Electric Earth Concerts will begin its eighth season later this month and series general manager Joan Epro expects it to be the best one yet.
The annual concert series, hosted at venues in Peterborough, Jaffrey, Francestown and Keene, brings a variety of musical talents to the region thanks to the work of artistic directors Laura Gilbert and Jonathan Bagg. The duo spend a lot of time planning out each season to ensure there’s a collection of concerts that will appeal to everyone’s taste in music – and provides a little different feel than the previous season.
“This is going to be a really nice season,” Epro said. “It’s amazing we can bring people of this level of talent to little old Peterborough and Jaffrey.”
From that first concert until the annual gala fundraiser on the first Saturday in December, Electric Earth plans to host 11 concerts with varied styles from the performers.
“It’s good for your soul in every different way,” Epro said.
The concerts include a few returning performers, but that’s usually because of the popularity of the previous show and requests. The opener for the series, Catalyst Quartet, is a relatively newer collection of musicians, but has already performed at some impressive venues, like the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and the Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall.
During the March 24 show at First Church in Jaffrey, the Catalyst Quartet will explore “South American masterpieces by Heitor Villa-Lobos, Astor Piazzolla and Alberto Ginastera.”
“It’s a little outside the box,” Epro said
A new, all female ensemble featuring the voices of Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, Martha Cluver and Eliza Bagg known as ModernMedieval is the only performance that doesn’t include instruments and will be April 7 in Keene.
“There’s something amazing about hearing voices sing without instruments,” Epro said.
The duo of Fire & Grace (William Coulter and Edwin Huizinga) return to Electric Earth for another show, but this time will be joined by mandolin player Ashley Broder for a June 9 performance at the Peterborough Unitarian Church.
The first Thursday concert of the season will take place July 11 at Bass Hall in Peterborough and is something that doesn’t come around every season. Electric Earth commissioned composer Eric Moe and visual artist Barbara Weissberger to create a mixed-media piece entitled “The Color of There Seen From Here,” for strings, flute, and piano.
“We do a commission every couple of years,” Epro said.
Pianist Mihae Lee and musicians from Maine’s Sebago-Long Lake Festival will collaborate to present Dvorak’s Piano Quintet at Bass Hall on July 18.
Baritone Thomas Meglioranza is joined by David Breitman on the fortepiano for Schubert’s Winterreise, a concert-length setting of 24 poems by Wilhelm Muller on Aug. 11 for the only Francestown performance at the Old Meetinghouse.
The Borromeo String Quartet, the 22-year faculty ensemble-in-residence at the New England Conservatory of Music, will be at the Peterborough Town House on Aug. 25 featuring the works of Josef Haydn (Quartet Op. 77, No.1), Charles Ives (String Quartet No. 2), and Beethoven (Quartet Op. 130)
Met Opera mezzo Jennifer Johnson Cano is joined by the dynamic Longleash Trio for a program that includes American works for voice and piano, and Charles Ives’ Piano Trio inspired by Pulitzer winner Paul Moravec’s “A New Country.” The Sept. 8 concert will be at the First Church in Jaffrey.
Danika the Rose weaves together Dvorak’s sublime Moravian Duets with an original fable written and narrated by Odds Bodkin for a musical fairytale atmosphere at the Oct. 6 performance at Bass Hall. The show features Jazimina MacNeil, mezzo-soprano; Sarah Shafer, soprano; pianist Emely Phelps, and Bodkin.
“We’ve really got a great variety this season,” Epro said.
Bosnian-Dutch accordionist/composer Merima Ključo and pianist Seth Knopp perform “The Sarajevo Haggadah: Music of the Book,” on Nov. 1 in Jaffrey. Ključo’s musical depiction of Jewish heroism through the ages in the face of violence is performed with visual accompaniment, including original paintings digitally animated by video artist Bart Woodstrup.
And to cap off the season, the Horszowski Trio, returns to Electric Earth to highlight the annual fundraising gala on Dec. 7 at First Church in Jaffrey. Two-time Grammy-nominated violinist Jesse Mills performs with Raman Ramakrishnan, and pianist Rieko Aizawa, the last pupil of legendary pianist, Mieczysław Horszowski.
Tickets are each performance are $30 and available at electricearthconcerts.org or at the door. Students in middle or high school are free. The fundraising gala is a $100 donation.
For more information and concert times, visit electricearthconcerts.org/events.