petite Suite is the real amuse-bouche. The program concludes with Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony.
Movements
Colby Wind Ensemble
Director, Brendon Wilkins
Saturday Nov. 5, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
The Colby Wind Ensemble starts the year with an exciting program under the baton of their new director, Brendon Wilkins. This concert will feature a variety of works from the wind band repertoire, including Mark Camphouse’s A Movement for Rosa, a moving work written to honor the contributions of Rosa Parks to the civil rights movement.
New Beginnings
Choirs at Colby
Director, Néviton Barros
Saturday, Nov. 12, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
Néviton Barros, the new director of the Colby Choral programs, will lead the Chorale and Collegium in a joyous program of music about beginnings. The program concludes with John Leavitt’s stirring Missa Festiva.
Big Band Staples
Colby Jazz Band
Director, Brendon Wilkins
Saturday, Nov. 19, 7:30 p.m.
Given Auditorium
Swing has been a key element of jazz music for many years. Drawing from the swinging big band tradition, this concert features Sammy Nestico’s “A Warm Breeze” and works by Horace Silker and Chuck Sayre. An eclectic selection of works from other musical styles will be sure to appeal to everyone in the audience.
Movie and Ballet
Colby Symphony Orchestra
Director, Jinwook Park
Saturday, Dec. 3, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
The season continues with a concert of movie and ballet music, beginning with Fauré’s Masques et Bergamasques, a work that hearkens back to the celebratory masques of the 16th and 17th centuries, John Williams’ powerful score from Schindler’s List, and the sweet, delightful wonder of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a.
Celebration of World Music
Director, Tyler Yamin
Saturday, Dec. 10, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
A celebration of musical traditions from around the world, all performed by Colby student ensembles. This concert includes the debut of the Colby Balinese Gamelan, a vibrant orchestra of bronze gongs and xylophones that will present a program of music and dance drawn from the repertoire of Balinese temple festivals. Our concert will also feature the master Balinese dancer Dr. I Nyoman Wenten, whose masked dances portray various characters from Balinese legends.
Spring 2022
Henry Kramer
Saturday, March 5, 7:30 pm
Lorimer Chapel
(Funded by the Freda M. Charles Music Fund)
As winner of the Second Prize at the 2016 Queen Elisabeth Competition and a recipient of a 2019 Avery Fisher Career Grant, pianist Henry Kramer is well on his way to becoming one of the most exciting American musicians of his generation. For his Music at Colby debut, Kramer, a Maine native, will present Beethoven’s magnificent Sonata Op. 109 and Ravel’s Le Tombeau de Couperin.
Journey to Northern Europe
Colby Symphony Orchestra
Jinwook Park, director
Saturday, March 5th, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
Colby’s March orchestral program includes Edvard’s Grieg’s Two Elegaic Melodies and Symphonic Dances. Followed by Jean Sibelius Waltz Triste and Karelia Suite.
Link to Youtube
O Great Mystery
Colby Wind Ensemble
Jeff Osarczuk, director
Friday, April 1st, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
Featuring works that span more than 100 years of wind band history, our spring concert includes classic compositions by wind bands’ early 20th-century champions Percy Granger and R. Vaughan Williams. The Program will also include H. Robert Reynolds stunning arrangement of O Magnum Mysterium and Malcom Arnold’s playful work Prelude, Rondo, and Siciliano.
Link to Youtube
Forgotten Peoples
Colby Collegium
Eric Christopher Perry, director
April 9th 7:30 p.m.
Greene + Block Studios, downtown Waterville
Freedom and Captivity Humanities themed event.
Colby College Collegium’s debut at Greene Block + Studios in downtown Waterville. An exploration of repertoire from Estonian composers performed or premiered at the end of the Cold War. Popular, folk, and nationalistic vocal music from Estonia’s “Singing Revolution,” a historic, non-violent protest of occupation by the former Soviet Union. Selections from Veljo Tormis, Ester Mägi, and the centerpiece, Arvo Pärt’s chilling Berliner Messe for choir and chamber orchestra.
Link to Youtube
Swing into Spring
Colby Jazz Band
Jeff Osarczuk, director
Saturday, April 16, 7:30 p.m.
