Music on Norway Pond returns for yet another season this month, bringing the highest caliber artists to Hancock.
On Sunday, Nov. 24, New York City’s Merz Trio promises a “riveting” and “impressive” performance. Joining up in 2017, pianist Lee Dionne, violinist Brigid Coleridge, and cellist Julia Yang have quickly emerged as a unique and award-winning ensemble, garnering the 2019 Concert Artists Guild Competition, the First Prize at the 2019 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and the First Prize and Audience Prize at the 2018 Chesapeake International Chamber Music Competition.
The Norway Pond Festival Singers and Junior Minstrels are both energetically rehearsing for the Saturday, Dec. 21 annual Hancock Family Christmas Concert. Special guests this year include mezzo-soprano Jazimina MacNeil and Hancock’s own singer/songwriter/award-winning fiddler Steve Schuch.
Music on Norway Pond kicks off 2020 on Sunday, Jan. 12 with the Labyrinth Choir, Boston’s professional ensemble, with their program “On Broadway and at the Movies!” featuring ensemble selections from “Les Misérables”, “Dear Evan Hansen”, “Hamilton”, “Sister Act”, and “A Star Is Born”, and solos from “West Side Story”, “The Music Man”, “Hairspray”, “Sweeney Todd” and more.
The major choral concert will be highlighted by Gabriel Fauré’s beloved “Requiem” on Feb. 16, featuring the Norway Pond Festival singers mixed chorus and organist Mary Ann Fleming, joined by harpist Maria Rindenello. The baritone soloist is Philip Stoddard. He is joined by treble soloist Litha Ashworth, a New England Conservatory (NEC) sophomore.
Get ready for spring on March 29 with the return of Choro Bastardo’s amazing jazz pianist and composer Henrique Eisenmann. Eisenmann muses “To what degree can I challenge your perception of melody, of tonality, of pulse? Maybe the joy of art is exactly to focus on these less expected pathways, these new directions filled with surprise and excitement.”
April will be busy with the new ensemble Byron’s Daughter, a five-piece, all-female musical collective, on April 19. And you won’t want to miss the annual Fundraising Fête on April 25 at Cold Comfort Farm with the ragtime ensemble Petite Feet.
Finally, save time on the calendar for the Junior Mints’ spring show on May 16, performing the classic Gilbert and Sullivan operetta “Pirates of Penzance”.
All concerts are held at the First Congregational Church in Hancock, begin at 4 p.m. and are one hour (or a wee bit more) with no intermission. Tickets are available on www.musiconnorwaypond.org and at the door.