Web program for Harold Shapero concert1

Harold Shapero (1920-2013) was an American composer and music.. educator, known for his contributions to the development of modern classical music in the mid-20th century
He was born on April 29, 1920, in Lynn, Massachusetts, to a family of Russian Jewish immigrants. Shapero began studying music at a young age, and by the time he was a teenager, he had already composed several pieces for piano and chamber ensembles. In 1938, he entered Harvard University, where he studied composition with Walter Piston and music theory with Edward Burlingame Hill. He was one of the first students at Tanglewood in the early '40's, where he studied with Paul Hindemith and befriended the older Aaron Copland. Upon graduation from Harvard in 1941, like virtually seemingly every significant 20th Century musical figure, he studied with Nadia Boulanger, at the Longy School of Music. In the latter 1940's, Shapero and his wife, the painter Esther Geller, whom he married in 1945, were several times residents at the MacDowell Colony, in New Hampshire, where they were free to explore their artistic creativity and he composed some of his more celebrated works. Shapero's music was heavily influenced by the neoclassical style of Stravinsky and Hindemith. His compositions are characterized by their clear formal structures, contrapuntal textures, and harmonic complexity. He achieved significant éclat when Leonard Bernstein performed his Symphony for Classical Orchestra with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1948. Two of his other best-known works are the String Quartet No. 1 (1950), and the Piano Sonata (1952). In addition to his work as a composer, Shapero was also a dedicated music educator and many of his students went on to become successful composers in their own right. He was a founding member of the Brandeis University music department in 1951 and was instrumental in the development of electronic music studies. The Shaperos lived the suburban life in Natick, where they raised their daughter Hannah (Pyra), who went on to become a visual artist and electronic musician in her own right. He taught at Brandeis for 37 years, until 1988, and remained involved in an emeritus status until his death. Shapero was considered one of the “Boston School” (although Copland referred to it as the “Stravinsky School”) of composers in the 1950s, largely orbiting about Brandeis, that included Lukas Foss, Irving Fine, Arthur Berger, and sometimes Bernstein and Copland. He was a polymath whose interests ranged from ornithology to photography to electronics and he could discourse knowledgeably upon any number of topics. His fellow composer and colleague, Eric Chasalow, chairman of the Brandeis music department, observed, “He was...a true eccentric of the best sort, often catching people off-guard by saying something totally unexpected.”*Harold Shapero died on May 17, 2013, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the age of 93. His contributions to American classical music continue to be celebrated and studied by musicians and scholars today
Note: *Boston Musical Intelligencer, Harold Shapero 1920-2013, 05/20/2013; 2023.03.27 David Derow

A bagatelle is a short piece of music, typically for the piano, and usually of a light, mellow character. An example is Beethoven’s popular Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor, for solo piano, commonly known as "Für Elise". Harold Shapero modeled his Bagatelles after J.S. Bach's 24 Preludes and Fugues in each of the 12 major and 12 minor keys. Researching the Bagatelles at the Brandeis library music archive I found some bagatelles, #23 for example, incomplete. I imagine he was hoping to finish them before time ran out on his life. Harold would compose “bagatelles” on occasions for guests visiting at his home. I found there are completed Bagatelles for numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, and 18 in major and minor keys.
Michael Finegold

John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17, 1807, Haverhill, MA – September 7, 1892, Hampton Falls, NH) was an American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Frequently listed as one of the fireside poets, he was influenced by the Scottish poet Robert Burns. Whittier is remembered particularly for his anti-slavery writings, as well as his 1866 book Snow-Bound. Wikimedia Commons

A song cycle is a group of related songs designed to form a musical entity. The Essex Chamber Music Players commissioned Harold Shapero to compose a work for its Local Cultural History Through Music project. He chose to set five poems of Whittier's plus Night and Death by his younger sister, the poet and abolitionist Elizabeth Hussey Whittier, who influenced and encouraged her brother. As Shapero completed the songs from 2005-07, they saw performances by the ECMP in Merrimack Valley venues, appropriate, since Whittier was born and lived most of his later life along the lower Merrimack. Most notable was the 2006 performance in Whittier's birthplace in Haverhill, when they were complete save for Haschish, which poem was recited with eloquence and enthusiasm
Michael Finegold