Swing into spring with an evening of jazz classics by the Colby Jazz Ensemble. Featuring a variety of popular tunes by Thad Jones, Victor Lopez, Bill Holman, and Gordon Goodwin. Guest appearance on saxophone by retired director, Eric Thomas. This concert is one you won’t want to miss.
Link to Youtube
The Switch~ Ensemble Plays Martínez, Sheehan, Graham, & Romitelli
Saturday, April 23, 7:30 p.m.
Greene Block + Studios, downtown Waterville
(Funded by the Robert J. Strider Concert Fund)
A new music ensemble for the 21st Century, the [Switch~ Ensemble] is dedicated to the creation of new works for chamber ensemble. This concert will take the audience through recently written music based on soundwalks, elements of machinery, Latin American literature, and migration.
Chorale MasterWork
Colby Symphony Orchestra
Jinwook Park, director
Colby College Collegium
Colby Kennebec Choral Society
Colby College Chorale
Eric Christopher Perry, director
Annual Concerto Competition Winner, Ashley Ren ’24
Saturday, April 30 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, May 1 at 3:00 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
Our final concerts of the season will be a celebratory event, with Jonathan Hallstrom (conductor of the Colby Orchestra from 1984-2012) making a farewell guest appearance after 38 years of service at Colby College, conducting Pelléas et Mélisande Suite by Gabriel Fauré. The concert will also feature the winner of the 2022 Annual Concerto Competition, Ashley Ren ’24, performing the third movement from Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor. The program will conclude with Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, and with two of G.F. Handel’s triumphant Coronation Anthems: Zadok the Priest and The King Shall Rejoice, with the combined forces of Choirs at Colby and the CSO, conducted by Director of Choral and Vocal Activities, Eric Christopher Perry. (Due to a surge in COVID Handel’s Coronation Anthems were replaced by Grieg’s Two Elegiac Melodies)
Link to Youtube
Fall 2021
The Music of José Martínez
Saturday, Oct. 2, 7:00 p.m.
(Funded by the Ermanno Comparetti Concert Fund)
For our opening concert, we are pleased to introduce composer and sound sculptor, José Martínez who joins the Music Department this fall. Martínez’s music has been heard to wide acclaim throughout the Americas and Europe. In his debut concert at Colby, we will hear a wide range of his collaborative works that combine electronics with piano, dancer Leymis Bolaños Wilmott, video and more.
Journey To Beethoven
Colby Symphony Orchestra
Saturday, Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m
The Colby Symphony Orchestra opens the 2021-2022 with a program of Romantic favorites, beginning with Carl Maria von Weber’s mystical and magical Overture to Oberon. The remainder of the program is given to two works that Beethoven composed concurrently in the earliest years of the 19th century—first the Triple Concerto, a decidedly 19th century take on the 18th century symphonie concertante featuring Colby’s own Lily Funahashi (piano) with Muneko Otani (violin) and Elizabeth Anderson (cello) of the Cassatt Quartet. The concert concludes with the Third Symphony, Eroica, a landmark work that sees Beethoven escaping the structural, tonal, and melodic limitations of the previous century while embracing the freedom of 19th century Romanticism.
Link to YouTube
Simple Gifts
Colby Wind Ensemble
Saturday, Oct. 30, 7:30 p.m
After a long hiatus from live performances, the Colby Wind Ensemble returns with its new director, Jeff Osarczuk, who will present an evening of music that covers a wide spectrum of styles within the canon of wind band classics. The concert will feature Frank Ticheli’s “Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs,” along with lively and energetic works by Nelhybel and Saucedo and introspective works by Gillingham and Whitacre.
Link to YouTube
Wild Bells: Colby College Collegium with Special Guest Choral Artists, Festina
Choirs at Colby
Saturday, November 6, 7:30 pm
The 2021 Choirs at Colby Choral Showcase has been modified this year due to COVID-19. This November, the Colby College Collegium will combine with Festina, a professional choir from Boston, for a short evening of choral classics, including Franz Biebl’s “Ave Maria,” and others.
Link to YouTube
Reawakening
Colby Jazz Band
Saturday, November 13, 7:30 pm
The Colby Jazz Ensemble makes their return to the stage with a selection of works by Count Basie, Done Menza, Sammy Nestico, and Freddie Hubbard. The evening’s eclectic collection of swing, Latin, and funk tunes are sure to get your foot tapping.
