Monadnock Music is celebrating a new season with “Spring and Romance,” a performance by pianist Mary Towse Beck and violinist Elisabeth Small, at 6:30 p.m. on April 9 at Spring Hill Studio in Sharon.
The concert kicks off Monadnock Music’s spring and summer season.
“We are celebrating spring, and a new season, and coming out of winter,” Beck said. “It’s very light, joyous, spring music. We know the April rains are starting soon.”
The program includes Clara Schumann’s “Three Romances for Violin and Piano,” followed by Beethoven’s “Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Major,” and Amy Beach’s “Romance for Violin and Piano.” The performance concludes with Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla’s “Chanson de la Naissance.”
“We’re thrilled to be performing the works of two 19th-century women composers — Clara Schumann, who was the wife of Robert Schumann and a brilliant Romantic composer in her own right, and Amy Beach, who was born in Henniker and was an internationally renowned composer,” Beck said.
Small said Piazzolla, who is now considered “the pride of Argentina,” was at one time controversial for his new iteration of the tango.
“When his work was first performed, it was scandalous because it was the first tango where people held one another,” Small said.
Beck, a highly regarded concert pianist, and Small, a professional violinist who has performed all over the world, will perform at Beck’s studio on Spring Hill Road in Sharon. The venue, Spring Pond Studio, is also Beck’s home. Beck designed and built the professional-grade performance space to host concerts and events.
Each concert at Spring Pond Studio features the work of a local artist, with the April 9 event displaying the work of Peterborough artist Jessie Pollock.
Speaking of the upcoming “Spring and Romance” performance, Small said, “This concert is a complete experience . We will have beautiful art, incredible music, and we’ll have wonderful food and desserts to cap it off. Mary’s studio is really special, because most concert venues are enclosed, with no natural light, separated from nature. Mary’s studio has only one wall without windows, and it is surrounded by nature. You have nature coming in, and you have beautiful artwork created by local artists.”
Beck and Small met by chance at Toadstool Books in Peterborough.
“We are both recent transplants to the region, at the time, and we both went to see Lita Judge speak at the Toadstool, and we just started talking,” Beck said. “We realized we were both serious musicians. It just went from there. There are so many people involved in the arts here. It is a wonderful place to be.”
Small, who lives in Keene, said meeting Beck was a happy surprise.
“The last thing I expected was to encounter a world-class pianist here in ‘the woods in New Hampshire,’ and it was such an unexpected delight. We’ve just fallen in love with New Hampshire,” Small said.
Small and Beck, both former board members of Monadnock Music, discovered they share a similar outlook of the arts.
“This program is a true reflection of our shared philosophy of music. We wanted to create a ‘third environment’ where where we can truly share a community experience with our audience,” Small said. “Mary is a fabulous pianist and a joy to work with.”
Small said it is especially meaningful to be performing the work of Amy Beach just a few miles from MacDowell, where Beach was a visiting fellow every summer for 18 years.
Laina Barakat, executive director of Monadnock Music, said it is rare to find two musicians of such caliber performing together.
“It is really fun to be able to partner with Spring Hill Studios. This is our second event there, and it is really special to have two former board members as well,” Barakat said. “Both musicians being very generous with their time and venue.”
Monadnock Music, which is known for its free “village music” events, also hosts off-season, ticketed events to support the free summer concert series.
Barakat said Monadnock Music is “known for our eclectic off-season events. We try to pair music with a cultural experience, food, or cultural events, and we cast a wider net to get people involved and just let them know we’re here.”
Previously, Monadnock Music hosted a candle-lighted vocal and piano concert at Spring Hill featuring Beck and vocalists Tommy Barth and Liz Mongrello.
For tickets and information go to: monadnockmusic.org/classical-music-concert-event-schedule.html.