SAXTONS RIVER — Hugh Keelan on the piano and Joe Jewett on the violin face off Sunday, May 12, at 3 p.m., in a Classic(al) Saxtons River Spectacular as Main Street Arts continues its Hands On! concert series.
Concertgoers are invited to see all the action up close as Keelan interprets the music of Johannes Brahms on the MSA piano and Jewett matches him on his own instrument with works by Lou Harrison.
While Brahms' name is familiar to classical music fans, Harrison's may not be.
Growing up in California, Harrison (1917-2003) was exposed to Chinese, Mexican, Native American, and Indonesian music, as well as jazz and classical. He later incorporated elements of the music of these cultures into his work, including a number of pieces written for Javanese-style gamelan instruments.
A versatile composer, Harrison wrote suites, concerti, symphonies, piano pieces, operas, choral works, and songs.
Jewett is an active soloist, conductor and orchestral musician based in western Massachusetts. He has conducted the MIT and Cambridge symphonies, the Mozart Society Orchestra at Harvard, and the Waltham Philharmonic, as well as the Great Falls and Butte symphonies and others. He has also performed regularly as an orchestral musician, including with the Arcadia Baroque and Boston Landmarks orchestras. He was inspired to begin violin studies by his parents' love of music and the gift of his grandfather's violin.
Keelan has conducted orchestras throughout the world, including the Residentie Orchestra in The Hague, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and the St. Louis Symphony. He is the conductor of the Windham Orchestra.
He has collaborated with artists including Solti, Haitink, Sir Colin Davis, Shura Cherkassky, Maurice Sendak, and Tom Stoppard. He is planning a work based on Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, the Ring Cycle, and Boudica, composed and co-written with Jenna Rae.
Tickets for the concert are $17 and include a post-concert reception with the performers. Tickets are available at mainstreetarts.org or by contacting MSA at 802-869-2960.