Eastport Arts Center

The Eastport Arts Center’s popular summer concert series will conclude on Friday, August 30, with our Young Persons’ Concert. This annual concert, a tradition of more than 20 years, is a showcase for talented young musicians from all over Washington County. You won’t want to miss the diverse program and the chance to say you saw them way back when! A reception with refreshments courtesy of Eastport’s R&M IGA will follow the show.

“As a music educator and a parent of young musicians, I always enjoy being entertained by our young local area musicians. It is a wonderful night where they get to showcase their talents,” said Robert Sanchez, Director of Eastport schools’ music program and parent of returning performers Cora and Ellis Zipperer-Sanchez. “The Young Person’s Concert at Eastport Arts Center gives them a taste of what it means to be a working musician, while showing them that on top of the aesthetic pleasure of music, there is a monetary value to their creative endeavors.”

Tickets for this show are $5; youth tickets will be discounted. Tickets may be purchased on the EAC site, or at the door. Eastport Arts Center is at 36 Washington Street, Eastport, and at www.eastportartscenter.org, and is handicapped-accessible.

The Eastport Arts Center’s popular summer concert series will welcome back world-class concert pianist Mira Armij Gill on Friday, August 23 at 7 pm. Gill’s program will include works of Scarlatti, Ligeti, Lees, Beethoven, Liszt, Debussy and Lyopunov.  A reception will follow the concert with refreshments courtesy of Quoddy Bay Lobster. Many will remember Gill’s memorable performances over the past decade in Lubec, Eastport, and Saint Andrews.

Gill received both Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees from the Juilliard School where she studied with the John Browning and Joheved Kaplinsky.  She has been a fellow at the Tanglewood Institute and has studied at the Gnessin Institute in Moscow, and at the Mozarteum Sommer Academie in Salzburg.   Ms. Gill made her debut at Weill Recital Hall/Carnegie Hall as winner of the Artists International Young Artist’s Piano Award. She has won top prizes in the Utah Symphony Guild Competition, the Midland-Odessa National Concerto Competition, the Kawai America National Competition, and the Joanna Hodges International Brahms Competition, and the Jefferson Symphony Concert Auditions in Golden, Colorado.

Since 2004, Ms. Gill performs annual solo recitals each summer in Lubec, Eastport, Bar Harbor, Southwest Harbor and Winter Harbor, Maine and St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada. This past year she gave recitals in Manhattan in the LiveSounds Concert Series including a two piano performance of Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals. Also new to her roster were concerts at St. Luke in the Field Church, and “Make Music New York” Concert Series in Washington Square Park, for minimalist music in lower Manhattan.  She performs each year on Mu Phi Epsilon concerts and in recent years was presented in recital as the NYC Alumni Chapter’s Distinguished Artist at Tenri Cultural Institute.

A resident of New York, Ms. Gill served on the piano faculty of the Turtle Bay Music School for 13 years and served as Resident Teaching Artist at SAYA! (South Asian Youth Action) where she established and developed a thriving piano program in Elmhurst, New York.  Currently, Ms. Gill is a member of the piano faculty at the Third Street Music School in lower Manhattan while maintaining a busy private studio.

The Concert Series runs through August 30. Tickets are $10, and youth tickets are discounted. Tickets may be purchased on the EAC site, or at the door. The Eastport Arts Center is at 36 Washington Street, Eastport, and at www.eastportartscenter.org, and is handicapped-accessible.

The Eastport Arts Center’s popular summer concert series continues on August 16 with the Resinosa Ensemble, including Joëlle Morris, mezzo-Soprano, Eliza Meyer, cello and Bridget Convey, piano. A reception with refreshments courtesy of Sweetie’s Dog-O-Rama will follow the concert.

Resinosa Ensemble focuses on the performance of chamber music, working with living composers, and offering music slightly off the beaten path. The trio’s program, “Prelude to a dream” Meets “American Reflections”, will feature a well-balanced assortment of “night” music and music written by American composers featuring American poets. Included works are Andre Previn’s “Four Songs”, with poems by Toni Morrison; Lukas Foss’ “Capriccio, for cello and piano”; Bohuslav Martinů’s “Nocturne III, for cello and piano”; and Johannes Brahms’ “Two Alto Songs.” The ensemble will also present Boston-based composer Scott Wheeler’s “Three Night Songs”, which he recently arranged for them. Finally, Eastport’s own John Newell composed “Night Songs”, a set of seven songs incorporating poems by Sara Teasdale, for the ensemble. “Newell’s music is wonderful,” said Convey, “and the Resinosa Ensemble considers it an honor to perform.”

In the next few seasons, Resinosa will feature more new works by Maine composers, including Marianna Fillipi, Rick Nelson, Nancy Gunn, and Daniel Sonenberg. Resinosa has performed throughout Maine, at venues such as Bowdoin College’s Studzinski Recital Hall; Bates College’s Olin Arts Center; Colby College’s Museum of Art; and was a featured ensemble at the Back Cove New Music Festival 2018.

Originally from Evian, France, Mezzo-Soprano Joëlle Morris has performed throughout Europe and the United States and is admired for her versatility, from the concert stage to the operatic arena, in intimate jazz settings and French cabaret or simply sharing her gifts as voice teacher and coach. Morris has sung across the United States, France and Switzerland, and since relocating to Maine in 2011 has appeared with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra and the Mozart Mentor Orchestra, and has given recitals at the Franco Center, Waterville Opera House, Colby College, Bates College, Bowdoin College, Nordica Auditorium and the Early Music Festival in Portland. Morris is co-founding member of the Resinosa Ensemble and the Amethyst Chamber Ensemble in Maine as well as the musical director of CODA chorus in Winthrop, Maine. In addition to annual summer appearances in France, she is a Music Associate in Voice at Colby College, Bates College and holds a private studio in central Maine.

