Celebrate Love, Resilience And Mardi Gras With The Music School

Press release from Concord Community Music School:

Concord Community Music School is excited to announce an updated February concert schedule. Our February Bach’s Lunch Concert features songs about love with Peggo, Paul, and Ariana Hodes and Kent Allyn (February 9), and the lecture, led by music therapist Julieann Hartley, highlights music for resilience (February 16). Jazz lovers can get in the Mardi Gras spirit with the Soggy Po’ Boys on February 16, featuring music school faculty and alumni.

Bach’s Lunch Concert: “Until the End of Time”

Thursday, February 9, 12:10 – 12:50 p.m.

Join Peggo and Paul Hodes for their traditional Valentine’s Day Bach’s Lunch, featuring their longtime collaborator Kent Allyn and their daughter Ariana, an alum of CCMS and Nashville-based singer-songwriter. The ensemble will also honor two folk legends who recently passed by performing “Roseville Fair” by Bill Staines, and a medley from our very own Dave Surette (and Susie Burke), “Give Me One More Day” and “Time Marches On.”

Bach’s Lunch Lecture: “Music for Resilience”

Thursday, February 16, 12:10 – 12:50 p.m.

In this lecture, music therapist Julieann Hartley will share how we can use music to develop emotional and physical resilience using basic music therapy principles. Note: This lecture was rescheduled from February 2.

Bach’s Lunch programs are free and open to the public, and usually take place from 12:10 p.m. to 12:50 p.m. on the first and second Thursdays of each month, October through June, in the Music School’s Recital Hall, 23 Wall Street, downtown Concord. No need to RSVP – just show up!

Soggy Po’ Boys

Thursday, February 16, 7 – 8:30 p.m.

Admission: $15

There’s no better way to get in the Mardi Gras mindset than with the Soggy Po’ Boys, performing in the Music School Recital Hall and featuring CCMS faculty member Eric Klaxton and former CCMS faculty and alumni Scott Kiefner. Tickets can be purchased online at ccmusicschool.org, by calling us at (603) 228-1196 or in person at the Music School.

About the Artists

Peggo Horstmann Hodes holds an M.A. in Elementary Education from Lesley College and an M.M. in Vocal Pedagogy from the New England Conservatory. She has been a soloist with the New Hampshire Symphony, Granite State Symphony, Concord Chorale, and the Musicians of Wall Street, and has premiered works written for her by William Fletcher and Thomas Oboe Lee. Her recordings as part of the duo Peggo and Paul have received Parent’s Choice Awards.

Julieann Hartley, MT-BC, NMT and NTP is a board-certified music therapist, nature educator, illustrator and children's musician. After obtaining degrees in both music therapy and psychology, she graduated from Anna Maria College as valedictorian. Throughout her career as a community music therapist in New Hampshire, she has worked with many different populations, but has found a particular passion for helping children and families who have experienced trauma. Her album, "Therapeutic Songs for Kids" won a 2019 Parents' Choice award. She is currently recovering from a neurological infection, and focusing on putting together content for other therapists, teachers and parents to be able to help children develop the resilience skills they need to overcome life's inevitable challenges. Besides music, she has an interest in hiking (she completed the Appalachian Trail in 2015), rock climbing and nutrition (she is also certified as a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner).

The Soggy Po’ Boys (Stu Dias – Vocals/Guitar, Eric Klaxton – Clarinet/Sop. Sax, Josh Gagnon – Trombone, Nick Mainella – Tenor Sax, Mike Effenberger – Piano, Brian Waterhouse – Drums, Scott Kiefner – Bass), native to New England, have quickly become an institution. They are spreading the good news of New Orleans music across the northeast and beyond, playing at concert halls and street corners; music festivals and burlesque festivals; bars and libraries; wherever the party requires. Part of the beauty of New Orleans music is that it’s celebrated and appreciated wherever it goes, from the street to the theater.

The Po’ Boys formed in 2012 to shake the walls of a local club on a Fat Tuesday but have honed their sound and become more than a Mardi Gras centerpiece. Exploring the vast musical traditions of New Orleans and expanding their repertoire to look beyond NOLA jazz, the band includes traditional Caribbean tunes (it’s been said that New Orleans is the northernmost city in the Caribbean), as well as Meters funk, soul, and brass band / street beat music. You’ll hear the heavy influence of the New Orleans sound across the band and in the stories told by their original tunes. Despite the scope of its sound, the outfit is only seven people, and thrives on the interplay and group dynamics that bring this music to life.

This press release was produced by Concord Community Music School. The views expressed here are the author's own.