Michael Arnowitt

Michael Arnowitt’s classical piano program features deep, highly personal and expressive
masterworks by many of the pianist’s favorite composers. The major pieces on the concert are Bach’s Partita no. 3 in A minor, a rarely programmed suite which interestingly contains Bach’s only known examples of the humorous burlesca and scherzo forms; Beethoven’s Sonata no. 27 in E minor, op. 90, with its profound and powerful opening statement and contrasting songful, almost Schubert-like closing finale; and Robert Schumann’s evocative “Scenes from Childhood,” an adult look back on what Schumann called “the sunshine of childhood,” highlighted by the famous “Traumerei” (Dreaming). Also on the program are four Chopin études including the shimmering “Aeolian Harp” and mesmeric “Double Thirds,” three of the fantastically imaginative piano études by György Ligeti including “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” and a piano arrangement of the slow movement to Brahms’ Fourth Symphony, one of the composer’s most beautiful and satisfying creations.

 Tickets ($15) are available at the Rangeley Lakes Chamber of Commerce and at the door on the evening of the concert.

Pictures from Last Year’s DIVA:

Sue Downes Borko

Susy Sanders

On August 5^th at 7PM, the annual Westerhoff Concert will be held at The Church of the Good Shepherd in Rangeley.  The extensive program will include Four Romantic Pieces, Op. 75 by Antonín Dvořák, Sonata in A Major, Op. 162, D. 574 by Franz Schubert, Partita No. 2 in C Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach, Barcarolle, Op. 60 by Frédéric Chopin,  and Etude written and played by nineteen year old Nikita Mamedov.

 Musicians will include Sarah Dalrymple, soprano, David Recca, piano, David Iskowitz, piano, Cliff Bernzweig, violin, Nikita Mamedov, piano.

 Cliff Bernzweig is a violinist from West Orange, New Jersey. In 1993, Cliff won first prize in the youth division of the Corpus Christi Young Artists Competition in Corpus Christi, Texas. Two years later, he was one of three American violinists selected to compete in Sendai, Japan, at the Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians. Cliff is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He is a member of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and plays regularly with New Jersey-based orchestras such as the Orchestra of St. Peter’s by the Sea and the Monmouth Symphony. Cliff has given solo recitals in many venues in New Jersey and throughout the Northeast, including Merkin Hall in New York City. Cliff teaches violin at the Westerhoff School of Music & Art and at the Newark Academy in Livingston, New Jersey.

      David Iskowitz, pianist, is Music Director of the Westerhoff School of Music & Art. He also is an adjunct faculty member and staff accompanist at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey.

     Mr. Iskowitz performs often in the tri-state area, both as soloist and chamber musician. He plays regularly in faculty concerts at Drew University and at the Westerhoff School, and frequently appears in local concert series, often in collaboration with instrumentalists and singers. He has performed with the Brunswick Symphony Orchestra and at Merkin Hall in New York City. He is a graduate of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.

      Nikita Mamedov, pianist, is a former piano student of the Westerhoff School of Music & Art.  He is currently a scholarship student at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ, majoring in piano performance and studying with Ingrid Clarfield. Nikita is nineteen years old. He was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, where he attended the Rubenstein School of Music. He later lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he studied for two years at the School for Creative and Performing Arts, before moving to New Jersey, where he studied for three years at the Westerhoff School. Nikita has received prizes in the New Jersey Music Teachers Association’s Young Musicians Competition, and Penn State’s Marion Garcia Piano Competition. In 2008, Nikita was chosen as one of New Jersey’s top twelve high school classical musicians by the Algonquin Arts Center’s  Rising Star Program, and also performed at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, New York, as a grand prize winner of the Rising Talents Festival based in Princeton, NJ.

       Sarah Dalrymple, soprano, has been a soloist for the past several years in the New York area in both opera and oratorio literature.  Most recently, she was featured as a soloist for Bach’s Magnificat at Symphony Space’s Wall-to-Wall Bach Festival.  As an opera major at Purchase College, she sang the role of Valletto in Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea and appeared as Miranda in Lee Hoiby’s The Tempest.  With the Purchase Camerata, she has sung solos in Handel’s Messiah and Gloria, and Bach’s Lutheran Mass in F Major.  She is currently a staff singer for the chancel choir at St. Paul’s on the Green, Norwalk, CT, which recently completed a singing tour of various cathedrals in England and Scotland.  Sarah is also a member of New York City’s Madrigalia Via, which performs repertoire that spans the 12^th to 20^th centuries.  Sarah furthers her strong commitment to the arts by working in the marketing and development departments at The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College.  She is a proud student of Bonnie Hamilton.

