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Thank you for celebrating 40 years of music education with IMSCC!

We hope you have enjoyed the performances we shared in celebration from some of our talented faculty and students. Here’s to 40 more years!

December 18th: NOR Trio Sargis Karapetyan, violin; Andrei Sobchenko; saxophone, Nune Hakobyan, piano: Finale, from Suite for Trio by Alexander Arutiunian

Alexander Arutiunian composed the Suite for Trio in 1992. We are playing our transcription for violin, saxophone and piano. This movement is based on an Armenian dance tune, Kochari, full of strength and optimism. The music of the suite is very Armenian, deeply emotional and expressive, reflecting the tremendous difficulties the country was going through after the 1988 earthquake and during the ongoing war in the early 1990s. Sadly, today history repeats itself, and once again Armenia is in danger, fighting against aggression and international terrorism. Imagine how much more good music could be created if there was peace. God help us all and music be in our hearts.

Click here for Finale, from Suite for Trio

December 11th: Andrew Arceci, electric bass, with guest artist Robert Schultz, percussion

“Groove” with demonstrations: cajon, conga & bongos, and drum set
Andrew Arceci, electric bass & Robert Schulz, percussion

December 4th: Andrew Sorg, trumpet: “Abblasen” Fanfare

“Abblasen” is a trumpet fanfare attributed to Gottfried Reiche, which has been used as the CBS Sunday Morning news theme at 9 AM for decades. To commemorate Reiche’s 60th birthday, he was honored with a portrait of himself, holding a scrap of paper with two lines of melody written on it. “Abblasen” is a reconstruction of what appears to be on the manuscript in the painting of Reiche.

November 20th: Debbie Levine, clarinet: Rhapsody for Solo Clarinet by Willson Osborne

Discovering new repertoire is always a delight, and I have just recently become acquainted with this lyrical and pensive piece, written in 1958 by American composer Willson Osborne, written for an unaccompanied solo voice. First composed for bassoon, it was later adapted by the composer for the clarinet and works beautifully for the instrument, exploiting all the tone colors in the clarinet spectrum. The unaccompanied Rhapsody lends itself perfectly to this unique moment in time when musicians all over the world are necessarily finding ways to make music in isolation (and looking forward to the joyous time when we can make music together again!)

November 13th: Andrew Arceci, baroque bass, with Winchendon Music Festival artists: Selections from “Cessate, omai cessate” by Antonio Vivaldi

Andrew Arceci & Winchendon Music Festival artists: Randall Scotting, countertenor; Asako Takeuchi, baroque violin; Danilo Bonina, baroque violin; Anna Griffis, baroque viola; Sarah Freiberg, baroque cello; Andrew Arceci, baroque bass, direction; William Simms, lute & theorbo

November 6th: Jon Amon, saxophone: Improvisation 3 by Ryo Noda

Improvisation 3 (1972) was composed by Japanese saxophonist and composer Ryo Noda. His compositions often combine elements of French contemporary music  – which he studied at the prestigious Bordeaux Conservatory – and elements of traditional Japanese music.  This piece strongly evokes the style of the shakuhachi, a Japanese end-blown flute. The score is meticulously notated with glissandi, grace notes, and quarter tones to indicate shakuhachi-like effects, but the performer does not improvise. Rather, it should be performed with the character of an improvisation.

October 30th: Marisa Ih, clarinet & recent IMSCC alum, with guest artist Naomi Yamaguchi, piano: Fantasiestücke, Op. 73: Zart und mit Ausdruck by Robert Schumann

Students Marisa Ih and Naomi Yamaguchi collaborated on this remotely recorded performance of Robert Schumann’s Fantasiestucke (Fantasy Pieces). Marisa recorded the clarinet part, then Naomi recorded the piano part while listening to Marisa’s recording, and put the tracks together. Marisa says, “Music has always been a passion in my life and there is nothing quite like the collaboration that comes with playing with other people. The pandemic made it impossible for musicians to rehearse and perform together, and that is something that I cannot wait to experience again.” Naomi says, “While staying at home during the pandemic, I found the joy of making videos with my musician friends from around the world to share music virtually.”

October 23rd: Andy Papas, baritone: House at Pooh Corner by Kenny Loggins

House at Pooh Corner takes us back to happier times in the world, and reminds us that there’s always another adventure around the corner! Winnie the Pooh was my favorite stuffed animal growing up, and as I’m still a lover of all things “Bear”, Kenny Loggins’ fantastic folky-tune felt like the perfect thing to sing to brighten up a cloudy day. As a proud voice instructor, I want to wish a very Happy Anniversary to IMSCC!

October 16th: Andrew Arceci, viola da gamba, with Winchendon Music Festival artists: “Northfield” by Jeremiah Ingalls

Asako Takeuchi, baroque violin; Danilo Bonina, baroque violin; Scott Metcalfe, baroque violin & baroque viola; Andrew Arceci, viola da gamba (viol), direction; Anney Barrett, soprano; Margaret Lias, alto; Michael Barrett, tenor; Jacob Cooper, baritone; John McKean, harpsichord; Sylvia Berry, fortepiano
Jeremiah Ingalls was an early American composer and part of the First New England School. The precursor to the modern bass, the viol (viola da gamba) is a 6 or 7-string instrument––like a bowed guitar.

October 9th: Jon Amon, saxophone: Flamenco sin límites by Jaime Fatas

Flamenco sin límites was written by saxophonist Jaime Fatas. This work reflects a style of flamenco singing championed by flamenco cantadores, who experimented with new modes of flamenco expression,including use of new instruments like flute, zither, and moog synthesizer, and by incorporating elements of rock and classical music. This composition melds cante flamenco style containing phrases of varying character, free interpretation, and melodic tension with contrasting passages somewhat reminiscent of Debussy (using whole tone collections) and with quarter tones and bisbigliando (timbre changes) idiomatic to the saxophone.

Click here for Flamenco sin límites.

October 2nd: Andrew Sorg, trumpet: Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture

Andrew says, “This performance of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture was recorded remotely by The Vermont Symphony Orchestra. I did the audio engineering for the project using Logic Pro X and also played one of the 2nd trumpet parts. This means, 58 players emailed me a recording of their part, alone at home, and I put them all together to create the music!”

Click here for 1812 Overture.