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Local music students will be featured onstage at the Midsummer Festival

07/08/15

On Friday, July 24, 2015, join us for a concert at the Flo Gris on the banks of the Lieutenant River for a glorious evening of American music by Manhattan Brass, presented by Musical Masterworks.   This concert celebrates the beginning of our 25th Anniversary Season.

Hailed as a Critic’s Pick in Time Out New York magazine, the award winning Manhattan Brass is best known for its innovative programming, dynamic performances, varied, eye-opening repertoire, and commitment to educating audiences of all ages about live music and the brass idiom. The nearly 25-year-old ensemble is an amalgam of individual virtuoso musicians, each bringing to the table their unique experience and vision. Comfortable in every genre from Gesualdo to jazz, the quintet is intent on taking brass ensemble playing to another level and bringing their audience with them.

This very special evening will feature shoreline students showcasing their musical talents by joining Manhattan Brass onstage for the opening piece of the evening, Arron Copland’s powerful Fanfare for the Common Man. This will be one of those “You should’ve been there” moments that Musical Masterworks concerts are so well known for now.

Students participating will be:

Trumpets:

  • John Freer: Old Lyme: University of Connecticut
  • Andrew Ganey: Old Lyme: Boston University

Horns:

  • Joshua Chang: Old Saybrook: Old Saybrook High School
  • Tasha Joshy: Old Lyme: Lyme Old Lyme High School and Community Music School
  • Abigail Cipparone; Old Lyme High School and Yale

Trombone:

  • Colton Kinney: Deep River: Valley Regional High School
  • Brian Buttrick; Old Lyme: Ithaca College

Tuba:

  • Hugh Cipparone: Old Lyme: Bowdoin College

Percussion:

  • Benedict Stevens: Chester: University of Connecticut
  • Ashleigh Benedict: Clinton: Mercy High School and Community Music School
  • Austin Pilgrim: Lyme Old Lyme High School

The concert is generously sponsored by Essex Wellness Center, Cynthia and George Willauer and Centerbrook Architects and Planners. The evening is underwritten by All Pro Tire Automotive, The Graybill Family, and Salon Pure.

It’s fitting that Musical Masterworks celebrates the beginning of its 25th season on the grounds of the Florence Griswold Museum. In 1990 the Museum’s assistant treasurer, Jamie Murphy, and a group of friends who were musicians and loyal arts patrons inaugurated a music program and produced several concerts at the Florence Griswold Museum associated with the then new Midsummer Festivals. The series that grew from those summer evenings and became one of Connecticut’s most noted music series, Musical Masterworks, as we know it today.

We hope you can join us!