The Merrimac is my contribution to the request for "a musical piece with historical relation to the region." It is part of a song cycle...written using Whittier’s poems (as well as one by his sister Elizabeth). The Merrimac's musical character is somewhat like a folk song hymn, simple, and stanzaic, in keeping with the style of the poetic construction. Entirely tonal in the key of E major, I would hope that this piece would be easily followed and understood by the listener. The Trailing Arbutus was conceived as a duet for voice and flute. I found it more expressive as a voice solo, with a few comments by the flute. I find Whittier’s poem lovely and subtly touching. I would hope that the music has done it no harm. The Hymn of the Children - Whittier also composed a great many poems in Hymn format. I have used "The Hymn of the Children," which, in its touching simplicity transcends the typical ecclesiastical format. Whittier's heart was almost always in the right place. Night and Death - In the vast edition of Whittier's collected poems there is a modest section in which is found the poetry of his sister Elizabeth. Among these, one, in particular, caught my attention: "Night and Death.” It is a strange, almost expressionistic poem, somewhat incomprehensible, yet haunting and "modern" in its dramatic intensity. Haschish - At first glance this poem seems to be comedic with some pretty good laughs. However, Whittier turns it all around at the end with a bitter denunciation of “cotton” (equated with slavery). He fought for most of his life, together with his friend William Lloyd Garrison, and often under great hardships, for abolition. Within the Maddening Maze of Things - This title line I find one of the most “modern” and original inventions in Whittier’s entire vast output. The poem is one of his Quaker Hymns, with fairly conventional, though sincere sentiments. There are hints of doubt, along with a rather special “cosmic” feeling

,O child of that white-crested mountain whose springs
,Gush forth in the shade of the cliff-eagles wings
;Down whose slopes to the lowlands thy wild waters shine
Leaping gray walls of rock, flashing through the dwarf pine

From that cloud-curtained cradle so cold and so lone
From the arms of that wintry-locked mother of stone
By hills hung with forests, through vales wide and free
!Thy mountain-born brightness glancedDown to the sea

;No bridge arched thy waters save that where the trees
Stretched their long arms above thee and kissed in the breeze
No sound save the lapse of the waves on thy shores
The plunging of otters, the light slip of oar

,

Green-tufted, oak-shaded by Amoskeag's fall
Thy twin Uncanoonucs rose stately and tall

Thy Nashua meadows lay green and unshorn

.And the hills of the Pentucket was hassled with corn

But thy Pennacook valley was fairer than these
,And greener its grasses and taller its trees
,Ere the sound of an axe in the forest had rung
.Or the mower his scythe in the meadow had swung

In their sheltered repose looking out from the wood
The bark-build wigwams of Pennacook stood
There glided the corn dance, the council fire shone
And against the red war post the hatchet was thrown

There the old smoked in silence their pipes and the young
To the pike and the white-perch their baited lines flung
There the boy shaped his arrows, and there the shy maid
Wove her many-hued baskets and bright wampum braid

O Stream of the Mountains! if answer of thine
Could rise from thy waters to question of mine
Me thinks through the din of thy thronged banks a moan of sorrow would swell for the days which have

.gone

Not for thee the dull jar of the loom and the wheel
;The gliding of shuttles, the ringing of steel
But that old voice o waters, of bird and of breeze
!The dip of the wild-fowl, the rustling of trees

I wandered lonely where the pine trees made
Against the bitter
East their barricade and guided by its sweet
.Perfume, I found, within a narrow dell
.The trailing spring flower tinted like a shell
.Amid dry leaves and mosses at my feet

From under dead boughs, for whose loss the pines
Moaned ceaseless overhead, the blossoming vines
,Lifted their glad surprise
While yet the bluebird smoothed in leafless trees
.His feathers ruffled by the chill sea-breeze
.And snow-drifts lingered under April skies

,As, pausing, o'er the lonely flower I bent
,I thought of lives thus lowly, clogged and pent
,Which yet find room
,Through care and cumber, coldness and decay
,To lend a sweetness to the ungenial day
.And make the sad earth happier for their bloom

!Thine are all the gifts, O God
;Thine the broken bread
,Let the naked feet be shod
.And the starving fed

