VoXX: Voice of Twenty

Sunday, June 22 at 4pm

VoXX: Voice of Twenty presents: 

Bright Mornings, Sweet Nights: A musical journey through the day.

VoXX: Voice of Twenty (formerly known as Ave Maris Stella) is a highly regarded a cappella vocal
ensemble based in midcoast Maine that performs varied programs featuring early music. Repertoire
covers a wide range of time periods (from Medieval through twentieth century) and styles (from
chant to polyphony and far beyond).
VoXX likes to bring unusual works to Maine audiences, along with more familiar music by such
renowned composers as Byrd, Dufay, Monteverdi, Palestrina, and Josquin. VoXX performs in many
languages and styles, from English to Italian to Latin to Spanish, and from sacred to secular to
humorous. The group has become well known for its work to educate audiences through
informative program notes and spoken introductions.
In addition to the expected liturgical works, VoXX has sung Sephardic songs, madrigals in many
languages, and selections from far-flung locales. While the focus is on early music, the ensemble has
also explored modern and contemporary composers including Philip Glass, Francis Poulenc,
Maurice Durufle, Morten Lauridsen, the late Kenneth Leighton, John Tavener, and original pieces by
Music Director John Mehrmann. For more info about VoXX, go to: www.voiceoftwenty.com.

Guts Baroque

Saturday, July 12 at 7:30pm


 

Guts Baroque feat. Andrus Madsen

Fantasticus!

Sylvia Schwartz, baroque violin

Rebecca Shaw, viola da gamba

Andrus Madsen, harpsichord

Come join Guts Baroque, featuring Andrus Madsen, in early July! You’ll hear the whimsical, varied, and fantastical instrumental music from the courts of what is now Germany and Austria. Emperor Leopold I, himself a musician and composer, brought several prominent Italian musicians across the Alps to Vienna. These guests, including violin virtuoso Antonio Bertali, received good salaries and plenty of opportunities to perform, to compose, and to teach the new generation of German musicians the Stylus Fantasticus: the Italian style of purely instrumental fantasies made popular by Italian composers such as Girolamo Frescobaldi. Bertali’s student Johann Heinrich Schmelzer further developed the style. Schmelzer’s innovations helped spread it throughout what is now Germany, teaching and inspiring other prominent composers including Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber.

“Just listened to the Biber and was stopped dead in my tracks (my tracks being scrolling on my phone ... immediate closing of the eyes) so rolling, so gestural ... absolutely love it”

—Guts fan

​

Founded in 2017, Guts creates welcoming, powerful, un-stuffy experiences of baroque music played with love on period instruments, bringing you up close and personal with the music and the juicy stories of the composers and performers behind it. We breathe life into beautiful and unusual music, bringing it from the 17th and 18th centuries to your ears. Come experience the warmth and immediacy of historically-informed chamber music!

Little Lies: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac
Friday, July 18 at 7:30pm

Little Lies is an 8-piece tribute from Boston performing an authentic playlist of your favorite Fleetwood Mac hits. Join us for a night of romance, drama, and, of course, Rumours! Featuring two female and two male vocalists, along with an ensemble of professional musicians dedicated to capturing the magic of one of the world’s most successful bands.

DownEast New Music
Friday, July 25 at 7:30pm

DownEast New Music will perform Shaker Loops, a program of vibrant and virtuosic string chamber music. Inspired by the musical technique of "looping" this program looks both forwards and back as 21st-century composers reach into the past for inspiration and music from the 1970s propels forward into today.

With propulsive rhythms creating tectonic shifts, John Adams burst onto the scene in 1978 with his string septet Shaker Loops, starting him on the path to becoming one of the 21st century's most performed composers. Brilliantly combining pulsating, constant motion with gradual changes unfolding over time, this monumental piece of chamber music evokes the way landscapes are formed: small changes like tumbling rocks or bubbling brooks give way over time to mountain ranges and canyons.

