The mission of the West Springfield Arts Council, a Massachusetts Local Cultural Council (LCC), is to promote, support, and encourage the arts, humanities and interpretive sciences within the West Springfield community.
Monday, July 29, 2024
Monday, July 22, 2024
West Springfield Cable Station 15 will air "Sevenars Celebrates Robert Schrade" on August 1 and 2 at 6 pm.
Thursday, July 18, 2024
Wednesday, July 17, 2024
Press Release: Stockbridge Sinfonia Summer Concerts Pay Tribute to Ukraine
Jul 15, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Release: Stockbridge Sinfonia Summer Concerts Pay Tribute to Ukraine
FROM: Tracy Wilson, Music Director
RE: Stockbridge Sinfonia Summer Concert Series
Stockbridge Sinfonia, Berkshires’ longest running community orchestra, presents three concerts in tribute to Ukraine. All are free and open to the public. The concerts take place on Saturday, August 3, 3 pm at Lenox Memorial Middle and High School, East Street; Saturday, August 10, 3 pm at Zion Lutheran Church Common Room, 74 First Street, Pittsfield; and Sunday, August 11, 6 pm at Saint James Place in Great Barrington. Compositions by Ukrainian composers include Troika by Prokofiev; Sailors Dance by Gliere; Melodiya by Skoryk, and the Ukrainian National Anthem. The Ukraine Anthem will be sung in Ukraine by members of three Berkshire choruses: Stockbridge Festival, Berkshire Concert, and Northern Berkshires, and this combined chorus will begin each concert with America the Beautiful; the audience will be invited to join them. The first half of the concert will conclude with a piece by Pittsfield High School junior Davis Albayeros, El Último Baile, for strings featuring Sinfonia’s students. The second half is a performance of Beethoven Seventh Symphony.
The 50-piece community orchestra consists of students ranging in age 13 through 22, and amateur and semi-professional adults up to age 90. All players are volunteers, and the participating students earn scholarships for their involvement with the organization. Last year, over $5,000 was awarded. The Sinfonia season runs from the beginning of June through mid-August, is open to any and all interested classical musicians, and is conducted by Tracy Wilson.
This summer series program is supported in part by grants from the cultural councils of Pittsfield, Lee, Stockbridge, Lenox, Great Barrington, Alford/Egremont, Richmond, and West Springfield, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency. Other grants come from Berkshire Bank, Greylock Foundation and The Feigenbaum Foundation, in addition to private individuals’ donations. The concerts are free and open to the public; however, donations at the door are always welcome. More information can be found at StockbridgeSinfonia.org.
Monday, June 24, 2024
2025 Arts Council Members
Arts Council Members
- Anthony Cignoli
- Donna Laconti - Chair
- Kimberly Martin
- Judy Mae Osborne
- Edwina Stefanowich
Town Liaison
- Eileen Chapman, Arts Council Liaison, Library Director, West Springfield Public Library
Thursday, June 20, 2024
Press Release: Sevenars Music Festival's 56th Season starts July 14 - please share!
Sevenars Concerts 2024
Please join us for six concerts at the Academy
Sevenars "Family and Friends" Opening
Ronald Gorevic, violist
Ronald Gorevic plays exciting new viola works - some composed for him -and Bach and Reger!
Sevenars is delighted to present violist Ron Gorevic, returning to Sevenars after his stunning Bach recital in 2023! This year, as "Mr. Gorevic is noted for his commitment to contemporary music" (The Daily Telegraph, London), he will offer a groundbreaking program including music of Kenji Bunch, Sal Macchia, Larry Wallach, and Tasia Wu, the latter three composing especially for him. In addition he'll offer Bach's magnificent Chaconne in D minor and Reger's 3rd Suite. Hailed by the New York Times as "a musician first and foremost," Mr. Gorevic continues a long and distinguished career as a performer on both violin and viola. Along with solo recitals, he has toured the US, Germany, Japan, Korea, and Australia, performing most of the quartet repertoire. In London, he gave the British premieres of pieces by Donald Erb and Ned Rorem. He has recorded for Centaur as soloist and member of the Prometheus Piano Quartet, and for Koch as a member of the Chester String Quartet. He is currently on the faculties of Smith College, New England Conservatory of Music (Prep), and UMass Amherst.
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Cellist Inbal Segev (a Gramophone pick of the year 2024 so far) plays Bach Suites Nos. 1, 3, and 5!
Sevenars is extremely proud to present Israeli-American musician Inbal Segev, "a cellist with something to say" (Gramophone), in three Bach Cello Suites. Combining "thrillingly projected, vibrato-rich playing" (Washington Post) with "complete dedication and high intelligence" (San Francisco Classical Voice), she comes to us from a season that has included concerto engagements with the London Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, and Colorado Symphony orchestras, recording for Nonesuch Records, and world premieres of her own compositions. As a prodigy she played for heads of state by age eight, and by age sixteen she was invited by Isaac Stern to the U.S., where she continued her cello studies at Juilliard and Yale. She made concerto debuts with the Berlin Philharmonic and Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta and has since appeared as soloist with countless leading orchestras, including the Orchestre National de Lyon, Dortmund Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, and others. Her Bach has gained special attention, as heard from New York's Lincoln Center and Metropolitan Museum, to the Shanghai Concert Hall and Jerusalem Theatre, as well as on
recording for Vox Classics.
