COME ON DOWNTOWN THIS FRIDAY, JUNE 1

Downtown Brandon businesses are planning their second "First Friday" this Friday night, June 1. Lights will be kept on and doors open until 9 pm or later. "Our 'First Friday' in May was cheerful, fun, and relaxed. We are looking forward to this initiative gaining momentum and popularity as we move into the summer," said Beth Carr, Chamber President and downtown merchant. Everyone is invited to downtown Brandon to shop, eat, stroll, browse, socialize, and just enjoy the evening.

While all of downtown will be open, we've heard a few interesting tidbits:  

• Sheri's Diner will b featuring First Fondue Fridays... Cheese, Italian and Chocolate, come experience the 70's at Sheri's Diner from 5-8pm this Friday and every first Friday!
• Gourmet Provence will be offering free wine tasting from 5:30 - 8:30 pm.  
• The Inside Scoop has some new flavors recently come in for the season: Pistachio, Butter Pecan, Coconut Almond Fudge, Root Beer, and Mango Sorbet! Plus all the regulars! Open till 9 pm   

NEWS FROM THE   

Moon Over Buffalo performed by Brandon Town Players
June 1, 2, 3, 8 and 9

The Strong Man (1926)

Point CounterPoint's New Music on the Point Artists Perform at Brandon Music

Brandon Music in Brandon, Vermont, presents a series of chamber music performances by the New Music on the Point program of Point CounterPoint summer camp. On Monday, June 4 at 7pm, soloists Jennifer Beattie, mezzo-soprano, and Donna Loewy, piano, will present a Salon Concert at Brandon Music, featuring "All That Jazz" by Kathryn Alexander, "Chansons Innocentes" by Laura Schwendinger and other 20th century repertoire. The following evening, Tuesday, June 5 at 7pm, the JACK Quartet will present a Salon Concert at Brandon Music, featuring "Syzygy" by Kathryn Alexander, "String Quartet in Three Movements" by Laura Schwendinger and other 20th century repertoire.

Tickets are $15 per person and proceeds will benefit the Compass Music and Arts Foundation. To purchase, call 802-465-4071 or email info@brandon-music.net.

Point Counterpoint will present a third concert at Brandon Music on June 15, also at 7pm, with performers to be announced, featuring repertoire from this season's New Music On The Point festival.

Hailed by Opera News for her "exuberant voice and personality," mezzo-soprano Jennifer Beattie is a versatile and dynamic performer in styles ranging from opera to chamber music and musical theater to cabaret. This past season included her solo debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Rossen Milanov, as well "The American Songbook" concert on the Stotsenberg Recital Series in Malibu, CA with pianist/ composer John Musto at the piano. This season she will make her debut with the Opera Company of Philadelphia, singing in the Madrigal Quartet in Puccini's Manon Lescaut, as well as being soloist in the Mozart Requiem with the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia under the baton of Alan Harler, and giving several recitals in the Philadelphia and D.C. areas.
Donna Hallen Loewy is Field Service Professor of Accompanying and Accompanist-in-Residence at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, Ohio. Ms. Loewy has prepared and accompanied many top prize winners of the National Federation of Music Clubs Artist Competition, NATS Artist Awards, D'Angelo Competition and the Montreal Concours International de Musique. She is much in demand as a collaborative pianist and master class teacher, performing frequently throughout the United States. Ms. Loewy is the official accompanist for the Metropolitan Opera Auditions, Southern Ohio region, and has held similar positions with the International Clarinet Conference, the Congress of Strings, the International Double Reed Society, the Yamaha Young Performing Artists Winners Recital, Tubamania in Sydney, Australia, and the International Tuba and Euphonium Conference.

The JACK Quartet electrifies audiences worldwide with "explosive virtuosity" (Boston Globe) and "viscerally exciting performances" (New York Times). David Patrick Stearns (Philadelphia Inquirer) proclaimed their performance as being "among the most stimulating new-music concerts of my experience," and NPR listed their performance as one of "The Best New York Alt-Classical Concerts of 2010." Comprising violinists Christopher Otto and Ari Streisfeld, violist John Pickford Richards, and cellist Kevin McFarland, JACK is focused on the commissioning and performance of new works, leading them to work closely with composers Helmut Lachenmann, György Kurtág, Matthias Pintscher, Georg Friedrich Haas, James Dillon, Toshio Hosokawa, Wolfgang Rihm, Elliott Sharp, Beat Furrer, Caleb Burhans, and Aaron Cassidy. The quartet also offers fresh interpretations of early music, including works by Don Carlo Gesualdo, Guillaume de Machaut, and Josquin des Prez. The members of the quartet met while attending the Eastman School of Music, and they have since studied closely with the Arditti Quartet, Kronos Quartet, Muir String Quartet, and members of the Ensemble Intercontemporain.