Cellist Eliza Meyer performs regularly with chamber and orchestral ensembles around New England, including Resinosa Ensemble and the Portland and Bangor Symphonies. She teaches at UMaine Augusta and Pineland Suzuki School, in addition to maintaining a private teaching studio at her home in Vassalboro. She received her Bachelor of Music Degree and a Performer Diploma from the Indiana University School of Music, where she was a recipient of the Eva Heinitz Scholarship, and her Master of Music Degree from The Boston Conservatory, where she was a member of the Honors String Quartet and a winner of the String Idol contest. She has studied with Andrew Mark, Rhonda Rider, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, and Helga Winold.

Pianist Bridget Convey has found much fulfillment in collaborating with living composers, including Morton Subotnick, Mel Powell, James Tenney, Daniel Sonenberg, Vineet Shende, Elliott Schwartz and many others. As a soloist and ensemble musician, Bridget has been heard at venues such as Lincoln Center (NYC); Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (Los Angeles, CA); Ojai Music Festival (CA); Maybeck Performing Arts Studio (Berkeley, CA); Percussive Arts Society International Convention (Columbus, OH); and others. She received her Diploma from Mannes College of Music, NYC (Pre-college Division) 1989; BFA from State University of New York at Purchase 1993; and MFA from the California Institute of the Arts 1997.  Bridget can be heard on Navona, Cuneiform, Independent and Nataraja labels. She teaches piano at Bates College and has a private piano studio in Central Maine.

The Concert Series runs through August 30. Tickets are $10, and youth tickets are discounted. Tickets may be purchased on the EAC site, or at the door. The Eastport Arts Center is at 36 Washington Street, Eastport, and at www.eastportartscenter.org, and is handicapped-accessible.

The Eastport Arts Center’s popular summer concert series continues with Sam Schuth, violinist, on Friday, August 9 at 7 pm, with a program including Eugène Ysaÿe’s Violin Sonata in A minor, “Obsession”, Op. 27; Mozart’s Duet for Violin and Viola; Manuel Ponce’s Estrellita; and Brahms’ Violin Sonata in A Major, Op. 100. A reception sponsored by the Eastport Chowder House will follow the concert.

For the Mozart, Schuth will perform opposite his mother and first teacher, Alice St. Clair, a strings educator and Concertmaster of Passamaquoddy Bay Symphony Orchestra. Gregory Biss, pianist, will provide accompaniment for the Ponce and Brahms pieces.

Schuth grew up in Eastport, and often at Eastport Arts Center, where he performed with Eastport Strings and participated in Stage East productions. He then attended the University of Southern Maine, where he earned his Bachelor’s of Music in violin performance. While at USM, he was concertmaster of the Southern Maine Symphony Orchestra and toured with the USM String Quartet and the USM String Quintet. He now lives in South Portland, where he continues to make and teach music.

Concert Series tickets are $10; youth tickets will be discounted. Tickets may be purchased on the EAC site, or at the door. The Eastport Arts Center is at 36 Washington Street, Eastport, and at www.eastportartscenter.org, and is handicapped-accessible.

The Eastport Arts Center’s popular summer concert series continues Friday, July 12 at 7 pm, with Gregory Biss, pianist. The program will feature Franz Schubert’s Sonata in A major, D. 664, which was composed in 1820, and Chopin’s 3rd Ballade, opus 47, from 1841. Also on the program are two Preludes & Fugues from J.S. Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier plus shorter works by Franz Liszt, Nikolai Kapustin, Philip Glass and Biss. A reception sponsored by Moose Island Marine will follow the concert.

Composer & pianist Gregory Biss was born in Illinois, educated chiefly in Boston and Germany and has lived in Eastport since 1975. His music has been featured by the Denver Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic and he performed the Schumann Piano Concerto with the Passamaquoddy Bay Symphony Orchestra in 2012. His Violin Concerto: just a sec was recently premiered by Trond Saeverud. Biss had a 20-year career as a scuba diver in the aquaculture industry, has been a longtime member of the piano faculty at SummerKeys in Lubec and operates a small business as a piano technician. He is President of the EAC Board of Directors, serves on the Peavey Library Board and was for many years an Eastport City Councilor. He and his wife Barbara raised four children and now have six grandkids.

Concert Series tickets are $10; youth tickets will be discounted. Tickets may be purchased on the EAC site, or at the door. The Eastport Arts Center is at 36 Washington Street, Eastport, and at www.eastportartscenter.org, and is handicapped-accessible.

The Eastport Arts Center’s popular summer concert series will begin on Friday, June 26 at 7 pm, with a concert of Baroque music by Jane Lanctot, harpsichord, and Jan Holms, flute. A reception sponsored by The Pet Store will follow the concert.

Lanctot has played harpsichord professionally since 1980. She studied with Edward Smith, and also attended the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute. She has played continuo in numerous early music groups, including a 17th century dance band. She performed the Bach 5th Brandenburg Harpsichord concerto at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. In addition, she holds degrees in Electrical Engineering and Mathematics.

Holms has played flute professionally since 1972. Holms taught flute at the Westminster Conservatory of Music in Princeton, New Jersey for 20 years, and currently freelances with orchestras and chamber groups throughout the NY/PA/NJ region. She is Principal Flute with the Riverside Symphony in Lambertville, NJ. In 2014, Holms began studying the Baroque flute with Eve Friedman in Philadelphia and Lubec. She also studied with Wilbert Hazelzet, Principal Flutist of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra.

Tickets are $10; youth tickets will be discounted. The Eastport Arts Center is at 36 Washington Street, Eastport, and at www.eastportartscenter.org, and is handicapped-accessible.