In 2020, during the thick of the pandemic, Piano by Nature made the decision to continue to present our Season 13 concerts, but to do it safely and go virtual. And what a glorious learning curve THAT was and continues to be. Instead of presenting our concerts bi-monthly, we decided to increase them instead, putting one out every month for our listeners. The result was a record-breaking ten unique concerts. These concerts covered a wild-and-woolly gamut of music and styles, starting with a concert and songwriting workshop by Singer-Songwriter Gregory Douglass in September, and ending in June 2021 with two live concerts and an incredible Willsboro Central School visit by Ragtime King Ethan Uslan. And there was MUCH in-between, including a video/music concert by Carolyn Enger connecting and celebrating nature, gorgeous concerts focused on women composers by Rene Lecuona and Hannah Holman, a virtuoso debut by pianist Donald Allen Lee highlighting the music of African-American composers, more Jazzical! with pianist extraordinaire Joel Martin, and an unbelievably sublime bluesy jazz concert brought to us by our friends Mark Shilansky and Lydia Harrell. And there was more, including Timothy Wilfong and Rich Coburn’s command performance of some of the most beautiful song literature written, Pete Sutherland and Oliver Scanlon’s unusual and striking performance of keyboard and fiddle tunes, and Jenn Moore’s profound rendition of Finzi’s Ecologue. We definitely had a season of solace and beauty like no other.
Despite such depths of inspiration, it was also an exhausting year. But after a summer break for regeneration, we are now ready and excited to present our new 14th Season line-up. And continuing from last season we have decided to keep the number of concerts higher, and to compromise with a mix of both live and virtual concerts, offering options and keeping our audiences safer in the winter months.
We are thrilled to present the coming Season 14 – “Harp Strings Eternal”– a season filled to the brim with hope (and harps). Yes, it IS a title with some cheek. But there is more to it than you might think. Inspired by Alexander Pope’s similarly-worded essay, our title pays homage to his inventive language and incredible insight into human nature. Please take a moment to read a bit about him and his prescient work, as he was certainly in-tune with much of what we are experiencing today. The title also deftly describes our new season, which will have harps “coming out of our ears” and strings aplenty too. Of course, there WILL also be contrast…after all, this is PIANO BY NATURE! And the variety will be tasty and thought-provoking music including a virtual organ concert by Boston-based Andrew Sheranian, a virtual Latin Mariachi Band with harp from Los Angeles (sorry….we just couldn’t FIT them into the Hand House), a violin and piano duo of Marilyn Reynolds and Rose Chancler celebrating American Dreams, and a mind-bending trombone and piano concert by the North Country power-coupling of Mike Nystoriak and Jennifer Moore.
After this past season of highs and lows, of stress, difficulty, and change contrasted with incredible generosity, healing, and love, two words have risen to the surface: hope and strength. Merriam-Webster defines hope as “to cherish a desire with anticipation: to want something to happen or be true.” Clearly, there is much we all want to happen ‘to be true,’ both passively and actively, and this year may be the time to put our plans into action. Piano by Nature would like to go the ‘active’ route and give you concerts and music which will enlighten and inspire, giving our listeners a renewal of spirit AND the energy to go out and be a part of the hope we all seek. Our society has lived through some trying times this past year, and there is still much to do. But we are stronger now and more able to keep looking forward ‘through the fog’ of disease and unrest. This season we are celebrating HOPE in all of its definitions and look forward to being with our audience to both give and get the strength to do what needs to be done.