In her string quartet For Roger, violinist and composer Michelle Barzel Ross looks back to the quartets of Haydn, reflecting on the way those have shaped the way we perceive chamber music. Returning to DownEast New Music after her searing performances in 2023, Michelle Barzel Ross continues DownEast New Music's tradition of featuring composer/performers, giving audiences a sense of chamber music as a living artifact.

This program runs 60 minutes and features:
Robert Anemone, Michelle Barzel Ross, and Lilit Hartunian, violins
Tanner Menees, viola
Clare Monfredo and Aaron Wolff, cellos
Edward Kass, bass
Conrad Winslow, piano

Captain Mike & the Shipwrecked: A Jimmy Buffett Tribute

Sunday, August 3 at 7:30pm

Captain Mike & The Shipwrecked is a premier Jimmy Buffett tribute band, playing hits and deep cuts from the Coral Reefer catalog. It's a high energy evening with music to set your sails to!
Jimmy Buffett is the playlist every trip and now it is time to honor his legacy and continue to play these songs for old parrotheads and new fans alike. Now with the Shipwrecked, a 9pc band consisting of a blend of pirates and musicians alike, Captain Mike is ready to sail into any venue. Singing songs and telling stories about time on the sea.

Robert Jon & The Wreck

Tuesday, August 12th at 7:30pm

Hailing from Southern California, Robert Jon & The Wreck have elevated Southern Rock to new heights, crafting a signature sound that’s uniquely their own. With powerful songwriting, electrifying guitar solos, and rich vocal harmonies, they’ve captivated audiences around the world—selling out venues and sharing the stage with legends like Joe Bonamassa, Buddy Guy, Blackberry Smoke, The Mavericks, Little Feat, and Rival Sons.

Their rising success led to a partnership with Bonamassa’s Journeyman Records, opening the door to exciting new opportunities in the studio and on the road. With their 8th studio album, Red Moon Rising, out now, and another record set to drop this summer, Robert Jon & The Wreck’s journey is only gaining momentum.

Watch the official hit music video for Robert Jon & The Wreck’s single, “Ashes In The Snow”.

John R. Miller X Tommy Prine

Thursday, August 14, 7:30pm

These two powerhouse songrwiters are sharing the stage for one unforgettable night of Americana, folks, and roots music.

John R Miller is a true hyphenate artist: singer-songwriter-picker. One of his biggest long-time fans is roots music favorite Tyler Childers, who says he's "a well-travelled wordsmith mapping out the world he's seen, three chords at a time." Miller is somehow able to transport us to a shadowy honkytonk and get existential all in the same line with his tightly written compositions. Miller's own guitar-playing is on fine display here along with vocals that evoke the white-waters of the Potomac River rumbling below the high ridges of his native Shenandoah Valley.

Tommy Prine learned to play guitar by watching his father, mimicking the ways his fingers moved, he inadvertently developed his own singular style. Prine sonically brings together a colorful patchwork of musical influences spanning Gillian Welch, Outkast, Bon Iver, the Strokes and more. Lyrically, Tommy explores existential questions and emotional experiences in his music.

The Kingston Trio

Friday, September 26 at 7:30pm

Fans of legendary folk icons The Kingston Trio can re-discover their timeless music all over again. All three current members, Mike Marvin, Tim Gorelangton and Buddy Woodward have intrinsic links to and experience with the original group: Mike is the adopted son of founding member Nick Reynolds, who was also his musical mentor; Tim, a close friend since boyhood, is one of the few musicians outside the Trio who has recorded with Nick Reynolds; and Buddy, who has performed with longtime Kingston Trio member George Grove. Many of their personal memories recall the iconic trio’s performances and journey as folk music made its extraordinary ascent to the pinnacle of popular culture – and the top of the music charts. They’ll perform such timeless classics “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” and “Hand Down Your Head Tom Dooley”.