Link to YouTube
Journey To Ravel
Colby Symphony Orchestra
Saturday, December 4, 7:30 pm
Colby’s second program of the session begins with a sunrise—the slow, ascending lines that describe the rising sun in the opening moments of Haydn’s Symphony No. 6, Le Matin. Those gentle rays of sunshine quickly give way to lively birdsong, setting the stage for a trio of magnificent works by Maurice Ravel. First, Karl Lackner ’22, the co-winner of Colby’s 2021 concerto competition, performs the opening movement of Ravel’s electrifying Piano Concerto. This is followed by Ravel’s serene Pavane pour une infante défunte, before the program concludes with The Mother Goose Suite, a work where Ravel (a lifelong bachelor) gave his mind and composer’s pen over to the freedom and simplicity of these timeless fairy tales.
Link to YouTube
Music in the Museum and Other Events
Duane Edwards Trio
Friday, February 18
Jazz and modern music performance with selections from his first album, Time Machine, and new material for a forthcoming record, Birds, and arrangements of modern pop tunes in an improvisatory setting. Please note that this program was originally scheduled for November 19, 2021.
Portland Symphony Orchestra Chamber Musicians
Friday, March 4
Members of the Portland Symphony Orchestra will present a chamber program, joined by faculty member Yuri Funahashi. Works by Fauré and others.
Trailblazers: Art Songs by American Women Composers
Joëlle Morris, Mezzo-Soprano and Christina Spurling, Piano
Wednesday, March 30
A Celebration of American women composers, the recital will highlight works of American composers Amy Beach, Florence Price, Claire Brook, Libby Larsen & Rosephanye Powell.
Suites, Sonatas and Standards
Peter Bloom, flute and Mark Leighton, guitar
Wednesday, April 13
Chamber-jazz excursion, from the salons of Paris, Vienna and Sao Paulo to the nightclubs of New York: music by Schubert, Jacques Ibert, Mauro Giuliani, Villa-Lobos, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, Charlie Parker.
Zenith Ensemble – Handel: Nine German Arias (pre-recorded)
Saturday, February 12, 7:30 pm
(Funded in part by the Hazel Hoyt Witherell Memorial Concert Fund)
This hour long set of gorgeous and rarely performed pieces feature some of Handel’s most beautiful writing for the voice, sung by (Colby Music Associate) soprano Nacole Palmer and a solo obbligato line, which will be played by solo baroque violinist, Marika Holmqvist. The voice and violin shine in equal measure throughout the entire work, which explores themes of life, nature, and the divine.
Link to YouTube
Spring 2021
Made in Maine: Reflections in Song
Resinosa Ensemble
Saturday, February 20, 7:30 p.m.
(Funded in part by the Hazel Hoyt Witherell Memorial Concert Fund)
A recital specially curated for Colby’s 2020-21 Music at Colby concert series, features carefully chosen songs from Resinosa’s commissioned premieres: selections from Daniel Sonenberg’s six song cycle Beauty is Not Enough, with text by Edna St. Vincent Millay; selections from John Newell’s Night Songs with poems by Sara Teasdale; the final movement of Nancy Gunn’s Spiresongs, poems by Elizabeth Spires; and selections from Richard Nelson’s A Forest of Glass, a Kaleidoscope, a Dream, featuring poems by Ellen Taylor.
For more information and event links:
Link to YouTube
Click here to go to Resinosa Ensemble’s Facebook Page
Hope and Harmony
Colby Symphony Orchestra Strings
Saturday, March 20, 7:30 p.m.
As musicians, many of us have found solace through our music during this pandemic. Members of the string section of the Colby Symphony Orchestra felt extremely fortunate to be able to gather in Lorimer Chapel to play and record some music. We chose The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi, as it serves as a powerful reminder of the beauty in our natural world. We are pleased to share this work and others with you here.
Link to YouTube
The Art of the 20th Century Flute Sonata
Nicole Rabata, flute and Chiharu Naruse, piano
Saturday, April 17, 7:30 p.m.
The Art of the 20th Century Flute Sonata: A dramatic program of 20th Century sonatas for flute and piano by Prokofiev, Liebermann, Dutilleux and Poulenc.
