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***** This event is free and open to the public. |
The First Congregational Church, 801 Bushnell St., in Beloit, will be the venue for a concert series on three Sunday afternoons in May and early June.
On Sunday, May 4, Travis Barrett and Kenneth Blaine will share the stage and perform music by Handel, Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Debussy and David Diamond. Both performers will be graduating from Beloit College in May.
Barrett, a tenor from Richardson, Texas, has appeared in musical theatre productions and concerts at Beloit College and in the community. He performed tenor solo in the Messiah in Eaton Chapel last December and had a starring role in The Mikado with the Beloit Janesville Symphony last February. He is a student of Professor Eudora Shepherd at Beloit College and a regular member of the First Congregational Church Choir.
Barrett will be accompanied by pianist, David Newman.
Blaine, a pianist from Kendall Park, N.J., was the student soloist with the Beloit Janesville Symphony last March in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, first movement. He has also performed on Wisconsin Public Radio’s Sunday Afternoon Live and has been a regular pianist in the music program at Second Congregational Church. He is a student of Beloit College professor of music Renato Premezzi.
On Sunday, May 18, Max H. Yount, director of music and organist for the church and longtime professor of music at Beloit College, will present a program of baroque music on the large Rieger-Kloss organ and on the harpsichord. Yount will play two organ canticles by Buxtehude, three harpsichord pieces by Frescobaldi and Froberger and two favorite organ fugues of J. S. Bach.
The series will conclude on Sunday, June 8, with a piano recital by David Newman, an outstanding pianist who has recently relocated to Beloit. Newman is listed in Who’s Who Among American Keyboard Artists and has pursued his professional musical life in Chicago, New York and London. Receiving a scholarship for study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, England, he studied with Edith Vogel and Joan Havill and earned the highest performing honor, the Concert Recital Diploma. He has served as studio accompanist for a number of famous musicians, including Bernard Greenhouse, the cellist for the Beaux Arts Trio. Newman will perform an unusual piece by contemporary composer Philip Glass while also presenting traditional piano music, including Beethoven’s late sonata, Opus 109.
All concerts begin on their respective Sundays at 4 p.m., and all performances are open to the public and free of admission. A freewill offering will be taken to help the artists with expenses and to guarantee future music events. For more information, call Max Yount 608-363-2387.