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Exploring the Creative Process, Leroy Anderson House

The Leroy Anderson Foundation will host its second series of presentations titled Exploring the Creative Process at the Leroy Anderson House on February 18, March 3, March 17, and April 7, 2024. Artists will share how they found their passion for their art medium, how they develop their projects, and how others might find their way into the art. The Leroy Anderson House is at 33 Grassy Hill Road, Woodbury. The presentations are free and open to the public. Contact the Foundation at leroyandersonfoundation@gmail.com to reserve seats.



Weaver LoriAnn Witte
Feb. 18, 2024, 2:00 pm
Leroy Anderson House

Lori Ann Witte, Leroy Anderson House

Weaver LoriAnn Witte will share her experiences of becoming a weaver and how she finds ideas and develops them. Witte is the executive director of the Glebe House and Gertrude Jekyll Garden in the Hollow in Woodbury. A resident of Woodbury, Witte says of her art, "It is a journey that started with necessity and changed throughout the many phases of life. It is filled with ideas that have grown with and around me."

Witte will present samples of her work and lead guests in a demonstration. Guests will have the opportunity to try their hand at weaving with small looms and supplies Witte will provide.



Multimedia Artist Matt Wood
March 3, 2024, 2:00 pm
Leroy Anderson House

Matt Wood, Leroy Anderson House

Matt Wood, whose works range from photography to oils to interior design, will reflect on how his projects find him and how he realizes the best medium for a project. Wood says his art reflects his life: "Art is how I interact with the world. My thoughts, my experiences, my reactions, and my hopes are all mediated through my canvas or my lens, and I find that for me it can't be any other way."

Some of Wood's work, including four 48" x 48" iceberg paintings, is currently on display in the group exhibit at the Mattatuck museum titled "Sea Change, See Change," running from January 21 to May 19, 2024.
(Full / No Longer Taking Reservations 02.26.24)



Painter Cynthia Gillette
March 17, 2024, 2:00 pm
Leroy Anderson House

Cynthia Gillette, Leroy Anderson House

Woodbury artist Cynthia Gillette will present on her odyssey as a painter in a variety of media. Well-known in Woodbury for her support of local arts and her presence at summer Arts Walk events, Gillette is renowned for her sensitive renderings of animals and highly detailed, lifelike natural and architectural details in her work.

She says, "I am really enjoying the process in my painting at this time. My portraits of people and animals have led me to meet new wonderful people, and my travels have enriched the landscapes I see. I do observe all with a more critical, collective eye and due to this I plan my ideas with future compositions and new techniques in mind. Painting and designing are an evolving organic learning experience, albeit sometimes challenging, but they can also be so exciting. That is all inspiring to me."



Painter Melody Asbury
April 7, 2024, 2:00 pm
Leroy Anderson House

Melody Asbury, Leroy Anderson House

Woodbury artist Melody Asbury will share how she has come to explore the spirit of wild animals through painting.

A signature member of the Society of Animal Artists, Asbury is an accomplished painter admired for her intimate portrayal of animals. Her love of painting animals came after a lengthy career as a portrait and courtroom sketch artist for TV.

She says, "Growing up with an artist mother, I had a paintbrush in my hand at a very early age. Art has always been a means of expression, of focusing attention on what I feel is important. It is a lifelong journey with many different paths I have taken."


Note: The presentations are free and open to the public. However, reservations are required. Contact the Foundation at leroyandersonfoundation@gmail.com to reserve seats.



CONCERT / EVENT CALENDAR > 2024





Saturday, March 2, 2024, 2:00 pm / Jaclyn Breeze
Music for solo flute by Arthur Honegger, Claude Debussy, Edgar Varèse, Holden Shea, Katherine Hoover, Pierre Octave Ferroud, and John La Montaine.



March 3, 2024, 2:00 pm / Multimedia Artist Matt Wood

Matt Wood, whose works range from photography to oils to interior design, will reflect on how his projects find him and how he realizes the best medium for a project. Wood says his art reflects his life: "Art is how I interact with the world. My thoughts, my experiences, my reactions, and my hopes are all mediated through my canvas or my lens, and I find that for me it can't be any other way."

Some of Wood's work, including four 48" x 48" iceberg paintings, is currently on display in the group exhibit at the Mattatuck museum titled "Sea Change, See Change," running from January 21 to May 19, 2024.




