CONCERT / EVENT CALENDAR > 2024

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.

Music for classical guitar by Albert, Sor, Shand, Hasenöhrl, and Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and a new transcription of Forgotten Dreams by Leroy Anderson.

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."

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."

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. PROGRAM + Biographies pdf

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.

Larry Deming and Claudia Tondi, violins, Yaroslav Kargin, viola, Patricia Smith, cello. Program will include music by Ellington, Gershwin, Ives, J. Mitchell, T. Monk, W.G. Still and Larry Deming. The members of the quartet have performed in many orchestras and ensembles including the Danbury, New Haven, Hartford and Springfield Symphony Orchestras, Orchestra New England, Yale Camerata and the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra. Rain date: Saturday, June 15, 2024 at 3 pm.

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.

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.

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

Also visit the official website for Leroy Anderson maintained by his family.