Arts

Music

Keiser Concert Series

- violin, piano and cello

The Keiser Concert Series provides musical performances at the School on many occasions. Members of the general public are warmly invited to attend any one of the performances listed below; there is no admission charge.

For further information, please call 603-229-4680 or 603-229-4645. To be added to the email list, please contact Nicholas White at nwhite@sps.edu.

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List of 15 items.

Weekly Compline

Thursday Evenings, 8 p.m.
Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul
In addition to the musical offerings listed below, the SPS Chapel Choir will also offer Compline on Thursday evenings at 8:00 p.m. during the academic year. All are welcome. An example of this meditative service may be seen In this video
Friday, September 27, 7:00 p.m.

Music for Soprano & Organ
Grace Roman, soprano
James Roman, organ
Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul
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A native of Moorestown, NJ, James Roman attended Westminster Choir College (WCC) in Princeton, N.J. where he earned both a BM and MM in Organ Performance and Sacred Music as a student of Ken Cowan and Alan Morrison. In addition to his time at WCC James also studied with Grethe Krogh in Copenhagen, Denmark.
James has given numerous recitals in the Northeast and Texas and was a performer in the 2013 AGO Region III Convention in Winchester, VA. Additionally, he was the winner of the 2013 Joan Lippincott Organ Competition for Excellence in Organ Performance.
An avid lover of choral music, James has participated in three tours of Denmark and Sweden both as a choral singer and accompanist with the music ministry at the First Presbyterian Church of Moorestown, NJ. As a member of the Westminster Symphonic Choir, he performed under the baton of many world-renowned conductors such as Alan Gilbert, Daniel Barenboim, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Performances with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestra at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center and New York’s Carnegie Hall have included Verdi’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Rachmaninoff’s The Bells, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Mahler’s Symphonies Nos. 2. & 8, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Bernstein’s Mass, and the NYC premiere of Christopher Rouses’ Requiem. He can be heard on a recently released recording of Bernstein’s MASS with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the Deutsche Grammophon label. He was also a member of the Grammy-nominated Westminster Williamson Voices under the direction of Dr. James Jordan and released two recordings with the ensemble under the GIA and Naxos labels: A Hole in the Sky and Carolae: Music for Christmas.
In the Fall of 2018 James will begin work on a Certificate in Music Performance at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music as a student of Daryl Robinson. James currently resides with his wife Grace in Houston, TX and is the Associate Organist/Pianist at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church.
Grace Roman is a lyric soprano hailing from Coral Springs, Florida. She graduated with her Bachelor of Music in Music Education degree and Performance Certificate in Voice from the University of Florida in 2013, where she studied with Ron Burrichter. Grace was fortunate to perform in a variety of settings during her time at UF, including with the University of Florida Schola Cantorum, UF Opera Theater, UF Cellorando ensemble, UF Jazz Ensemble, and with a number of composition students and faculty. She was also an active member in the UF and Florida National Association for Music Educators (NAfME) chapters. Grace was Co-Director of SONG: Singer’s Organization for a Nation of Gators during her Junior year. In 2012, she recorded tracks for Creating Poetry and Songs to Teach…Anything! written by Dr. Russell Robinson, published by Superior Educational Publishing.
In 2016, Grace graduated with her Master of Music degree in Voice Performance and Pedagogy from Westminster Choir College (WCC) of where she studied with Laura Brooks Rice. During her time at there, she was an active member of the WCC Opera Theater Company, a graduate assistant in the offices of Financial Aid and Continuing Education, and a graduate assistant for the Grammy-nominated Westminster Williamson Voices and Dr. James Jordan. Grace has a passion for performing, both in recitals and operas. Previous roles include Verdi’s La Traviata (Flora Bervoix/Chorus), Handel’s Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (La Belezza), Haydn’s Il mondo della luna (Flaminia), Handel’s Dido and Aeneas (Belinda) and Strauss’ Die Fledermaus (Chorus).
Grace made her professional debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin in the spring of 2015 in Bach’s St Matthew Passion (Ancilla II). She has received additional training at the CoOPERAtive program in Princeton, New Jersey, the Florence Voice Seminar in Florence, Italy, and OperaWorks in Los Angeles, California. Ms. Roman currently resides in Houston with her husband, Jim. She sings with the Houston Symphony Chorus and is the Manager of Operations for the Houston Chamber Choir.
Sunday, October 6, 4 p.m.