,Thy children, by Thy grace
,Give as they abound
,Till the poor have breathing-space
.And the lost are found

Wiser than the miser's hoards
;Is the giver’s choice
Sweeter than the song of birds
.Is the thankful voice

Welcome smiles on faces sad
;As the flowers of spring
Let the tender hearts be glad
.With the joy they bring

Happier for their pity's sake
.Make their sports and plays
And from lips of childhood take
!Thy perfected praise

The storm wind is howling
;Through old pines afar
The drear night is falling
.Without moon or star

The roused sea is lashing
,The bold shore behind
And the moan of its ebbing
.Keeps time with the wind

On, on through the darkness
A spectre, I pass
Where, like moanng of broken heart
!Surges the grass

_I see her lone head-stone
;T is white as a shroud'
Like a pall hangs above it

.The low drooping cloud

?Who speaks through the dark night
And lull of the wind
T is the sound of the pine-leaves‘

.And sea-waves behind

—,The dead girl is silent
;I stand by her now
,And her pulse beats no quicker
.Nor crimsons her brow

,The small hand that trembled
,When last in my own
,Lies patient and folded
.And colder than stone

Like the white blossoms falling
,To-night in the gale
So she in her beauty
.Sank mournful and pale

Yet I loved her! I utter
,Such words by her grave
As I would not have spoken
.Her last breath to save

Of her love the angels
,In heaven might tell
While mine would be whispered
!With shudders in hell

‘T was well that the white ones'
Who bore her to bliss
Shut out from her new life
;The vision of this

,Else, sure as I stand here
,And speak of my love
She would leave for my darkness
.Her glory above

Of all that Orient lands can vaunt
,Of marvels with our own competing
,The strangest is the Haschish plant
.And what will follow on its eating

,What pictures to the taster rise
!Of Dervish or of Almeh dances
,Of Eblis or of Paradise
!Set all aglow with Houri glances

,The poppy visions of Cathay
;The heavy beer-trance of the Suabian
The wizard lights and demon play
Of nights Walpurgis and Arabian

The Mullah and the Christian dog
;Change place in mad metempsychosis
,The Muezzin climbs the synagogue
!The Rabbi shakes his beard at Moses

The Arab by his desert well
,Sits choosing by some Caliph's daughters
And hears his single camel's bell
.Sound welcome to his regal quarters

The Koran's reader makes complaint
;Of Shitan dancing on and off it
The robber offers alms, the saint
.Drinks Tokay and blasphemes the Prophet

;Such scenes that Eastern plant awakes
,But we have one ordained to beat it
The Haschish of the West, which makes
.Or fools or knaves of all who eat it

The preacher eats, and straight appears
;His Bible in a new translation
,Its angels negro overseers
!And Heaven itself a snug plantation

The man of peace, about whose dreams
The sweet millenial angels cluster
,Tastes the mad weed, and plots and schemes
!A raving Cuban filibuster

The noisiest Democrat, with ease
;It turns to Slavery's Parish beadle
The shrewdest statesman eats and sees
.Due southward point the polar needle

The Judge partakes, and sits erelong
;Upon his bench a railing blackguard
Decides off-hand that right is wrong
.And reads the ten commandments backwards

O potent plant! so rare a taste
;Has never Turk or Gentoo (penguin) gotten
The hempen Haschish of the East
!Is powerless to our Western Cotton

,Within the maddening maze of things
,When tossed by storm and flood
;To one fixed trust my spirit clings
.I know that God is Good

,No offering of my own I have
;Nor works my faith to prove
;I can but give the gifts He gave
.And plead His love for love

I know not where His islands lift
;Their fronded palms in air
I only know I cannot drift

.Beyond His love and care

I know not what the future hath
,Of marvel or surprise
Assured alone that life and death
.His mercy underlies

And so beside the silent sea
;I wait the muffled oar
No harm from Him can come to me
.On ocean or on shore

