Program: Spring Pops!

Spring Pops!

Saturday, April 13, 2024 • 7:00 PM

The Concord Band
James O'Dell, Music Director and Conductor
Olga Lisovska, Guest Artist

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Program

The Concord Band
An American in Paris	George Gershwin arr. John Krance
Suite of Old American Dances	Robert Russell Bennett
Western One-Step Schottische Cake Walk
King Cotton	John Philip Sousa
Star Wars Heroes	John Williams arr. Jerry Brubaker
Intermission
Danse—Tarantelle Styrienne	Claude Debussy orch. Ravel, arr. John Boyd
Featuring Olga Lisovska, soprano
"Je veux vivre," from Romeo and Juliet	Charles Gounod arr. F. Carroll
What a Wonderful World	Bob Thiele and George D. Weiss arr. Marcel Saurer
"Mein Herr Marquis," from Die Fledermaus	Johann Strauss Jr. arr. Roger Niese
The Concord Band
Clear Track Polka	Eduard Strauss arr. Alfred Reed
Featuring Olga Lisovska, soprano
Waltz Kyiv	Ihor Shamo
Somebody Loves Me	George Gershwin arr. Jirka Kadlec
"Art Is Calling To Me,"from The Enchantress	Victor Herbert arr. J.B. Power

Spotlight: Olga Lisovska

Olga Lisovska
soprano

A native of Kyiv, Ukraine, Olga Lisovska holds degrees from Middlebury College, École Normale de Musique d'A. Cortot in Paris, France and L'Institut des Sciences Politiques in Paris, France. Hailed as "soprano extraordinaire" by WBUR, Olga is a critically acclaimed classical soprano, whose career involves both singing on prestigious concert stages, teaching, coaching, and producing performances, events, and festivals.

Olga produced award-winning operas at Commonwealth Lyric Theater, a Boston-based opera company, and Talents of the World's Annual Music Festival at Carnegie Hall. As a performer, Ms. Lisovska’s concerts have been featured on Ukrainian, Italian and American TV and radio, including on the Today Show and WBUR.

Olga is also a founder of a nonprofit organization, Music, Arts and Fashion Productions, whose mission is to promote the arts and to educate.

Ms. Lisovska is a sought-after voice teacher. As diction and public speaking coach she has been working with Tanglewood Festival Chorus at Boston Symphony, AstraZeneca pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, with Odyssey Opera, and New England Conservatory, among others.

Being a passionate connector, Olga serves as Managing Partner at Sky International Center, the largest international social, cultural and business network of 25,000 members in New England. Since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Olga co-founded Sky Philanthropy, a non-profit organization, which supports people in crisis. Sky Philanthropy produced two Boston Ukrainian Festivals, which were attended by over 3,000 people (in 2022) and 5,000 people (in 2023) and were featured in major news outlets. Ms. Lisovska has been giving performance lectures about Ukrainian music and song literature to audiences ranging from children, to university students, adults and seniors.

Olga’s life purpose is to inspire positive change through connections for life, coaching and art performances.

FMI: www.OlgaLisovska.com

Spring Pops Supports 51 Walden

Olga Lisovska
soprano

51 Walden presents the Concord Band performing its annual Spring Pops concert as a fundraiser for 51 Walden building repairs. The concert will be held on Saturday April 13, 2024, at 7:00 pm on the music stage of the 51 Walden Performing Arts Center in Concord.

The program will feature a guest artist, Ukrainian soprano Olga Lisovska, singing opera and popular solos including The Kyiv Waltz and George Gershwin’s Somebody Loves Me. 

Hailed as "soprano extraordinaire" by WBUR, Olga is a critically acclaimed classical soprano, whose career involves both singing and producing. Olga founded Music, Arts and Fashion Productions, whose mission is to promote the arts. Olga produced award-winning operas at Commonwealth Lyric Theater and Talents of the World's Annual Music Festival at Carnegie Hall. Since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Olga co-founded Sky Philanthropy and produced two Boston Ukrainian Festivals. Olga’s life purpose is to inspire positive change through connections for life, coaching, and art performances.

The Concord Band will also perform Gershwin's An American in Paris, Eduard Strauss' Clear Track Polka, selections from John Williams' Star Wars motion picture soundtracks, and other audience favorites.

51 Walden is home to the Concord Band, the Concord Players, the Concord Orchestra, a dance studio, as well as hosting annual Opera 51 productions. 51 Walden is a non-profit organization, which in 1974 was entrusted by the Town of Concord with conservation and maintenance of the historic Veterans Building. 51 Walden has operated and improved the Performing Arts Center these last 50 years. Spring Pops is sponsored by Middlesex Savings Bank, Newbury Court, and The Ridick Revis Group, with proceeds supporting essential exterior repairs.

Tickets are available online at ticketstage.com/51WALDEN, at $30 single, or $25 per person at tables of four. Refreshments will be available for purchase.

Please join the Concord Band and 51 Walden for Spring Pops!

