Featuring Works by German Composers 

Friday, May 1, 8 pm, Vermont Academy, Saxtons River
Saturday, May 2, 8 pm, Calder Hall, Currier Center, Putney School

On Friday, May 1 in Saxtons River, and Saturday, May 2 in Putney the Windham Orchestra, under the direction of David Runnion, will present "MUNICH!" featuring an all-German program. 

From Moscow to Madrid to Brattleboro’s Listen Local concert, the Windham Orchestra concludes its 2008-2009 concert season world-tour with Munich, featuring works by Franz Joseph Haydn, Richard Wagner and Robert  Schumann.  

“We close our season with a classic symphonic program of timeless music from Germany. I love this program. This is what symphonic music is all about; sweeping romantic lines, huge dramatic statements and structures, virtuosity, elegance, a celebration of the supremely beautiful sound of the symphony orchestra,” exclaims Director David Runnion. 

Featured in the Windham Orchestra’s Munich program is fifteen-year-old cellist Rebecca Haynes performing Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C major. In February Rebecca won the Orchestra’s 2009 Concerto Competition, which is open to young musicians in our region and generously sponsored each year by Brattleboro violinmaker Douglas Cox. 

“Rebecca Haynes absolutely blew us away in the concerto competition with her mastery of the instrument and elegance of style” said Runnion. “The Haydn has been a favorite of mine since my student days, and this should be a glimmering performance of this joyful work.” 

Rebecca Haynes, a sophomore at Hanover High School in New Hampshire, has been studying the cello with Linda Galvan for seven years, chamber music for the past four and is currently the cellist of the Evergreen Trio. She attended the Portland String Quartet Workshop for two years and participated in the Senior Greenwood Music Camp this past summer. Rebecca performs regularly in the Upper Valley and played for many of the choral programs at Plymouth State University. Last spring, Rebecca earned first stand positions in both the New Hampshire All-State and the All-New England Orchestras. Rebecca was a winner of last year's New Hampshire Philharmonic youth concerto competition. Rebecca, though undecided as to what she will pursue professionally, feels playing the cello will always be an important part of her life. 

"Munich" will also feature Wagner's Prelude to Act 1 of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nürnberg) and Schumann’s Symphony #4.  

“I first played the Meistersinger Prelude my first year at the All-State Music Festival in Burlington about 100 years ago," recalls Runnion.  "It was the first time I had played in a full symphony orchestra. I couldn't believe the sensation of being inside this music. I felt like I had stepped into my parent's record player. There are very few pieces of music as powerful and as skillfully crafted as this. It features the magnificent brass section of the orchestra, especially tubist Sue Lemei and our principal French horn player, Karen Horton.”  

“When performing the Schumann Fourth some years ago, I suddenly had the sensation that I was in my car stereo, creating the music that one listens to on WVPR but doesn't quite recognize,” continues Runnion.  “Poor crazy, insecure Schumann somehow caught the sound that defines classical orchestral music almost more than any other composer. Here is the sweeping romanticism, the intimate, sad solo voices, the booming power, the captivating musical drama of harmonic tension and resolution. It's not a perfect piece; we are not perfect beings. Something about Schumann speaks to the restless yearning within us all, struggling through our faults to create something meaningful and lasting. In this music we can see ourselves and understand through Schumann's musical language the suffering and joy that we all share in life.”  

“This season with the Windham Orchestra has been a great journey of wildly contrasting musical styles, mixing Spanish bullfights, Russian suffering, German solemnity and a dash of  Vermont maple syrup all on one musical plate. This is where orchestral music can take us,” says Runnion.  

It is an important part of the mission of the orchestra to bring their music outside the Brattleboro metropolitan area and into the villages of the region. “It's not often that symphony orchestras make it to towns as small as Putney and Saxtons River and I hope that people come out and hear us; even in a tiny town it's possible to Listen Local, and we're fortunate to have two outstanding concert venues at Vermont Academy and Putney School,” said Runnion. 

Special combination tickets for Friday evening’s concert and a sumptuous pre-concert dinner at the Inn at Saxtons River are available for $30 and can be purchased at the Inn at Saxtons River. Please call the Inn at Saxtons River at (802) 869-2110 for reservations. Combination ticket includes a 4-course dinner with choice of three entrees served between 5:30 and 7:00pm, drinks and gratuity not included.  

Join the Windham Orchestra for MUNICH on Friday, May 1, 8 pm, at Vermont Academy, Horowitz Performing Arts Hall in Saxtons River, VT, and Saturday, May 2, 8 pm, at Putney School, Currier Arts Center in Putney, VT.

Tickets:  $15 and $10 for youth under 22, are available from the Brattleboro Music Center, 802-257-4523, 39 Walnut Street, Brattleboro, VT, and at the door.  Senior discount tickets, $6, are available for advance purchase at the Senior Center and the Brattleboro Music Center. 

Visit the orchestra's website at windhamorchestra.net for more information, including Zeke Hecker's program notes for the upcoming concerts. While at the website, be sure to listen to the orchestra's recording of Steven Bathory-Peeler's "Film Score for an Unmade Film," performed in their January "Listen Local" concert, and read some of the many possible film plots submitted by audience members at the concert. Other orchestra recordings are available at www.myspace.com/windhamorchestra.