Choral Evensong
Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul
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The SPS Chapel Choir
Nicholas White, Director of Chapel Music
Mary Dolch, Associate Director of Chapel Music

Hymn: 516 Come Down, O Love Divine
Preces: Ayleward
Canticles: Dyson in D
Anthem: Salmo 150 - Ernani Aguiar
Hymn: 704 O Thou Who Camest From Above
Sunday, October 27, 7 p.m.

Heinavanker: Vocal Ensemble from Tallinn, Estonia
Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul
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The vocal ensemble Heinavanker is a unique meeting point for musicians active in different fields. Since 1996 the group under direction of composer Margo Kõlar has delved into early sacred music, our ancestors’ traditions and contemporary imagination. Ancient Estonian runic songs and folk hymns are an important part of Heinavanker’s repertoire.
The name “Heinavanker” originates from Hieronymos Bosch’ (1453-1516) Haywain Triptych. Its allegoric scenes seem as if inspired from today’s life. On this strange painting, there’s a huge stack of hay rolling through a land laboring in acquisitiveness towards destruction. In the midst of this, music arises. Both a snide demon and a praying angel are trying to get the musicians under their domain of influence.
Friday, November 1, 7 p.m.

Cantus – Vocal Ensemble
Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul
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The “engaging” (New Yorker) men’s vocal ensemble Cantus is widely known for its trademark warmth and blend, innovative programming and engaging performances of music ranging from the Renaissance to the 21st century. The Washington Post has hailed the Cantus sound as having both “exalting finesse” and “expressive power” and refers to the “spontaneous grace” of its music making. The Philadelphia Inquirer called the group nothing short of “exquisite.” As one of the nation’s few full-time vocal ensembles, Cantus has grown in prominence with its distinctive approach to creating music. Working without a conductor, the members of Cantus rehearse and perform as chamber musicians, each contributing to the entirety of the artistic process. Cantus performs more than 60 concerts each year both in national and international touring, and in its home of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. The ensemble is heard frequently on both classical public radio nationwide and on SiriusXM Satellite Radio. Cantus has released 18 recordings on the group’s self-titled label. Committed to the expansion of the vocal music repertoire, Cantus actively commissions new music each season and seeks to unearth rarely performed repertoire for men’s voices. Integral to the Cantus mission is its commitment to preserve and deepen music education in the schools. Cantus works with more than 5,000 students each year in master class and workshop settings across the country.
Sunday, November 3, 4 p.m.

Choral Evensong
Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul
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The SPS Chapel Choir
Nicholas White, Director of Chapel Music
Mary Dolch, Associate Director of Chapel Music

Hymn: 287 For All The Saints
Preces: Ayleward
Canticles: Noble in B Minor
Anthem: Requiem – Gabriel Fauré
Hymn: 625 Ye Holy Angels Bright
Friday, December 6, 7 p.m.

Organ Recital
Mary Dolch, organ
Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul
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Originally from Concord, N.H., Mary Dolch earned her master's degree from Yale University's Institute of Sacred Music and Yale School of Music, where she studied organ with Thomas Murray. While a student there, she served as the Interim Director of Music & Organist for Saint Luke’s Parish in Darien, Conn. Prior to that, she earned a bachelor's degree from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J., graduating summa cum laude with a major in organ performance and a minor in piano pedegogy. She has won several awards for her playing in both piano and organ, including The Charles Ives Prize (Yale School of Music) in 2015, The Joan Lippincott Competition for Excellence in Organ in 2014, and The Westminster Piano Scholarship in 2012. As a choral singer, she has performed in venues throughout the United States, England and Paris, such as Carnegie Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, the Philadelphia Kimmel Center, The Cathedral Basillica of Sts. Peter and Paul, Westminster Abbey, St. John’s College Cambridge, Lancing College Chapel, Saint-Sulpice, and two live radio broadcasts by the BBC in 2015.
Sunday, December 15, 5 p.m.

