November 20th, 2008
Six new practice modules have been installed in the Redfern Arts Center as part of a Replacement and Technology Upgrade Strategic Initiative approved last year. The new units include technology that can duplicate the environment of various sized performance halls, and a digital station that allows students to take recordings of their practice sessions with them. Five additional modules will be arriving to complete the upgrade.
Photo: Robin Dutcher; Music majors (l to r) Lori Gellander ‘10, Megan Fleagle ‘11, Vivianne Belanger ‘09, and Mark Perry ‘10 (seated) practice in one of the new music practice modules at the Redfern.
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November 13th, 2008
From Connie Lester, Redfern: Keene State College students from the Theatre and Dance Department will present The Matchmaker, by Thornton Wilder. Directed by PeggyRae Johnson, the play will be staged Wednesday through Saturday, November 19–22, at 7:30 p.m. at the Redfern Arts Center.
Best known for his play Our Town, Wilder turns to Moliere for inspiration for this fast-paced farce. Set in 1880 during stressful economic times, the storyline is a constant banter between the materialistic versus humanistic views of successful Yonkers merchant Horace Vandergelder and the meddlesome matchmaker Dolly Levi upon Mr. Vandergelder’s decision to take a wife. The plot gets wildly complicated when Vandergelder’s clerks, Cornelius and Barnaby, and two young women in a hat shop inadvertently involve themselves in this rollicking quest for adventure.
In addition to the fourteen KSC students in the cast, Liz Panneton ‘09, is lighting designer, and Gillian Clarke-Moon ‘09 is stage manager. Several Theatre and Dance Department faculty members are involved in the production: Craig Lindsay is technical director, Mary Robarge is costume designer, and Jenny Fulton is set designer. Daniel Patterson, chair of the Theatre and Dance Department, is production manager and is making a cameo appearance as Joe, the Barber. Tickets are available through the box office at 8-2168 or online at http://www.keene.edu/racbp.
Courtesy photo: Cast members of The Matchmaker — (from left) Jaime Pearsons as Mrs. Molloy, Kade Hill as Cornelius Hackl, Allison Relihan as Minnie Fay, and Ethan Selby as Barnaby Tucker (under the table) — perform Wednesday through Saturday, November 19–22, at 7:30 p.m. at the Redfern Arts Center
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November 13th, 2008
From Connie Lester, Redfern: The KSC Vocal Chamber Ensembles will join the KSC Concert Choir to perform a fall concert on Sunday, November 23, at 3 p.m. in Alumni Recital Hall.
The KSC Vocal Ensembles, coached by music professor Carroll Lehman, will perform three pieces. KSC artist-in-residence George Loring will accompany the ensembles. The Concert Choir, conducted by music faculty member Diane Cushing, will sing an eclectic selection of songs with and without musical accompaniment. They will sing And the Angels Sing, by Ziggy Elman and Johnny Mercer, with music faculty member Craig Sylvern accompanying on clarinet. For tickets, call the box office at 8-2168.
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November 6th, 2008
From Connie Lester, Redfern: The Keene State Music Department will collaborate with the Theatre and Dance Department to present a performance of Igor Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier’s Tale) on Friday, November 14, at 7:30 p.m. in the Alumni Recital Hall.
Vaughn West (Theatre and Dance) will narrate the piece, written about a soldier on leave returning to his native village and encountering the devil. KSC music faculty performing The Soldier’s Tale will be Kathy Andrew (violin), Don Baldini (double bass), James Boccia (trumpet), Joy Flemming (bassoon), and Christopher Swist (percussion), with visiting artists Karen Bressette (clarinet) and Dave Sporny (trombone). James Chesebrough will conduct the piece.
The recital will also feature other works by Stravinsky, including Ave Maria, sung by the KSC Chamber Singers (conducted by Elaine Broad-Ginsberg) and works for flute and guitar, featuring George Loring (piano), Ted Mann (guitar), and Robin Matathias (flute).
For tickets, call the box office at 8-2168, or visit http://www.keene.edu/racbp.
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November 6th, 2008
From Connie Lester, Redfern: The Keene State College Chamber Singers will perform a concert of early choral music on Sunday, November 16, at 3 p.m. in the Alumni Recital Hall.
Conducted by KSC music faculty member Elaine Broad Ginsberg, the KSC Chamber Singers will present a program of music from the fourteenth through the seventeenth centuries, including a number of Renaissance madrigals and several examples of early choral music. The 33-member ensemble includes several small chamber groups. Keene State artist-in-residence George Loring will accompany the singers during some of the selections. For tickets, call the box office at 8-2168.
