Event

Charles & Gregory Tompkins live in Concert Saturday May 17th

~ chasnaz ~ 1 Comment

Dear Friends of the Gloucester Meetinghouse,

The Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation will present the last concert of our 2024-25 season on Saturday, May 17th at 7:30pm with Charles and Gregory Tompkins, a talented father and son duo that will combine the sounds of the organ, piano and violin. This is a wonderful program you do not want to miss!

PROGRAM:

Concerto in F major after Albinoni…Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748)

Solo in D major, Opus 4 No. 5…John Stanley (1712-1786)  

Passacaglia in G minor, “The Guardian Angel”…from the Mystery (Rosary) Sonatas for Violin Heinrich Biber (1644-1704)

Sonata in B-flat, Opus 65 No. 4…Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

Capriccio… Naji Hakim (b. 1955)

Adoration… Finale (from First Sonata for Organ) Florence Price (1877-1953)           

Tickets are available at the door and online, with more information on our website, www.gloucestermeetinghouse.org

SUMMER FUN: Visit the Seaside Vintage Market at Second Glance!

~ todtheopendoor

Don’t miss out on the thrifting event of the summer! Second Glance, Thrift Store of The Open Door, is holding a Seaside Vintage Market next week.

WHEN: Wednesday, June 22 through Saturday, June 25, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

WHERE: Second Glance, Thrift Store of The Open Door at 2 Pond Road, Gloucester MA 01930

WHAT: SHOP for vintage-style home décor, kitchenware, art, jewelry, knickknacks, linens, clothing, accessories, and more at Second Glance’s Seaside Vintage Market!

One-of-a-kind treasures will be brought out daily for shoppers to peruse. DAILY shopping themes will be held as follows:

Wednesday: Opening Day

Thursday: Linens

Friday: Vintage Kitchen

Saturday: Silver and Gold Jewelry

Revenue at Second Glance directly supports hunger-relief programs of The Open Door. SHOP FOR GOOD, and know your dollars will help put food on the table for someone in our community.

More information about The Open Door is available at FOODPANTRY.org.

Celebrating Wellspring’s 40 Years of Supporting Families with “Voices of Belonging, Immigration Stories in Light & Sound” public art event

~ madelinegamlen

Artist Stephanie Benenson’s Harbor Voices Public Art creates immersive family-friendly sound and light experience: May 6 & 7

For 40 years, Wellspring has supported hundreds of families from all ethnic backgrounds and walks of life achieve employment and financial security through stable housing, education, job training and career readiness. To mark its four-decade anniversary, the Cape Ann-based nonprofit organization is hosting “Voices of Belonging: Immigration Stories in Light & Sound” to bring the stories and sentiments of immigrant families alive with music, spoken word, and laser lighting for a captivating, participatory immersive experience.

Inspired by collective storytelling and powerful personal histories, Stephanie Terelak Benenson, a sound, light, and social impact artist, founded Harbor Voices Public Art  Art in 2017. Her laser and sound installations feature more than 100 global stories of recent and ancestral immigrants to Cape Ann, ages 6 to 86, as choreographed lasers immerse you in a multilingual sound & light public art experience. 

The works celebrate empathy, cultural identity, diversity, inclusivity, and resilience from the past to the present. The stories and experience then become a vehicle for social change. Her installations have been shared in Lynn, Worcester, Boston, Gloucester, Salem, and New York City.

The “Voices of Belonging” Friday Night Opening Party will be May 6 from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $100 and can be purchased online. On Saturday, May 7, “Voices of Belonging” will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. to the community at no charge for the family-friendly, all-are-welcome event. Free, timed tickets are strongly encouraged but walkups will be accommodated.

Saunders House WPA Mural Restoration Presentation with Lisa Mehlin Saturday, 2/26, 2pm at Library

~ Sawyer Free Library

As reported by the Gloucester Daily Times, the Saunders House’s grand WPA are currently being restored by the Sawyer Free Library.

Come learn more about the historic murals and the restoration process from the project’s professional conservator Lisa Mehlin this Saturday, February 26 from 2 to 4pm on the Main Floor of the Sawyer Free Library.

Registration not required. For details, go to: sawyerfreelibrary.org or 978-325-5500.

GLOUCESTER MEETINGHOUSE MLK DAY ANNUAL CELEBRATION JANUARY 17TH!

~ chasnaz

The Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation will host it 6th annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration, live on Zoom, on Monday, January 17th at 2:00pm. Please preregister at http://www.gloucestermeetinghouse.org

The Racial Climate in Gloucester, What Lies Ahead will be the focus of the 2-hour program, including including findings of a new community survey. The keynote speaker will be Brian Saltsman, Director of Student Diversity and Inclusion at Alfred University in upstate New York. He is a leading advocate of addressing community issues between dominant and marginalized racial, ethnic or economic sectors as allies, a process known as “allyship.”

