Join us this spring for two special Musical Salons that explore human connection and the power of music and art to bring us together.
On March 8, we present From Salon to Tango, an intimate evening tracing a journey from the elegance of the Baroque salon to the passion of the tango. Harpist Amanda Romano and flutist Clint Foreman will share a colorful program of music by Bach, Rossini, Rochester Young, Persichetti, and Piazzolla, moving from poised, conversational chamber works to rhythmically charged, dance‑inspired pieces. Together, they reveal how composers across centuries have played with style, dance, and drama, and how the seemingly refined world of the salon leads naturally to the heat and pulse of tango.
We’re thrilled to partner with the beloved Jamestown Arts Center for a beautiful afternoon of music and dance in their creative halls on March 14th. Join us for a very special musical salon with Grammy-winning Canadian cellist Arlen Hlusko, returning after last year’s sold-out performance at Rough Point: Folk, Bach, and Beyond is a solo recital program that asks how music can sustain connection, courage, and hope, foregrounding the shared humanity at the heart of listening together. Throughout the afternoon, dance in selected pieces will be performed by Emily Jerant Hendrickson, allowing movement and music to converse and giving physical shape to the theme of the Musical Salon.
On April 15, we turn to a different kind of journey with This Love Between Us, inspired by Reena Esmail’s powerful meditation on connection. “Our love, our human connection, goes back so far in time. It is our very foundation. To recognize ourselves in one another is truly to remember that connection. We may squabble, but ultimately — we survive together. Or not at all.” Esmail’s words shape a program that looks at love in its many forms: motherly tenderness (Brahms’ Sacred Lullaby), yearning for connection (Bridge’s Three Songs), enduring love across time (Leilehua Lanzilotti’s of moments), longing, loss, and the “ray of eternal love” (Clara Schumann’s Six Lieder), intimate dialogue (Robert Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro), the desolation of separation (Schubert’s Shepherd on the Rock), and the beauty and essentiality of human connection (Esmail’s This Love Between Us).
The performers for April 15 are an exceptional trio: Katharine Dain, soprano; Caitlin Lynch, viola; and Ieva Jokubaviciute, piano. Dutch‑based soprano Katharine Dain brings a distinctly European perspective and a richly acclaimed career to this program, known for her nuanced, intelligent interpretations and deep affinity for both song and contemporary repertoire. Together with violist Caitlin Lynch and pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute, she will weave a portrait of love and connection in music that is intimate, searching, and profoundly human.
The music is intertwined with texts by poets across centuries and cultures, including Kabir, Friedrich Rückert, Heinrich Heine, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Wilhelm Müller. In the words of Leilehua Lanzilotti, “these moments can reveal love: joyful, enduring, always.”
We hope you’ll join us this season as our Musical Salons move from salon to tango, and from individual stories to a larger reflection on the love and connection that bind us all.