Coloratura soprano Barbara Kilduff enjoys a sparkling career in opera, oratorio and song recital on both sides of the Atlantic
Her voice has been praised as "bright and "silvery", soaring effortlessly with "crystalline coloratura". An experienced and versatile actress, this native New Yorker, following many years performing in Europe, now resides with her husband and two children in Andover, Massachusetts, where she continues to add to her opera roles (most recently Norina, Morgana and Lucia) and broaden her repertoire in oratorio. National winner of the Metropolitan Opera Council auditions, she went on to win first prize in the Munich International Competition and the silver medal in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Ms. Kilduff debuted with the Bavarian, Vienna and Hamburg State Operas, as Zerbinetta in Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, a role she repeated in Basel, Vancouver, Athens and Cologne. Zerbinetta was also her role in her Metropolitan Opera debut conducted by James Levine. In the same season she appeared as Adele in Die Fledermaus, and returned the following season as Cleopatra in Julius Caesar under Trevor Pinnock, and as Blondchen in Die Entführung aus dem Serail under James Levine. Maestro Levine conducted again at the Metropolitan Opera's 25th Anniversary Gala when she performed the Laughing Song from Die Fledermaus. Ms. Kilduff debuted to great acclaim in the role of Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier) at the Bavarian State Opera in a production by Brigitte Fassbänder. She repeated this role in New York, San Diego and Vienna (where she also appeared as the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte). She made her La Scala debut as Blondchen under Wolfgang Sawallisch. Her wide-ranging performances include Queen of Shemakhan (Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel) under Mistislav Rostropovich; the Nightingale and Fire (Ravel's L'Enfant et les Sortileges) under Charles Dutoit; Carmina Burana with the St. Louis Symphony under Leonard Slatkin; Schoenberg's Von Heute auf Morgen under Pierre Boulez in Ludwigshafen, Milan, Rome and Vienna; Ännchen (Weber's Die Freischutz)under Wolfgang Sawallisch, Maggio Musicale, Florence and the New York Philharmonic under Sir Colin Davis. She has appeared as soloist in Mahler's Eighth Symphony with the National Symphony of Spain under Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, in Bach's St. John Passion with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Bilbao under Juanjo Mena and in Beethoven's Egmont at the Krakow Festival under Aldo Ceccato. Ms. Kilduff’s numerous recordings include the role of Seele in Schönberg's Jacobsleiter with the Frankfurt Symphonie, Isotta in Strauss' Die Schweigsame Frau with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Madame Herz in Mozart's Schauspieldirektor with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and as Papagena in the Metropolitan Opera's television broadcast. As a recitalist Ms. Kilduff has appeared in many artists' series in the United States where she has also presented master classes at universities and colleges. She has been a visiting faculty member at Boston University's School for the Arts and the New England Conservatory of Music, and is currently a faculty member at Phillips Academy in Andover. Ms. Kilduff's recent performances include Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor) with the Granite State Opera under Philip Lauriat, Norina (Don Pasquale) with the Newton Symphony Orchestra under Jeffrey Rink, Queen of the Night (The Magic Flute) and Morgana (Alcina) with Emmanuel Music under Craig Smith, Mozart's Requiem and M. Haydn's Missa Sancti Francisci with the Dedham Choral Society under Jonathan Barnhart and with Coro Allegro under David Hodgkins, the world premiere of Luis Bacalov's Cantos para Nuestros Tiempos (Psalms for Our Times) under William Thomas, the Brahm's Requiemwith Chorus North Shore, Haydn's Creation with the Costa Rica National Symphony Orchestra under Chosei Komatsu, Handel's Judas Maccabaeus with Pro Arte Chorale, Haydn's Harmonie Mass with the Cambridge Community Chorus s William Thomas and The Seasons by Haydn with the Andover Choral Society under Allen Combs. Upcoming performances include an appearance with the Charleston Symphony under David Stahl and Haydn's Stabat Mater with the Master Works Chorale under Steven Karidoyanes

