News and Events
Five September concerts will open the Vassar Music Department’s series of free concerts this fall featuring world-renowned musicians, including Vassar faculty members and guest artists. September 6-28, 2008
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY — The Music Department at Vassar College will offer a series of concerts that are free and open to the public, throughout the fall semester by world-renowned musicians, including Vassar faculty members and guest artists. Five concerts will open the series in September, and the concerts and recitals will continue through December, closing with the annual “A Service of Lessons and Carols.”
Guest artists will include Mary-Ann Hart, mezzo-soprano; and Diane Meredith Belcher, organ; as well as the Colorado Quartet; REBEL, Ensemble for Baroque Music; Satori Chamber Ensemble; and Tami Tango Trio. In addition the series will include recitals by members of the acclaimed Vassar music faculty.
Unless otherwise noted, the concerts will take place in the Skinner Hall of Music at Vassar College. Seating is on a first-come, first served basis.
The fall series will open on September 6, at 8:00 pm with a program by the Satori Chamber Music Ensemble. The ensemble will perform Britten’s ”Phantasy,” Mozart’s Quartet for Oboe and Strings, Schickele’s “Dream Dances,” and works by Duruflé, Britten’s ”Phantasy,” and Dring.
The conductorless, musician-managed Satori Chamber Music Ensemble includes Deborah Andrus, clarinet; Deborah Davis, Gerall Heiser, and David Moulton, cello; Nora Suggs, flute; John Arnold, guitar; Vassar faculty member Cheryl Bishkoff, oboe/English horn; Kristin Ditlow, piano; Adriana Linares, viola; Michael Locati, violin and viola; Rebecca Brown and Mary Ogletree, violin. The ensemble performs traditional and contemporary chamber music with the name taken from a Zen term suggesting the coming together of separate parts to form a whole – a perfect metaphor for chamber music.
A recital of music for guitar and voice by Vassar faculty members, Robert Osborne, baritone; and Terry Champlin, guitar, will be performed on Sunday, September 14, at 3:00 pm. Selections by composers Dowland, Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Rutter, and Terry Champlin will be featured.
Baritone Robert Osborne has long been an admired favorite on the American orchestral-concert scene, while equally establishing himself as a respected operatic artist. During his eight city tour of the United States as King George III in Peter Maxwell Davies’ Eight Songs for a Mad King the New York Times headlined him as “A Singer Who Goes All the Way” and hailed his “thrilling performance both vocally and dramatically.” Active both as a guitarist and composer, Terry Champlin has performed in the “Hear American First” series in Carnegie Recital Hall, with the Concord String Quartet, at the Bar Harbor New Music Festival, and the Fairbanks Music Festival. He was recently featured on WNYC-FM’s program “Around New York.
Pianist Todd Crow will perform works by Haydn, Chopin, and Schubert, in a recital on Saturday, September 20, at 8:00 pm.
The New York Times has described Vassar Professor of Piano, Todd Crow’s playing as “heroic, (showing) endless flair, color and stamina.” The Times of London has called his playing “spine-chilling” and “exhilarating.” Crow, who has been widely acclaimed for performances in North and South America and Europe, made his Carnegie Hall debut as soloist with the American Symphony in 1992 and his London orchestral debut at the Barbican Centre with the London Philharmonic in 1986. Recently he performed with the Jerusalem Symphony in Israel, and with Milano Classica and I Solisti Aquilani in Italy.
Husband and wife, Peter Reit, horn, and Alyssa Reit, harp, will perform a program featuring works by Dowland, Byrd, Morley, Ravel, Bach, Villa Lobos, and Grieg on Sunday, September 21, at 3:00 pm.
Peter Reit is a faculty member at Vassar, teaching French horn, and is in his 20th year with the Broadway hit The Phantom of the Opera. He plays principal horn with the Westchester Philharmonic, Greenwich Symphony, Stamford Symphony, and Scandia Symphony Orchestras. Reit is a guest artist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Orpheus Chamber Ensemble, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, American Symphony Orchestra, and the New York City Opera Orchestra, and also serves horn faculties at the Hartt School of Music and the Music Conservatory of Westchester. His wife, Alyssa Reit, has worked as an independent performer, composer and arranger in the New York area for over 30 years. She is founder, artistic director, and resident composer for Singing Harp, an arts troupe that presents fairy tales and myths in musical and dramatic forms. Reit teaches at both the Music Conservatory of Westchester and the Pre-College Division of the Manhattan School of Music.
Guest artists, REBEL, Ensemble for Baroque Music, will perform the program, “Invention and Innovation: Rarely Performed Music of Telemann & J.S. Bach,”on Sunday, September 28, at 3:00 pm. This performance will feature the rarely performed viola quintets of Telemann.