Spring Pops! with Guest Artist Olga Lisovska

2024 Spring Pops!

Program: Dances

Winter Concert

Saturday, March 2, 2024 • 7:00 PM
The Concord Band
James O‘Dell, Music Director and Conductor

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Program

An American in Paris	George Gershwin arr. John Krance
Irish Tune from County Derry	Percy Grainger
Shepherd's Hey	Percy Grainger
Suite of Old American Dances	Robert Russell Bennett
Schottische Cake Walk
The Invisible Girl	Mason Bynes
World Premiere—Commissioned by Ellen Feldman
A Struggle Between Friends The Veiled Woman Revealed Becoming Visible
Intermission
Suite of Old American Dances	Robert Russell Bennett
Western One-Step Wallflower Waltz Rag
Saxophone Quartet
John Rabinowitz (soprano), David Southard (alto) Judy Piermarini (tenor), Dan Shields (baritone)
“Ceilidh” from Celtic Suite	Gavin Whitlock
Waltz for Debby	Bill Evans arr. Steve Piermarini
I Want You Back	Gordy, Mizell, Perren, Richards arr. Andy Wilds
The Concord Band
Danse—Tarantelle Styrienne	Claude Debussy orch. Ravel, arr. Boyd
Clear Track Polka	Eduard Strauss arr. Alfred Reed

Spotlight: Mason Bynes

Mason Bynes
composer

Mason Bynes is a New York based composer, vocalist, and multimedia artist from Sugar Land, TX. In a post-modern tradition, she pulls from various stylistic sources, blurring the line between traditionalism and modernism. Her goal in creating music and art is to bridge the gap between genre and sound in order to bring listeners together. She received her Master of Music in Composition from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and she also holds a Bachelor of Music in composition from the University of North Texas.

Mason’s musical curiosity fuels her pursuit of collaboration in a myriad of artistic mediums, including film, spoken word, music for acoustic performance, and even the culinary arts. In her latest artistic season, she's enjoyed a variety of premieres and releases of her music, including: her first operetta with Boston Lyric Opera, in collaboration with Boston's Poet Loreate, Porsha Olayiwola, and Castle of Our Skins; the release of her brass quartet piece "For Rosa" on The Westerlies' latest album, Move; and the premiere of her music by Art of Elan for a new film by British-American visual artist, Daniel Dean. The Washington Master Chorale recently awarded Bynes the inaugural Florence Price Prize and premiered her new choral work, "Dust Bowl."

In addition to serving on the film/tv composition team at Raging Cloud Studios, Bynes currently serves as a career coach at New York University after years of coaching emerging artists at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Mason continues to sing and perform with a variety of ensembles, including The Boston Pops' Holiday Pops Singers. This season, she is looking forward to the premiere of the The Invisible Girl for wind ensemble with The Concord Band, and the reprise of her work "The Wanderer's Tethering" with Castle of Our Skins.

FMI: https://www.masonbynes.org/

World Premiere of The Invisible Girl

The Dancer as... the Invisible Girl
original comic book

The Concord Band’s Winter Concert will be held on March 2, 2024, at the 51 Walden Performing Arts Center, presenting the World Premiere of The Invisible Girl, commissioned by Concord Band flutist Ellen Feldman, who wished to create an adventurous composition of modern music “in appreciation of the Band’s expansion of her musical horizons.”

Feldman and Music Director James O’Dell commissioned talented composer Mason Bynes, who holds a Master of Music in composition from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, to create the new work for symphonic band. After consultation, Bynes based her composition on a comic book that Feldman created, The Dancer as... the Invisible Girl.

Ellen Feldman
comic book creator

The new musical work, titled The Invisible Girl, reflects Bynes' appreciation of minimalist and Copland-esque music, and comprises three movements: “A Struggle Between Friends,” “The Veiled Woman Revealed,” and “Becoming Visible.”

The third movement incorporates a video, also named after Feldman’s comic book, which was created and produced by Nicole Pierce, who performs the main character of the comic. The video was filmed and edited by Guggenheim and Fulbright recipient, Sam Kauffmann.

Mason Bynes
composer

In her notes to the music score, Bynes writes, “These three movements capture The Invisible Girl’s whirling power and agility, Karisma’s [the Invisible Girl’s nemesis] veiled and vengeful soul, and the coming together of two women whose seemingly polar identities encourage one another’s visibility.”

O'Dell selected additional music in keeping with the evening's theme, Dances! The program includes Robert Russell Bennett’s Suite of Old American Dances, Claude Debussy’s Danse—Tarantelle Styrienne, and George Gershwin’s An American in Paris.

The concert and World Premiere will be held at 7:00 pm, Saturday March 2, 2024, at the 51 Walden Performing Arts Center in Concord, MA. The concert admission is free, with a $20 donation requested. The comic book, The Dancer as... the Invisible Girl, will be available for purchase. More information about the concert and premiere is available at www.concordband.org.

The Concord Band is supported in part by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

Dances

2024 Winter Concert flyer

WeStar 2024 Preview Videos

WeStar Music has released two promotional videos, featuring the Concord Band!

Tickets are now available. 

See you on January 20th at Cary Memorial Hall!

WeStar New Year Musical Night

2023 WeStar New Year Musical Night

WeStar Music presents the 2024 New Year Musical Night, 6:30pm, Saturday January 20, 2024, at Cary Memorial Hall in Lexington, featuring the award-winning Concord Band symphonic wind ensemble. The program features spectacular performances by a concert pianist, world champion accordionist, erhu masters, popular vocalists, international opera singers, and Boston's nationally-recognized dance troupe. This festival of song and dance commemorates the year past and anticipates a joyous and hopeful New Year.

The Concord Band will once again join forces with coloratura soprano Olga Lisovka among other world-renowned guest artists and performers.

Walk the red carpet with your family and friends in front of the elegant photo background wall. For VIP audience members, invited guests, and performing artists, WeStar offers an exclusive opportunity to gather after the concert to celebrate the New Year.

Advance ticket purchase recommended. See you on January 20th at Cary Memorial Hall!