MILLERTON — The successful NOW! Concerts series will begin its second season June 11 at 2 p.m. at the NorthEast-Millerton Library Annex. The concert will feature modern and contemporary chamber music, played by cellist Sophie Shao, violinist Jennifer Frautschi and violist Beth Guterman Chu. “These three musicians are some of the most exciting and sought after musicians of their generation,” said Dianne Engleke, who along with husband Mark Liebergall cofounded NOW! Concerts. “We are very excited and honored and fortunate to have them come to Millerton to play a concert for us, and in Sophie’s case to return to us for a second season.”NOW! Concerts was created in 2010 because Engleke and Liebergall felt there were so many musicians who wanted to play music being written today, but were having trouble finding venues in which to perform. Because of that listeners weren’t being presented with the opportunity to hear new works.“The reason we started it was because we wanted to hear chamber music concerts dedicated to contemporary chamber works,” Engleke said. “In speaking to musicians we found that there were very few venues which permitted them to play a concert made solely of modern and contemporary work. “Sophie [Shao] said that in concerts which include both contemporary pieces and pieces from previous centuries, the audience has trouble making those transitions,” she added. “It was hard for listeners to appreciate radically diverse music in the same concert.”That is no longer the case, thanks to the NOW! Concerts. In the first half of the June 11 performance, there will be music from four living composers ranging in age from 39 to 79. Those composers include Lei Liang, a young Chinese-American composer; Osvaldo Golijov, an Argentinian-Jewish composer and winner of the McArthur Genius Award; and Annie Gosfield, a composer living in Brooklyn who explores the beauty of nonliving sounds. There’s a possibility some of the composers will attend the concert.Finishing the first half of the performance will be a string trio by Krzysztof Penderecki, who was a prominent avant garde composer before moving into a more melodic music style.After the intermission there will be two pieces by composers who laid some of the groundwork for modern music, composers who were born in the 19th century but lived into the 20th century, during which time the pieces to be performed were written. The performers chose the program for the afternoon and the order in which the pieces should be played, something Engleke said was important.“Last year we worked at being pedagogical,” she said. “We wanted old pieces and to show how they related to the new pieces. This year we let the musicians come up with a theme to the concert and how it all relates, so we left it up to them.”The main goal, according to Liebergall, is for both performers and listeners to take something away from the performance.“I hope they get enjoyment,” he said.Ticket prices are $20 for adults and $10 for students. Tickets will be set aside for those who would like to attend but cannot afford the ticket price. Tickets may be purchased online at nowconcerts.org, at Kamilla’s Floral Boutique or Little Gates Wine Merchants, both on Main Street in Millerton, by email at 3cornerscontemporarymusic@gmail.com or by calling 518-789-0617. Tickets will also be available at the door. Seats are not reserved so those planning to attend are encouraged to arrive early.The Annex, located at 28 Century Blvd., across the street from the Millerton post office, is now handicapped accessible. There will be three NOW! Concerts this season; the next two concerts will be held in September and October.
Latest News
Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
Provided
Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