 David Recca, pianist, is currently an adjunct professor at the Conservatory of Music of Purchase College, SUNY. There he directs the College Chorus, and is the founder / conductor of the Purchase Chamber Singers, in addition to teaching a variety of courses such as Music Theory and Solfege. He teaches piano at the Westerhoff School. As a student at Purchase, he received the Theodore Presser Scholar Award in 2004, as well as a Bachelor of Music in Composition and a Performer’s Certificate in Vocal Coaching / Accompanying. He is most recently a graduate of the Eastman School of Music with a Master of Music in Choral Conducting, having been granted a full-tuition scholarship. Recent professional engagements include serving as assistant conductor and chorus master for the Mercury Opera Rochester’s production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, and artistic director of the Manhattan-based early music ensemble Madrigalia Via, which the Wall Street Journal has called “sinfully blissful.”

Woodland Chamber Ensemble

Sue Downes-Borko has been a high school music teacher in the state of
Alaska, a staff accompanist for the College of New Jersey, and a
member of several flute quartets.   Sue is the director of the
Rangeley Community Chorus and has participated in many local music
productions.  Currently, she operates a private lesson studio and is
the Minister of Music for the Rangeley Congregational Church.

Victor Borko was born and raised in the Philadelphia area.  He
studied classical/jazz guitar and music education at the Philadelphia
College of the Performing Arts and then moved to Alaska, where he was
a music educator.  He has played guitar in many professional
productions and has also played for celebrities including Bobby
Rydell, Don Rickles, and Bob Hope.  He now resides with his wife,
Sue, in Rangeley, where they run Gull Pond Music Studio.  Victor
plays guitar and keyboard at St. Luke’s and Our Lady of the Lakes
churches and enjoys composing and performing sacred music and hymns
on the classical guitar.

Gail Russ teaches instrumental music in Maine School
Administrative District 58, which includes Phillips, Kingfield,
Strong, Stratton and Salem.  Since moving to Maine in 2005, she has
played oboe, clarinet, and English horn for the Camden Pro Musica
Orchestra, Monmouth Theater, Lewiston/Auburn Community Theater, the
Bangor Symphony, and other bands and orchestras in the area.   She
says, “I have the best ‘job’ ever: children and music; I have been
blessed!”

Barbara Ulman began piano lessons at age seven, and has continued an
active musical life ever since.  She earned a B.A. from
Harvard/Radcliffe, while also studying piano chamber music at the
nearby Longy School of Music.  She has spent summers on Rangeley Lake
since birth, and now lives in the foothills near Yosemite National
Park the rest of the year.  In 1989 she completed a second B.A., in
Music Theory and Composition, at California State University, Fresno.
She plays chamber music for fun and for public performance, and also
composes art songs and music for small ensembles and for chorus.

Born in October of 1960, Cody grew up in southeastern New Hampshire. His jazz pianist father introduced him to the piano at the age of three.  Cody’s wide musical tastes, as well as his love of nature, literature and people, are central to his art. Besides classical and jazz, he also enjoys folk, blues, rock, contemporary instrumental, popular, and world music.
At the University of New Hampshire, Cody studied environmental science and became an avid mountaineer.  In 1988, Cody returned to New Hampshire to become an Appalachian Trail caretaker in the White Mountains, and then in the Rangeley Region

Through it all, Cody continuously played the piano as “an emotional, spiritual outlet”. He first appeared in public while in Telluride, Colorado, warming up crowds before movies at the Nugget Theater. He occasionally played for restaurants and clubs in the various places he was stationed along the Appalachian Trail, with the Forest Service, and while in Northampton.

It was during a long walk on the Appalachian Trail in 1997 that Cody vowed to devote the remainder of his life to music. He began to practice more extensively, and made numerous appearances for restaurants, resorts, and clubs in New England, western North Carolina, Colorado, and Leipzig, Germany.
 
Upon settling in New Hampshire’s White Mountains in 2001, Cody launched a career as a concert artist and released his debut CD of original piano solos, “A Creation Prayer”, to high praise. Three more critically acclaimed CD’s have followed: “Primum Non Nocere” (2004), “Autumn Suite” (2007), and “Winter Suite” (November 2009).