Julian Lage: World's Fair Tour

Sunday, October 19 at 7:30pm

Julian Lage is a world-class guitar virtuoso and composer, hailed as one of his generation's greatest talents by critics and colleagues alike.

Born in California and currently based in New York City, Lage began his musical career at a very young age, and has charted a colorful, ever changing, and ever innovative path since, one that has, so far, earned him five GRAMMY nominations, one Independent Music Award and countless invitations to collaborate with the best and brightest working in music today.

This fall, Lage will tour in celebration of the 10th anniversary of his beloved 2015 solo acoustic album World’s Fair, his first solo release, which he recorded using a 1939 Martin 000-18. Like much of Lage’s music, the record defies genre, as he finds unexpected connection points between classical music and the American folk tradition. In addition to touring, Lage will celebrate the album’s anniversary with a new vinyl release, as well as an accompanying songbook.

Both Sides Now: The Music and Lives of Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen

Saturday, October 11 at 7:30pm
 

Two singer-songwriters sit on the edge of a cliff…”

With these words, we are drawn into the world of Both Sides Now - a theatrical concert that explores the music and lives of long-time friends and one-time lovers, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen. Created by, and starring Robbie Schaefer and Danielle Wertz, the cabaret-style performance traverses decades alongside songs such as A Case of You, Hallelujah, Big Yellow Taxi, Suzanne, and many more. Both Sides Now is at once a piece of the 60’s and 70’s, and of right now -- offering us a story about the messiness of being human, of lives persistently lived at the edge of growth, and of finding the courage to turn toward one another, again and again.

Doors at 6:30pm

GA tickets AdV $35

GA DOS $40

Front Row $55

Artist Bios:

Robbie Schaefer

Robbie is a rabbi, singer-songwriter and theatre/film artist. The guitarist and songwriter for the indie folk band Eddie From Ohio has several solo releases as well, including the 2023 single Under the Sun.

He is the founder of Lamplighters, an online community that cultivates small-batch, relationship-driven, inclusive Judaism. He is also the founder of OneVoice, an international non-profit that unites and empowers youth through music and the creative arts. The organization was active from 2011-2023 and completed projects in Tanzania, Nicaragua, India, Greece, and Israel.

Robbie has shared the stage with Jason Mraz, Sara Bareilles, Josh Groban, Keb ‘ Mo, and Emmylou Harris, among others. His first work for musical theater, Light Years, which explores his relationship with his father, a Holocaust survivor, saw its world premiere at the Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre in 2018. The musical is now a feature film entitled Burst The Silence (Rolling Pictures), which is due for release on streaming platforms in 2025.

He is currently at work on a new musical, The Blue Poppy, an Irish-Jewish ghost story written in collaboration with Scottish playwright Grace Barnes, and Songs From The Wilderness, a new album of Jewish musical midrash (interpretation), due for release in early 2026.

Also, he likes olives. A lot.

Danielle Wertz

Danielle is a storyteller, collaborator, jazz musician, composer and arranger. Described as, "untarnished by the politics of music" (Jazz Music Archives) and "a masterful ballad interpreter" (New York City Jazz Record) she has rapidly gained national acclaim.

After being named a 2015 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition semi-finalist, Danielle independently released her debut album, Intertwined, which ranked #4 on Capital Bop's list of "Best DC Jazz Albums of 2017." That same year she placed 2nd in the Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition and 3rd in the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Vocal Competition.

In 2023 Danielle released her sophomore album, Other Side. With this project she made a quantum leap as a composer and conceptualist. Reimagined and rewritten during the pandemic, the album pairs her original compositions with carefully crafted arrangements of standards from the Great American Songbook. Jazziz called the album “expressive and polished” and Jazz Weekly noticed a “Joni Mitchell’d tenderness to her material.” Danielle continues to be an avid collaborator internationally and as a member of the NYC jazz scene, and is looking forward to headlining her first European tour in 2025.

Also, she loves chocolate. A lot.