TRINITY ARTS SERIES • 220 Prospect St. • Torrington CT 06790 • 860.485.0211
Email: trinityarts@trinityartseries.org


The Trinity Arts Series would like to thank all of our supporters and all who attended our events in the past year. We will be posting our 2008-2009 schedule this summer, and we look forward to another year of exciting, affordable musical offerings in the Northwest Corner.

REVIEWS OF OUR PAST EVENTS


Saturday, May 10, 2008 - NICHOLAS WHITE ORGAN CONCERT

Nicholas White, organist and director of music at Trinity Episcopal Church in Torrington and Artistic Director of Joyful Noise, Inc. of Torrington, gave an organ concert on Trinity Church's magnificent Moller-Austin organ, our third annual memorial concert on the eve of Mother's Day.

Music included compositions by Bach, Franck, Langlais, Messiaen, Vierne, and White.

For more information on Nicholas White, visit his website at http://www.nicholaswhite.com.


Saturday, April 19, 2008 - PAUL BISACCIA PLAYS GERSHWIN

Paul Bisaccia is a charismatic performer whose highly accessible programs appeal to a wide audience. He entertained us with an evening of Gershwin tunes, including the entire Rhapsody in Blue.

Paul's own public television special, which has aired all over the country, was recently dubbed in Mandarin Chinese for broadcast in China, and he was featured in the Ric Burns PBS television series "New York." He has also appeared on National Public Radio's "Performance Today," and his recordings have been aired by radio stations throughout North America and he is the most requested pianist on beethoven.com, "the world's classical radio station."

Read about Paul at http://www.concertartists.com/PB.html.


Saturday, January 5, 2008 - ST. LUKE'S STEEL BAND

Back by popular demand from October 2006, Connecticut's best steel band helped Trinity celebrate Epiphany - Three King's Day - along with our friends in Torrington's Hispanic community. The band played everything from reggae and calypso to Latin and classical, there were gifts for the children, and a parade of the three kings.


Saturday, October 27, 2007 - FOLK DUO LITTLE WINDOWS

LITTLE WINDOWS performed a mix of Appalachian and Irish music, and traditionally-based originals, with a special focus placed on unaccompanied ballads.

Mark Weems and Julee Glaub tour together nationally and internationally with a focus on the art of the pure voice with tight harmonies in traditional songs from the Appalachian and Irish traditions.. Instrumentation included guitar, fiddle, banjo, flute, piano and bodhrán. Together they brought a beautiful blend of both traditions with a unique harmonic sound that is rare. Their homebase is Durham, NC.


PAUL HALLEY, ORGAN CONCERT - MAY 12, 2007

Paul Halley, acclaimed organist, pianist and composer, gave an organ concert on Trinity Church's fine Austin pipe organ. Halley has been Director of Music at Trinity Episcopal Church for the last 8 years, was Director of Music at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, NYC for 13 years, and 18 years as Principal Composer and Keyboardist with The Paul Winter Consort 

The concert featured works by J. S. Bach, Olivier Messaien, Cesar Franck and Paul Halley, among others. Mr. Halley is relocating to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in July 2007.


EPIPHANY - EL DIO DE LOS TRES REYES - JANUARY 6, 2007

Everyman Guild from Waterbury offered a concert of Renaissance Spanish music, and the concert was attended by several hundred members of Torrington's Hispanic community. Children enjoyed a visit by the three kings -- Los Tres Reyes -- who came with gifts, and all enjoyed crafts and good food in the parish hall.


SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2006 - 7:30 p.m.

St. Luke's Steel Band from New Haven brought their high-energy music to Trinity to kick off our 2006-2007 season of concerts. Their musicians range in age from 11 to 76, and their music ranges from classical to folk music in the tradition of Jamaica.

Part of the concert featured the training choir of Chorus Angelicus, the youngest members of the Joyful Noise family, under the direction of Karen Sovak.