Frank Kelley sings a wide variety of music throughout North America and Europe. He has performed many roles with Odyssey Opera, The Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Boston,Florentine Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, and the San Francisco Opera Company has appeared at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels, The Frankfurt Opera, Opera de Monte Carlo, and in the Peter Sellars productions of Die Sieben Todsünden, Das Kleine Mahagonny, Cosi fan tutte, and Lenozze di Figaro. The Mozart operas were recorded by Decca and Austrian PublicTelevision, and were broadcast on PBS's "Great Performances". They are available onLondon DVD as is Weill's Die Sieben Todsünden. His recording (Elmer Gantry, with the Florentine Opera Company and the Milwaukee Symphony for Naxos records) has won two Grammy awards including best original composition. The most recent recording, Carlisle Floyd’s Wuthering Heights, (Florentine Opera and Milwaukee Symphony) has been highly acclaimed. In concert performances Mr. Kelley has sung with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony, the Dallas Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Luke's. He has performed medieval and renaissance music with Sequentia, the Boston Camerata, and the Waverly Consort, and he performs baroque music with Sarasa, the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, Emmanuel Music, Music of the Baroque, Opera Lafayette, and Aston Magna. Mr. Kelley has participated in the Blossom Festival, the Tanglewood Festival, Ravinia Festival, Marlboro Music Festival, Pepsico Summerfare, the New England Bach Festival, Next Wave Festival, WexfordFestival Opera, and the Boston Early Music Festival. He has recorded for Naxos, London, Decca, Erato, Harmonia Mundi France, Teldec, Telarc, Koch International, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, and Centaur.A resident of Boston, Mr. Kelley sings there regularly with Emmanuel Music, both in the ongoing series which presents the complete Bach cantatas and in special projects, including the complete piano/vocal works of Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms, Schubert lieder, Don Giovanni, The St. Matthew Passion, Alcina, The Magic Flute, The St. John Passion, The Rake’s Progress, Susanna, Die Schöne Müllerin and Dichterliebe

Constantine Finehouse has performed extensively in the US and abroad, including in Salzburg, Trieste, London, Ghent, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Odessa. His 2009 solo release, "Backwards Glance," interweaves works by Brahms and Richard Beaudoin. “The Bolcom Project”, made in collaboration with his American Double partner, violinist Philip Ficsor, included an Albany Records two-CD album and a national tour with concerts in Boston, New York, Denver, Santa Barbara, Spokane and at Yale University. Fanfare praised the recording as “indispensable to any serious collector with an interest in later 20th-century duo repertoire for violin and piano.” The American and European premieres of William Bolcom's Horn Trio, in collaboration with Ficsor and Steven Gross took place in the summer and fall of 2018. The work, commissioned by the group, was recorded at the Martinu Hall in Prague and released on Naxos Records in December 2021. Finehouse's recording of Bolcom’s piano solo works for Naxos saw its world-wide launch in December 2017. His new album "Rhythm and the Borrowed Past" with violinist, Daniel Kurganov, was released on Orchid Classics in November 2021, following their 2018 release "Between the Notes" on Spice Classics. Finehouse latest album with Sebastian Baverstam, duo's second release, features sonatas by Brahms and Shostakovich. During recent concert seasons Finehouse has performed at the Mozarteum (Salzburg), Miaskovsky Hall (Moscow Conservatory), Merkin Recital Hall, Weill Recital Hall (Carnegie Hall) and Jordan Hall (Boston), as well as at Harvard, Yale, Emory universities, and St. Vincent's and Elmira colleges, among others. With degrees from Juilliard and Yale, Finehouse teaches at New England Conservatory, and serves as Visiting Artist/Faculty at Westmont College, CA