The Annual Festival of Lessons and Carols
Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul
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The SPS Chapel Choir
The SPS Carillon Guild
Nicholas White, Director of Chapel Music
Mary Dolch, Associate Director of Chapel Music
The Carillon Guild will play from 4:20 p.m.
Organ Music for the Advent season begins at 4:40 p.m.
Hymn: Once In Royal David’s City - Traditional, arr. D. V. Willcocks
Carol: Adam Lay Ybounden - Boris Ord
1st Lesson - Genesis 3: 8-19
Carol: Jesus Christ The Apple Tree – Elizabeth Poston
2nd Lesson - Baruch 4:36-5:5
Carol: The Saviour Of The World Is Born – Gustav Holst
3rd Lesson - Isaiah 9:2, 6-7
Carol: Hymn: Unto Us A Boy Is Born - Traditional, arr. D. V. Willcocks
4th Lesson - Luke 1:26-38
Carol: The Angel Gabriel – White
5th Lesson - Luke 1:39-45
Carol: All Bells In Paradise – John Rutter
Carol: Hymn: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing - Traditional, arr. D. V. Willcocks
6th Lesson - Luke 2:1-7
Carol: Rise Up Shepherd And Follow – Trad. African-American Spiritual, arr. Thornett
7th Lesson - Luke 2:8-20
Hymn: The First Nowell - Traditional, arr. D. V. Willcocks
8th Lesson - Hebrews 1:1-4
Carol: Away In A Manger – Traditional, arr. D. V. Willcocks
9th Lesson - John 1:1-14
Carol: The Blue Dome Of Light – Nicholas White
Hymn: O Come, All Ye Faithful - Traditional, arr. D. V. Willcocks
The Annual Festival of Lessons and Carols will be repeated at Harvard University Memorial Church on Thursday, December 19, at 6:00 p.m.
January 10, 17, 24, and 31 at 7:00 p.m.

A Midwinter Chamber Music Festival
Four concerts during the month of January to warm the soul
Music Building
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Friday, January 10, 7 p.m.
Brass Quintet
The Music of Eric Ewazen (b. 1954)
Friday, January 17, 7 p.m.
Paul Dykstra, pianist
“The Viennese Giants”
Sonata Op. 57, No. 23 (“Appassionata”) – L. van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Fantasie in C Major Op. 15 (“Wanderer”) – F. Schubert (1797-1828)
Friday, January 24, 7 p.m.
The Lakeside String Quartet
Two “Turn-of-the-Century” Quartets
String Quartet No. 1 in E Minor (“Bologna”) – Frank Bridge (1879-1941)
String Quartet Op. 105, No. 14 in A flat Major – Antonin Dvorák (1841-1904)
Friday, January 31, 7 p.m.
The Samara Piano Quartet
Adagio and Rondo Concertante in F major for Piano Quartet, D 487 – F. Schubert (1797-1828)
Piano Quartet No.1, H. 287 – B. Martinu (1890-1959)
Piano Quartet in C minor, Op. 13 – Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Sunday, January 26, 4 p.m.

Choral Evensong
Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul
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The SPS Chapel Choir
Nicholas White, Director of Chapel Music
Mary Dolch, Associate Director of Chapel Music
Hymn: 31 Most Holy God, The Lord Of Heaven
Preces: Ayleward
Canticles: The Andover Service – Nicholas White
Anthem: O Salutaris Hostia – Nicholas White
Hymn: 445 Praise To The Holiest In The Height
Thursday, February 20, 7 p.m.

Chapel Choir Pre-Tour Concert
Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul
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The SPS Chapel Choir
Nicholas White, Director of Chapel Music
Mary Dolch, Associate Director of Chapel Music
A performance of music for choir and organ, in advance of the 2020 England Choir Tour. Repertoire drawn from the following:
Salmo 150 – Ernani Aguilar
Miserere mei – Allegri
Requiem – Fauré
Sing Me To Heaven – Gawthrop
Ubi Caritas – Gjeillo
O Pray For The Peace –Knox
We Will Gather At The River –Macdonald
The Circle Game – Mitchell, arr. NW
Both Sides Now – Mitchell, arr. NW
The Road Home –Paulus
O Lord Support Us – Powell
The Joys Of Life – Powell
The Word Was God – Powell
Gamaya – Paul Rudoi
For The Beauty – Rutter
God Be In My Head – Rutter
God So Loved The World – Stainer
Te Deum in B Flat – Stanford
Earth Song – Ticheli
Let All The World – Vaughan Williams
The Andover Service – White
The Blue Dome Of Light – White
The Rainbow Rose – White
O Salutaris – White
Steal Away – White
The Souls Of The Righteous – Wilcox
Friday, March 27, 7 p.m.