The invited presenting organizations are:

  • The Gloucester Racial Justice Team, reporting on a survey that assessed how much people of color “feel like they have a sense of community and belong in the city, including how race and ethnicity play a role in their daily lives,” according to GRJT spokesperson Gail Seavey.
  • The North Shore Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) which most recently has focused on racism issues within Danvers High School athletic teams. A branch leader will discuss the North Shore branch’s activities across a region stretching from Lynn to New Hampshire.
  • The Diversity and Equity Committee of the Gloucester 400th Anniversary Celebration, which is researching narrative stories that accurately depict racial and ethnic relationships since European settlement began displacing the native, indigenous Pennacook-Abenaki peoples. This will include years of slave ownership and maritime commerce in the global slave trade.

A video of this program with be available on the Gloucester Meetinghouse Foundation’s YouTube channel afterwards. The Foundation is a nonsectarian, federally-recognized nonprofit, organized to promote the preservation and community programming of the historic 1806 Meetinghouse on Middle Street, home of the first Universalist Church in America. Tax-deductible donations are welcome and may be made on the website, or by check to “GMF” at 10 Church Street, Gloucester, MA 01930.

Local Author and Activist Kate Ranta to Speak At Sawyer Free Library putting a spotlight on Domestic Violence Awareness Month

~ Sawyer Free Library

Local Author to share her story of turning abuse and tragedy into transformation and triumph 

The Sawyer Free Library will present “Killing Kate: A Story of Turning Abuse and Tragedy into Transformation and Triumph,” Thursday, October 14, from 6:00 – 7:30 pm.

Manchester-by-the-Sea author KATE RANTA emerged from a severely abusive relationship to become a national leader in raising awareness about domestic violence. She will read passages and autograph copies of her book, “Killing Kate,” and engage in questions and answers about her first-hand experience of domestic and gun violence and her journey to empowerment in the aftermath. 

This important event hosted by the Sawyer Free Library is free and open to the public. Registration is not required. Copies of the book “Killing Kate” will be available. Face masks are mandatory for those attending. The Sawyer Free Library is located at 2 Dale Avenue in Gloucester. 

For more information about the event or other Sawyer Free Library offerings, visit sawyerfreelibrary.org.  

If you or someone you know may be at risk, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or text “START” to 88788.

GAAC is Back Live in Lanesville!

~ Michael Deneen

The Gloucester Area Astronomy Club is once again meeting in-person at the Lanesville Community Center, on the second Friday of every month at 8:00 pm. We have a terrific program for our Friday August 13 meeting, with astronomer Dr. Seth Gossage from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, with a great presentation on starlight and what it can tell us.

In addition to discussing what light can tell us about a star’s properties such as mass and chemistry, Dr. Gossage will review next generation stellar models built to explore the effects of stellar rotation. Stars spin, and this is also a fundamental stellar property (alongside mass and chemical composition), which helps determine the evolutionary course of a star, and its light output for the entirety of its lifetime.

GAAC members meet at the Lanesville Community Center in the Lanesville neighborhood of Gloucester MA, at 8:00 pm on the second Friday of every month, for presentations, discussions and activities related to all facets of astronomy. There is no cost. These are fun meetings, with lots of friendly people, refreshments, and great, accessible talks by knowledgeable and entertaining folks. Come see us! No special knowledge or equipment is needed to have a great time. Meetings are also streamed live on our Facebook page. For more information on the club, see our website.

The Book Fair at The Glance!

~ todtheopendoor

Saturday, June 29 & Sunday, June 30

Second Glance Thrift Store | 2 Pond Road, Gloucester

Untitled Design(3)

Second Glance Thrift Store presents The Book Fair at The Glance with a wide variety of reading choices. Come shop from a selection of high-quality books pulled from premium inventory and saved for this special two-day blowout event. Thousands of titles are available at this book bonanza with something for everyone.

The Book Fair at The Glance on Facebook

Saturday from 9 am to 7 pm and Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm. All proceeds benefit The Open Door.

The mission of The Open Door is to alleviate the impact of hunger in our community. We use practical strategies to connect people to good food, to advocate on behalf of those in need, and to engage others in the work of building food security. The Open Door serves residents of Gloucester, Rockport, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Essex, Ipswich, Topsfield, Boxford, Rowley, Hamilton, and Wenham.

To find out more about The Open Door or donate online, visit FOODPANTRY.ORG.

