Something Lost and Something New

For a 16-year-old growing up in the ’60s, the vocal harmonies and the protest songs sung by Peter, Paul and Mary were a vital part of my world. “It’s the hammer of justice, it’s the bell of freeeeedom!†“The times they are a-changing.†“To everything, turn, turn, turn.†I wore out the LPs on my little mono record player in Westchester, where, in 1966, I went to see the trio perform at the County Center. Not quite 20 years later, I got a call to fill in for Mary’s pianist at a benefit concert, and so found myself rehearsing at her 7th Avenue apartment, and then on a plane (she sat in the smoking section) to Nashville. She was easygoing and casual, and enthusiastic about a newspaper column she was writing. She spent an enormous amount of time in those days as an activist as well as a performer, and I felt very honored to be in her presence and to spend a few minutes with her before the event. The audience loved her, of course. Her singing had lost a lot of its luster by then, but her energy and passion for what she sang about were as fiery as they had been when the group was at the top of the charts, the biggest names in folk music.

   There were just not enough tributes to her in the media this week.    If the times changed, it’s partly because she and Peter and Paul were there, not just to witness the events, but to shape them.

   The leaves are beginning to turn, and with them the sounds of music drift into the concert halls of area schools and colleges. Vassar is celebrating the 400th anniversary of the exploration of the Hudson River with a choral concert in its chapel on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. Billed as a “Musical Bridge Concert,†it features Christine R. Howlett, Edward Lundergan, and Lee H. Pritchard, conductors with the combined 200 voices of the Cappella Festiva Chamber Choir, Camerata Chorale, Kairos, Ulster Choral Society, and the Vassar College Choir. On Oct. 11 at 3 p.m., the celebrated male chorus “Chanticleer†will bring a program titled “In time of . . . Songs of love & loss, war & peace.†More information at music.vassar.edu/concerts.

   Another quadricentennial celebration is taking place Oct. 1-3 at the Hudson Opera House, which will present “Diamond Street,†a newly commissioned one-act opera by Harold Farberman and librettist (and Hillsdale resident) Andrew Joffe about the scandalous history of the city’s red-light district, much frequented by Albany politicos, among others, in the late 19th century. “We are enormously gratified to have initiated this project,†said Gary Schiro, executive director of the Hudson Opera House. “Farberman’s first opera was commissioned by Lincoln Center, and his most recent one was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize so we feel tremendously grateful to be engaged with such an esteemed composer. This new work is musically brilliant, with a downright hilarious story.†The opera will also be the first production in the opera house in more than 40 years. Seating is limited. The final show on Oct. 3 will be capped off by a champagne reception with the artists. Tickets are $25 each, or $50 for the benefit.  More info and tickets at 518-822-1438 or www.hudsonoperahouse.org

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