Performing Arts Series

Join Maree ReMalia / merrygogo for The Ubiquitous Mass of Us, an evening-length, escalating journey where nine performers from across artistic disciplines question the bounds of their identities. Moving in and around the set designed by visual artist Blaine Siegel, they explore the way they take up space. Watch them bare a broad range of physicality and newly discovered expressions to an original soundscore by David Bernabo. For all ages, seasoned performance goers, and those new to the theater. The artists offer a post-performance discussion both nights.

Winner of the 2012 Concert Artists Guild Competition, this trio has been hailed for its “passionate playing, articulate and imaginative ideas and wide palette of colors”—The Strad. At their Weill Recital Hall debut at Carnegie Hall, the New York Times lauded the ensemble’s “…rich sound and nuanced musicianship…resulting in a finely hued collaboration among the three musicians.” Their program honoring Veteran’s Day, entitled “Recovered Voices: Music by European Composers Displaced by World War II,” includes music by Krenek, Ben-Haim, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and Weinberg.

Acclaimed composer, singer, and violinist Jenny Scheinman invites us into the captivating visual world of Depression-era filmmaker, H. Lee Waters. Scheinman and her musical sidemen, Robbie Fulks and Robbie Gjersoe, create a live soundtrack of new folksongs, fiddle music, and field sounds to accompany Waters’ fascinating footage, now masterfully reworked by director Finn Taylor. The result is a reflection on “the gaze” both then and now; the evolution of mill towns; and a striking commentary on race, class, and the American experience.

The Jupiter String Quartet is known around the world for blazing, passionate, and energetic performances. Between three of the four members being related, and their annual treks to Middlebury, the Jupiters feel like family. This time, they visit our Robison Hall (Concert Hall) with friends: the husband and wife team of violist Roger Tapping (whom many will remember from his many years with the Takács Quartet) and cellist Natasha Brofsky.

One of America’s most thought-provoking, multi-faceted, and compelling artists, pianist Jeremy Denk is the winner of a 2013 MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, the 2014 Avery Fisher Prize, and Musical America’s 2014 Instrumentalist of the Year award. The New York Times calls him “a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs, in whatever combination—both for his penetrating intellectual engagement with the music and for the generosity of his playing.” His program ranges from Bach to Beethoven and Joplin to Ives. Sponsored by the Performing Arts Series. Reserved Seating.

Called “a dazzlingly inventive pianist” by the New York Times, Jean-Michel Pilc leads a musical life always centered around the solo piano. In Pilc’s hands, the listener embarks on a journey, crafted with unexpected landscapes and powerful emotions, using a wide range and spectrum from intimate lyricism to breathtaking virtuosity. Sponsored by the Performing Arts Series. Reserved seating. Tickets: $25/20/6

Formed in 2002 at the Royal Northern College of Music, the Heath Quartet was awarded a Borletti-Buitoni Special Ensemble Scholarship and in 2012 won Ensemble Prize at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. To round out their winter term as our quartet in residence, the group plays a mixed repertoire program including Haydn’s Op 20. No. 5, Beethoven’s Op. 135, and Brahms A Minor quartet Op. 51 No. 2. Sponsored by the Performing Arts Series. See associated concerts January 14 and 21. Reserved Seating. Tickets: $20/15/6

Just two years ago, the Heath Quartet became the first ensemble in 15 years to win the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artists Award. In this second recital as Middlebury’s winter term quartet in residence, the Heath plays Béla Bartók’s String Quartets 2, 4, and 6. This free Performing Arts Series concert is made possible with generous support from the Sunderman Family Concert Endowment Fund, in memory of Dr. F. William Sunderman, Jr. and Dr. Carolyn Reynolds Sunderman.See associated concerts January 14 and February 4. Free; no tickets required.

After hearing this U.K.-based quartet’s stunning U.S. debut here in April 2014, and seeing their exemplary work with Middlebury students, Performing Arts Series Director Allison Coyne Carroll invited this extraordinary ensemble to spend Winter Term 2016 as the first-ever Quartet in Residence. They will teach, perform the entire Bartók cycle over two concerts,—and offer an third, mixed-repertoire recital. In this first recital, the Heath plays Béla Bartók’s String Quartets 1, 3, and 5.

Performed by the Heath Quartet The Heath Quartet—the Performing Arts Series first quartet-in-residence—will perform a special matinee concert of original works composed by students in Professor Su Lian Tan’s MUSC309 class. Composers include Henry Pearson ‘17, Sam Kudman ‘17, York Kitajima ‘15, Tevan Goldberg ‘18, and Scott Waller ‘17.5. Sponsored by the Performing Arts Series, Department of Music, and Rothrock Residency Fund for Experiential Learning in the Performing Arts. Free