St. Mark's Episcopal Church will present a Marilyn Tedesco Memorial Concert, "Wind, Wire and Quill" on May 22, 2010. Thomas Marshall, organist/harpsichordist from the College of William and Mary in Virginia, will explore both old and new music in a concert titled “Wind, Wire and Quill” to make the most of three keyboard instruments in this memorial event. The “progressive” concert begins at the South Parish Congregational Church, 9 Church Street, Augusta where Mr. Marshall will play the 1866 E. & G.G. Hook organ.  After intermission, the program will resume at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 9 Summer Street, Augusta featuring Mr. Marshall’s own French-style harpsichord and St. Mark’s Andover organ. The organ is a modern (1973) mechanical key action (tracker) instrument built as opus 73 of the Andover Organ Company.

Biddeford, ME, 4 March 2010. “La Stagione d’Amore (Season of Love) – an Evening of Opera” will be presented at City Theater in Biddeford on March 12 and 14. Several of Maine’s finest singers will perform scenes from operas such as Carmen, La Boheme, Don Giovanni, The Elixir of Love, Hansel and Gretel, and more.

The cast includes sopranos Danielle Vayenas, Devin Dukes, Jenny Robinson, Rebecca Rinaldi, and Michelle Rawding; mezzo sopranos Sara Sturdivant, Jazmin DeRice and Nicole Rawding; tenors John Coons, Kurt Perry and Jason Phillips, baritone Dan Cyr and bass-baritone John Adams. All have performed throughout the New England region with groups including PORT Opera, Longwood Opera in Massachusetts, Boston Lyric Opera, Maine Oratorio Chorale, Boston Masterworks Chorale and more, and several of the artists have performed in New York and beyond.

Concert director/producer Sara Sturdivant recently returned to Maine from New York City. She is a USM graduate who also received a Professional Studies Diploma in voice from Mannes College of Music and has completed Young Artist programs with Mannes Opera, Chautauqua Opera and PORT Opera. She most recently performed the Messiah at Carnegie Hall this past December.

“Having been involved with community theater at Biddeford’s City Theater, and knowing the wealth of great opera talent in Maine, I thought it was time to bring opera to the stage at City Theater,” Sturdivant said. “I hope this concert will be just the beginning, and that we may perform fully-staged operas in the future.”

Performance times are Friday, March 12, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. This event is the annual fundraiser for City Theater. Tickets are $25 for adults and $10 with a student ID at the door, and may be purchased by visiting our website www.citytheater.org

An after-party will be held on the stage of the theater on Friday, featuring hors d'oeuvres and wine. Newfangled Eats is catering this event. Tickets to the party are $15 per (21+) adult.

Debbie Litalien

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 8:00 PM. The opening concert of the August 2009 Festival, featuring works by Honegger, Beethoven and Franck, will be broadcast on the MaineStage program of the Maine Public Broadcasting Network on Wednesday evening, February 24, 2010, at 8:00 PM.

Don't live in MPBN broadcast range? No mind. You can stream the broadcast live from the MPBN website, wherever you happen to be on February 24th.

Listen, enjoy, and anticipate more great programming for our 2010 Festival at the Darrows Barn at Round Top in Damariscotta from August 10-20.

Warm regards,
Kit Pfeiffer
Managing Director (and happy host of the broadcast on February 24th!)
on the web at www.SaltBayChamberfest.org