Saturday, March 9, 2024, 2:00 pm / Daniel Corr

Music for classical guitar by Albert, Sor, Shand, Hasenöhrl, and Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and a new transcription of Forgotten Dreams by Leroy Anderson.
(Full / No Longer Taking Reservations 02.29.24)




March 17, 2024, 2:00 pm / Painter Cynthia Gillette

Woodbury artist Cynthia Gillette will present on her odyssey as a painter in a variety of media. Well-known in Woodbury for her support of local arts and her presence at summer Arts Walk events, Gillette is renowned for her sensitive renderings of animals and highly detailed, lifelike natural and architectural details in her work.

She says, "I am really enjoying the process in my painting at this time. My portraits of people and animals have led me to meet new wonderful people, and my travels have enriched the landscapes I see. I do observe all with a more critical, collective eye and due to this I plan my ideas with future compositions and new techniques in mind. Painting and designing are an evolving organic learning experience, albeit sometimes challenging, but they can also be so exciting. That is all inspiring to me."






April 7, 2024, 2:00 pm / Painter Melody Asbury

Woodbury artist Melody Asbury will share how she has come to explore the spirit of wild animals through painting. A signature member of the Society of Animal Artists, Asbury is an accomplished painter admired for her intimate portrayal of animals. Her love of painting animals came after a lengthy career as a portrait and courtroom sketch artist for TV. She says, "Growing up with an artist mother, I had a paintbrush in my hand at a very early age. Art has always been a means of expression, of focusing attention on what I feel is important. It is a lifelong journey with many different paths I have taken."


Note: The presentations are free and open to the public. However, reservations are required. Contact the Foundation at leroyandersonfoundation@gmail.com to reserve seats.






Sunday, May 5, 2024, 2:00 pm / Yale String Quartet

Yaira Matyakubova, violin 1, Gregory Tompkins, violin 2, Riana Heath, viola, Philip Boulanger, cello; Indoor concert to include Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" Quartet, and more to be announced.



Saturday, May 18, 2024, 3:00 pm / Hampton Trio

Mark Davis, mandolin, Beverly Davis, classical guitar, Robert Margo, madola in G; Indoor concert to include Baroque to Contemporary music arranged by the Hampton Trio. Complete program to be announced.

Check back for details which will be posted here in coming days and weeks.





Saturday, June 8, 2024, 3:00 pm / The Deming String Quartet

Larry Deming and Claudia Tondi, violins, Yaroslav Kargin, viola, Mary Costanza, cello. Program to be announced.

Check back for details which will be posted here in coming days and weeks.

Note: For all concerts at the Leroy Anderson House, admission is free but email reservations are required. For outdoor concerts, bring your own folding chair and sit anywhere on the lawn that you like. The acoustics are excellent no matter where you sit.




No programs in July.






Saturday, August, 2024, 3:00 pm / Candlewood Brass Quintet
Date, time and program to be announced.





Saturday, September 2024, 3:00 pm / Westfarms Quartet
Date, time and program to be announced.




Music from the Leroy Anderson House

STRINGS AT A COMPOSER'S HOME
by Howard Fielding
Sept. 12, 2022

Leroy Anderson was the mid-century modern composer whose home in Woodbury, Connecticut was appropriately Mid-Century Modern. The house is owned by the composer's family foundation and is open on select weekends as a museum of his life and legacy. Several times a year, the home hosts concerts as part of a series. Usually these are outdoors on the lawn, but some more intimate performances have been in the living room around the composer's piano.

Westfarms Quartet by Marc Russell
Westfarms Quartet at Leroy Anderson House 2022 - photo by Marc Russell

The performance by the Westfarms Quartet that was originally scheduled for June took place Saturday, September 10, 2022. The Connecticut-based quartet features regulars Mike Winer, violin, and Dylan Lomangino, viola. On Saturday, they were joined by Selah Kwak on violin and Kaila Piscitelli on cello.

The Leroy Anderson House is in a quiet residential neighborhood perfect for an afternoon concert. Acoustics were fine for the nuanced performance of Mendelssohn's Quartet No. 2 in A Minor Op. 13 and Haydn's "Sunrise" Quartet No. 63 in Bb Major, Op. 76, No. 4. The quartet was accompanied only by the birds and crickets of the surrounding woods.

The quartet performed Anderson's "Blue Tango" as an encore, much as the Boston Pops would with the composer's works at the end of a concert. "Blue Tango," Anderson's first big hit, sounds quite different when played by a string quartet but still delighted the audience.

Afterward, a newcomer to the concert series described the afternoon as "a little bit of Tanglewood" - which is exactly what it was meant to be.

Tanglewoodbury. It sort of has a ring to it, doesn't it?

Howard Fielding
Blog: Living Here Together
Photo: Marc Russell