Praised by The Strad for his “…powerfully expressive style,” cellist Sebastian Bäverstam is a winner of the 2009 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. His recent performance at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall was noted in The Strad for its “consummate instrumental mastery,” with critic Dennis Rooney declaring “…the emergence of a mature artist.” This remarkable recital led to Mr. Bäverstam’s subsequent selection by Musical America as its “New Artist of the Month” for June 2011. Highlights of his 2011-12 season include concerto performances with the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas (Elgar) and the Boston Landmarks Orchestra (Dvorak), and he gives recitals throughout the east coast, including CAG series at the Brooklyn Public Library and at Coe Hall in Oyster Bay, NY. Other recent recital highlights are Merkin Concert Hall, St. Vincent College (PA), the Honest Brook Music Festival (Delhi, NY) and concerts in Boston, Connecticut and Switzerland. Sebastian Bäverstam, age twenty-two, has appeared multiple times on the nationally syndicated radio show From the Top, and he has also been heard on international radio broadcasts on Voice of America. On television, he was featured on the PBS TV version of From the Top, and he has participated in a PBS documentary filmed at Carnegie Hall, as well as a film by the Masterclass Media Foundation of Great Britain and a nationally televised commercial for Bose speakers. A winner of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Concerto Competition, Mr. Bäverstam performed the Shostakovich Concerto with the BSO at Symphony Hall. In 2007, he was called on to substitute for Lynn Harrell with the Cape Cod Symphony on only six hours notice. He delighted the audience playing Schumann’s Cello Concerto and was praised by the Cape Cod Times for his “insightful musicianship and poetic feeling.” Other recent concerto performances include the Albany Symphony Orchestra, Boston Civic Symphony, Brockton Symphony Orchestra, Concord Symphony Orchestra and the Chernikov Symphony Orchestra, among others, and he has toured China, Venezuela and Brazil as soloist with the New England Conservatory Youth Philharmonic Orchestra Committed to performing music of our time and to working with living composers, Mr. Bäverstam was the 2006 winner for contemporary interpretation at the Johansen International Competition for String Players. He has attended many summer festivals including the Aspen Festival, the Banff Centre in Canada, the Verbier Festival Academy and the International Music Academy of Switzerland, directed by Seiji Ozawa. Mr. Bäverstam offered his first full recital at the age of six at Harvard University and his first concerto with orchestra at the age of seven. In 2002 at the age of fourteen, he made his Weill Hall debut. Since then, he has given numerous solo recitals, recently performing all six Bach cello suites at Williams College. He appeared as the featured young artist of the 2005 Williamstown Chamber Concerts and has also performed at the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, the ASCAP awards at Lincoln Center, the Théatre des Champs Elysées in Paris and many other venues. Additional recognition includes the 2006 Harvard Music Association Young Artist Award, the New England Chamber Music Foundation Award in 2004, first place in the 2002-2003 and the 2000-2001 New England Conservatory Preparatory School Concerto Competitions, the 2002 Suzuki Association of America and the International Young Virtuoso Competition of 2001-2002. A dual citizen of the United States and Sweden, Sebastian Bäverstam has participated in master classes with Frans Helmerson, Orlando Cole, Pieter Wispelwey, and Bernard Greenhouse, among others

Michael G. Finegold – Artistic Director of ECMP, flutist, composer and Northern Essex Community College Professor Emeritus of Music enjoys a diversified career in music. He founded the Essex Chamber Music Players at Northern Essex Community College in 1999 while Professor and Coordinator of Music. Michael has performed with symphony orchestras, theater orchestras, jazz groups, and given many recitals. In 1994 with pianist David Pihl, he recorded William Thomas McKinley’s Romances #2, Secrets of The Heart for the MMC (Master Musicians Collective) Recordings. In 1995 he recorded and performed in concert McKinley’s Concerto for Flute and Strings with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Prague, Czechoslovakia for MMC. In 1998 he premiered Georgetown, Massachusetts composer Ray Loring’s Celebration for Flute and Strings, composed for Mount Ida College’s Centennial. In 1998 he performed as soloist, NECC faculty J. Windel Brown’s About Time, and Mitch Hampton’s Pop Goes the Concert Hall: The Swingin’ Seventies with the Czech Radio Orchestra when they visited the United States performing at Boston’s Symphony Hall and the Everett Collins Center in Andover. In February of 1999 Finegold recorded the works in Prague with the orchestra. In 2000 he and internationally renowned clarinetist Richard Stolzman recorded Mitch Hampton’s The Four Humors with the Warsaw Philharmonic. In 2002 he premiered and recorded Marc Rossi’s Dance to The Music of Being and Fantasy in Adi Talam with ECMP. In 2003 he recorded William Thomas McKinley’s Three Movements for Flute and String with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bratislava, Slovakia. The work is on the new (2006) CD release The Four Flutists on Parma (MMC) Recordings. Michael’s music composition work include: Quintet for amplified Flute, Violin, Piano, Bass and Drums (1969) performed at Sprague Hall, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, Salon Musings (1998) composed for and performed by the Thuringer SalonQuintett at Carnegie Recital Hall, and Barge Music, New York and on tour throughout the United States and Europe, Rave Reflections for Flute, Cello and Piano (2006) for the Essex Chamber Music premiered November 19, 2006 at Northern Essex Community College, Haverhill, Massachusetts and Fire and Ice, poem of Robert Frost for Tenor, Flute, Violin, Cello and Piano to be premiered in 2024. He has composed jazz works: Remember the Time, Flautist’s Intrigue, In Pursuit of Nirvana, Dark and Somber, Way Would, Flowers In Autumn, and Wisteria for his jazz group- the Essex Jazz Ensemble. From 2001-2023 Michael was chosen for inclusion on the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) roster in the Category of Performing and Touring. The MCC Roster is a list of high-quality Massachusetts artists across a wide range of artistic disciplines, who are qualified to give performances and/or conduct school residencies. Past honors have included recipient of the Fromm Fellowship in Contemporary Music while at the Berkshire Music Center, Tanglewood (1968)

