BRATTLEBORO-On Friday, May 16, at 7 p.m. at the Brattleboro Music Center (BMC), the Sarasa Ensemble will present a program of works inspired by the written word.
Writers Charles Baudelaire, Yukio Mishima, and Anna Akhmatova all "pushed the boundaries of their respective eras and countries with their writings," and 20th-century composers Henri Pousseur, Philip Glass and John Tavener "brought their poetry and spirits alive in music for soprano and strings," organizers wrote in a news release.
In addition, Sarasa will explore string quartets by two female composers who, "though extremely talented and highly regarded in their day," have only recently been brought back to the concert stage: 19th-century German composer Emilie Mayer, a contemporary of Robert and Clara Schumann; and 20th-century American composer Florence Price, a contemporary of George Gershwin, said organizers.
Performing will be Mara Reilly, soprano; Elise Kuder, Amy Galluzzo, violins; Mike Kelley, viola; and Jennifer Morsches and Timothy Merton, cellos. Kelley and Kuder are members of the Apple Hill String Quartet, based in East Sullivan, New Hampshire, and attended Apple Hill Chamber Music Festival as teenagers in the late 1980s and 1990s along with Morsches. Sarasa founder, Merton, also has ties to the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music.
The Sarasa Ensemble is a collective of international instrumentalists and vocalists who perform classical music spanning the 17th to the 21st centuries, on both period and modern instruments, and bring this music to diverse communities.
Tickets are $20 for advance general admission, $25 at the door, and are available at bmcvt.org, 802-257-4523, or by emailing [email protected].
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.