Link to YouTube
Hope and Harmony, Part II (Live stream)
Colby Symphony Orchestra Strings
Jinwook Park, director
Saturday, April 24, 7:30pm
This spring we wanted to make music that reflected the hope that spring brings to Maine. While we did not have a theme for this concert, two pieces by Gustav Holst were chosen, because of his focus on the music of nature. Making music is a powerful way to bring people together, and joining people together through the hope of spring has been a goal of this program. This concert will also feature this year’s winner of the annual Concerto Competition, Esther Kim ’21, performing “Zigeunerweisen” by Sarasate.
Link to YouTube
Climate Music
Jason Davis
April 27th at 7 pm
Colby Center for the Arts and Humanities event
On Tuesday, April 27th, at 7 pm, join the Center for the Arts and Humanities and the Colby Music department in welcoming musician and director of Climate Stories Project, Jason Davis, for a unique Climate Music performance. In partnership with the Environmental Humanities Initiative, Dr. Davis has taught climate storytelling workshops in five Colby classes. This livestreamed performance will include several original pieces for solo double bass which integrate recorded personal responses to the climate crisis. Dr. Davis will also give a brief presentation about his compositional process and about Climate Stories Project.
To learn more about climate storytelling and climate music, please visit www.climatestoriesproject.org.
Virtual Spring Concert
Colby College Ensembles
Saturday, May 8, 7:30 p.m.
This semester we are proud to present a virtual showcase of performances from our ensembles, including Collegium, Colby Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band.
Link to YouTube
Fall 2020 Virtual Concert Series
Jazz Standards
Colby Jazz Collective
Saturday, October 10, 7:30 p.m.
(Funded by the Ermanno Comparetti Concert Fund)
The Colby Jazz Collective presents a virtual concert of four much-loved tunes from the standard jazz repertoire, including My Baby Just Cares for Me, Night and Day, Shall We Dance and So Nice (Summer Samba), with special guest Julia Warnock, ’19.
Link to YouTube
About November
Eric Christopher Perry, tenor and Christina Spurling, piano
Center for the Arts and Humanities: Boundaries and Margins Event
Saturday, October 31, 7:30 p.m.
A recital by tenor Eric Christopher Perry and pianist Christina Spurling explores the human condition through the lens of train travel – across two continents and two nationalistic eras. Benjamin Britten’s Winter Words, Op. 52 (1953) evocatively depicts “a world unknown” with selections of final poems by English novelist Thomas Hardy, whose multitude of works are featured in Colby College’s Special Collections. Gabriel Kahane’s Book of Travelers (2017) captures conversations with fellow passengers while on a cathartic cross-country train ride immediately following the controversial 2016 United States presidential election. An emotional journey about journeys, this program illustrates stories of boundaries beyond geographical borders: racial, socioeconomic, political, and generational.
Link to YouTube
Songs from the Old World and the New
Jennifer Bates, soprano and Timothy Burris, lute and guitar
Saturday, November 14, 7:30 p.m.
Every musical tradition has included songs spanning the range of human emotions. This program brings together early 17th-century love songs by Claudio Monteverdi; Schubert’s meditation on ‘night and dreams’; two of Argento’s Letters from Composers: a humorous setting of a letter of complaint by J.S. Bach to the Leipzig Town Council, and a setting of a letter of despair penned by Franz Schubert with echoes of “Gretchen am Spinnrade.” The program concludes with works by Heitor Villa-Lobos: Prelude #3 for solo guitar and the composer’s own voice and guitar arrangement of Bachianas Brasileiras #5 (originally for voice and eight celli).
Link to YouTube
Virtual Fall Ensemble Concert
Colby College Ensembles
Saturday, December 12, 7:30 p.m.
This semester we are proud to present a showcase of performances from our ensembles. Colby College ensembles include Colby Collegium, Jazz Band and the Colby Symphony Orchestra.
Link to YouTube
We would like to extend a special Thank You to our Music at Colby supporters. Your continued support means so much, and allows us to continue finding ways to bring music to the community during these unusual times.
Spring 2020
Senior Recitals and Individual Projects/Performances
Sam Barry ’20 Senior Recital – Piano and Voice
RaQuion Braxton ’20 Senior Recital – Voice
As winner of the ’19/’20 Annual Concerto Competition, Thomas was to play this work in the final orchestra concerts of the year. In this video, Thomas recorded the solo piano part and added the orchestra textures using MIDI technology.