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Pianist Junwen Liang
Sevenars is excited to present as it's 2024 "Young Artist to Watch" Chinese Pianist Junwen Liang. Lauded as "an extremely gifted and promising young artist" (New York Concert Review), Junwen's biography includes an impressive array "captivating" performances (Stroll Magazine), including ones at the Tuesday Concert Series in Washington, DC, the Sunday Recital Series at Saint Thomas in New York, the Trinity Concert Series, the Robert J. Werner Recital Hall in Cincinnati, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and the Academy of Music at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia. His performance of Prokofiev 3rd Piano Concerto with the Ithaca College Symphony Orchestra was broadcast by WSKG radio (NY) and WRTI (PA). His numerous awards include first prizes from the Crescendo International Music Competition, Nouvelles Etoiles International Music Competition (France), Princeton Festival International Piano Competition, YMIC International Music Competition, Philadelphia International Piano Competition, and The American Prize. Junwen is now completing a Graduate Performance Diploma at the Peabody Institute (Johns Hopkins University), with Richard Goode. He brings Sevenars a stunning program of Bach, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, and Prokofiev.
Sayuri Miyamoto, pianist and Joel Bard, oboist, join violinist/violist Jun-Ching Lin!
Sunday, August 11, 2024 at 4PM
Sevenars is thrilled to welcome oboist Joel Bard and pianist Sayuri Miyamoto, joined by violinist/violist Jun- Ching Lin in a breathtaking program of solos, duos, and trios. Award-winning pianist Sayuri Miyamoto with husband and brilliant oboist/conductor Joel Bard are sought after individually and as a duo. Both have earned degrees from prestigious conservatories and universities, held distinguished teaching positions, and performed across the US in solo recitals, concerti, and chamber collaborations with other outstanding musicians. This April, Mr. Bard conducted the North Shore Philharmonic with Sayuri as soloist in Mozart's K. 459. Joining them is Jun- Ching Lin, Assistant Concertmaster for the Atlanta Symphony since 1988. Additionally Mr. Lin has performed worldwide in solo and chamber concerts (violin and viola) with such musicians as Robert Spano, Yo-Yo Ma, members of the Cleveland, Miami and Tokyo String Quartets, and principals of the all the major US orchestras. Recent solo performances have included Prokofiev First Concerto with the Kalamazoo Philharmonia, Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra, and works by Bach, Barber, Beethoven, Dvorák, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Vivaldi with the Atlanta Symphony.
No Sevenars season would seem complete without the jazz wizardry of pianist Clifton J. "Jerry" Noble, Jr. and bassist Kara Noble. This year they will play in a quartet including the inimitable Chris Devine on violin and percussionist extraordinaire, Jon Van Eps. Clifton J. "Jerry" Noble, Jr. is admired as composer and pianist throughout the United States and internationally, both as a classical artist and in jazz improvisation. He has enchanted Sevenars audiences for two decades with his jazz stylings - first with clarinet legend Bob Sparkman, and then joined in a trio with his wife Kara Noble on bass guitar. In 2023, to honor the late Bob Sparkman, the Noble duo joined forces with Chris Devine, brilliant violinist/flutist who plays in a multitude of styles and instruments (and whose bio includes collaborating with Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple). Rounding off the quartet is John Van Eps, multifaceted marimbist, composer, and producer (whose credits include producing remixes of Robert Lamm of Chicago). These four musicians brought the house down in 2023, and you won't want to miss their next program!
Reservations are not required or taken. All are welcome on first-come-first-served basis. Come a bit early for a good seat!
There is no required admission cost, however donations are welcome at the door.
($20 per person is suggested to help defray expenses of maintaining this magnificent historic concert hall and continuing to bring fine music to this idyllic setting).
Complimentary refreshments are offered at intermission.
We look forward to seeing you there!
To reach Sevenars (just off Rte. 112 on South Ireland Street):
From Amherst: Take Rte. 9 West, then go West on 143 to Rte 112, Worthington, then South from Worthington Corners 5 miles to Ireland St. (turn left at bridge to find large white house, the Academy)
From I-91 Exit W. Springfield, Rte 20 West to Huntington, North on Rte 112 (8 miles). Turn right at the bridge
From Northampton: West on Rte. 66, Rte. 112 North 5.3 miles Right at bridge to large white house.
Taconic Pkwy: Mass Tpk (90), Exit Lee, Rte. 20 East to Huntington, North Rte. 112 (8 miles). Go right at bridge.
Call 413-238-5854 or write to Sevenars@aol.com
This 2024 project is supported in part by the Cultural Councils of
Chesterfield, Gardner,
Contributions (checks made out to Sevenars Concerts, Inc.) are gratefully accepted and tax-deductible under IRS Code 509 (A)(1), Section 501 (C)(3), and may be mailed to the address below.
By Mail: Sevenars Concerts, Inc., 80 East End Avenue, 3G, New York, NY 10028
E-mail: Sevenars@aol.com
