A year ago River Sang Wild played an apres-ski set at Pats Peak to a crowd that was so appreciative they’ve been asked to return for a two-day run beginning March 8. Typically, the power trio amps up places like Strange Brew and the Press Room with a big and boisterous sound, but these shows will be closer, sonically and spiritually, to Nirvana’s Unplugged.
“We do a more stripped down set there,” the band’s drummer Harrison Foti said in a recent phone interview. “Because our normal one is pretty high volume, high energy, that type of thing. We can’t really do that in the room they have us play in.”
The band formed during the pandemic, a few years after Danny McCarthy and Foti first connected at a North Shore open mic night hosted by Brian Maes of Barry Goudreau’s Engine Room. When Foti’s band Victim of Circumstance broke up, he began jamming in McCarthy’s basement, along with bass player Brad Hartwick from his old group.
As live music returned, the three began to play out. Concurrently, Foti and Hartwick were the rhythm section of Feverslip, led by ex-Red Sky Mary singer Sam Vlasich. In 2023, Hartwick left to devote his attention to that band. Rainor Vigneault took over on bass, completing River Sang Wild’s present lineup.
Heartbreak Recital, a five-song EP, was released in November 2023. It kicked off with “The River,” written by McCarthy, a bracing rocker that also included the band’s name in the chorus. “I’m actually the jerk that planted that lyric,” Foti said of making it a theme song. “I’ve heard some people do that and I’m like, why not? Personally, it’s one of my favorite songs.”
Other standouts in the collection include the jangly, fuzz toned “Love Train” and “Rewind,” another up-tempo bop with a radio-ready boogie feel. “Bloodlines” is another crunchy gem. The band’s influences include post-millennial rockers like Black Keys and Kings of Leon, but they also cover Cream, and play The Beatles’ “Don’t Let Me Down” with aplomb.
“We definitely thus far have had a classic rock influence upon our music,” Foti said, while adding, “I hope to stray away from that, because my musical tastes have certainly changed, even within rock. I feel a bit the same about the other guys too…. I think that they are very open to exploring other avenues.”
“Devil or Not,” released late last year, and another single in the works reflect new member Vigneault’s role.
“I feel that Rainor’s definitely been incorporating more into the songwriting,” Foti said, adding. “Danny’s really the one bringing forth the lyrics, the song ideas…. I partake in helping with arrangements and, of course, laying the drums down.”
Approaching its fifth anniversary as a band, River Sang Wild is upping its profile in a few ways. Christos Alamaniotis, a graphic artist who’s worked with The Misfits, Papa Roach and Car Seat Headrest, is doing their latest cover art, and the band is finalizing plans to record a live session with Philadelphia-based Cart Music soon.
“Essentially, they videotape a whole set [and] give you the audio and video,” he explained. “They reached out to us within the last week and we’re looking to set up a date with them along with a couple of Philly shows, and most likely New York, since it’s kind of right next door.”
Last summer they played a second stage set at Bank of NH Pavilion ahead of the Dave Matthews Band. Hopefully, they’ll be back on the venue’s Hazy Little Stage again next summer.
Beyond that, River Sang Wild is focused on creating new music and refining its sound. They are currently working on new songs, with hopes of recording more material in the coming months. They’re playing the new tracks at shows, Foti noted, but the studio sessions will begin a path to their official release.
Since forming his first band in 2017, Foti is partial to the power trio format, demanding though it may be. “It’s definitely a challenge because you can’t really hide a lot. Everything is out in the open, and everyone’s very much equally responsible for filling in the space when necessary — and knowing when not to fill in the space with a trio is also important.”
River Sang Wild
When: Saturday, March 8, 6 p.m. and Sunday, March 9, noon Where: Pats Peak, 686 Flanders Road, Henniker More: riversangwild.com
Paddington and the Brown family go on a quest to find a missing, possibly treasure-hunting Aunt Lucy in the Amazonian jungle in Paddington in Peru, the sweet and perfectly acceptable third entry in the series.
