Essex Winter Series 2024 Season Begins in January

The 47th season of Essex Winter Series begins in 2024 with its first concert on January 28, featuring long-time, four-hands pianist partners, Mihae Lee and Randall Hodgkinson. They will delight the audience with a varied program that includes selections by Mozart, Brahms and Gershwin. Joining them on the stage at Valley Regional High School to perform Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op. 52, will be a stellar group of singers: soprano Amanda Forsythe, mezzo-soprano Krista River, tenor Charles Blandy and baritone David Kravitz.

This wonderful event will be followed by our annual Stu Ingersoll Jazz Concert on February 18, also at Valley Regional High School. Fan favorite and Grammy Award winner Vince Giordano will keep it lively with his renowned orchestra, The Nighthawks. Following their latest success – both on-screen and on the soundtrack – of Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon, “ we can’t wait for them to perform for our audience again.

On March 10, rising star Bixby Kennedy, clarinet, will grace the stage for our third concert. Joining this very talented emerging artist at Congregation Beth Shalom in Chester, CT will be pianist Mika Sasaki for a program focused on the vibrant musical scene of the first half of the 20th century.

The season closes on April 7 with a gathering of cream-of-the-crop performers – David Shifrin, clarinet; William Purvis, horn; Frank Morelli, bassoon; Ani Kavafian and Ida Kavafian, violins; Steven Tenenbom, viola; Peter Wiley, cello; and Timothy Cobb, double bass – who will showcase Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” and Schubert’s Octet in F Major, D. 803. These world-renowned musicians have all appeared on our stage before, most of them at BeethovenFest. Their joy in playing together for that EWS event resulted in the creation of this new group, the Essex Octet, so named for performing together through Essex Winter Series. See them at Valley Regional High School.

Concerts begin at 3 pm and are general admission. For tickets visit www.essexwinterseries.com or call 860-272-4572. For all our venues, parking, entry and seating accessibility is available.

Our 2024 season is generously sponsored by ASP Trust. Concerts are sponsored by BrandTech Scientific, Clark Group, Essex Financial Services, Essex Meadows, Essex Savings Bank, Jeffrey N. Mehler CFP LLC, Tower Laboratories, Masonicare at Chester Village, and WSHU. We also gratefully acknowledge the support for our mission of concerts and community outreach received in part through grant funding by the Community Foundation of Middlesex County, Connecticut Office of the Arts/DECD, Connecticut Office of the Humanities, Essex Community Fund, Essex Savings Bank CIP, and The Kitchings Family Foundation.