Concert series kicks off

WILMINGTON - St. Mary’s in the Mountains will kick off its 2022 Red Door Concert Season with a concert of classical music offered by the Windham Philharmonic. On Sunday, May 15, at 7 pm, the red doors will open for a program of Bach and Brahms, offered in a room that will enhance and embrace the players and the audience.
The program will consist of Contrapuncti Nos. I and VII from “The Art of Fugue” by JS Bach, followed by Serenade No. 2 in A major, Opus 16, by Johannes Brahms.  These works, respectively from the 18th and 19th centuries, will offer differing yet equally engaging openings to classical music. They will be performed without intermission.  
The Windham Philharmonic is building on the 50- year legacy of the Windham Orchestra, having been formed in 1969 as a performing group for Windham College students and community musicians, amateur and professional. Over the decades, guest conductors and performers such as Emanuel Ax, Nathan Randall, and Jan Swafford performed with the orchestra, which offered a wide range of classical music programs.  Beginning in 2010, its current director, Hugh Keelan, introduced staged opera performances along with its other repertoire. Then in April 2020, the orchestra became the Windham Philharmonic.  
Among musicians who will be part of the Philharmonic are Karen Horton and Pedro Pereira, of Wilmington. Both have performed in Red Door concerts in the past and as part of services at St. Mary’s as well. Musicians will join from as far away as Keene, NH.  
Admission is by free-will donation with all proceeds to benefit the Windham Orchestra.  St. Mary’s in the Mountains is at 13 East Main Street. For more information visit www.smmvt.org/red-door-concerts.