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A performance of songs by Vermont Composers – young and old, past and present.
Social Band’s twenty a cappella singers bring you songs from a cross-section of genres, from shape-note to folk to classical, from Vermont and New England’s finest composers. You’ll hear songs of long ago by Justin Morgan (better known for his horse, but did you know he was a traveling music teacher and composer?), and by William Billings the Boston tanner and songster.
Then too, you’ll hear some wonderful new songs by contemporary Vermont composers such as Troy Peters, Patti Casey, Don Jamison, Pete Sutherland and more. Come and enjoy a great program of homegrown, heart-warming, foot-tapping music.
Artistic Director: Amity Baker
Singers: Charity Baker, Marcia Brewster, Ken Brown, Michael Brown, Zacheriah Cota-Weaver, Martha Dallas, Bill Fellinger, Jeff Fellinger, Ginger Gellman, Don Jamison, D.K. Johnson, Stephanie Kaza, Mark Kuprych, Bob Lincoln, CC McKegney, Cynthia Norman, Deb Patton, Ann Pearce, Janice Russotti, Tina Scharf, Rebecca Strader
The program is appropriate for all ages; however, younger children will likely enjoy the concert more if they’ve had some prior exposure to choral music.
Social Band’s fee for this program is in the $800 -$1200 range depending upon the potential audience and the travel distance from Social Band’s home base of Burlington. At locations some distance from Burlington, assistance with food and housing may be appropriate.
Vermont, indeed New England, has a long history in the creation of choral music. The fuging tune, or Shape-Note music, is a variety of Anglo-American vernacular choral music that first flourished in New England during the mid 18th century and continues to be composed to the present day. Folk songs were also part of everyday life in Vermont and other New England states – the collections of early folk songs by Helen Hartness Flanders and the late Margaret MacArthur make clear the importance of vocal music in our history.
Social Band continues the work of music creation by commissioning composers of all types to create choral music. In thier Vermont Composers Project they invited 25 Vermont composers, with a wide variety of musical backgrounds, to each compose a choral piece for Social Band to premier. Audiences across the state marveled at the variety and excellence of these new compositions.
Tom Slayton said it best in his commentary on Vermont Public Radio: "There's a deep thread of contemplation and a lot of tradition in these Vermont compositions sung by Social Band. Both choral music and the shape-note tradition have a strong historic connection with Vermont, of course, and the themes woven through this new music - a belief in human equality, the beauty of nature, the saving grace of humor and spontaneity – also express strong Vermont values."
Amity Baker
87 Coyote Ridge Road
Hinesburg, VT 05461
Phone: 802 482-3193
Alt. Phone: 802 658-8488
Email: info@socialband.org
Website: www.socialband.org