Music on the Hill offers premieres in Cranston June 7 and 9

Music on the Hill offers two concerts in Cranston this June, both with exciting East Coast premieres. Tickets are $25, at Eventbrite or at the door (cash and check only). Students are admitted free with ID. Masks are required for all. More information is at musiconthehillRI.org.

June 9's concert spotlights Rhode Island composers, with a major premiere: The Baldwin Sonata by Anthony R. Green, a monumental piece inspired by the life and legacy of revered American writer and activist James Baldwin (1924-1987). Hailed as "a classical composer to watch in 2022...prolific...dynamic and unpredictable" by The Washington Post, Anthony R. Green is a composer, performer, and social justice artist. Pianist Jason Hardink commissioned Anthony to create The Baldwin Sonata. Both men grew up in Rhode Island, and now live in Utah and the Netherlands, respectively.

After The Baldwin Sonata's world premiere in March, The Utah Review praised it as "Epic... [with] an incredible amount of spaciousness...a mountain of musical material...which Hardink captured in every instance. Of special note was the second movement, a tremendously effective musical rendering of a 1951 short story..." Composer Anthony R. Green writes: "The totality of the material combined with my compositional commentary and contribution assays to communicate powerful messages that can only be transmitted through music performance, while staying true to Baldwin’s power and vision. Lastly, it is my sincere hope that those listening who have not read any Baldwin, have read very little Baldwin, or are not very familiar with him will be challenged and inspired to examine his power individually and grow into better world citizens for the sake of the entire human family."

The creative output of Anthony R. Green (composer, performer, social justice artist) includes musical and visual creations, interpretations of original, contemporary, and repertoire works, collaborations, educational outreach, and more. Behind all his artistic endeavors are the ideals of equality and freedom. His projects have been presented in 25+ countries across six continents by various internationally acclaimed soloists and ensembles. A 2021 Fromm Music Foundation commission recipient, Green has received numerous fellowships, grants, awards, and residencies, including at the perfocraZe International Artist Residency (Kumasi, Ghana) and the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts (Omaha, NE), among others. As a performer specializing in piano, experimental voice, and performance, Green has presented projects in ten countries across four continents. Green’s most important social justice work has been with Castle of our Skins: celebrating Black Artistry through Music. Green was born in Virginia but raised in Providence, RI.

The New York Times praised Jason Hardink's 2019 Carnegie Hall debut, playing with “abandon and remarkable clarity” and a “capacity for tenderness and grace”. Raised in Smithfield, Jason returns to Music on the Hill for the first time since 2018 to share The Baldwin Sonata with us.

Also on the June 9 program is a local premiere by Providence composer Edith Hemenway. Ms. Hemeneway has written many art songs, chamber works and operas; her work is featured on a 2019 CD. A Child's Garden: Six Poems by Robert Louis Stevenson was originally planned for Music on the Hill's 2020 festival. It will be performed by soprano Diana McVey, clarinetist Kathleen Costello, and Jason Hardink, piano.

The June 7 concert features more premieres, two intriguing pieces for vibraphone. Percussionist Peter Ferry will present the East Coast premiere of Bloom Balloon by Ayanna Woods, and Parkland, which Marc Mellitts wrote for Peter after that terrible school shooting. Called "the ingenious percussionist Peter Ferry" (Chicago Sun-Times), and “an artist of vision... presenting percussion in a stunning thoughtful way” (Democrat and Chronicle), Peter was born and raised in Providence and now lives in Chicago.

Ayanna Woods is a Grammy-nominated performer, composer and bandleader from Chicago. Her music explores the spaces between acoustic and electronic, traditional and esoteric, wildly improvisational and mathematically rigorous. A collaborator across genres and forms, her work spans new music, theater, film scoring, arranging, songwriting, and improvisation. She earned her B.A. in music from Yale University. Woods has been commissioned by Third Coast Percussion, Chanticleer, The Crossing, the Percussive Arts Society, Manual Cinema, Lorelei ensemble, the Chicago Children’s Choir, Boston Children’s Choir, and Chicago Chamber Choir. Her music appears in a range of film and theater projects. She continues to tour the U.S. and Canada with Manual Cinema as a bassist and music director. Ms. Woods notes: "In Bloom Balloon, I was interested in exploring the vibraphone’s rich capacity for gradation. I returned often to the image of a dandelion seed leaving the plant—both modular and smooth, subtractive and generative. The title is a play on the image of a dandelion seed, and an onomatopoeia for clustered sounds drifting apart."

Composer Marc Mellits is one of the leading American composers of his generation, enjoying hundreds of performances throughout the world every year, making him one of the most performed living composers in the United States. From Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, to prestigious music festivals in Europe and the US, Mellits’s music is a constant mainstay on programs throughout the world. His unique musical style is an eclectic combination of driving rhythms, soaring lyricism, and colorful orchestrations that all combine to communicate directly with the listener. He started composing very early, and was writing piano music long before he started formal piano lessons at age 6. He went on to study at the Eastman School of Music, Yale School of Music, Cornell University, and Tanglewood. Of Parkland, composed for Peter Ferry, Mellits says: "I composed Parkland directly on the marvelous vibraphone of my good friend, Peter Ferry: all of the music came from the instrument itself. The vibraphone is stunning to me in that it writes music almost by itself just by striking its resonant metallic bars. It provided the perfect tone for the music I wanted to create; I tried to capture the sound that the instrument was instinctively showing me. I composed Parkland during the immediate aftermath of the February 14, 2018, school shooting that took place at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Florida... I wanted to write music that was a memorial to the victims of the Parkland community; my idea was to try to create something beautiful out of the horror of that day. It is music that is direct, largely quiet, and lives in a stretched-out moment of time that combines ethereal fear, solitude, sadness, patience, and resolve into a tribute to a community that was forced to bear a burden they should never have had to witness."