The band has been hailed as one of the most exciting performing groups in Connecticut and were honored with the Arts Award in 2003 from the Arts Council of New Haven.


FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 2006 - Steven Fraser Organ Concert

Steven R. Fraser, organ scholar at Trinity Episcopal Church in Torrington for the last two academic years, played a concert on Trinity's 68-rank Moller-Austin organ. His selections included organ masterworks from the late nineteenth century French composers as well as contemporary pieces and one of his own compositions.

Steven dazzled the audience at his Master's Degree recital at Yale earlier this year, playing Yale's great Woolsey Hall Skinner organ. He has participated in several organ competitions, winning first place in the National Organ Competition in Fort Wayne, IN, in 2004 and also in the Royal Conservatory Competition in 1999 in Toronto, Ontario. He spent the summer in France competing and studying improvisation.


SATURDAY, MAY 13

Tea with Harriet Beecher Stowe

Local historian of the Civil War period, Jane Sabatelli, talked about the life and times of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852). Mrs. Stowe was born in Litchfield in 1811 and died in Hartford in 1896. Ms. Sabatelli is an expert in the daily life of women in this period of history and gave a highly entertaining presentation, wearing period clothes and staged with vintage accessories.

(Image at left of Mrs. Stowe is from Corbin-Bettman Archives.)

THE CELTIC TROUBADOURS - Friday, March 17, 2006

For a night of exciting music for the whole family, come celebrate the Celtic Tradition of music and song with Connecticut State Troubadour, Thomasina Levy (left), Celtic Expert Extraordinare Tom White and Mountain Dulcimer Master Rob Brereton. Thomasina Levy is an internationally recognized mountain dulcimer player, singer, and song writer whose performances weave together the best of traditional and contemporary folk music. She touches audiences with a simplicity, humanity, and strength drawn from the deep roots of the folk tradition. Rob Brereton's unique playing style has expanded the edges of the mountain dulcimer's repertoire, and Tom White is an expert in Celtic music who plays the fiddle, tin whistle, bodhran, hammer dulcimer, guitar, bones, spoons, -- you name it - he plays it. All three Celtic Troubadours are featured on many recordings.


The 2006 Medieval Banquet, our fifth, was a smashing success. With the entertainment of a court jester, the King (John McDonaugh) and Queen (Ruth Ann Baumgarten) led the revelers in an evening of merriment. Music was provided during the evening and throughout the meal by the Everyman Guild from Waterbury. The New Haven Morris Dancers provided additional entertainment with several dramatic dances, including one done in almost total darkness featuring a horse!

BE A PARTNER IN THE RENAISSANCE AND RENEWAL OF DOWNTOWN TORRINGTON! Join the ranks of the Trinity Arts Volunteers, an active group of men and women who are performers, technicians, carpenters, graphic artists, painters, ushers, and organizers. Help us with publicity, fundraising, and many other ways with our varied offerings. To volunteer, please call 860-482-4411 or EMAIL us.

If you wish to enroll as a sponsor and make a financial contribution in any amount, click here to download a printable form. The form is in PDF format; you must have Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. If you cannot get the form, click here to download a FREE Acrobat Reader.

Trinity Episcopal Church Website

Photos from the 2005 Medieval Banquet

(Left:) Heralds with long trumpets opened the evening with a fanfare, and the guests were led into the dining hall by the King and Queen. The heralds are members of The Order of Selohaar, a modern order of chivalry.

(Above:) Platters of cheese and crackers and grapes were presented, along with wine and ale.

(Above): Lords and ladies pose for pictures in front of the great hall's fireplace.

(Right:) Two goodly knights prepare to demonstrate their broadsword skills in a mock battle.

(Left:) Friar Truck and a winsome lass have their pictures taken.

(Above:) Queen Ruth Ann and King John propose a toast to the guests.

(Above:) The knights pose with a lady of the manor.

(Right:) Two lovely ladies get a loving squeeze from a happy reveler.

(Above:) The knights pose with two more of the ladies.

(Left:) The battle in full swing.