Cody’s repertoire now includes more than sixty original works for solo piano, along with a handful of interpretations such as “Over The Rainbow” and “Carol of The Bells”. In the late fall of 2005, Cody relocated to the open spaces of Vermont’s “Northeast Kingdom”. His concerts are in steadily increasing demand in the Northeast USA and beyond.

 The evening sponsored by the Rangeley Friends of the Arts will demonstrate Cody’s creativity as a composer and will be a delight for the audience.  Tickets ($15) are available at the Rangeley Lakes Chamber of Commerce 864-5364.

Sidecar Heroes is a six-man a cappella band.  They will be performing at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rangeley on July 24^th at 7PM. The Sidecar Heroes perform function band repertoire using the cheapest instruments which they could find… their voices.  Six men, six unique instruments, all combining to create the tight harmonies and rockin’ rhythms which comprise Sidecar Heroes eclectic repertoire.  They’ve got Rock, they’ve got Doo Wop, and they’ve got Motown and Funk.  No genre is safe from their ever-searching arrangers.  Sidecar Heroes is based out of Southern Maine and currently performs all over Maine and New Hampshire. 

Mac Mullen (tenor) has many ties to the Rangeley region having spent some of his growing up years in Rangeley.  Mac is a graduate of the University of Maine where he was a member of The University Singers and the Maine Steiners.

 Patrick McCarthy (tenor) has been with the group from the beginning.  When not performing or arranging for Sidecar Heroes, Patrick can be found molding young minds at Westbrook High School where he has been the music teacher for the past seven years.

 Jason Paquette (tenor) has been singing a cappella music for the past six years.  Jason is currently the chorus teacher at Morse High School in Bath.  

 Mark Rowe (baritone) has been singing a cappella since high school.  After a brief stint studying computer science, Mark switched majors and studied classical voice at the University of Southern Maine.

 D.B. (Dennis Boyd-bass) holds a BM degree from the University of Maine and is currently the chorus director at Bonnie Eagle High School.  D.B has sung bass with several a cappella groups including Audiologic and Maine Steiners.

 Bill Ellis (percussion) has a music education degree from University of Southern Maine.  Bill has a varied career as a performer, recording studio engineer, theater manager, sound man and graphic designer. He is currently the Director of Marketing at Point Sebago Resort in Casco.

 With their many years of performing experience coupled with some exciting arrangements, Sidecar Heroes offers an exciting and entertaining show that everyone will enjoy.  Tickets ($15) are available at the Rangeley Lakes Chamber of Commerce 207-864-5364.

“Poetry and Inspiration”, an upcoming concert by the Rangeley Community Chorus, takes place on Sunday, June 27 at 7:00 pm at the Church of the Good Shepherd.  The concert celebrates the marriage of fine poetry and music, including The Tiger by William Blake, The Arrow and the Song by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Lake Isle of Innisfree by William Butler Yeats, and I Dream a World by Langston Hughes.  A $10.00 general admission fee will help defray costs of purchasing music for the group.

 A special feature of the program will be readings of each poem by a member of the community prior to each setting of the song.   Another song of interest on the program is the classic Simon & Garfunkel song, Like A Bridge Over Troubled Water.  

The Rangeley Community Chorus was formed in 2009 and is supported by funding from the Rangeley Friends of the Arts.  The June performance will include 18 singers from the Rangeley, Strong and Carrabassett area.  A new set of rehearsals will begin in July working towards an August 25 concert.  All adults and high school students are welcome to join in the fun.  Please call 864-3951 for more information.

 A tuneful, funny musical score meets a giant man-eating plant when Rangeley Friends of the Arts’ production of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS devours the Lakeside Theater in Rangeley. One of the longest-running Off-Broadway shows of all time, with a hit movie and a Broadway revival to its credit, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS opens on Thursday, June 1, 2010, and blossoms until Monday, July 5th.
In this affectionate spoof of 1950s sci-fi movies, a down-and out skid row floral assistant becomes an overnight sensation when he discovers an exotic plant with a mysterious craving for fresh blood. Soon “Audrey II” (voice-Connor Durgin, puppeteers-Tyler Eustis and Jaycee Mullen) grows into an ill-tempered, foul-mouthed, R&B-singing carnivore who offers him fame and fortune in exchange for feeding its growing appetite, finally revealing itself to be an alien creature poised for global domination!

