CONCERTS AND EVENTS

2010

2009

2008:

• Saturday, December 13th, 3:00pm, Good Shepherd United Methodist Church in Malden, MA: A Christmas Concert: Faith Throughout the Ages
  Organist Matthew McConnell, Minister of Music at Good Shepherd UMC, will present a Christmas concert at the church. Entitled “Faith Throughout the Ages,” the concert will showcase early organ music (ca. 1570) and journey through time to conclude with contemporary pieces inspired by the nativity of Christ. Several early, anonymous works, as well as compositions by Daquin, Bach, Brahms, Liszt, Pinkham, and Ives, among others, will be featured.
  Admission is free; however donations to help support the organ fund will be greatly appreciated. For more information call 781-321-2490.

• Thursday, November 20th through Saturday, November 22nd, 7:00pm, Drury High School, North Adams, MA: "Sunday Night"
  The Drury Drama Team will perform the premiere of Stephen Gregg's latest play, Sunday Night. Music and sound effects for the production were created by Matthew McConnell. General admission is $9. Student admission is $6. For more information, please see the article printed in The Transcript.

• Friday, August 23rd, 7:00pm, Burlington, VT: Bayreuth North Wagner Festival
  Matthew McConnell will be a guest speaker at the performance of Richard Wagner's Die Walküre. The lecture will address some of Wagner's compositional practices as well as the circumstances surrounding the composer's life during his creation of Der Ring des Nibelungen.

• Wednesday, May 21st, 7:00pm, Drury High School, North Adams, MA: Drury High School Spring Concert
  The high school chorus, under the direction of Aldonna Girouard will perform a wide variety of choral works. Repertoire will include "Music's Echo," a spiritual, "Ride the Chariot"; a Korean folk song, "Arirang," featuring a flute solo by Adrian Williams; "Go Forth with a Song" and "I Do," featuring student soloist Ross Betti. Also on the program will be a second performance of "The Bat," a composition by 1999 Drury graduate Matthew McConnell. The concert is free.

• Saturday, May 17th, 7:00pm, Drury High School, North Adams, MA: Drury Music Alumni Association Concert: 85th Anniversary Celebration
  This concert will feature works by numerous composers, including the world premiere of McConnell's The Bat for chorus, based on a poem by Theodore Roethke. Performers will consist of current Drury students and alumni. Free admission.

• Sunday, March 30th, 12:00pm, New England Conservatory, Brown Hall: The Chamber Music of Matthew McConnell
  This concert will feature several of McConnell's works for solo instruments and small chamber ensembles. Pieces will include solo piano music, Variations on Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star for Bb Clarinet, Sonata for Solo Cello, Sonata for Solo Violin, Sonata for Solo Piano: Nightshade, the premiere of McConnell's String Quartet No. 1, and much, much more! Admission is free.

• Saturday, March 22nd, 7:00pm, Covenant Congregational Church, 455 Arborway, Jamaica Plain, MA: Sacred Music of Franz Liszt
  Organist Matthew McConnell and a full choir will perform Liszt's Via crucis under the direction of Keith Kirchoff. McConnell will also perform Liszt's complete Requiem für die Orgel. This is an event not to be missed! Come hear the rare sacred music of Franz Liszt.

2007:

• December 9th, 5:00pm, Covenant Congregational Church, 455 Arborway, Jamaica Plain, MA: Music of Joy and Anticipation
  Organist Matthew McConnell will perform works by Bach, Ives, Brahms, Pinkham, and others in a concert designed to usher in the holiday spirit and celebrate the restoration of the pipe organ at Covenant Congregational Church.

• November 8th, 7:00pm, New England Conservatory's St. Botolph Building, Room G01: NEC Alumni Composers
  This evening's masterclass/concert features NEC alumni composers: Sivan Eldar '07, Mee-Eun Jeon '87 M.M., '03 D.M.A., Hilary Koprowski, and Matthew McConnell '05 M.M. Also featuring David McMullen. McConnell's Sonata for Solo Cello (2007) will be performed by Sebastian Bäverstam. This concert is sponsored by the NEC Graduate Seminar on American Composers. Free admission.