Point CounterPoint was founded in 1963 on the shores of Lake Dunmore by the late Dr. Edwin Finckel, a New Jersey pianist, composer, and teacher. Dr. Finckel's goal was to create summer musical opportunities for his students. Among these first camper/musicians was his son, David Finckel, now well-known as the cellist in the Emerson String Quartet and as the cellist in the duo of David Finckel and Wu Han. The next owners and directors were Emory Fanning, professor of music at Middlebury College, and Diana Fanning,  a noted concert pianist, who directed the camp for ten years.  Under the Fannings' leadership, Point CounterPoint gained an international reputation, attracting many students from foreign lands: France, Italy, Germany, Turkey, West Africa, Japan, Israel, Switzerland, as well as, Canada.

In 1989, ownership of Point CounterPoint passed to professional violinist/violist Dr. Paul Roby and pianist Margaret Johnson Roby, along with amateur musicians and family members Nick and Sue Jones. The Roby/Jones team changed the camp's music focus to strings and piano, eliminating woodwinds.

In 2008, a new era began when Jenny and Steve Beck purchased Point CounterPoint.  New programs populate the summer calendar.  At the end of the summer, a one week camp (called Prelude) attracts the young chamber musicians (ages 8-13) who are looking for a shorter sleep-away camp experience.  Early in the fall, there is a 5 day Adult Chamber Music Workshop giving amateurs the opportunity to play music with new friends in a camp-like environment.  In June 2011, New Music on The Point was launched.  New Music On The Point encourages imaginative collaboration among composers, instrumentalists, and vocalists creating 21st century chamber music in a glorious setting on the shores of Lake Dunmore.  The newest of the music programs at PCP focuses on young adults ages 18 and older who are interested in new chamber music.  At this innovative program, young composers, instrumentalists and vocalists collaborate and perform the newest of new chamber music.

Brandon Music Presents Vocalist Judi Silvano's Indigo Moods Quartet, June 3, 7pm

Brandon Music, located at 62 Country Club Road in Brandon, Vermont, will present Judi Silvano's Indigo Moods Quartet, featuring Fred Jacobs on trumpet, Tom Cleary on piano, John Rivers on bass and special guest Dan Silverman on trombone, on June 3 at 7pm.

Vocalist Judi Silvano celebrates music wherever she goes. Her imagination and sheer joy of singing is evident on her ten recordings as leader the diverse groups of piano and voice duo, three-horn septet, piano quartet and vocal choir.  Her new CD "Indigo Moods" was released in April 2012 with Silvano in an intimate trio setting with just piano and trumpet interpreting some of her favorite songs.

Silvano has toured internationally and recorded with Joe Lovano, Kenny Werner, Rufus Reid, Jack DeJohnette, Charlie Haden, Ingrid Jensen, Mal Waldron, Dick Oatts, George Garzone, Michael Abene and Victor Lewis. She was voted Top Ten Jazz Vocalist in Down Beat Magazine Reader's Poll four times, Best Jazz Vocalist in the Hudson Valley and has sung with conductors Gunther Schuller, Manny Albam and Michael Abene. She has also been a featured vocalist with big bands in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy, Israel and Slovenia with a varied repertoire of standards and her original compositions.

Awarded three grants from Meet the Composer and NY State Council on the Arts, Silvano leads educational workshops in music and dance for all ages, teaches university level voice master classes and writes songs and lyrics in addition to practicing her lifelong passion for flowers and painting.  

The concert is a part of the year-round weekly Sunday Jazz at Brandon Music series. Tickets are $15 in advance, and $18 at the door. Venue is BYOB. All Sunday Jazz shows at Brandon Music have a listening policy which prohibits talking, and use of texting devices, cell phones, video/ audio recording, laptop computers, gaming units, and cameras.

Brandon Music offers an Early Bird dinner special, which includes a ticket for the jazz performance, for $25 per person. Enjoy the chef's award-winning chili and cornbread as well as dessert before listening to world-class jazz. Reservations are required for dinner.

For Tickets and Dinner Reservations, Contact Brandon Music: (802) 465-4071 / info@brandon-music.net

www.brandon-music.net/sundayjazz

Upcoming Sunday Jazz Shows:

6/10 Michael-Louis Smith (NYC Jazz Guitarist)

6/17 The Soul of a Man (Blues & Jazz)

6/24 Harvey Sorgen & Esa Pietila (Adventurous Duo)

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