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. […]

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 […]

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.

Maya Lin, Portrait by Walter Smith Please note: Tickets for the Maya Lin lecture have SOLD OUT. For those still interested in attending, we will be simulcasting the lecture in Colby’s Diamond Ostrove Auditorium. WATERVILLE, Maine -- Maya Lin, the world-renowned artist and architect whose work includes the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Civil Rights […]

The Boston Globe won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for revealing that scores of priests had sexually abused hundreds of victims in the local Archdiocese — and that the church had systematically covered up these crimes. Now the producers of Spotlight, a film about the Globe‘s investigation, have won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Ben […]

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 […]

Bill McKibben is an author and environmentalist who was awarded the 2014 Right Livelihood Prize, sometimes called the alternative Nobel. His 1989 book, The End of Nature, regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, has appeared in 24 languages. His 350.org is the first planet-wide, grassroots climate change movement. Tickets […]

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 […]

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 […]

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.

Rahiel Tesfamariam is a social activist, public theologian, writer, and international speaker. She is the founder and publisher of Urban Cusp, a cutting-edge online lifestyle magazine highlighting progressive urban culture, faith, social change, and global awareness. She is also a former columnist for The Washington Post. Sponsored by the Gerrish Fund for Spiritual Enrichment, in partnership […]

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.

An ecumenical service open to everyone. Reflection, music by the MLK Day Gospel Choir, and community. This service is part of Colby’s Martin Luther King Day Commemorative Events.

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 […]

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 […]

The Colby Collegium Chamber Singers and Players explore the music of 17th-century England. The late Renaissance and early Baroque in England produced a rich repertoire of both choral and instrumental works that celebrate the human in nature and the nature of being human. The program includes works by Henry Purcell, Matthew Locke, and John Wilbye.

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 […]

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.

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 […]

For shining a spotlight on poverty and the heartrending inequalities of our era, Katherine Boo has a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award, and a MacArthur genius grant. In October, she will receive Colby College's Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award for courageous journalism. Boo will receive an honorary doctoral degree along with the Lovejoy award and will […]

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 […]

Actor, author, social justice activist, and social media star George Takei will deliver the keynote address during the annual student-organized S.H.O.U.T! week celebrating multiculturalism. Best known for his portrayal of Sulu in the television and film series Star Trek, Takei is an advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights and has appeared in several […]

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.

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.