Hailed by the New York Times as “sophisticated and beguiling” and praised by the Los Angeles Times for their “astonishingly vital music-making,” the New York-based Baroque ensemble REBEL has earned an impressive international reputation, enchanting diverse audiences by their unique style and their virtuosic, highly expressive and provocative approach to the baroque and classical repertoire. The members of REBEL are codirectors Jörg-Michael Schwarz and Karen Marie Marmer, violin and viola; Matthias Maute, recorder/transverse flute; John Moran, cello; and Dongsok Shin, harpsichord.
For additional information and details on all Vassar College Department of Music concerts, please call (845) 437-7294 or visit the website http://music.vassar.edu/concerts.The Skinner Hall of Music at Vassar College is air-conditioned and wheelchair-accessible. People with disabilities requiring accommodations should contact the Office of Campus Activities at (845) 437-5370. Free parking is available at Skinner Hall, and the campus’s adjoining south parking lot. Directions to the Vassar Campus in the Town of Poughkeepsie are available at www.vassar.edu/directions.
Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.
The fall concert series at Vassar continues through Sunday, December 7, a complete concert schedule appears below. Please note that all programs are subject to change.
Concert Schedule:
Saturday, September 6, 8:00 pm
Satori Chamber Music Ensemble
Music of Mozart, Schickele, Durufle, Britten, and Dring.
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Sunday, September 14, at 3:00 pm
Vassar Music Faculty Recital
Robert Osborne, baritone; Terry Champlin, guitar.
Music of Mozart, Schubert, Dowland, Mendelssohn, Champlin, Rutter
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Saturday, September 20, at 8:00 pm
Vassar Music Faculty Recital
Todd Crow, piano
Works of Haydn, Chopin, and Schubert
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Sunday, September 21, at 3:00 pm
Vassar Music Faculty Recital
Peter Reit, horn; Alyssa Reit, harp
Music of Dowland, Byrd, Morley, Ravel, Bach, Villa Lobos, Grieg
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Sunday, September 28, 3:00 pm
REBEL, Ensemble for Baroque Music
“Invention and Innovation: Rarely Performed Music of Telemann & J.S. Bach”
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Friday, October 3, at 8:00 pm
The Tami Tango Trio: Music and Dances of Argentina
Eduardo Tami, director
Music of Piazzolla, Herrero, Rodriguez, and others
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Saturday, October 5, at 3:00 pm
Vassar Music Faculty Recital
Frank Cassara, percussion
Works with electronic tape by Krieger, Drummond, Wesley-Smith, Jones, Reich, Saariaho
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Saturday, October 11, at 8:00 pm
Special Guest Recital and Vocal Masterclass
Mary Ann Hart, mezzo-soprano
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Saturday, October 11, at 8:00 pm
Vassar College Orchestra
Eduardo Navega, conductor
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Sunday, October 12, at 3:00 pm
The Fourth Donald M. Pearson Memorial Organ Recital
Diane Meredith Belcher, organ
Music of Bach, Schumann, Franck, and Messiaen
Chapel, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Saturday, November 1, at 8:00 pm
Colorado String Quartet
Music of Beethoven, Ginastera, and Brahms
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Sunday, November 2, at 11:00 am
Master Class with members of the Colorado Quartet
Featuring students of the Music Department
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Sunday, November 2, at 3:00 pm
Vassar Camerata
Emily Bookwalter ’10, conductor
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Saturday, November 8, at 1:30 pm
Senior Recital: Bradley Klein, piano
Music of Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Scriabin
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Saturday, November 8, at 8:00 pm
Vassar College Women’s Choir
Christine Howlett, conductor
Carols and Lullabies: Christmas in the Southwestby Conrad Susa, featuring members of the music faculty: Frank Cassara, marimba; Terry Champlin, guitar; and Bridget Kibbey, harp.
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Sunday, November 9, at 3:00 pm
Vassar Mahagonny Ensemble
Mark Van Hare ‘10, conductor
Music of Ives ad Weill
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Saturday, November 15, at 12:00 pm
Master Class with members of the ensemble REBEL
Featuring students of the Music Department
Chapel, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Saturday, November 15, at 8:00 pm
Vassar College Choir
Christine Howlett, conductor
Fauré’s Requiem, Op. 48, with music by Poulenc, Debussy, and Lauridsen. With guest ensemble, The Botticelli Chamber Orchestra
Chapel, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Sunday, November 16, at 3:00 pm
Vassar College and Community Wind Ensemble
James Osborn, conductor
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Saturday, November 22, at 4:00 pm
Senior Recital: Nicholas Herbert, tenor
Assisted by Gregg Michalak, piano
Music of Mozart, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, and Shostakovich
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Saturday, November 22, at 8:00 pm
Vassar College Orchestra
Eduardo Navega, conductor
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Sunday, November 23, at 3:00 pm
Vassar College Madrigal Singers
Drew Minter, director
The BerlinMass by Arvo Pärt, with other works by Pärt, Britten, and Josquin des Près. With Gail Archer and Darren Motise, organists.
