Thank you!
Your support is sustaining the future of local news in our communities.

New York Philharmonic’s Kent Tritle returns to Smithfield Church for organ concert on Sept. 9

New York Philharmonic’s Kent Tritle returns to Smithfield Church for organ concert on Sept. 9

Kent Tritle Photo submitted

AMENIA — Kent Tritle, New York Philharmonic organist and acclaimed choir master, will once again bring his lively and intimate performance style to Smithfield Church on Saturday, Sept. 9, at 3:30 p.m., after a three-year hiatus brought about by COVID-19.

A favorite of Smithfield Church concertgoers, this will be the eleventh organ recital given by Tritle on the historic tracker organ meticulously restored from its original location at the First Congregational Church in Kent, Connecticut, to the Smithfield Presbyterian Church in Amenia. Far from the massive custom pipe organs with multiple keyboards and stops that Tritle is familiar with playing, the organ virtuoso says the sweet sound of the Smithfield instrument reminds him of one of the first organs he ever played as a youngster in Iowa.

He will be performing works by Buxtehude, Hancock, Coleman and Bach on the 1893 Johnson & Son tracker organ. For a complete program listing, go to www.kenttritle.com

Kevin T. McEneaney, music director for the Smithfield Church, said that, as a high school student in Rochester, New York, Tritle worked on tuning and repairing Johnson tracker organs. The upcoming concert “will be a special opportunity for people in our area to hear a master organist play this historic instrument within the superior acoustics of the historic Greek Revival church designed by noted architect Nathaniel Lockwood.

Tritle also leads an impressive array of choral performances each season in his various capacities as director of cathedral music at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine; director of New York’s elite professional choir, Musica Sacra; and as director of the Grammy Award-nominated 150-member amateur chorus, The Oratorio Society of New York, which includes several local members, performs each season at Carnegie Hall, and will be the beneficiary of funds raised from Tritle’s performance in Smithfield.

The Rev. Douglas Grandgeorge, pastor of the Smithfield Church, commented that it is simply amazing that a small country church in a remote location in northeastern Dutchess County could be hosting annual concerts by a renowned virtuoso, the full proceeds of which will benefit a New York City performing organization.

Suggested donation is $20 at the door. A reception will follow. For more information, call 718-473-4623 or email swebb00@icloud.com. The Smithfield Church is wheelchair-accessible.

Leila Hawken

Latest News

Doug Tallamy’s work in progress: saving the planet one backyard at a time

Doug Tallamy’s work in progress: saving the planet one backyard at a time

Windacre, a 25-acre property in Millerton will be the site of “Work in Progress,” an afternoon with acclaimed entomologist, New York Times bestselling author and Homegrown National Park co-founder Doug Tallamy.

Provided

For nearly three decades, Doug Tallamy, a professor at the University of Delaware and co-founder of Homegrown National Park, has studied the intricate relationships between native plants, insects, birds and the ecosystems that sustain them. His books, including “Bringing Nature Home” and “Nature’s Best Hope,” have helped shift the conversation about conservation from something that happens primarily in parks and preserves to something ordinary people can practice on the land around them.

On Sunday, Oct. 4, Tallamy will bring that conversation to Windacre in Millerton for “Work in Progress: Toward Native Fields,” an outdoor gathering exploring both the possibilities and the complications of restoring private land for biodiversity.

Keep ReadingShow less
community

Ancram Center’s “A Number” doubles questions of identity

Ancram Center’s “A Number” doubles questions of identity

How would you feel if you found out you weren’t the only you — if there was an exact replica of you? What if you found out that you’d been cloned? Would you believe that you’re the real you? Would you suspect you might be a copy of the original? How could you be sure anything about your life was real? These are some of the questions posed in Caryl Churchill’s play “A Number,” opening at the Ancram Center for the Artson Oct. 1.

Churchill was born in London in 1938 and has been hailed by the theaterl world as one of the strongest voices of her time to take on sexual politics and feminist themes. Her works garner pointedly considered analysis from the highest levels of theatrical intellectualism. Basically, it’s about as far from “The Lion King” as you can get. While she’s experimented with dance theater in the past, “A Number” is much more stripped down, highlighting Churchill’s chosen themes and the skills of both actors on stage.

Keep ReadingShow less
performances

Dispatches from the Farm

Dispatches from the Farm

Adamah Farm crew members planning out the day’s tasks on a late September day.

Janna Siller

“Dispatches from the farm” is a new, periodic column offering a firsthand look at the rhythms, challenges and rewards of farming through the eyes of a local farmer.

The thing about plants is that they can’t get up and move. When a storm like last weekend’s nor’easter threatens to roll through, you can’t just round everybody up and settle them safely on the sofa for movie night.

Keep ReadingShow less
dispatches-from-the-farm
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

Pinchas Zukerman brings an all-Beethoven program to Hotchkiss

Pinchas Zukerman brings an all-Beethoven program to Hotchkiss

Pinchas Zukerman to perform at Hotchkiss Oct. 4

Cheryl Mazak

The passion, drama and energy of Beethoven will fill Katherine M. Elfers Hall at The Hotchkiss School on Oct. 4, when world-renowned violinist Pinchas Zukerman is joined by pianist Shai Wosner for a special recital.

The 4:30 p.m. program at the Esther Eastman Music Center will feature three of Beethoven’s celebrated violin sonatas: Violin Sonata No. 4 in A minor, Op. 23; Violin Sonata No. 5 in F major, Op. 24, “Spring”; and Violin Sonata No. 7 in C minor, Op. 30.

Keep ReadingShow less
concerts

Found Footage Festival brings laughs to The Triplex

Found Footage Festival brings laughs to The Triplex

Pickett and Prueher on stage.

Provided by Found Footage Festival

On Sunday, Oct. 4, the Found Footage Festival makes its way to the Triplex Theatre in Great Barrington with a treasure trove of lost and forgotten VHS tapes scraped from the piles of distant memories and discarded physical media.

The Found Footage Festival is a “celebration of the videos that time forgot” hosted by two Brooklyn-based comedy writers and childhood friends, Joe Pickett of The Onion and Nick Prueher of The Late Show.

Keep ReadingShow less
film festival

Luis Felber at home at Cornwall Music Bowl

Luis Felber at home at Cornwall Music Bowl
Luis Felber at home at Cornwall Music Bowl
Luis Felber at home at Cornwall Music Bowl

Luis Felber is excited about creating in the Northwest Corner. Coming of age in the British countryside, all he wanted to do as a teen was move to London, the creative heartbeat of England. At 17, he started a band called the Eraserheads and went for it. Since then, he’s been in so many bands he struggles to list them all. But on Saturday, Oct. 3, he’ll be taking the stage at the Cornwall Music Bowl all by himself.

Felber has always felt more comfortable on stage than interacting with people. There’s a sense of purpose in being at a concert. Everybody in the room is there for the same reason: to witness the act of making music. So whether he’s on the stage or in the audience, he feels at home in a venue.

Keep ReadingShow less
concerts
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.