Yitong “Thomas” Deng ’20, Piano, Chopin Concerto No.2, Mvt.3
Yitong “Thomas” Deng ’20, Piano, Prokofiev Sonata No. 7 Op. 83 in B flat Major, Mvt 3
A Hitherto Unknown 18th-century English Recorder Manuscript: Gender and Performance Practice in Add. Ms. 34,204
Alexandra shares some of the fascinating discoveries she’s made about this seemingly unpretentious manuscript, interspersed with performances of works from the manuscript from modern editions that she’s prepared.
Alex Koeck-Schultz ’20 Honors Flute Recital – Lecture
Karl Lackner playing Trumpet, Piano, Keyboard, Guitar
Minority, Blues for Alice, The Days of Wine and Roses, Bluesette, Beautiful Love, Stella by Starlight
Karl used a MIDI keyboard to play the upright bass and recorded acoustic guitar chops as the rhythm section to simulate the rest of the combo.
Karl Lackner, ’22, Spring 2020 Project
Charles Parham ’20, Senior Project – Piano
Rayne Wang ’20, Senior Project – Piano
Nora Yan ’20 Senior Recital – Piano
Studio Recitals
Colby Music 2020 Piano Studio Recital – Students of Y. Lily Funahashi
Colby Music Spring 2020 Piano Studio Recital – Students of Joann Westin
Colby Music Spring 2020 Piano Studio Recital – Students of Christina Spurling
Colby Music Spring 2020 Violin Studio Recital – Students of Jinwook Park
Colby Music Spring 2020 Violin Studio Recital – Students of Sascha Zaburdaeva
Colby Music Spring 2020 Voice Area Recital
MU213 Final Project – Algorave Live Coding
MU213 Algorave Live Coding
MU182 Music Theory Through Composition II
Luka Villani, ’23, Sonatina
Back to the Garden
Colby Kennebec Choral Society
Colby College Chorale
Eric Christopher Perry, director
Energy/Exhaustion Humanities Theme Event
Saturday, Feb. 29, 7:30 p.m.
Given Auditorium
The Colby College Chorale and the Colby Art Song Initiative will reflect on the 50th anniversary of Woodstock in a concert that will include solo and choral compositions related to the music festival to end all music festivals. The choirs and soloists will perform works by Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Bob Dylan, and Joan Baez, among others, accompanied by a live rock band that will include returning artist Jayson Keeton at the keyboard.
Journey to America
Colby Symphony Orchestra
Jinwook Park, director
Energy/Exhaustion Humanities Theme Event
Saturday, March 7, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
The Journey to America alternates between energy and exhaustion, between dramatic and sublime. Beginning in Austria with Beethoven’s electrifying, epochal Fifth Symphony, the program shifts quickly to a pair of very different works by American masters Samuel Barber and Aaron Copland. Barber’s sometimes ethereal, sometimes anguished Adagio for Strings becomes even more powerful when played beside Copland’s dramatic Fanfare for the Common Man. Rounding out the program will be Copland’s Lincoln Portrait.
Fall 2019
Beggar Boys
Friday, Sept. 20, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
(Funded in part by the Hazel Hoyt Witherell Memorial Concert Fund)
The Beggar Boys invite you to explore the intersection of Scottish art and folk music, from Italianate Baroque trio sonatas to high-spirited reels, jigs, strathspeys, and songs by Robert Burns and his contemporaries. Follow the music across the ages and across the Atlantic, from 18th-century Edinburgh to contemporary Cape Breton, Appalachia, and the Pacific Northwest.
Colby Jazz Collective
Saturday, Oct. 5, 7:30 p.m.
Page Commons Room, Cotter Union
(Funded by the Ermanno Comparetti Concert Fund)
Drummer Max Roach’s We Insist! (subtitled Freedom Now Suite) was one of several jazz compositions from the early years of the civil rights movement that explicitly addressed the topic of racial inequality. First recorded in 1960, the work consists of five movements centered around the Emancipation Proclamation and the growing African independence movements of the 1950s.