Friday, April 5th: the GLOUCESTER MEETINGHOUSE FOUNDATION presents ‘MASTERPIECE,’ an a cappella concert by the SKYLARK VOCAL ENSEMBLE

~ chasnaz

The internationally acclaimed a cappella choir Skylark will perform a program called ‘Masterpiece’ at 7:00pm with a 6:00pm pre-concert talk on Friday, April 5th in the historic (1806) Gloucester Meetinghouse at the corner of Middle and Church Streets.  A reception to celebrate the performers follows the concert.

Over the centuries, art has inspired music, and music has inspired art. In this innovative multi-faceted program, Skylark will offer musical reflections and reactions to the visual arts from the ancient to the modern.

Skylark’s program will pair a specific piece of art with a particular musical composition from the same time period. Beginning with watercolors and music by Felix Mendelssohn and Hugo Alfvén, the program will progress through the impressionists Renoir and Monet – paired with music by Ravel and Debussy – to art and music of good friends Pablo Picasso and Francis Poulenc.

From Picasso, Skylark will introduce audiences to the work of Adolf Wölfli, from the Art Brut style. Wölfli was a prolific artist during his long residence in the Waldau Clinic, a psychiatric hospital in Bern – Skylark will pair his art with Wiegen-Lied, music by Per Nørgård, and lyrics by Adolf Wölfli.

Contemporary composer James MacMillan’s beautiful The Gallant Weaver recalls elegant Celtic knot work designs found in the Book of Kells.

Skylark was nominated this year for 2 Grammy Awards and is known for a sublime blend of classically trained voices with perfect pitch, exquisite dynamics and a broad range of repertoire.

This is Skylark’s debut performance in the Gloucester Meetinghouse, offering North Shore music lover’s a top-tier concert choir experience close to home.  Comprised of some of the most distinguished classical vocal soloists from around the country, Skylark’s singers have joined together to create a tour de force a cappella ensemble that thrills audiences with their dynamic range, rhythmic prowess, and sheer beauty of sound.

Tickets available at the door and online at

http://www.gloucestermeetinghouse.org

Preferred                  $45

General                     $30

Students                   $10 with ID

12 & Under              Free

No one turned away for lack of funds; just ask at the entrance desk.  Note: side entrance with elevator available at 10 Church Street.

Skylark Photo_1

Skylark has quickly become one of the premier recording choirs in the United States, earning accolades from critics at home and abroad, including Gramophone, Classics Today, the BBC, and Limelight Magazine (Australia).  Skylark’s most recent three recordings have all placed in the top 10 of the Billboard Traditional Classical Chart.  Award-winning CDs include ‘Forgotten Dreams’ (2014), ‘Crossing Over’ (2016), ‘Winter’s Night’ (2017), and ‘Seven Words from the Cross (2018).

Please join us for this rare musical feast!

 

The Orchestra on the Hill Chamber Ensemble performs ‘Bach and Beyond’ in the historic Gloucester Meetinghouse

~ chasnaz

‘Bach and Beyond’ will take you on a musical journey around and through the genius of Johann Sebastian Bach.

In the first half, soak in the serene exultation of Trumpet Concerto No. 2 by Tomaso Giovani Albinoni to gain an understanding of why this popular composer was so intriguing to Bach.  Next, venture onward to Bach’s vibrantly fast-paced Orchestral Suite No. 2 with haunting melodies for the flute.  Then hold on your seat for Bach’s powerful Prelude and Fugue (“the Wedge”) in E minor for organ solo played by Jeffrey Mead on the mighty 1893 Hutchings-Fisk pipe organ.

In the second half you will meander forward in time to Mozart’s exquisite Clarinet and String Quintet, in which Bach’s influence runs through like a golden thread. And finally we return to Bach for his glorious and brilliant Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, a musical challenge for the whole ensemble including harpsichord and famous for it’s trumpet fanfare, to complete the journey.

TICKETS ONLINE OR AT THE DOOR – cash, check or credit card

Preferred                  $45 (front center 3 rows & rear gallery front row)

General                     $30

Students                   $10 with ID

12 & Under              Free

LOCATION AND MORE INFORMATION

The Gloucester Meetinghouse (home of the Unitarian Universalist Church) is located on the green at the corner of Church and Middle Streets.  Event parking is allowed on the green and is available at other parking lots nearby and on the street in the Historic District.  An elevator up to the Sanctuary level is available from the side entrance at 10 Church Street.

For advance ticket purchases and more information please visit www.gloucestermeetinghouse.org

March 16, 2019 Bach and Beyond Concert, Poster, Final Version