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Thursday, December 4, at 5:00 pm
Vassar College Music Colloquium
“Notions of Time in the Music of Elliott Carter”
Misha Donat, lecturer
Thekla Hall
Friday, December 5, at 8:00 pm
Vassar Jazz Ensemble
James Osborn, conductor
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Saturday, December 6, at 4:00 pm
Senior Recital: Arielle Guterman, soprano, and Sasha Steinberg, baritone
Assisted by Richard Mogavero, piano
Skinner Hall of Music, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Sunday, December 7, at 7:00 pm
A Service of Lessons and Carols
Vassar College Choir, Women’s Chorus, Madrigal Singers, and Capella Festiva Chamber and Treble Choir
Christine Howlett, Drew Minter, Susan Bialek, conductors
Chapel, Vassar College
845-437-7294 or http://music.vassar.edu/concerts
Posted by College Relations Wednesday, December 31, 1969
About the Arts
Powerhouse Theater
The Powerhouse Theater is a collaboration between New York Stage and Film and Vassar College. It is dedicated to both emerging and established artists in the development and production of new works for theater and film. During an intense eight-week summer residency on the Vassar campus, up to twenty different projects are publicly presented, typically engaging more than 200 professional artists and theater students. Plays, musicals, and screenplays are presented in a variety of forms: readings, workshops, and fully staged productions. Since the first Powerhouse Theater season in 1985, New York Stage and Film and Vassar have served more than 2,000 artists and over 175,000 audience members through the development and production of artistically exceptional and affordably priced performances.
Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center
Located just inside Vassar's Main Gate, the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center houses the college's permanent collection, over 18,000 works, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, and glass and ceramic wares, charting the history of art from antiquity to the present. The Permanent Collection Galleries feature 350 works, ranging from the sculpted Head of Viceroy Merymose from His Outer Sarcophagus (Egyptian, c 1375 BCE) in the Antiquities Gallery to Marsden Hartley's oil on canvas Indian Composition (1914-15) in the Twentieth Century Gallery. For information on current and upcoming special exhibitions, self-guided and curriculum-based tours, and group visits, please visit the website. The art center is open to the public, and admission is free.
James W. Palmer Gallery
Located in the College Center in Main Building, the James W. Palmer III '90 Gallery presents eight shows annually, including exhibitions by renowned artists and photographers, studio art faculty and students, and local arts organizations. Recent highlights included Andrea Baldeck’s black-and-white photo exhibit, Touching the Mekong: A Southeast Asian Sojourn, organized by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology; the Vassar Haiti Project’s annual exhibition and auction of imported arts and handcrafts; and Design Inside, showcasing the work of Vassar’s College Relations design team. All exhibitions are free and open to the public. For information on upcoming exhibitions, visit the website or call (845) 437-5370.
Music Department
Located in the Belle Skinner Hall of Music, the Martel Recital Hall is wonderfully suited, both acoustically and aesthetically, to music performance. With seating for 500, the Martel is home to the Vassar College Orchestra, Choir, Women's Chorus, Madrigal Singers, and numerous chamber groups and ensembles. The Martel concert schedule routinely includes distinguished guest artists, faculty recitals, senior recitals, and special musical events, such as last year's series of organ recitals celebrating the installation and dedication of the college's superb pipe organ, designed by masterbuilder Paul Fritts. For information on upcoming concerts and events (which are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted), please visit the website.
Dance Department
The Department of Dance sponsors several public performances each year. Among those, the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre (VRDT) has a series of Works in Progress showings in the fall, a winter Modfest performance in conjunction with the The Department of Music, winter galas at the 1869 Bardavon Opera House, and two All Parents Weekend performances in the spring. The department's Master Class program annually invites at least one ballet and one modern expert to campus in addition to two people in other areas of dance. Public performances and lectures are often associated with these renowned visitors. Guest artists in the past have included: Irina Kolpokova, Arthur Mitchell, Helene Alexopoulos, Gregory Hines, Anna Kisselgoff, Donald Byrd, Edward Villella, Ronald K. Brown, Irene Dowd, Allegra Kent, Gelsey Kirkland, Pilobolus w/Adam Battlestein, Suzanne Farrell, Mummenschantz, Eldar Aliev, Deborah Jowitt, Bill T. Jones, Pascal Rioult, Clinton Luckett of ABT, Bill Irwin, and Donald McKayle. Many of the department's dance performances are in the Frances Daly Fergusson Dance Theater, located in Kenyon Hall.
Drama Department Experimental Theater
Presenting several public performances each semester in the Martel Theater of the Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film and the Hallie Flanagan Davis Powerhouse Theater, the Experimental Theater is a place to explore theories learned in the classroom and to experiment with theatrical forms. In the tradition of pioneering stage director Hallie Flanagan, students are encouraged to experience and experiment with all aspects of the theater. Flanagan, who accepted a position to teach drama at Vassar in 1925, founded the Experimental Theater following her visit to the theaters of Europe in 1926 on a Guggenheim Fellowship. (http://drama.vassar.edu).