Masterworks
Colby Symphony Orchestra
Jinwook Park, director
Saturday, Oct.12, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
In its first concert of the season, the Colby Symphony Orchestra performs masterworks from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Debussy’s haunting ballet score, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, begins the concert with the remainder of the program devoted to the music of the great English composer Edward Elgar. Boston University cello faculty member Hyun-ji Kwon performs Elgar’s Cello Concerto, followed by Elgar’s most famous work, the Enigma Variations.
Elements
Colby Wind Ensemble
Eric Thomas, director
Saturday, Oct. 26, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
What makes Mother Earth “home?” We begin our query with David Maslanka’s Mother Earth Fanfare and follow with the theme music from the Last Airbender’s four nations: Water Tribe, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. Also included on the program will be a medley of the elements’ representatives earth, wind, and fire and Julie Giroux’s Symphony V: Elements.
Bach All Night
Colby College Collegium
Colby Kennebec Choral Society
Colby College Chorale
Eric Christopher Perry, director
Saturday, Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
The choirs at Colby present their annual choral showcase featuring choral/orchestral works by Western classical music’s epitome of “Energy/Exhaustion,” Johann Sebastian Bach. The program will consist of the triumphant Magnificat in D and the jubilant solo cantata BWV 51: Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, and will feature Colby’s new voice associate Nacole Palmer, soprano, along with professional soloists, student soloists, and a period-instrument orchestra.
Cassatt String Quartet
Saturday, Nov. 9, 7:30p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
(Funded by the Robert J. Strider Concert Fund)
The all-female Cassatt Quartet is an internationally renowned ensemble known for their exhilarating performances. They will present an eclectic program, including works by two women, Xinyan Li of China and Chinese-Canadian Alison Yu-Fei Jiang. The quartet will be joined by Colby faculty member and pianist Yuri Funahashi in Dvorak’s Piano Quintet in A Major.
We Have Standards
Colby Jazz Band
Eric Thomas, director
Saturday, Nov. 16, 7:30p.m.
Given Auditorium
All professional jazz musicians are expected to know their “standards,” an ever-evolving list from which we’ll select some of the best known examples, including “St. Louis Blues,” “‘Round Midnight,” and “Body and Soul.” We’ll also check out some lesser-known works we suspect may be standards-in-waiting, including selections from the album The New Standard and from artists such as Miles Davis and Esperanza Spalding.
Discovery
Colby Symphony Orchestra
Jinwook Park, director
Saturday, Nov. 23, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
Colby’s own Eric Thomas takes center stage as both composer and clarinet soloist in his Threnody for Ann Arceneaux for solo clarinet and viola, featuring Boston University viola faculty member Hye Min Choi. Thomas and Choi will have further opportunity to shine in Max Bruch’s Concerto for Viola and Clarinet. The concert will conclude with the magnificent Second Symphony of Jean Sibelius, a work so profound that the composer called it “a confession of the soul.”
50th Annual Service of Carols and Lights
Friday, Dec. 6, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 7, 3:30 and 7 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
A Colby tradition since 1970, the service includes reading and carol singing by candlelight. Colby music ensembles provide a festive evening of traditional and contemporary seasonal music from around the world.
Tickets will be available to the Colby Community on November 7th and 8th, and the general public beginning on November 11.
Tickets will be distributed at the information desk in Pulver Pavilion, Cotter Union weekdays from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., and must be picked up in person.
Music in the Museum Series – Fall 2019
Tuesday, September 24th
Tim Burris, guitar, and Joëlle Morris, mezzo-soprano
Spain of the 1860s was a hotbed of guitar activity, both for composers and for guitar builders like Antonio de Torres Jurado. The concert will include works by Antonio Cano, Tomás Damas, and José Viñas. Burris will perform on a copy of an 1864 Torres guitar.
Thursday, November 14th
Gulimina Mahamuti, piano
Internationally acclaimed Chinese-American pianist Gulimina Mahamuti will perform a recital of piano transcriptions of J.S. Bach-Egon Petri, Domenico Scarlatti-Enrique Granados, and Schubert-Liszt, and feature music by Maine composer, Lucas Richman, maestro of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, with his Reflections for solo piano.
Additional Event – Co-Sponsor with WGSS
Friday, October 25th, Noon
Music in the Congo – Film screening
Given Auditorium
This film is a look into the work of renowned classical flutist Kaori Fujii with the self-taught musicians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo who changed the course of her career.
