Sarasa Wishes You a Festive Holiday Season!
©2021 Anna von Gwinner www.zwoelfersiebdruck.de
Well, we have made it through another year, despite the continuing challenges that the pandemic throws in our paths. Without your support, the arts would surely languish, and that would be the beginning of a very monochromatic and listless society. With the return of live in-person concerts, we are incredibly thankful and honored to share music with you. We are also delighted to be able to return to our outreach presentations in the youth detention facilities. Our most recent visit (the first since March 2020!) with our November “Kaleidoscope” program was uplifting and worthwhile on every level. The youth seemed especially communicative, positive, and reminded us how vital it is to reach every sector of society. “That piece gave me shivers all over my body,” exclaimed one teen when we performed an excerpt from C.P.E. Bach’s Symphony in C major. We were likewise inspired by their own rap and poetry, and their spontaneous dancing to our music. Self-expression is essential for self-belief and self-worth.
The Importance of Music — from A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas
"Always on Christmas night there was music. An uncle played the fiddle, a cousin sang Cherry Ripe, and another uncle sang Drake’s Drum. It was very warm in the little house. Auntie Hannah, who had got on to the parsnip wine, sang a song about Bleeding Hearts and Death, and then another in which she said her heart was like a Bird’s Nest; and then everybody laughed again; and then I went to bed. Looking through my bedroom window, out into the moonlight and the unending smoke-coloured snow, I could see the lights in the windows of all the other houses on our hill and hear the music rising from them up the long, steady falling night.”
Support live performance and transformative music education in 2022 and beyond!
If you would like to donate towards Sarasa's dual mission of outreach with incarcerated teenagers and programming for our regular public concert series, you can do so today. Every tax-deductible dollar we receive enables us to bring diverse, first-rate live music to our communities. Live music ~ social impact. Thank you!
The Art of the German Christmas Cookie — Springerle
How was the genius of Johann Sebastian Bach born? Music from the Heart: Mitteldeutschland traces some of his gifted predecessors.
Our next program in January 2022 highlights the singular power of music’s solace in times of crisis. With the highly-acclaimed countertenor, Reginald Mobley, we will turn back the clocks to 17th-century Middle Germany. Following the devastation of the Thirty Years’ War — in which nearly 60% of the population perished— music became a focal point in every hamlet, village, town, and city. This blossoming of music was in large part due to Martin Luther’s legacy, where his profound respect and love for music was integral to the Lutheran liturgy. In the words of French musicologist Gilles Cantagrel, "giving citizens music became as necessary as giving them bread to live on; for to these people who were so oppressed, music simultaneously brought comfort, indispensable earthly pleasure, and the spiritual elevation to which they aspired.” We believe music is indispensable for all. In our next program, we will re-discover rarely performed works by Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, Clamor Heinrich Abel, and Johann Adam Reincken— all of whose compositional output was directly linked to J.S. Bach’s musical education, giving him the roadmap in which to tinker with and master his craft. Did you know that of the some 1,000 compositions by Erlebach, only a handful of his works remain, due to a terrible fire in 1735 at the court in Rudolstadt, where he served 33 years as Kapellmeister? Here is an example from his Ouverture No. IV in D minor:
Mark your calendars and purchase your tickets today at www.sarasamusic.org/concerts
Music from the Heart: Mitteldeutschland (works by P.H. Erlebach, C.H. Abel, J.A. Reincken & J.S. Bach)
Friday, January 14, 2022 at 7.30pm Brattleboro Music Center [tickets: www.bmcvt.org]
Saturday, January 15, 2022 at 7.30pm Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church, Cambridge
Sunday, January 16, 2022 at 3.30pm Follen Community Church, Lexington
(Streaming one week later on our website, starting January 23rd at 7pm.)
Check out this beautiful clip of countertenor Reginald Mobley singing “Someone to Watch Over Me.” Mobley joins Sarasa for our January concert!
“Kaleidoscope” is still streaming!
You can still listen to our November “Kaleidoscope” program on our website until January 2, 2022. A colorful program of works for strings by C.P.E. Bach, Purcell, Rimsky-Korsakov and two wonderful world premiers by Li Qi and Mariel Mayz! https://www.sarasamusic.org/streaming-now
Sarasa Ensemble during a rehearsal break in November: with Katherine Winterstein, Zenas Hsu, Marka Gustavsson, Timothy Merton, Jennifer Morsches, and Jason Fisher.
