Concerts and Events

The Amherst College Department of Music presents an honors thesis in composition, "Reasons to Leave", by Sebastian Son '22. The performance takes place Saturday, February 5 at 7 PM in Buckley Recital Hall in the Arms Music Center at Amherst College. The concert is FREE. Please see the AC COVID-19 information on this website for up-to-date COVID protocols; seating is by general admission. For those unable to attend in person, we recommend tuning in to the FREE Music Department Event Live Stream.

"Reasons to Leave" chronicles the voices of ordinary people on the brink of a huge decision - a rocket ship is leaving the Earth, and each of them must find their own reasons to board it and leave forever. Through a musical journey of folk, rock, pop, and Broadway songs, Son creates a world of mystery, longing, regret, and sudden hope, with music and lyrics that capture the beauty of the human spirit.

For a complete listing of upcoming Amherst College Department of Music events, see: www.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/music/events.

Jean Jeffries, horn, is joined by the Wistaria Quartet in a program of music for horn and strings, including two world premieres in Buckley Recital Hall, Arms Music Center, on the Amherst College campus.

Admission is free; no tickets are required. For audience permissions and the most recent COVID protocols, please see this link: https://www.amherst.edu/mm/654269

Off-campus audience are invited to view the live-stream:
https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/departments/music/events/event-live...

The centerpiece of the program is the premiere of Quintet for Horn and Strings (2020) by Amherst College professor Eric Sawyer, winner of the The American Prize for best opera in 1998. Also on the program is the premiere of Quintet for Horn and Strings (Dec. 2021) by composer Geoffrey Hudson, Lyric for Strings by George Walker, and the Mozart Horn Quintet.

The Wistaria Quartet is comprised of Sarah Briggs and Kaila Graef, violins, Gregory Diehl, viola, and Wayne Smith, cello.

The first of three Thursday evening performances in the popular Jazz @ Schwemm's series which is now in the Friedmann room in the Keefe Campus Center on the Amherst College campus. The featured group TBD. Free. Public access pending the most current College COVID protocols. Thanks to Student Activities and Jazz @ Amherst for their continued support of the series.

The Amherst Symphony Orchestra (ASO) presents its first of three concerts during spring term: Drama & Dance: Sibelius & Beethoven. Amherst College senior virtuoso Marie Leou '22 is soloist in the fiery Violin Concerto in D minor by Finnish master Jean Sibelius. The concert also features Beethoven's Seventh Symphony in A major, his "apotheosis of the dance."

The concert is free, but in-person attendance is governed by prevailing Amherst College Covid-19 protocols: https://www.amherst.edu/mm/654269

The series of three Thursday evening performances in the popular Jazz @ Friedmann series continues in the Friedmann room in the Keefe Campus Center on the Amherst College campus. The featured group TBD. Free. Public access pending the most current College COVID protocols. Thanks to Student Activities and Jazz @ Amherst for their continued support of the series.

Proclaimed “a phenomenon” by the Los Angeles Times and “one of the best pianists of his generation” by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Stewart Goodyear is an accomplished concerto soloist, chamber musician, recitalist and composer.

Mr. Goodyear has performed with major orchestras of the world, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Bournemouth Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, MDR Symphony Orchestra (Leipzig), Montreal Symphony and Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

Program
Jennifer Higdon: Secret and Glass Gardens
Anthony Davis: Middle Passage
Stewart Goodyear: Phoenix
Debussy: La Cathedral Engloutie; Masques, L'Isle Joyeuse
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition

Mr. Goodyear appears in Buckley Recital Hall, in the Arms Music Building on the Amherst College Campus. Admission is free; no tickets are required. For audience permissions and the most recent COVID protocols, please see this link: https://www.amherst.edu/mm/654269

M@A performing artist Stewart Goodyear works with Amherst pianists on their craft in an open masterclass on the Buckley stage in the Arms Music Building. Come learn about artistry at the highest level, and decide for yourself how to apply the lessons to your own work–musical or otherwise.

Proclaimed “a phenomenon” by the Los Angeles Times and “one of the best pianists of his generation” by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Stewart Goodyear is an accomplished concerto soloist, chamber musician, recitalist and composer.

Mr. Goodyear has performed with major orchestras of the world, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Bournemouth Symphony, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, MDR Symphony Orchestra (Leipzig), Montreal Symphony and Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

The last of three Thursday evening performances in the popular Jazz @ Friedmann series takes place in the Friedmann room in the Keefe Campus Center on the Amherst College campus. The featured group TBD. Free. Public access pending the most current College COVID protocols. Thanks to Student Activities and Jazz @ Amherst for their continued support of the series.

Music at Amherst performing artist Dr. Brainerd Blyden-Taylor works with Amherst singers on their craft in an open masterclass on the Buckley stage in the Arms Music Building.

Come learn about artistry at the highest level, and decide for yourself how to apply the lessons to your own work, musical or otherwise.

Dr. Brainerd Blyden-Taylor is the founder, artistic director and conductor of The Nathaniel Dett Chorale, Canada’s first professional chamber choir dedicated to the creation and performance of Afrocentric music of all styles. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, Mr. Blyden-Taylor immigrated to Canada in 1973. He founded The Chorale in 1998, in response to a musical void in Canada; there had never before been a professional ensemble dedicated to the dissemination of Afrocentric choral music. The response that The Chorale has received in Canada and the United States since its inception has certainly given credence to Mr. Blyden-Taylor’s vision.

The Nathaniel Dett Chorale is Canada’s first professional choral group dedicated to Afrocentric music of all styles, including classical, spiritual, gospel, jazz, folk and blues. The 21 classically trained outstanding vocalists of the Nathaniel Dett Chorale have shared the stage with internationally recognized artists such as the Juno Award-winning jazz pianist Joe Sealy, singers Molly Johnson and Jackie Richardson, and opera star Kathleen Battle and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The ensemble has performed for such luminaries as opera singer Jessye Norman and Dance Theatre of Harlem founder Arthur Mitchell. The Chorale has performed at events honoring world leaders Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, personality Muhammad Ali and pianist Oscar Peterson, and was the only Canadian ensemble invited to perform as part of the celebrations surrounding the historic inauguration of President Barack Obama in January 2009.

The multifaceted vocalists of the Chorale, whose talent stretches beyond the traditional expectations of a classical chamber choir, seek to broaden their vision to include all styles and genres of music, from classical to jazz, folk, blues and popular music, as appropriate to the traditions of the African Diaspora.

The artists appear in Buckley Recital Hall in a FREE performance. For the most up-to-date COVID protocols, please search COVID-19 here on the AC website.