News & Events

The Amherst College Department of Music presents The 9th Dimension, an extraterrestrial visitation and music thesis featuring the sounds of a psyched-out, fuzzed-up electric guitar, polyphonic membranophones, synthetically altered claviers, a subspace bass guitar and a horn section abducted from Amherst College’s finest. Composed, performed and directed by Samuel Croff III '19E, this performance is free and open to the public, with seating by general admission.

For almost a year, astronomers have been tracking what initially appeared to be a comet harmlessly passing through our solar system. It was only when said comet diverted course and began approaching Earth at high speed that it was discovered to in fact be a space-faring vessel of unknown origin. Keeping the truth under wraps until now, scientists and astronomers have been working around the clock to determine as much as they can before our intergalactic guests arrive. Though much is still a mystery, they have been able to determine a few things: First, through the use of long-range scanners, strange sonic fluctuations have been detected emanating from the vessel. Initially mistaken to be a form of language, these fluctuations are now identified as instrumental vibrations, suggesting our guests are musical in nature. Second, based on their current speed and trajectory, their arrival seems set for Friday, Nov. 2. All who are interested in making first contact with this new musical species are urged to gather that Friday, Nov. 2, at 7 p.m. in the Buckley Recital Hall in the Arms Music Center at Amherst College for what will surely be a night to remember.

M@A Masterclass: Gabriela Montero, piano. This event is free and open to the public.

Pianist Gabriela Montero’s visionary interpretations and unique improvisational gifts have garnered her critical acclaim and a devoted following on the world stage.

A graduate and fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London, Montero has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Royal Liverpool, Rotterdam, Dresden, Oslo, Vienna Radio and Netherlands Radio philharmonic orchestras; the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Zürcher Kammerorchester, Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Australian Chamber Orchestra; the Pittsburgh, Detroit, Houston, Atlanta, Toronto, Baltimore, Vienna, City of Birmingham, Barcelona, Lucerne, and Sydney symphony orchestras; the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada; Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn; and the Cleveland Orchestra, Scottish Ensemble, orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin, and Residentie Orkest.

“Montero’s playing had everything: crackling rhythmic brio, subtle shadings, steely power ... soulful lyricism ... unsentimental expressivity.” –Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times

Pianist Gabriela Montero’s visionary interpretations and unique improvisational gifts have garnered her critical acclaim and a devoted following on the world stage.

A graduate and fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London, Montero has performed with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the Royal Liverpool, Rotterdam, Dresden, Oslo, Vienna Radio, and Netherlands Radio philharmonic orchestras; the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg, NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Zürcher Kammerorchester, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and Australian Chamber Orchestra; the Pittsburgh, Detroit, Houston, Atlanta, Toronto, Baltimore, Vienna, City of Birmingham, Barcelona, Lucerne, and Sydney symphony orchestras; the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada, Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, and the Cleveland Orchestra, Scottish Ensemble, orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin, and Residentie Orkest.

“Montero’s playing had everything: crackling rhythmic brio, subtle shadings, steely power . . . soulful lyricism . . . unsentimental expressivity.” –Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times

Program:
Robert Schumann: Kinderszenen, Op. 15 (18 minutes)
Chick Corea: Selections from Children’s Songs (16 minutes)
Gabriela Montero: Scenes from Childhood: “Morning in Caracas,” “Wild Parrots,” “The Swing,” “Missing Home” and “My Mother’s Lullaby” (15 minutes)
Dmitri Shostakovich: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B Minor, Op. 61 (29 minutes)
Gabriela Montero: Improvisations

Tickets go on sale two weeks before each performance. Evening box office opens one hour prior to concert begin. Free Amherst Student rush tickets are available on the night of the performance.

Ticket website: https://amherst.universitytickets.com

Chamber Series:
General public: $28
Senior citizens (65+) and Amherst College employees: $22
Students, with valid ID: $12
Amherst Student Rush tickets on the night of the performance: FREE

The Amherst College Choral Society presents its annual Homecoming concert on Saturday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m. in Buckley Recital Hall of Arms Music Center. The performance, conducted by Dr. Arianne Abela and Assistant Conductor Ellen Mutter '18, includes music by Shawn Kirchner, Sydney Guillaume, György Ligeti, Ēriks Ešenvalds and Veljo Tormis. The concert concludes with traditional Amherst songs.

Tickets may be purchased only at the door. Tickets are $10 for the general public; $5 for senior citizens, students with ID and children under 12; and free to Amherst and all Five College students with ID.

Music Department Workshop for Non-Majors and Majors

Do you think about music? Are you interested in music but haven’t played an instrument or taken a music course? Are you an experienced performer or composer? This is the music workshop series for you! Thinking about music takes many forms. It could mean performing and composing, or developing historical and cultural research into specific forms of music or using software to make or analyze music. Sponsored by the Music Department, this series is open to all and offers the campus community different models for thinking about and doing music. Paired with the Music Department Tea Time (which takes place at 4:30 p.m. and immediately follows the workshop), the workshop series is an exciting low-pressure way of expanding your understanding of music.

Terry Jenoure (musician, visual artist, writer and educator) was born and raised in the South Bronx, New York into a Puerto Rican and Jamaican family. As a violinist, vocalist and composer, she began music studies at the age of seven and attended the High School of Music and Art in New York City. She was a protégé of major free jazz innovators within the Black Arts Movement. Terry has exhibited her artwork at the London Bienelle, as well as in Germany, Cameroon, Italy and Brussels. Her mixed-media figures are featured at the Smithsonian Museum Shop in Washington, D.C. Her first book NAVIGATORS: African American Musicians, Dancers, and Visual Artists in Academe is published by SUNY Press. Also to her credit are numerous essays addressing arts-based research, cultural identity and performance practice as well as a recently completed novel. Terry holds a master's and a doctoral degree in education, a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and was on the graduate faculty at Lesley University for 18 years. She has been a keynote speaker at international conferences and has trained community leaders in the field of arts for social change in Mexico, India, Colombia and South Africa. Terry has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. For the past twenty-five years, Terry has served as the Director of Augusta Savage Art Gallery at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Contact Info
Jason Robinson
(413) 542-8208
jrobinson@amherst.edu