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS has book and lyrics by the late Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menken.  Seymour (Tim Straub) and Mr. Mushnick (Les Hoekstra) combine voices for the unforgettable Mushnik and Son.  Audrey’s (Erin Smith) rendition of Somewhere That’s Green and Suddenly, Seymour is powerful and remarkable.  The story is revealed by the female chorus (Doo-whoppers) played by Cyndy Egan, Emily George, Ashley Quimby, Anna Soule, and Dagmar Wetherill. The dentist-Orin (Hudson DeRaps) is a character to be remembered.  Completing the cast is Ana Wetherill as the interviewer and Brittany Wetherill who will be seen portraying several unique characters. 

 This perennially favorite musical concerning a geek, an adorable floozie, some DOO-WHOPPERS and a blood-thirsty plant – all of whom conspire to give us an evening of hilarity and charm. It is a show not to be missed—You’ll love it!!

 Tickets ($15) are now available at the Rangeley Lakes Chamber of Commerce 864-5364.

The RFA Spring Music Recital held on May 27 featured selections by 19 pianists, 1 flutist and 4 vocal musicians.  The parents, friends and family members almost filled the Church of the Good Shepherd on the beautiful summer evening to enjoy the great variety of music and talent that was displayed.  One student (Sophie Chu-O’Neil) had a surprise for her father as she played “Happy Birthday” to celebrate his special day.  The RFA initiated the Student Lesson Program in 1980, assisting local students with the cost of private instruction in the arts.  The Rangeley Rotary Club and the Rangeley Lakes Regional School have been our partners in this effort with an annual grant to the program.  The RFA’s long-term goal is to create classroom and studio spaces for learning, creating and displaying all the arts including but not limited to visual, creative, movement, instrumental, vocal and performing.

The Rangeley Friends of the Arts will present 4 performances of the musical Little Shop of Horrors  at 7PM on July 1, 2, 4, 5 at the Lakeside Theater in Rangeley.

Little Shop of Horrors is a rock musical by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a hapless florist shop worker who raises a plant that feeds on human blood. The music, composed by Menken in the style of early 1960s rock and roll, doo-wop and early Motown, includes several show-stoppers including the title song, “Skid Row (Downtown)”, “Somewhere That’s Green”, and “Suddenly, Seymour”. 

The little plant does not thrive in its new environment and appears to be dying. Seymour questions why it should be doing poorly when he takes such good care of it. He accidentally pricks his finger on a rose’s thorn, which draws blood, and Audrey II’s pod opens thirstily. Seymour realizes that Audrey II requires blood to survive and allows the plant to suckle from his finger. As Audrey II grows, the plant becomes an attraction and begins generating substantial business for Mushnik. Being the owner of the plant, Seymour has suddenly gone from loser to hero. Audrey reveals she is not happy in her relationship and secretly has feelings for the timid Seymour. She sings that her ultimate dream is to have the ideal suburban life with Seymour, complete with a tract home, frozen dinners and plastic on the furniture.

The great music will have everyone tapping their toes and humming along to the very familiar tunes.  One of the longest-running Off-Broadway shows of all time, this affectionate spoof of 1950s sci-fi movies has become a house-hold name, thanks to a highly successful film version and a score by the songwriting team of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. 

Tickets ($15) will be available at the Rangeley Chamber of Commerce 864-5364.

These students, with superior tutelage from Kent and Ben, were able to do what many an acting troupe have done ‘ere these past four centuries, but with the sort of individuality only Rangeley can bring to such a production. Macbeth came to life, killed many innocents, and then died… again. Three days of amazing theater work with 10 awesome students, two consummate professional actors (Kent and Ben), one crazy idea of abridging Shakespeare’s Macbeth to a mere 30 minutes, and no one around to tell us it couldn’t be done. Wow. Education is about the experience and the application of what we learn, how we learn, and with whom we learn. Intersession affords a more focused and intense climate for project building. Maine’s Learning Results are adhered to in a celebrated fashion.  Fun definitely has its place in education, though brass tacks remain an essential aspect of the learning dynamic.

 We can say many years hence that we shared a stage together, and it was the world.

2010 RFA  Drama Camp will be taught  by Professional Instructor, Haley Murphy. 

It will be held at the Lakeside Theater, during the week of July 12-16, 2010 from 9:30am – 2:00pm. 

The camp is for Students in Grades 2 through 6 or ages 7 – 12. Registration fee is: $60.00

To download the 2010 RFA Drama Camp Brochure, please select it in the Links block in the lower righthand corner of the screen.