Piano Recital
Matthew Odell, piano
Music Building
DUE TO HEALTH CONCERNS REGARDING THE CORONAVIRUS, THIS SHOW HAS BEEN POSTPONED.
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The New Hampshire-born pianist Matthew Odell began his studies at the age of 10 and has since won acclaim for performances of a wide range of repertoire as a solo recitalist, soloist with orchestra, and chamber musician. He has been hailed as “excellent” by the New York Times and “brilliant . . . playing with total commitment and real abandon” by Gramophone. Recent concerts have including such diverse projects as Messiaen’s Des canyons aux étoiles. . . with Maestro David Robertson and the Juilliard Orchestra for the reopening of Alice Tully Hall, a performance in the New York Philharmonic’s Stravinsky Festival, and solo recitals of Messiaen’s Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus. He also performed numerous contemporary works for piano and orchestra with the AXIOM Ensemble and completed a six-concert tour of Taiwan with the Hampton Trio.
In addition to performances in Weill Recital Hall and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the 92nd Street Y in New York, Mr. Odell has appeared at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in Boston, Chicago, Paris, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Taipei, Taiwan, and Helsinki, Finland. He has also performed at the Aspen Music Festival, the European American Musical Alliance in Paris, New York’s Focus! Festival, the La Gesse Festival in Toulouse, France, Nuits musicales and Concerts du cloître in Nice, France, and the Rohm International Music Festival in Kyoto, Japan.
A passionate advocate of the music of our time, Mr. Odell frequently premieres works written for him. He has performed contemporary repertoire with the New Juilliard Ensemble, the AXIOM Ensemble, and the American Art Song Festival, a group he founded in 2004. In addition, he has also worked with many prominent composers, including Pierre Boulez, John Corigliano, Mark Adamo, Michel Merlet, and Robert Aldridge. Mr. Odell’s affinity for the music of Olivier Messiaen has been seen in performances of his Couleurs de la cité céleste with the Peabody Camerata, Des canyons aux étoiles . . . and Sept Haïkaï with the AXIOM ensemble. He has also performed the Quartet for the End of Time in Alice Tully Hall, numerous songs and other chamber works, and an ongoing project of Messiaen’s complete works for solo piano. Recent recitals include a program of the music of Messiaen and his students and a tribute to Messiaen’s wife, Yvonne Loriod.
Mr. Odell is a founding member of the Hampton Trio, a group actively involved in presenting outstanding pieces from the established repertoire alongside newly-commissioned works. Mr. Odell’s special love of the art song repertoire has resulted in countless recitals with singers from around the world. He serves on the coaching faculty of the Académie internationale d’été de Nice in France and has performed in the Marilyn Horne Foundations’s festival The Song Continues at Carnegie Hall.
Mr. Odell currently teaches at The Juilliard School and frequently presents master classes, workshops, and lectures at professional conferences and universities throughout the U.S and Europe. In 2010 he graduated with a doctoral degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Margo Garrett, Jonathan Feldman, and Brian Zeger. He studied further with Marian Hahn at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, graduating Pi Kappa Lambda with both a master of music degree and a graduate performance diploma in piano performance. He also worked with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, with Ann Schein at the Aspen Music School, with Laurence Morton at Bob Jones University, and in master classes with Leon Fleisher, Richard Goode, Ian Hobson, Martin Isepp, Peter Hill, and the Tokyo String Quartet.
Mr. Odell has been awarded the Presser Award, the Sarah Stuhlman Zierler Award, two Peabody Career Development Grants, the Lucrezia Bori Grant, the Virginia Allison Accompanying Award, and a numerous fellowships and grants from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts.
Friday, April 3, 7 p.m.

Gamelan Laras Tentrem
Old Chapel
DUE TO HEALTH CONCERNS REGARDING THE CORONAVIRUS, THIS SHOW HAS BEEN POSTPONED.
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Gamelan Laras Tentrem was originally founded as the Boston Village Gamelan in 1979 by Sam Quigley, a graduate of Wesleyan University. The ensemble had the distinction of being the first community gamelan group in the United States dedicated to the performance of traditional Javanese music. Starting with a few imported instruments, the group assembled its own homemade gamelan slendro out of steel, brass, aluminum and various woods. The ensemble has performed regularly throughout New England and, at the invitation of the Indonesian government, at EXPO '86 at their pavilion in Vancouver, Canada. Upon his return from two extended periods in Indonesia, Barry Drummond joined the group in 1992 as its artistic director. Since then, using a gamelan lengkap made by Tentrem Sarwanto, the ensemble has grown tremendously in its musical capabilities. Most notably, the ensemble shared the stage with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in their East Meets West concert (February 1996). Gamelan Laras Tentrem's focus is the traditional repertoire of Surakarta and Central Java.
Sunday, April 5, 4 p.m.