• August 26th, 4:00pm, Grand Hall, Meriter Retirement Community, Madison, WI: Edith Hines will give the world premiere of McConnell's Sonata for Solo Violin.

• April 15th, 4:00pm, Williams Hall, Boston MA: Holocaust Remembrance Day Concert
  Yom Ha Sho'ah is observed with a program of Yiddish songs, instrumental works performed in the concentration camps, and new works by NEC composers, including Matthew McConnell. This event is coordinated by NEC Israeli doctoral student Osnat Netzer.

• April 8th, 8:00pm, The Marshall Room in the Music Building at Boston University (855 Commonwealth Avenue): A Concert of Music for Toy Piano! Rodney Lister will be performing pieces by Kyle Gann, Eve Beglarian, Richard Whalley, and Dai Fujikura (for toy piano and violin pizzicato--the violinist will be Peter Zazofsky). There are new pieces, which will be having their first performances, by Pozzi Escot, Lyle Davidson, Stephen Feigenbaum, Michael Finnissy, Philip Grange, John Heiss, Derek Hurst (with electronic sounds--i.e. on my boombox), Matthew McConnell, Matthew Mendez, Nico Muhly, Ketty Nez (for toy piano and piano--Ketty will be the pianist), Dave Smith, Jeremy Woodruff, William Zuckerman, and Rodney Lister (for clavichord and toy piano--the clavichord player will be Peter Sykes).
  

• March 8th, 8:00pm, New England Conservatory's St. Botolph Hall, Boston MA: New Music Concert featuring chamber works by Matthew McConnell and works by Troy Lucia. Admission is free. Reception to follow.

2006:

• December 5th, 7:00pm, Williams Hall, Boston MA: Benjamin Sorrell (Eb Alto Sax) will premiere McConnell's The Latest Popular Tune from Zeta Reticuli, a piece Sorrell commissioned. Admission is free.

• October 17th, 8:00pm, Williams Hall, Boston MA: Joseph Howell (clarinet) will premiere McConnell's Variations on Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, a piece Howell commissioned. Admission is free.

• July 18th, 12:00 noon, Historic King's Chapel, Boston MA: Mary Ann Powers (soprano) and Matthew McConnell (organ) will perform works by J.S. Bach. Admission is $5.

• June 9th, 7:30pm, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne: The IPFW Department of Music will sponsor a Germanfest Recital on Friday June 9, at 7:30 p.m. at Neff Recital Hall on the IPFW campus. Entitled “Musikalische Mahlzeit,” German for “A Musical Feast,” the concert will feature German music from every age, including the first performance of "Polka!" by composer Matthew McConnell. Works by other German composers include Franz Schubert (1797-1828), Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Robert Schumann (1810-1856), Andrew Cashner (b. 1981), Johann Jakob Froberger (1616-1667), and Harald Genzmer (b. 1909). Admission is $4 Adults, $3 Seniors, $1 All other students and IPFW students with ID are free. For information call the Department of Music at 260-481-6714.

• March 2nd, 8:00pm, Brown Hall, Boston MA: Tuesday Night New Music Concert featuring a collaborative piano piece by members of the graduate composition seminar course. Admission is free.

• April 1st, 3:00pm, The Rivers Music School, Weston, MA, Clouds from Three Miniatures for Solo Piano will be performed during the "Contemporary Music Seminar" at the Rivers Music School. Ticket prices are $10 for adults and $5 for children.

• February 28th, 8:00pm, Brown Hall, Boston MA: McConnell's "Grave: in memory of lost love" will be performed by guitarist Steven Lin. Also, Troy Lucia and Matthew McConnell will premiere a work for piano, four hands by Benjamin Sorrell. Admission is free.

• February 14th, 8:00pm, Jordan Hall, Boston, MA. Matthew McConnell's new Woodwind Quintet will be featured on the "Homage to Schoenberg" program. Admission is free.