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October 30th, 2008
From Bill Menezes, Redfern: Keene State’s performance of Inspired by Kaddish: A Celebration of the Arts will be dedicated to the memory of Professor Charles Hildebrandt.
Inspired by Kaddish will showcase the talents of area musicians, singers, and Keene State College faculty and students at the Redfern Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 1. There will be a performance for area schools at 10 a.m., Friday, October 31. For tickets, call 8-2168 or visit www.keene.edu/racbp. The first 200 KSC students presenting a valid ID will be able to attend free of charge.
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October 30th, 2008
From Connie Lester, Redfern: The Keene State College Concert Band will perform “Musical Postcards: A Journey in Sound,” on Wednesday, November 5, at 7:30 p.m. at the Redfern Arts Center.
The band will play pieces from Scotland, Ireland, England, and Italy, depicting such scenes as a rural country setting, an amusement park, and a roller coaster, concluding with a hymn to the beauty of our American homeland. The program will include Andrew Boysen’s Kirkpatrick Fanfare, Warren Barker’s Deir In De, and Percy Grainger’s Ye Banks and Braes and O’Bonnie Doone, as well as pieces by Frank Ticheli, Aaron Copland, Otto Schwarz, Gabriel Fauré, and more.
KSC music education major Tom Spencer (euphonium) will be a featured soloist. Melanie Prisby, a senior music education/flute major, will assist, conducting Warren Barker’s Deir In De and Kenneth Alford’s Army of the Nile. The concert band is directed by Jim Chesebrough. In addition to conducting the band, Chesebrough is assistant professor of music at Keene State, where he teaches classes in music education, conducting, and applied music. Tickets are available through the box office at 8-2168 or online at www.keene.edu/racbp.
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October 23rd, 2008
From Bill Menezes, Redfern: GrooveLily, one of the hottest cabaret/musical theatre ensembles in New York City today, will make its area debut at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 8, at the Redfern Arts Center.
GrooveLily is a trio of creative musicians who inhabit a contemporary space that ignores the boundaries laid down by such words as rock, folk, jazz, and pop. With backgrounds in classical music, musical theater, jazz, and rock, they toured the Indie music circuit for several years. GrooveLily is now making a new music that’s all its own.
The success of their first concert-musical — the critically acclaimed and award-winning off-Broadway holiday show, Striking 12 (liberally adapted from Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Match Girl) — has led them further into the world of theater, where they have carved out a unique niche as a rock band writing and performing shows. Watch and listen to an excerpt from Striking 12.
Striking 12 has led them to such commissions as Toy Story the Musical for Disney and Sleeping Beauty Wakes for Deaf West Theatre/Center Theatre Group, where it won two 2007 Ovation Awards, including World Premiere Musical. To read more about GrooveLily, see blogs from the members, and hear samples of their songs, go to http://www.groovelily.com/. Tickets are available through the Redfern box office (603-358-2168) or online at www.keene.edu/racbp.
Courtesy photo, GrooveLily
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October 16th, 2008
From Bill Menezes, Redfern: Rubberbandance Group, one of Canada’s foremost modern dance companies, will premiere their latest creation, “Punto Ciego” (“Blind Spot”), on Thursday, October 23, at 7:30 p.m. at the Redfern Arts Center.
The company unites world-class dancers from contemporary, classical, ballet, hip-hop, and break-dance backgrounds to investigate human relationships using film, video, and pulsing scores to create evenings of subtle story telling.
The full evening’s work is described as a tragic comedy that explores the relationships among six different people. At times the characters see their relationships only through a lens of virtual reality. During the course of the performance, they will defend their perceptions as well as question them. In the end, they accept their varying perspectives on the reality of these relationships.
Tickets are available through the Redfern box office (8-2168) or online at www.keene.edu/racbp.
Courtesy Photo: Rubberdance Group
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October 2nd, 2008
From Connie Lester, Redfern: Four KSC students from the Department of Theatre and Dance will share the stage in Nicky Silver’s unimaginably dark and humorous production, Fat Men in Skirts, directed by KSC assistant professor Ron Spangler.
The play will be staged Tuesday through Saturday, October 14 – 18, at 7:30 p.m., with a matinee at 2 p.m. on Saturday, at the Redfern Arts Center.
Fat Men in Skirts exposes the lives and loves of a dysfunctional family through a macabre storyline that begins with a plane crash. Silver uses extreme emotional situations as the backdrop for this story of savage human behavior, yet at its roots the play is a love story. Due to mature topics and language, this production is not recommended for anyone under 16 years of age. Tickets are available through the box office at 8-2168 or online at http://www.keene.edu/racbp.
