Welcome to our December Newsletter!
Conjunction Junction and the Winter Solstice!
Today, Monday, 21st December marks the official start of Winter as well as a rare “great conjunction" of the planets Jupiter and Saturn— an event that has not been this close since 1623 and this visibly close from Earth since 1226! Check out your southwestern evening sky just after sunset. The next time they will be this close will not be until 2080, so this is our chance! Let’s hope it brings positive change as we all grapple with the restrictions in place during a time when we are normally revelling and celebrating the holidays together with families and friends. Please stay safe, and from everyone at Sarasa, we wish you a peaceful and bright Yuletide Season!
There is still time to watch Sarasa’s recent performance of “Musick for a while” with Christopher Lowrey, countertenor; Michael Leopold, lutes; Jennifer Morsches, Baroque cello, which features music from 17th-century England and Italy.
Not to be missed! Some fans have written to us saying:
“Thank you. With deepest gratitude. So beautiful. So right for now.”
"I was transfixed.”
"My anxiety level went way down. And the encore - what a surprise! Such a beautiful ending to what is one of your best offerings to date."
Here is a teaser celebrating the start to Winter:
And here you can watch the concert in full: http://www.sarasamusic.org/events/musick-for-a-while
Thank you for your continued financial support during this devastating time for the arts. We will continue to make every effort to bring our programming to you in the comfort of your homes until live concerts can resume in person to a full capacity audience.
Celebrating Beethoven’s 250th Anniversary!
On December 16th, the world marked the 250th birthday of one of classical music’s most popular, most iconic, most human composers, Ludwig van Beethoven, who was born in 1770. Sarasa will continue celebrations of his legacy the weekend of 22-24 January, 2021 with our next concert-set: In Search of Beethoven. We will be performing works by composers who influenced and inspired Beethoven as a young composer and pianist, including J.S. Bach, Joseph Haydn, and Emmanuel Aloys Förster. The one-hour concert will take place for a live, reduced audience in Brattleboro, VT and Cambridge, MA, and will be streamed on our website a week later. Our performance in Lexington is still to be confirmed. Please note new concert times.
Friday, 22nd January 2021 Brattleboro Music Center 5-6pm & 7.30-8.30pm www.bmcvt.org or (802) 257-4523
Saturday, 23rd January 2021 Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church 7-8pm
Sunday, 24th January 2021 First Parish in Lexington 3.30-4.30pm (still to be confirmed!!!)
tickets & more info at www.sarasamusic.org
In Search of Beethoven
Tracing the teachers and influential composers who inspired and pushed Beethoven’s innovations
Haydn String Quartet, Op. 103
Beethoven Prelude and Fugue in E minor for string trio (from a Sketch for his teacher, Albrechtsberger)
Emmanuel Aloys Förster String Quartet in d minor, Op. 21 No. 2 (Movements 1 & 2)
J.S. Bach Contrapunctus 14 from “Art of Fugue”
Beethoven String Quartet in G major, Op. 18, No. 2 (Movement 1)
Christina Day Martinson, Jesse Irons, violins; Jason Fisher, viola; Timothy Merton, cello