Choral Evensong for Palm Sunday
Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul
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The SPS Chapel Choir
Nicholas White, Director of Chapel Music
Mary Dolch, Associate Director of Chapel Music
Hymn: 458 My Song Is Love Unknown
Preces: Ayleward
Canticles: Magnificat & Nunc Dimittis in B Minor – Jay Wilcox
Anthem: God So Loved The World – John Stainer
Hymn: 158 Ah, Holy Jesus
Friday, May 1, 7 p.m.

Viola and Piano Recital
William McClain, viola
Kaju Lee, piano
Music Building
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We are delighted to welcome back to SPS Dr. William McClain, who worked in the music program here from 2012-2015. A conductor and violist, William James McClain has appeared in major venues across the United States and abroad including Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, and the Sheremetev Palace in Saint Petersburg Russia. He has conducted professional, community, and talented youth orchestras for over twenty years. In the spring of 2006 he conducted Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite with the Macon Symphony Orchestra in Georgia as the 2005 winner of the International Conductors Workshop and Festival Competition. Since then he has been awarded that distinction again and invited back to lead the Macon Symphony as a guest conductor. Dr. McClain was also honored by the International Academy of Advanced Conducting in Saint Petersburg Russia where he conducted the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic’s Congress Orchestra. Dr. McClain has also appeared as guest conductor with the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, and the Onondaga Civic Orchestra in upstate New York.
As a violist Dr. McClain has recorded with the Adriane String Quartet (faculty string quartet at Ithaca College) and maintains an active chamber music and solo recital schedule most recently appearing on “The Night of Chamber Music,” part of the Guest Artist Series at Georgia Military College and the New Hampshire Music Festival. A former member of the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and the Tri-Cities Opera Orchestra Dr. McClain has also performed with the Bakersfield Symphony, Austin Symphony, and was principal violist for the Allentown Symphony and the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes. He is currently principal violist of Orchestra Noir in Atlanta, Georgia, a member of the Macon Symphony Orchestra, and serves as principal violist during the annual Colour of Music Festival held in Charleston, South Carolina.
Dr. McClain has taught undergraduate viola at Ithaca College and The University of Maryland at College Park as a graduate assistant. He was also invited to teach viola and violin as a guest artist at Huston Tillotson College and Mercer University. Dr. McClain is a former faculty member at Phillips Exeter Academy where he was named the John and Elizabeth Phillips Fellow. While at the academy he was director of the chamber music program, conducted the Exeter Symphony Orchestra, founded the Exeter Symphonia, and taught in the music theory program.
A native of Washington D.C. Dr. McClain is currently an Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Orchestras at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, Georgia. Dr. McClain received degrees in conducting and viola performance from The University of Maryland, Ithaca College and The University of Texas at Austin.
Heralded as a “very accomplished pianist [who] provides first-class partnership at the keyboard” Kaju Lee has performed extensively as a collaborative partner in Australia, Austria, Canada, the Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, and throughout the United States. Her recent engagements include a tour with the Lonestar Classical Voices, and performances at Baylor University (Texas), the University of South Africa, Stellenbosch Konservatorium, and the Grahamstown National Arts Festival, the world’s second largest arts festival (South Africa). Dr. Lee also released a CD in Sydney, Australia with Cellist Emily Duffill. “100 Years of Music for Cello and Piano” is for sale worldwide through iTunes, Amazon and cdbaby.com.
Dr. Lee teaches, coordinates piano accompanying, coaches, and collaborates with both faculty and students at Georgia College. She has worked for Sam Houston State University, the Texas Young Artists Competition, the University of Miami in Salzburg (Austria), the Choral Symphony Society, (NYC), and the Pre-College Division of the Manhattan School of Music (NYC). Dr. Lee earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Collaborative Piano at the University of Colorado – Boulder, where she studied with world-renowned teacher Anne Epperson. She holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City and McGill University in Canada. In June 2015, Lee performed a Mozart piano concerto in South Africa with South Africa’s primary orchestra, the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic orchestra. This performance earned high praise from Music magazine: “Lee delivered this rapid and brilliant music with skill and aplomb” and “her delicate performance was much to the taste of the audience and she and the orchestra were given prolonged applause at the end.”

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