Deb Ward

The Bayside Trio will present an exciting and eclectic program of modern chamber works, including the premiere of Telos Regained by Colby's own Associate Professor of Music Jonathan Hallstrom. Other works will include Paul Schoenfield's klezmer-inspired Three Bagatelles and Chen Yi's exquisitely delicate Night Thoughts.

Musical Offering brings together Boston-area musicians who share a love of performing late-18th-century chamber music — from the last throes of the High Baroque through the wildly emotional gallant period leading up to Mozart.

Originally the instrument of Zen monks, the Japanese transverse bamboo flute (shakuhachi) has captivated the minds and hearts of listeners for centuries. Remarkably simple in design, it takes years to master. The sound is sensual and capable of great emotional depth. Shakuhachi grand master James Nyoraku Schlefer is a virtuoso performer of traditional and contemporary […]

Heidi Powell (baroque violin), Timothy Burris (lute and theorbo), and Raffael Scheck (baroque cello) perform baroque music by Bach, Corelli, Handel, and de Marzis on period instruments.

In its first concert of the season, the Colby Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Eric Thomas, director of Colby's Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band, will perform Soren Nyhus's "Bittersweet Victory" (2014), written for the Noteflight video game composition competition; Geraldine Green's jovial Bass Clarinet Concerto (1992), performed by Emily Berry '16; Marianne Martinez's Sinfonia in C […]

Directed by Shannon Chase, the Colby College Chorale and Chamber Singers will perform a festive program of music evocative of the season and in celebration of Family Homecoming Weekend.

The New York Times calls Michael Winther a "first-rate singer of unusual refinement" with "a voice that traverses genres." Broadway singer/actor Winther joins forces with Broadway musical director and pianist Kimberly Grigsby for a evening of well-known standards and some lesser-known, newer love songs by top emerging theater composers and lyricists. "Mr. Winther stakes out […]

Germaine Taillefaire (Overture for the Orchestra) and Darius Milhaud (West Point Suite) were members of “Les Six”, a group of French composers reacting both to the Wagner’s bombast and Debussy’s overt sensuality. Milhaud’s suite and William Grant Still’s “To You, America” were both commissioned for the West Point sesquicentennial. Still and Vincent Persichetti (Symphony for the […]

Mark Leighton, guitar, will perform music composed for, transcribed by, or reintroduced into the repertoire by Andrés Segovia during a career that spanned nearly the entire 20th century. Included will be compositions by J.S. Bach, Issac Albeniz, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and Francisco Tarrega. Organized by the Colby Music Department.

John Coltrane's "Lady Bird" draws upon Tadd Dameron's composition by the same name and foreshadows the famous Coltrane changes. Freddie Hubbard's cool hard bop chart "Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming" is a jazz rendition of the classic 16th century hymn. Patty Darling's "Idioteque" is a big-band arrangement of the band Radio Heads' hit. But […]

Guest conductor Janna Hymes is the Music Director the Maine Pro Musica and the Williamsburg (Va.) Sinfonia. A much sought-after conductor both in the United States and abroad, Maestra Hymes will lead the Colby Symphony Orchestra in Shostakovich's Ballet Suite No. 1; Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, featuring Colby Applied Music Associate Eric Thomas as soloist; and […]

This year's theme is "Joy of Every Longing Heart." This service will comprise readings, carol singing by candlelight, and the sounds of the Nickerson Carillon. Colby music ensembles will provide a festive evening of traditional and contemporary seasonal music from around the world. The participating ensembles include the Colby College Chorale, the Collegium Musicum, the […]

The award-winning trio Ameranouche plays acoustic Gypsy-inspired music mixing flamenco, bebop, and jazz swing. Whether playing a 1930 musette waltz or an Andalusian-inspired original tune, Ameranouche’s Gypsy flamenco swing style is always fresh, virtuosic, and totally enjoyable. Funded in part by the Hazel Hoyt Witherell Memorial Concert Fund.

Though often associated only with jazz, a rich tradition of instrumental improvisation flourished in “classical music” throughout Europe from the late 15th century through the mid-18th century. Ensalada presents a rich and varied program of examples of these traditions of melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic improvisation. Funded in part by the Ermanno Comparetti Concert Fund.

With Janna Hymes, guest conductor, the Colby  Symphony Orchestra will perform three staples of uniquely Russian classical music: from Mikhail Glinka, the early 19th-century father of the Russian orchestral style, his famous and rousing opera overture Ruslan and Lyudmilla; from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the late-19th-century romantic and master melodist, his Symphony No. 2, The Little Russian; and from […]

Morton Feldman (1926-1987) was a central figure in the so-called New York School of American painters and musicians of the 1940s-70s. Colby faculty members Ursula Reidel (German, retired) and Steven Nuss (music), and pianist Nathan Trivers ’17, present a performance and discussion of Feldman’s last work for piano and suggest that his Palais de Mari is […]

Colby Wind Ensemble, Eric Thomas, conductor A composer's inspiration can come from anything or anywhere: baseball (Carolyn Bremer's Early Light),ribbons and word substitution (Joan Tower's Fascinating Ribbons), the ferocity of nature (Percy Grainger's Hill Songs 1 and 2), Genghis Khan (Julie Giroux's Khan), devotional paintings (William Revelli's Trittico) it's clear that a composer's inspiration can […]

The Maine Saxophone Project started at the University of Southern Maine in 2006 and hasn’t stopped growing. The combo has roots in a Charlie Parker tribute band formed by Med Flory and Buddy Clark in 1972, which featured harmonized arrangements of Parker’s music. M.S.P. has expanded beyond Parker’s compositions to perform arrangements that explore new […]

The Colby Jazz Band’s final concert of the season will feature idiomatic examples of a variety of classic jazz styles. Gordon Goodwin’s “Race to the Bridge” has a harmonic scheme based on what jazz players call “rhythm changes.” Bob Minzer’s “Oro Preto” is built on different Brazilian grooves and “Swangalang,” his hybrid of jazz and […]

The Colby Collegium Chamber Singers and Players celebrate nature’s renewal with music of spring. The program will feature instrumental excerpts from “Le Journal du Printemps” by Johann Caspar Fischer, as well as songs and madrigals of spring by Francesca Caccini, Thomas Morley, Clément Janequin, and Claudio Monteverdi.

Colby Symphony Orchestra director and violinist Jinwook Park makes his Colby recital debut, joined by pianist and faculty member Yuri Funahashi. The program includes a performance of the lively Violin and Piano Sonata no. 1 by Beethoven in addition to jewels from the violin repertoire such as the “Meditation from Thais by Massenet” and the […]

Since its public debut in 2006 at Carnegie Hall, the New York-based Harlem String Quartet has established itself as one of America’s premier chamber ensembles. The quartet aims to advance diversity in classical music by engaging young and new audiences with a repertoire that includes works by composers of underrepresented groups. Their imaginative Colby program does […]

After 36 years teaching guitar in the Music Department, Carl Dimow will retire after this academic year. He performs his final official faculty concert with his eclectic klezmer band, the Casco Bay Tummlers. Several original Dimow compositions will be featured in addition to classic instrumentals and songs from the rich, soulful, and joyous klezmer repertoire. […]