Spring 2019
#BernsteinAt100: Children and Art
Colby-Kennebec Choral Society
Colby College Chorale
Eric Christopher Perry, director
Friday Feb. 15, 7:30 p.m.
Given Auditorium
Arguably America’s most iconic musical theater composer, Stephen Sondheim’s early career successes include his work as a lyricist for Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story and Candide. Colby College Chorale and the Colby-Kennebec Choral Society will present solo and ensemble numbers from Sondheim’s catalogue, including Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, and Anyone Can Whistle. We will gain insight on the duo’s relationship through readings of letters written between them, many now available in print.
The Modernistics – Song and Dance from the Great
American Songbook
Saturday, March 2, 7:30 p.m.
Page Commons
Join Boston’s stellar jazz ensemble The Modernistics for a toe-tapping show of music and dance from The Great American Songbook The group performs hits by Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen, Duke Ellington and other master tunesmiths, including high-energy numbers like “SunnySide of the Street”, “Paper Moon”, “Top Hat”, “Crazy Rhythm”, and “It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing”. Funded in part by the Freda M. Charles Music Fund and the Hazel Hoyt Witherell Memorial Concert Fund.
Journey to Italy
Colby Symphony Orchestra
Jinwook Park, director
Saturday, March 9, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
It’s often said that Verdi was to opera what Beethoven was to the symphony—in its third program of the season, the orchestra has both: Verdi’s popular Overture to La Forza del destino, a selection of opera scenes from his La Traviata, and Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.
Wordplay
Colby College Collegium
Eric Christopher Perry, director
Saturday, April 6, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
A panoply of puns! A manifestation of musical merriment! A fanfare of frivolous tomfoolery! Colby College Collegium will present Orazio Vecchi’s 1604 madrigal cycle Le Veglie di Siena (Night Games of Siena), a work filled with witticisms, wordplay, and wholesome, wholehearted wizardry of all genres. Collegium will be joined by a quintet of early music professionals, including Shannon Canavin, critically-acclaimed soprano and Artistic Director of Exultemus, one of Boston’s exclusive early music ensembles.
From Dizzy
Colby Jazz Band
Eric Thomas, Director
Saturday, April 13, 7:30 p.m.
Given Auditorium
We explore the roots of bebop first planted by Dizzy Gillespie in the Latin Jazz featured in his later work. Gillespie’s compositions Con Alma, Manteca, and Salt Peanuts will be featured along with works by composers associated with Gillespie’s career such as Cab Colloway, Arturo Sandoval, Tito Puente, Chuck Mangione, Esperanza Spaulding, and Pacquito de Rivera.
Potpourri
Colby Wind Ensemble
Eric Thomas, director
Saturday, April 20, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
A showcase of music that is fun to play. Works include the spectacular Four Scottish Dances by Malcolm Arnold and the completion of our Lord of the Rings cycle with a performance of John de Meij’s “Gandalf” and “Elvenwood” movements. J.S. Bach’s “Komm’, Süsser Tod”, Tania Leon’s Alegre, Foundry by John Mackey, and John Phillip Sousa’s song “I’ve Made My Plans for The Summer” is performed by soprano soloist Sam Barry ‘20.
Choral Masterwork
Colby Symphony Orchestra
Jinwook Park, director
Colby College Chorale and Colby Kennebec Chorale Society
Eric Christopher Perry, director
Annual Concerto Competition Winner, TBA
Saturday, April 27, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 28, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
In their final performance of the season, the orchestra, Colby Chorale and the Colby Kennebec Chorale Society present Schubert’s monumental Mass in E-flat Major, No 6. and Grieg’s famous Peer Gynt Suite No. 1. This performance will also feature a performance by the winner of the 2019 annual concerto competition.
Fall 2018
Philharmonia Boston Orchestra String Players
Saturday, Sept. 15, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
Founded in 2008 Philharmonia Boston Orchestra (Haffner Sinfonietta) is composed of professional musicians from the Greater Boston area. Their vision is to serve and inspire the community by engaging in educational outreach programs, providing vibrant musical experiences to communities, and introducing young talented musicians in the area to the public. The members of Philharmonia Boston Orchestra have donated their time and talents in local hospitals and schools, and have raised funds through numerous benefit concerts for various charity events. Led by Jinwook Park, Colby Symphony Orchestra’s dynamic director, the PBO string players will present works by Bartok, Respighi and Tchaikovsky. Funded by the Robert J. Strider Concert Fund.
