Upcoming performances in & near Waterbury
March 23, 2025 | By Waterbury Roundabout Our inbox is popping with announcements for live musical performances coming up – several here in Waterbury at The Phoenix and the Congregational Church, others nearby in Barre and Montpelier.
Here are highlights in chronological order.
March 28: Live with TURNmusic at The Phoenix
On Friday, March 28, TURNmusic presents pianist Parker Shper with Mike Bjella on tenor sax, JD Haenni on bass and Geza Carr on drums at The Phoenix Art Gallery and Music Hall.
TURNmusic presents pianist Parker Shper as part of a quartet concert March 28 at The Phoenix Art Gallery and Music Hall. Courtesy photo
The band will perform music drawn from the soulful evolution of jazz quartets, from Fats Domino and Art Tatum, to the elegant work of Billy Strayhorn and the classics of Monk and Coltrane.
Originally from Central Vermont, pianist and composer Shper has been working in the Montreal area since he began studies in jazz piano performance at McGill University in the mid-late 2000s.
His touring, writing and recording on the creative music scene take him around the northeast and overseas, working alongside the likes of the Barr Brothers, Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire) Heart & Breath Ensemble, Leif Vollebekk, Craig Finn (The Holdsteady), and Anais Mitchell (The Brightness).
Doors open at 7 p.m., music at 7:30 p.m. BYOB.
Tickets: $15-30 sliding scale at sevendaystix.org or turnmusic.org.
Bread & Puppet performs. Courtesy photo
March 28: Bread & Puppet in Barre
Vermont’s world-famous Bread & Puppet Theater visits Barre’s historic Old Labor Hall, on Friday, March 28, at 6:30 p.m., with its latest show, “The Obligation to Live,” presented by the Barre Historical Society. The 62-year-old political puppet troupe is currently touring the Northeast and Eastern seaboard.
As always, the show will include large and small paper mâché and cardboard puppets, music, and up-to-the-minute political commentary.
According to B & P founder Peter Schumann, “The Obligation to Live” conveys that, “The obligation to be alive and act against the actors of death is just one of humanity’s many obligations.” Bread & Puppet’s puppeteers “know this and bring giants, dragons, horses, sheep, butterflies, and the exact dance of death required for this exact moment,” Schumann explains.
Bread & Puppet has been a Vermont institution since moving from New York City to Goddard College in Plainfield and then to Glover in the early 1970s. Historian Howard Zinn has cited its “magic, beauty, and power.”
After the show, Bread & Puppet will serve its famous sourdough rye bread with aioli. Bread & Puppet’s “Cheap Art”– books, posters, postcards, pamphlets and banners from the Bread & Puppet Press – also will be for sale.
Tickets: $20 in advance, or at the door (cash/check only). More information about the tour is online at BreadAndPuppet.org/Tour.
Bread & Puppet promises that no one is turned away for lack of funds. If you need financial assistance with a ticket, email breadandpuppetreservations@gmail.com.
March 30: TURNmusic concert & fundraiser at the Barre Opera House
Soprano Mary Bonhag performs with TURNmusic in 2018.
TURNmusic has a special concert event coming up on March 30 at the Barre Opera House combining song, musicianship, and art to benefit both the music organization and a Central Vermont school with a special mission.
The program features a performance of the song cycle “Penelope” by Sarah Kirkland Snider featuring Vermont soprano Mary Bonhag along with string quartet selections used in the popular “Bridgerton”-“Queen Charlotte” Netflix series: “Nobody Gets Me” by Sza, “Wildest Dreams” by Taylor Swift, and Ariana Grande’s “POV.”
In addition to the music, the event will include a silent auction of four paintings by Vermont artist Arthur Zorn from his exhibition at the Barre Opera House now on exhibit there through the end of the month.
TURNmusic Director Anne Decker, who will conduct the concert, explains the themes for the program:
“This concert explores the emotional depth, strength, and transformation of women navigating the passage of time. Our program brings together works that tell stories of waiting and longing, and also of resilience and reinvention—of women who have put their lives on hold and those who have found ways to make them sustainable.
“First, we step into the shimmering worlds of ‘Bridgerton’ and ‘Queen Charlotte,’ where familiar modern melodies take on new life through the elegance of a string quartet. The selections offer a different perspective on love, longing, and self-preservation. These songs, transformed into classical string quartet arrangements, remind us that while some women may find themselves waiting, others are carving out space for their own stories, reimagining what love and fulfillment look like on their own terms.
“‘Penelope’ by Sarah Kirkland Snider, is a song cycle that reimagines Homer’s ‘Odyssey’ through the perspective of a woman left behind. In this modern retelling, Penelope is not just waiting—she is remembering, questioning, and ultimately reclaiming her own identity. Through Snider’s richly textured music and poetic lyricism, we experience the weight of time and the ache of uncertainty, but also the quiet strength of a woman finding her voice. TURNmusic is thrilled to perform ‘Penelope’ again feature the versatile voice of Vermont soprano, Mary Bonhag.”
Both a new-music specialist and a devotee to the classics, Bonhag was featured on Resonant Bodies Festival, and has sung with 21st Century Consort and the San Francisco Contemporary Players. She recently premiered a new chamber opera by Susan Botti, “River Spirits,” an allegorical tale featuring Bonhag, Botti, and Lucy Shelton.
TURNmusic’s ensemble is: Mary Rowell and Brooke Quiggins on violins, Elizabeth Reid on viola, John Dunlop playing cello and Nicholas Browne on bass, Geoff Kim on guitar and percussion by Jane Boxall; Katie Semro on laptop/live electronics.
