Bennington Composers Concert

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC | Bennington College Dean Carriage Barn Series celebrates the College's distinguished musical history in a concert of music written by Bennington alumni and former faculty, including two premieres, music by Tina Davidson '76 and Alison Nowak '70. Also on the program are works by Louis Calabro, Vivian Fine, Betsy Jolas '46, Lionel Nowak, Marta Ptaszynska, Pril Smiley '65, and Joan Tower '61. Performers will include four current students, alumna soprano Megan Schubert, flutist Laurel Maurer, cellist Nathaniel Parke, soprano Kerry Ryer-Parke, percussionists Michael Wimberly and Jay Sager, and pianists Joan Forsyth, Yoshiko Sato, and Allen Shawn.

Concert is free and open to the public.

"It would take many, many concerts to adequately capture the richness of the music making that has occurred in the Bennington College Music program over the years," said organizer and faculty member Allen Shawn. "Even just doing justice to the composers who have taught here--including such historically significant figures as Henry Brant, Bill Dixon, Otto Luening, and Vivian Fine--would take several full-scale festivals. This concert is a mere sampler celebrating music written by former faculty as well as by composers who studied here who eventually became their equals. It would be marvelous if it were the first of many such celebrations. It is particularly wonderful to be able to honor French composer Betsy Jolas, 91 years old this year, world renowned composer Joan Tower, who is in her 80th year, and pioneer electronic composer Pril Smiley--all distinguished Bennington graduates."