Welcome to our February Newsletter!
“Why, what’s the matter,
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness? ”
We hope the February blues haven’t been too extreme for you this month, despite the incredibly challenging and heartbreaking news stories that have taken place in recent weeks.
Still streaming: Music of the Madonna
Youngest Sarasa fan enjoying the soothing sounds of Music of the Madonna.
You still have a chance to watch the streaming of our most recent concert-set, Music of the Madonna, featuring mezzo-soprano Meg Bragle and violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock. Over the weekend of January 13-15, Sarasa had a great showing of concert-goers at the Brattleboro Music Center in southern Vermont, at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, and at Follen Church in Lexington. The program proved popular with all ages, including conservatory students visiting from Texas, a group of fellows from Emmanuel Music’s January Bach Institute, and perhaps our youngest audience member ever, 6-day-old Ava! The program is a mix of secular and sacred Baroque music that mirrors many aspects of the Virgin Mary’s life, and offers much solace in trying times.
Outreach update:
In January, we had the chance to return to the Epiphany School in Dorchester! Due to high Covid numbers at the teenage detention centers in the Boston Metro North areas, we were able to move our outreach presentation to Epiphany School last minute. This school is a special place that clearly demonstrates great care and encouragement towards all of the young kids who attend; most are primarily from economically disadvantaged families. The 5th and 6th graders we met were full of good energy, humor, warmth, joy and seemed to really enjoy the excerpts we played for them from our “Madonna” program. Elizabeth Blumenstock spoke eloquently about our experience there, which you can watch in our streaming video at 43:28 here.
MUSIC’S BENEFICIAL EFFECTS ON THE BRAIN:
Check out this fun video on the amazing things going on in our brains when we listen to music, or play an instrument!
From TED-Ed Talks.
UP NEXT: "All About My Mother”
With the Academy Award season right around the corner, perhaps it is fitting that our March set of concerts takes its title from Pedro Almodovar’s award-winning 1999 film, “All About My Mother.” Within the sphere of music, Sarasa will explore the many roles a mother embodies in the rituals she encounters over a lifetime: as nurturer, healer, confidante, as well as her devotion, patience, and selfless love. It will be a rare chance to hear Fanny Hensel's (Felix Mendelssohn’s hugely talented and overlooked sister) superb string quartet in E-flat major. Also, we will perform Mahler’s powerful Kindertotenlieder, based on the famous poem cycle by Friedrich Rückert, in an intimate arrangement for soprano and string quartet by Ivo Bauer, featuring the charismatic Ute Gfrerer. The program finishes with George Gershwin’s charming Lullaby for string quartet, a piece he wrote as a young composition student.
Friday, March 17th @7:30pm - Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church, Cambridge*
Saturday, March 18th @7pm - Brattleboro Music Center, Brattleboro*
Sunday, March 19th @3:30pm - Follen Community Church, Lexington
*Please note: our usual concert days for the Cambridge & Brattleboro venues are switched for this program.
LISTENING CORNER:
Dvořák’s soulful song cycle Gypsy Songs, Op. 55 includes his very popular “Songs My Mother Taught Me.” This song is so beloved, there are numerous transcriptions for string orchestra, for solo violin or solo cello and piano, or voice and string quartet (as we will be performing it in March). Here is Dvořák’s original Lied version, sung in Czech with Magdalen Kožená, mezzo-soprano and Malcolm Martineau, piano.