The Essex Chamber Music Players (ECMP) create and present new classical music along with great musical treasures of the past. ECMP is a cultural gem in the Merrimack Valley and Essex County in Massachusetts Under Artistic Director Michael G. Finegold, ECMP has been presenting popular concerts at Northern Essex Community College and throughout the area since its founding. ECMP’s acclaimed project, “Preserving Local Cultural History through Music,” sets the work of famous local authors and poets, as well as historical settings, to original music created by area composers. ECMP offers an educational program that uses music to bring local cultural history alive for area middle school students

Classical Contemporary Chamber Music for the 21st Century, Volume 1 The compositions represent a variety of music styles by America
composers: the neo-impressionism of J. Windel Brown; free atonal expressionism of Elaine Erickson; neo-classicism of Emma Lou Diemer, and the Eastern Indian influenced Western music style of Marc W. Rossi

Classical Contemporary Chamber Music for the 21st Century, Volume 2 The original music compositions on this enhanced CD are
by four composers three of whom are versed in classical, jazz and World Music, as present in their music. The three composers and compositions are Michael Finegold - Rave Reflections, Marc Rossi – Shiva’ 50 Steps and William Thomas McKinley - Streets of New York. Marc Rossi is immersed in the music of India. Elaine Erickson has a pure individual classical style and sets her own poetry. Michael Finegold’s work glistens with evocative and interesting texture

“Local Cultural History Through Music, Vol. 1: "The Merrimack Valley David Bennett Thomas: Contemplations: Five Songs on Anne Bradstreet for Soprano, Flute, Cello and Piano David McMullin: Queen Slipper Serenade for Flute, French horn, Cello and Piano Ray Loring: June on the Merrimack for Tenor, Flute, Cello and Piano based on John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem J. Windel Brown: Whittier Sketches for Flute and Cello William Thomas McKinley: A Diary, Growing Up in North Andover’ 1874-1892 by Horace Nathaniel Stevens for Flute, Violin, Cello, Piano, Percussion and male narrator

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Essex Chamber Music Players, Inc. is a nonprofit 501 (C) (3) organization

To donate to Essex Chamber Music Players or advertise in our program and website, go to www.ecmp.org. (We have chosen not to publish our donors' names at this time. We will need all their permissions.)

To donate to Temple Emanuel of Andover or advertise in the bulletin go to https://templeemanuel.net

The web program is by Michael Finegold. Special thanks to committee member David Derow and board member Ann Hall for their assistance.

A Concert in Tribute to Harold Shapero
featuring
His Late Works

Program

Harold Shapero, A Brief Biography

Bagatelles for Solo Piano Harold Shapero

Whittier Songs, a Song Cycle Harold Shapero
for Soprano, Tenor, Flute, Cello, and Piano

From Harold Shapero

The Poems

The Merrimac

.2
The Trailing Arbutus

3
Hymn Of The Children

4
Night and Death by Elizabeth H. Whittier

5
!Haschish

6
Within the Maddening Maze of Things

Essex Chamber Music Players and Guests biographies

Barbara Kilduff - soprano (guest)

Frank Kelley - tenor (guest)

Constantine Finehouse - piano

Sebastian Bäverstam – cello

Michael Finegold - flute

"The Essex Chamber Music Players, "ECMP

ECMP has issued three CD recordings

Our Advertisers

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You can also go to http://www.ecmp.org/signup to be on our e-mail announcement list

Purchase our CDs or SDS cards (for use without a CD player on a computer) at the admission desk.

A Concert in Tribute to Harold ShaperofeaturingHis Late WorksProgram