Music on the Hill's 2022 Festival: May 29 - June 12

Music on the Hill invites audiences to share seven chamber music concerts as summer begins, in four Ocean State cities. Masterworks by Brahms and Beethoven are performed with less familiar, undiscovered music, including commissions and local premieres. The ensemble of 21 artists includes many musicians born and raised in Rhode Island, and three featured composers were born in the Ocean State. Tickets are just $25 at the door (cash & checks only) and free for students with I.D. The one-hour concerts are performed without intermission. For our indoor concerts, masks are required for all. For information and tickets, visit www.musiconthehillri.org.

LAWN CONCERT WITH NARRAGANSETT BRASS QUINTET

Sunday, May 29, 3:00 pm

Clouds Hill Victorian House Museum, 4157 Post Rd, Warwick

A one-hour concert of brass music from four centuries, in a casual outdoor setting. Sensory-friendly, perfect for all ages and experiences. Please bring lawn chairs or blankets for seating on the lawn. Rain or shine -- in case of inclement weather, the concert will move under cover at Clouds Hill.

Joseph Foley, Richard Kelley, trumpets; Kevin Owen, horn; Alexei Doohovskoy, trombone; Thomas Gregory, tuba

MOVING VOICES

Wednesday, June 1, 7:00 pm

First Baptist Church, 30 Peirce Street, East Greenwich

Chamber music of Rossini, Hill, Wallen, Foote and Masso, for strings, flute, French horn and mezzo-soprano

Lori Phillips, soprano; Anthony Trionfo, flute; Kevin Owen, French Horn; Anton Miller and Kristen Pellegrino, violins; Rita Porfiris, viola; Elisa Kohanski and Trevor Handy, cellos; John M. Pellegrino, bass

TRIO TIME

Friday, June 3, 7:00 pm

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 99 Peirce Street, East Greenwich

Chamber music trios by Brahms, Kolm, and Schulhoff, for flute, clarinet, and strings

Anthony Trionfo, flute; Rita Porfiris, viola, John M. Pellegrino, bass; and IonSound Project: Kathleen Costello, clarinet; Elisa Kohanski, cello; Jack Kurutz, piano

A GREAT DAY FOR SINGING

Saturday, June 4, 2:00 pm

St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, 1413 Mineral Spring Ave, North Providence

“I Could Have Danced All Night” and other favorite show tunes by Rodgers & Hart, Bernstein, Sondheim, Porter, Gershwin, and Lerner & Loewe, with chamber music by Rachmaninoff and Klughardt for strings, oboe and piano

Diana McVey, soprano; Mary Phillips, mezzo-soprano; Bonnie Anderson, piano; Margaret Butler, oboe; Rita Porfiris, viola; Trevor Handy, cello

INSPIRATIONS

Tuesday, June 7, 7:00 pm

Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, 237 Garden Hills Drive, Cranston

Trios by Beethoven and Fabregas, with two new pieces for vibraphone

Peter Ferry, vibraphone; IonSound Trio: Kathleen Costello, clarinet; Elisa Kohanski, cello; Jack Kurutz, piano

RHODE ISLAND COMPOSERS

Thursday, June 9, 7:00 pm

Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, 237 Garden Hills Drive, Cranston

Edith Hemenway’s A Child's Garden, Six Poems by Robert Louis Stevenson (Northeast premiere) and Anthony R. Green’s The Baldwin Sonata (East Coast premiere)

Diana McVey, soprano; Kathleen Costello, clarinet; Jason Hardink, piano

VIOLIN VIRTUOSITY

Sunday, June 12, 3:00 pm

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 99 Peirce Street, East Greenwich

Brahms’ Violin Sonata No. 3 and more

Anton Miller, solo violin; Amy Sims, Kyra Davies, violins; Rita Porfiris, viola; Trevor Handy, cello; John M. Pellegrino, bass; Jason Hardink, piano

Concert details are subject to change. Please check www.musiconthehillRI.org for updates.

About Music on the Hill: Since 2008, Music on the Hill has welcomed thousands of chamber music lovers to concerts across Rhode Island, from our hometown of East Greenwich to Providence, Warwick, Cranston, Jamestown, Wickford, Westerly and more. Our ensemble includes professional musicians native to Rhode Island with international careers, as well as their friends and colleagues who have come to see Rhode Island as their home away from home, with many returning to the Ocean State each summer. Music on the Hill’s adventurous programs combine highlights of chamber music repertoire with less familiar gems. Concerts are offered in intimate venues where the audience sits up close to the action. Musicians play in a variety of ensembles in multiple concerts through the festival. Music on the Hill’s festival is made possible by support from The Carter Family Charitable Trust, The Aaron Roitman Fund for Chamber Music, and Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through the Rhode Island Culture, Humanities, and Arts Recovery Grant (RI CHARG) program. This program was made possible thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts via funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act.