Traditional Flamenco with Bourassa Dance and Friends
Saturday, Oct. 6, 7:30 p.m.
Page Commons
Flamenco artists Lindsey Bourassa (dance), Barbara Martinez (voice) and Cristian Puig (guitar) will perform traditional and passionate flamenco works that showcase flamenco’s integration of dance, song and guitar in traditional styles such as Cana, Alegrias, Tientos and more. Funded by the Clark/Comparetti Concert Fund.
Masterworks
Colby Symphony Orchestra
Jinwook Park, director
Saturday, Oct. 27, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
In its first concert of the season, the orchestra performs three masterworks from the 19th century: Weber’s beloved Der Freischutz Overture and Chopin’s elegant First Piano Concerto, featuring Colby College’s own Lily Funahashi, and Tchaikovsky’s glorious Fifth Symphony.
USA
Wind Ensemble
Eric Thomas, director
Saturday, Nov. 3, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
We’ll celebrate the 100th birthday of iconic American composer Leonard Bernstein with “Slava! A Political Overture” written in celebration of Mstislav Rostropovich’s appointment as Artistic Director of the Kennedy Center. In this concert of American music, Loren Fields will be the featured soloist on Gary Kuo’s composition Wingspan Zion by Daniel Webster, and Hambone by Libby Larsen and Elegy for Albinoni by Shelley Hanson will round out the program.
From Ella
Jazz Band
Eric Thomas, director
Saturday, Nov. 10, 7:30 p.m.
Given Auditorium
We tour Ella Fitzgerald’s musical life, from her audition at the Apollo Theater, to her work at the helm of the Chick Webb Band, and give a special nod to her Live in Berlin album. “A Tisket A Tasket”, “Black Coffee”, “Angel Eyes”, “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” and “Mack the Knife” and other classic tunes will be featured. We’ll also touch on hits from Nelson Riddle, Ray Brown, Joe Pass the Duke and the Count, and some of the other artists she influenced over many years.
Sandeep Das & The HUM Ensemble : Delhi to Damascus
Sunday, Nov. 11, 3:00 p.m.
Page Commons
Delhi to Damascus is a celebration of the historical and cultural ties between India and Syria. The project’s repertoire explores traditional Indian ragas, the melodic interplay of Arabic Maqams, Sufi poems, lyrical Thumri and Dadra (traditional and old forms of singing), and classical rhythm cycles and pulsating folk grooves. It takes the listeners on a mesmerizing journey of exquisite poetry and lyrical exposition along the winding roads from Delhi in India to Damascus in Syria, and transports the audience to a time and period gone long ago. Funded by
the Robert J. Strider Concert Fund.
#BernsteinAt100: Words, Words, Words
Colby College Collegium
Colby-Kennebec Choral Society
Colby College Chorale
Choirs at Colby Art Song Initiative
Eric Christopher Perry, director
Saturday, Nov. 17, 7:30 p.m.
Given Auditorium
Choirs at Colby and the Colby-Kennebec Choral Society will join in the international celebration of the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth with a survey of choral and ensemble numbers from Bernstein’s theatre and concert works. including Candide, West Side Story, On the Town, among others. Also included will be multimedia presentations from Bernstein’s famous “Young People’s Concert” video series.
Discovery
Colby Symphony Orchestra
Jinwook Park, director
Presence of the Past Humanities Theme event
Minji-Ko, violin, 2018 Concerto Competition Winner
Saturday, Dec. 1, 7:30 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
In its second concert of the season, the orchestra explores The Presence of the Past as it performs Mozart’s timeless Jupiter symphony, and, in celebration of the Leonard Bernstein’s 100th birthday, the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. Minji Ko ‘21 will also be featured in the first movement of William Walton’s Violin Concerto.
49th Annual Service of Carols and Lights
Friday Dec. 7, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 8, 3:30 and 7 p.m.
Lorimer Chapel
A Colby tradition since 1971, the service includes readings, carol singing by candlelight. Colby music ensembles provide a festive evening of traditional and contemporary seasonal music from around the world.