Auction paintings below by Art Zorn. Click to enlarge.
The auction alongside the concert will benefit Brook Street High School and TURNmusic. Founded in 2003, Brook Street High School serves pregnant and parenting high school students with a child from birth through preschool and is part of Capstone Community Action’s Head Start Program.
Zorn’s art visually reflects his contemplations, emotions, and deconstructed scenes inspired from song texts by Ellen McLaughlin. The auction also is available online and bidders are encouraged to bid before the event either online or in person ahead of the performance. The art exhibition opened on May 4 in the opera house lobby and is available for viewing through March 30. Call the box office on weekdays to visit, 802-476-8188.
The performance is at 2 p.m., doors open at 1 p.m. Afterward, the artists will join a free reception with audience members.
TURNmusic and the Barre Opera House websites have more information including video clips featuring “Penelope.” Links to purchase tickets online are on both sites: $15 general admission. The first 100 student tickets are free.
March 30: Capital City Concerts presents ‘Her Favorite Things’
Celebrating one of its own, Capital City Concerts presents “Her Favorite Things” honoring founder flutist Karen Kevra’s 30-plus year music career in Vermont.
Karen Kevra. Photo by Caleb Kenna
Kevra will perform with pianist Jeffrey Chappell weaving highlights of the concert series’ history through the music of J.S. Bach, Louis Moyse, Camille Saint-Saëns, Cécile Chaminade, and Frédéric Chopin.
The performance will be Sunday, March 30, at 3 p.m., at the Unitarian Church of Montpelier.
The program opens with a massed performance by a flute choir comprised of some of Kevra’s current and former students playing Palestrina’s “Dona Nobis Pacem” round. The concert event will conclude with celebration cake for all provided by Montpelier’s Birchgrove Baking.
Kevra is a Grammy-nominated musician and a protegee of the late Louis Moyse who met internationally renowned pianist Jeffrey Chappell in 2000 when Michael Arnowitt “assigned” them to perform together at his Millennium Music Festival. They bonded musically and personally and have been duo partners ever since.
Together Kevra and Chappell have performed at the French Embassy in Washington D.C., as headliners at the National Flute Association Convention, and at venues up and down the East Coast from Vermont to Boston to Key West. Their recording, “Romantic Music for Flute and Piano,” has won accolades including from flutist Sir James Galway, and from the Boston Musical Intelligencer for “sublimely satisfying flute-playing.”
Kevra has shared the stage with members of the Emerson String Quartet, Paris Piano Trio, Borromeo String Quartet, Boston Chamber Music Society and Trey Anastasio of Phish. She is the creator and host of the Muse Mentors podcast, and has recently joined the music department of Middlebury College where she teaches flute.
Chappell first gained national attention at the age of 24 by performing on short notice the Brahms Second Concerto with the Baltimore Symphony to critical acclaim. Now a concert-stage veteran, he has appeared with major symphony orchestras including Philadelphia, St. Louis, Houston and Pittsburgh and has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and Wolf Trap.
Tickets ($15 students, $30 adults) will be available at the door or in advance. Some student tickets are available free on a first-come/first-served basis. Send a request by email to info@capitalcityconcerts.org.
The nonprofit Capital City Concerts presents chamber music performances featuring local and world-renowned musicians, contributing to the appreciation of and expanding the audience for music in the classical tradition in Central Vermont. More information: capitalcityconcerts.org.
Dress rehearsal for ‘Anything Goes.’ Courtesy photo
April 3-5: Harwood musical ‘Anything Goes’
Harwood Union High School presents its spring musical “Anything Goes” with four performances, Thursday-Saturday, April 3-5.
APRIL 4: Concert and art show, ‘Impassioned Improvisations’
Montpelier Art Walk presents a concert and art exhibition titled “Impassioned Improvisations” featuring organist, pianist and visual artist Arthur Zorn and percussionists Jordan Mensah and Samuel Mama Marquaye, 5:30-6:30 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church in Montpelier.
Zorn has had art work on view at various shows recently.
Mensah is a Ghanaian percussionist, teaching artist with Vermont Arts Council, and artistic director of Shidaa Projects, Inc. Also a Ghanaian percussionist, Marquaye is a dancer, choreographer, and dance drumming director with Shidaa Projects. Together they share their art in Vermont community spaces and in schools, where they use West African drumming, dancing, fabric printing, storytelling, tie-dye, and other cultural activities for education and for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.
April 5-6: Solaris brings ‘Celtic Light’ to Waterbury, Burlington
Solaris Vocal Ensemble presents its latest concert titled “Celtic Light” on April 5-6 featuring multi-instrumentalist Tim Cummings as a guest artist.
Piper Tim Cummings performs with Solaris. Photo by Ryan MacDonald
Cummings will play small pipes and Irish whistles on an array of Celtic selections, including original arrangements by the group’s composer-in-residence James Stewart. The program’s centerpiece is Dale Jergenson’s Amazing Grace Mass for voices with bagpipes. The choir also will perform Sarah Hopkins’ “Past Life Melodies” which promises a unique experience through its mysterious and haunting overtones.
Performances are scheduled for Saturday, April 5, at the Waterbury Congregational Church, starting at 7:30 p.m. On Sunday, April 6, the performance at Burlington’s College Street Church begins at 4 p.m.
Advance tickets ($10-$40) are recommended. Purchase online for the Waterbury performance here and for the Burlington performance here.