Up next: A Lasting Peace

Nashua Symphony Chorus and Diane Cushing and explore peace - of the mind, body, and spirit - through words and music, including Randall Thompson's Peaceable Kingdom, for which the NSC will be joined by the Keene State College Choir.

Tickets ON SALE NOW!
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Nashua High School North, 8:00 pm

Two new works will be premiered at the concert, including Kevin Siegfried's My Peace is Here and Mark Winges' A Weaving of Peace:

"This year's Ripple Effect composition, My Peace is Here, is a meditative, prayerful piece that traces one's centering path inward to the ultimate source of peace and serenity."
- Kevin Siegfried

"...with A Weaving of Peace, my own level of excitement was heightened more than usual: instead of being able to choose a pre-existing text to fit my musical ideas, I would have to let the texts of these young poets shape the musical sounds. This long-distance collaboration is unusual and provided a different stimulation for my thinking."
- Mark Winges

At the concert, you will enjoy the work of the several fine young poets. Here's a taste:

Peaceable Kingdom

And to the tree-lined, lacy shores
Unto where the open doors
Swinging light and rocking wave
within the peace this life does crave.
Around the weeping carousels
Left empty in the summer swell
For rivers, open fields and pastures far,
The scent of fresh water-- thoughts unmarred
By conscious choice of time and space,
Measuring endlessly the languid pace
Of solstice days, lasting through the moon
To where the laughing valley blooms
In its blue insurrections and melodious tones.
All about the hills and grassy dunes
To where I lay in calm repose -
A book, a thought, to where the fragrant wind blows...

- Maegan Michaud

To read more poetry from Nashua High School students, download the packet found here.

This concert is made possible by an American Masterpieces: NH Connections grant from the NH State Council on the Arts, supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, and by the Deluxe Corporation Foundation. The Ripple Effect project is generously funded by the Ella F. Anderson Trust and the NH Charitable Foundation, Nashua Region.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CONCERT. »

Back to Top

Looking ahead

2008 | 09 SEASON: Dates and details will be coming in May, and it's going to be a big, bold, beatiful series of concerts! So, keep checking your inboxes, mailboxes and our web site for early subscription information. Subscribers get to choose seats before anyone else, receive an extra discount incentive on ticket prices, and get special offers from our business partners! Early subscribers (by June 20) will have a chance to win dinner for four at Margarita's - plus we're developing new subscriber benefits all the time.

Back to Top

New Music Director

Last Thursday, the NSA announced the appointment of JONATHAN McPHEE as its new Music Director & Principal Conductor. The NSA’s Board of Trustees was unanimously in favor of Maestro McPhee’s appointment; he will assume his post officially - under the terms of a two-year, renewable contract - on July 1, 2008.

NSA Executive Director Eric Valliere sees McPhee’s appointment as a rare and special opportunity for the organization. "... we are confident in our selection of Jonathan McPhee - confident that he’ll bring the right mix of musical preparedness, inventive programming, audience-building savvy, and experience building orchestras’ relationships in the community."

To download the full press release, click here, or visit our press page.

Back to Top

Reaching out

Cycle Three of our innovative "Ripple Effect" program will be starting soon in Nashua's High Schools. Two-time composer-participant Kevin Siegfried has been engaged to complete his triptych of "Ripple Effect" pieces, and this third piece - to be premiered in March of 2009 - will arise from explorations by student poets on the theme of "our environment." We're delighted that choirs from both Nashua High North and South will be joining the Nashua Symphony Chorus and NSO Strings for this once-in-a-lifetime performance!

Back to Top

Up next
Looking ahead
New Music Director
Reaching out