J.S. Bach - Suite No. 1

Ignacy Gaydamovich, cello

CONFRONTATIONS WITH FATE

Oct. 17th, 18th, 19th 2025

Masterpieces for piano quartet by Mozart and Brahms

CONFRONTATIONS WITH FATE

Oct. 17th, 18th, 19th 2025

Masterpieces for piano quartet by Mozart and Brahms

CONFRONTATIONS WITH FATE

Oct. 17th, 18th, 19th 2025

Masterpieces for piano quartet by Mozart and Brahms

Spring Show: Working to Transcend

~Live Music and Dance~

Join us for our spring show, Working to Transcend, which celebrates women composing against the current. We are honored to have local professional musicians performing Rebecca Clarke’s “Sonata for Viola and Piano” (1919), choreographed by Madeleine Bonn and Mikayla Archambeau, and Florence Price’s “Piano Quintet in A-minor” (1936), choregraphed by Mikayla Archambeau.

the dances

Both pieces began with the music; the choreography was developed in response to it. Each explores themes of creativity and what it means to live as an artist throughout one’s life.

The Price includes the entire school—from our youngest dancers just beginning their journey, to those with rich and varied experience in ballet. My goal was to offer every dancer meaningful movement to engage with, and to create a shared vocabulary that could resonate across all levels.

the music

Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) was something of a maverick 100 years ago: a working female musician. Initially, she released her compositions under a male pseudonym to give them a better chance at reception during a time when women musicians were frowned upon.

At the beginning of her score to the sonata for viola and piano, she inscribed the words of Alfred de Musset(“La Nuit de Mai”): Poet, take your lute, the wine of youth ferments this night in the veins of God. This epigraph paraphrases the torrid drama of the piece. It is emotional, passionate, and turbulent throughout; one wonders at what the composer must have been feeling when she wrote it.

Florence Price (1887-1953) was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, to the only Black dentist in town. She graduated from the New England Conservatory in Boston, studying piano and organ. Price could not find work in Little Rock due to segregation, so moved to Chicago with her husband and two daughters in 1927.

In 1932 when her Symphony in e minor was performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, it the first performance by a major symphony orchestra of a piece by a Black composer. Price’s piano quintet is an example of a gifted composer at the height of her powers.

the musicians

Robyn Quinnett, violin
Hillary Dumond, violin
Geoffrey Archambeau, viola
Ignacy Gaydamovich, cello
Corbin Beisner, piano

Suggested Donation - $20

Payment forms accepted at the door: Venmo, PayPal, Cash, Check

Spring Show: Working to Transcend

~Live Music and Dance~

Join us for our spring show, Working to Transcend, which celebrates women composing against the current. We are honored to have local professional musicians performing Rebecca Clarke’s “Sonata for Viola and Piano” (1919), choreographed by Madeleine Bonn and Mikayla Archambeau, and Florence Price’s “Piano Quintet in A-minor” (1936), choregraphed by Mikayla Archambeau.

the dances

Both pieces began with the music; the choreography was developed in response to it. Each explores themes of creativity and what it means to live as an artist throughout one’s life.

The Price includes the entire school—from our youngest dancers just beginning their journey, to those with rich and varied experience in ballet. My goal was to offer every dancer meaningful movement to engage with, and to create a shared vocabulary that could resonate across all levels.

the music

Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) was something of a maverick 100 years ago: a working female musician. Initially, she released her compositions under a male pseudonym to give them a better chance at reception during a time when women musicians were frowned upon.

At the beginning of her score to the sonata for viola and piano, she inscribed the words of Alfred de Musset(“La Nuit de Mai”): Poet, take your lute, the wine of youth ferments this night in the veins of God. This epigraph paraphrases the torrid drama of the piece. It is emotional, passionate, and turbulent throughout; one wonders at what the composer must have been feeling when she wrote it.

Florence Price (1887-1953) was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, to the only Black dentist in town. She graduated from the New England Conservatory in Boston, studying piano and organ. Price could not find work in Little Rock due to segregation, so moved to Chicago with her husband and two daughters in 1927.

In 1932 when her Symphony in e minor was performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, it the first performance by a major symphony orchestra of a piece by a Black composer. Price’s piano quintet is an example of a gifted composer at the height of her powers.

the musicians

Robyn Quinnett, violin
Hillary Dumond, violin
Geoffrey Archambeau, viola
Ignacy Gaydamovich, cello
Corbin Beisner, piano

Suggested Donation - $20

Payment forms accepted at the door: Venmo, PayPal, Cash, Check

Chopin Recital

As a quintessential composer and legendary pianist, Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) gave his United States debut at Smith College in 1909. For the remainder of his illustrious career, he returned to Smith three times and performed in the John M. Greene Hall. In 1942, his cousin and sister-in-law Sophie Satin arrived at Smith as a research associate and later became a visiting associate professor of botany until her retirement in 1955.

Celebrating the 150th anniversary of Rachmaninoff’s birth, Smith College Music Department presents three concerts with all-Rachmaninoff programs featuring some celebrated solo piano works interspersed with lesser-known chamber and vocal works.

Curated by pianist Jiayan Sun, Assistant Professor of Music and Associate Chair for Performance Activities, these concerts will present distinguished guest artists including pianists Sergei Babayan and Melvin Chen, and cellist Ignacy Gaydamovich. The concerts will also feature Smith faculty artists and twelve student pianists.