Welcome to our June Newsletter!
from Anne Wagner’s Friendship Book (1795)
Before we go on our annual summer break, Sarasa wanted to be sure to share with you our exciting upcoming 2025-26 season, Connection. Choosing from a wide range of distinctive composers and combinations of instruments, we hope to illustrate how connectivity abounds in each concert-set. Highlights include: the spirit of inclusion between distant cities in bringing music to the people; musical inspiration drawn from the various states of sleep; the pioneering instrumentalists and important patrons who contributed immensely to the development of musical style and ideas; the impactful legacy left to us by the tremendously talented Bach family. We are looking forward to sharing these special programs with you!
Watch our 2025-26 Season Teaser above!
subscribe now and save!
Don’t forget ~ you can subscribe today and save! There are many subscription packages available to hear Sarasa next season. Choose yours by June 30th, and enjoy great savings!
Why should you subscribe? We’ve got 4 great reasons!
Early bird discounts on Adult and Senior subscriptions are available through June 30: Choose your flexible package of 2, 3, 4, or all 5 concerts today!
‘music unlocked’ update:
Many heartfelt thanks to the many generous donations we have received from you! Because of your unflappable support, we have made up the loss in funds experienced due to the cancellation of our second Challenge America grant by the National Endowment for the Arts. We are grateful to you for digging deep in your pockets during these precarious times for the arts, education, community building, and freedom of speech.
We will bring music to incarcerated teens this summer with several week-long residencies of three visits for two hours each. And, starting in September, we will return to various facilities with our presentations of our upcoming individual concert programs. We have also received for the first time substantial support from the Boston Foundation! Onwards, and upwards!
Connection ~ The continental harmony
The image for our 2025-26 season “Connection" is taken from the frontispiece of William Billings’ publication The Continental Harmony, a collection of hymns, anthems, fugues and choruses published in Boston in 1794. Around the outer circle of music is the text:
“Hail sacred music, hail!
We offer at thy shrine
One perfect round
Compleat in sound
Celestial and divine.”
the backstory
Some background context to our opening September concert-set, @1775: Boston, London, Paris & Vienna, an integral part of the semi-quincentennial celebrations taking place around Massachusetts this year, for which we have received an Early Music America Engagement Award and a grant from the Lexington Council for the Arts.
The Bach-Abel Society at the Hanover Square Rooms in London was inaugurated in 1775, and became well-known to famous American statesmen Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin, all of whom visited the former ‘British crown.’ This popular concert series, and similarly those of Le Concert spirituel in Paris (founded in 1725) and the Tonkünstler Societät in Vienna (founded in 1772) brought music to the public and for the benefit of society. A cross-pollination of music from these European 18th-century concert societies, along with the music of Boston-born William Billings — the first American to publish his own collection of music with engravings by none other than Paul Revere — will bring more significant historical context to the music of J.C. Bach, Thomas Baltzar, Francesco Barsanti, Giacobbe Cervetto, Thomas Arne, Salvatore Lanzetti, Franz Joseph Haydn, and W.A. Mozart.
Frontispiece from The New England Psalm Singer by William Billings, 1770; Engraving by Paul Revere
William Billings (1746-1800) did much to bring music to the young nation of America. His hymns became popular songs, which captured the revolutionary spirit, one of which “Chester” became a favourite hymn among patriots. His friend, Paul Revere, designed the engraving for The New England Psalm Singer (now at the Library of Congress), Its publication in 1770 marked Billings as the first published American-born composer. Billings was born blind in one eye, had one leg shorter than the other, and one arm was “somewhat withered.” A tanner by trade, his musical voice and choral output became his real destiny. He married Lucy Swan, the daughter of a major in General Washington’s army. They purchased a home on Newbury Street, one block from the Boston Commons.
venue alert!
Due to scheduling clashes at Friends Meeting House in Cambridge, Sarasa’s first two programs of our 2025-26 season, on Saturdays September 13th & November 15th, will take place in Watertown, at the Church of the Good Shepherd. There is plenty of on-street parking available, and Bus 71 takes you directly there! It is a stone’s throw from the Deluxe Town Diner (where Sarasa Director Timothy Merton’s maple syrup is served), and it is also within easy distance to two historic buildings, The Browne House & the Edmund Fowle House, both of which are worth seeing as part of the Mass250 celebrations! William Billings’ hymn “Lament over Boston” begins with the line, “By the rivers of Watertown, we sat down and wept.”
The church has a lovely acoustic, and the community is very warm and welcoming. We look forward to seeing you there!
Time to take off!
Baby hooded merganser trying out its wings. From Macaulay Library, ©Steve Furcich
Sounds of Summer
Perhaps no other musical pop group captured the sounds of summer more than the iconic Californian band, The Beach Boys. Its leader and author of many great hits, Brian Wilson, recently passed away. He was a musical genius, who despite being under constant scrutiny from an overbearing father, had the capacity to bring an overarching sense of escape to many through his complex but pure music. This hit, “God Only Knows” is a particular favourite, and was named by Sir Paul McCartney as the “greatest song ever written.”
recipe corner
Delicious and cooling Gazpacho:
1/2 English hothouse cucumber, peeled & seeded
1/2 large red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded
2 lb. very ripe red tomatoes, cut in 1/2” wedges
1/2 large shallot, peeled & chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped or grated
2 T sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
flaky sea salt
3 T olive oil
Chop all vegetables and put in bowl; add sherry vinegar and a pinch of salt and let sit 30 minutes
Transfer marinated veggies to a blender or food processor and blend with olive oil
Strain through coarse mesh sieve (if desired) and put in fridge for an hour
Serve with toppings of your choice (chives, basil, quartered cherry tomatoes, freshly ground black pepper, a drizzle of olive oil) and a baguette
One to watch!
“The Muse” with Elise Kuder, Amy Galluzzo, Mara Riley, Jennifer Morsches, and Mike Kelly
Our May concert, “The Muse” is still streaming for free through the next summer months. Don’t miss this chance to hear the young, up and coming soprano, Mara Riley, in a tour-de-force performance of John Taverner’s Akhmatova Songs.
Enjoy a great summer holiday!
Landscape in the South of France, Bonnard (1921)