Courtesy Photo:
Cast members of Fat Men in Skirts: (from left) Chris Kelly, Hayley Luoma, Greg Parker, and Liz Panneton
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October 2nd, 2008
From Connie Lester, Redfern: On Monday, October 13, the Music Department will welcome guest soprano Patricia Caicedo, who joins KSC faculty, José Lezcano (guitar), and George Loring (piano) in a recital at 7:30 p.m. in the Alumni Recital Hall.
The “Musical Journey Through Latin America” program will feature works by composers from Argentina, Spain, Cuba, Brazil, Columbia, and Venezuela, to include De Falla, Ovalle, Villa-Lobos, Dominguez, Carlos Guastavino, Braga, Lezcano, and more. For tickets, call the box office at 8-2168.
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October 2nd, 2008
From Connie Lester, Redfern: On Wednesday, October 15, the Keene State Department of Music will present KSC faculty member Scott Mullett and his jazz quartet, and Vermont’s leading Carribbean- and Latin-inspired jazz band, Zabap, led by Julian Gerstin, for a recital, at 7:30 p.m. in Alumni Recital.
Mullett has played and toured with some of the best big bands in the world, including those of Woody Herman and Artie Shaw, is founder and director of the Keene Jazz Orchestra, and currently teaches students from around the tri-state area.
Zabap incorporates melodies and grooves from Africa and the Antilles, and is lead by Julian Gerstin. He has performed with the Windham Orchestra, Brattleboro Community Chorus, Brattleboro Women’s Chorus, jazz vocalist Samirah Evans, and the Cajun band Lil’ Orphans, and teaches ethnomusicology at Keene State. For tickets, call the box office at 8-2168.
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September 25th, 2008
From Bill Menezes, Redfern: Shakespeare & Company will make its New Hampshire debut at Keene State College’s Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond with Shakespeare’s Hamlet on Tuesday, October 7. The company will perform for area schools at 9:30 a.m. and again for general audiences at 7 p.m. The production is co-presented with the Colonial Theatre of Keene.
This pared-down, revved-up version of Shakespeare’s uncontested masterpiece will be an evening of stunning theater for audiences across the country. The company’s portrayal of the human struggle between two opposing forces — moral integrity and vengeance — was hailed as “galvanizing and bold” by Variety.
For tickets contact the Redfern box office 8-2168 or online at www.keene.edu/racbp.
Courtesy photo
Shakespeare & Company
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September 18th, 2008
From Bill Menezes, Redfern: The Georgia Guitar Quartet (GGQ) will open the 2008–09 season at Keene State College’s Redfern Arts Center on Brickyard Pond on Saturday, October 4, at 7:30 p.m. The Redfern is dedicating this season of music, theatre, and dance to Keene State’s year-long centennial celebration. The Quartet will also conduct a free and public lecture demonstration at noon that Saturday.
GGQ’s Redfern performance will feature classical works by Michael Praetorius, Domenico Scarlatti, Frédéric Chopin, Edvard Grieg, and Federico Moreno Torroba, among others. In a more contemporary vein, GGQ will play compositions by Kyle Dawkins, Vince Guaraldi, and Nikita Koshkin. Audio clips of GGQ performance excerpts are available at their website. For tickets call 8-2168 or visit www.keene.edu/racbp.
Courtesy photo: Georgia Guitar Quartet
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August 21st, 2008
The Georgia Guitar Quintet will open Redfern’s 2008-09 Presenting Series on October 4.
From Bill Menezes, Redfern: For 100 years, the arts have played an important role in the life of Keene State College, and Redfern’s 2008-09 Presenting Series will honor that tradition with a season that builds on the past, looks to the future, and celebrates KSC’s Centennial. The 2008-09 season will open on Saturday, October 4, with the dynamic Georgia Guitar Quartet.
This year, three visiting artists return to perform at the Redfern. In keeping with the theme of building on the past to celebrate the future, they will bring their latest creations: In March, the chamber theatre group Core Ensemble will perform Ain’t I a Woman, celebrating the life and times of four remarkable African-American women.
Also in March, one of New York’s hottest dance companies, Keigwin + Company, will perform Elements, an evening-length work that premiered this summer at the Bates Dance Festival. In April, I Musici de Montréal, on its 25th anniversary tour, will perform Moussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition with large-screen projections of paintings inspired by the original paintings that in turn inspired Moussorgsky’s timeless music.
Tickets for these and other performances may be ordered by calling 8-2168 or visiting http://www.keene.edu/racbp.
Courtesy photo
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