For Immediate Release: May 24, 2018
Contact: Susan Strano, Marketing Director
802-447-1571 ex. 204
sstrano@benningtonmuseum.org
Image:
Linda Radtke
A Parlor Song Performance
photo by Glenn Moody Studios
Old Vermont Sheet Music: A Parlor Song Performance – Free Concert at Bennington Museum
Bennington Museum is pleased to present Old Vermont Sheet Music: A Parlor Song Performance featuring Linda Radtke, mezzo-soprano and Arthur Zorn on keyboards. This concert is part of the Music at the Museum series now in its third year. Held on Saturday, June 9 at 2:00 pm in the Ada Paresky Education Center and Paul Paresky Court of the Bennington Museum, this concert is free and open to the public thanks to the support of Alison Nowak and Robert Cane. Reservations are not required. Admission to the galleries is not included, but is always free for Museum members. “With thanks to our sponsors, it gives me great joy to make this music available to the public. I look forward to presenting concerts for years to come,” stated Deana Mallory, Director of Public Programs.
From the earliest published song, ‘Green Mountain Farmer” (1798), though 1850 temperance ballads, Civil War era songs to those about Vermonters Calvin Coolidge, Thomas Dewey, and Jim Fiske, singer and researcher Linda Radtke joined by pianist Arthur Zorn bring Vermont history to life. She presents engaging commentary about the songs found in the Vermont Historical Society’s collection of sheet music, including folk songs collected by Helen Hartness Flanders. Dressed in period costume, Radtke takes listeners through state history, using the songs Vermonters published in their communities.
The Performers
Linda Radtke, mezzo-soprano, has served as the principal alto soloist for the Mozart Festival and the Gilbert and Sullivan Players with the Oriana Singers, and is a founding member of Robert DeCormier’s professional vocal ensemble, Counterpoint, who performed here last June. She also sings with a vocal quartet, Ah!Capella, sponsored by the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, which brings music to Vermont schools. She toured the state with a Vermont song recital sponsored by the Vermont Historical Society. After 31 years as a high-school teacher, Radtke works for Vermont Public Radio Classical, producing a program of choral music every Sunday morning.
Accompanist Arthur Zorn is the organist and choir director, Bethany Church UCC in Montpelier. He is a frequent vocal baritone soloist and organ recitalist in Central Vermont. In 2008, after 30 years, he retired from being Chairman of the Fine Arts Department and teaching Choral Music, Music History and Music Theory at Spaulding High School in Barre. Currently his abstract artwork has received critical and commercial success. His website is artzorn.com.
About the Museum
Bennington Museum is located at 75 Main Street (Route 9), Bennington, in The Shires of Vermont. The Museum is open every day June through October, 10 am to 5 pm (closed July 4). It is wheelchair accessible. Regular admission is $10 for adults, $9 for seniors and students over 18. Admission is never charged for younger students, museum members, or to visit the museum store. Visit the Museum’s website www.benningtonmuseum.org or call 802-447-1571 for more information.
Bennington Museum is a member of ArtCountry, a consortium of notable art and performance destinations in the scenic northern Berkshires of Massachusetts and southern Green Mountains of Vermont, including The Clark Art Institute, Williams College Museum of Art , Williamstown Theatre Festival (20 minutes away); and MASS MoCA (25minutes away). Visit ArtCountry.org for more information on these five great cultural centers.