The second Paddington movie was basically family movie perfection — which leaves a lot for this movie to live up to and it doesn’t, quite. The movie in whole is a bit like the character of Mary Brown: Emily Mortimer has taken over the Brown mom role from Sally Hawkins and Mortimer, like the movie, is fine — she just doesn’t quite have the sparkle that Hawkins brought.
The Brown children — college-bound daughter Judy (Madeleine Harris) and teenage son Jonathan (Samuel Joslin) — are mostly busy doing their own things and mother Mary (Mortimer) misses the years of more family togetherness. Marmalade-loving bear Paddington (voice of Ben Whishaw) receives a letter from the Reverend Mother (Olivia Coleman) at the Home for Retired Bears in Peru where his beloved Aunt Lucy (voice of Imelda Staunton) is spending her golden years. It appears Aunt Lucy has become withdrawn and is desperately missing Paddington. He asks the Browns to come with him to Peru to see her and they jump at it — Judy can use a travelogue to help her college essay, Mary gets her family time and her husband/kids’ dad Henry Brown (Hugh Bonneville) decides to take this opportunity to follow his boss’s advice that he take more risks. When they get to the Home for Retired Bears, the Reverend Mother tells them that Aunt Lucy is gone — apparently set off into the Amazonian jungle on some mysterious quest. The family heads to the docks to find a ship to take them up the river to the spot where she’s started her trip and they find Hunter Cabot (Antonio Banderas), who gets a funny gleam in his eye when they tell them where they want to go. His daughter Gina (Carla Tous) tells him it’s not a good idea for them to go to that part of the river but he overrides her and takes the charter, possibly because his ghostly conquistador ancestor is bullying him into continuing his search for gold. Meanwhile, back at the Home for Retired Bears, family caretaker Mrs. Bird (Julie Walters) is suspicious of how many things the very chirpy Reverend Mother tells her are not suspicious.
Paddington in Peru is lighthearted and fun. Even though the two slightly sketchy characters of Antonio Banderas and Olivia Coleman do not quite equal the one Hugh Grant of the second movie, this movie’s kooky adults mostly embrace the gentle cartooniness of any mischief. I (and my kids) found the movie’s hour-and-46-minute runtime a little longer than it needed to be but overall this is some of the warmer, cozier kid entertainment. B In theaters.
Mufasa: The Lion King (PG)
The photo-realistic version of The Lion King gets a prequel with a wraparound sequel story in Mufasa: The Lion King, directed by Barry Jenkins.
In the sequel bit, King Simba (voice of Donald Glover) and his queen Nala (voice of Beyoncé Knowles-Carter) are preparing for the birth of their new cub, leaving oldest cub Kiara (Blue Ivy Carter) to be watched/entertained by Rafiki (voice of John Kani in his older incarnation, Kagiso Lediga as a younger monkey), Pumbaa (voice of Seth Rogen) and Timon (voice of Billy Eichner). To pass the time, Rafiki tells the story of Mufasa (voice of Braelyn Rankins as a cub, Aaron Pierre as a more grown-up lion), father of Simba and Kiara’s grandfather.
Before he was James Earl Jones, Mufasa was just a little lion cub who got separated from his parents by a flood. When the raging river finally slows, far from his home, he is nearly eaten by a crocodile before another young lion cub, Taka (voice of Theo Somolu as a cub, Kelvin Harrison Jr. when he’s older), and Taka’s mom, Eshe (voice of Thandiwe Newton), save him. Taka’s father, Obasi (voice of Lennie James), is all about Taka’s future as king of the lion pride and doesn’t want this stray nobody around taking up space, I guess to show us where Taka, the eventual Scar, gets his snottiness from. Eshe takes Mufasa in — as long as he stays with the females, Obasi demands — and Taka is delighted to have a brother to play with. As the years go by, Taka and Mufasa remain close buddies, even if Mufasa spends his time learning lady skills like hunting and tracking and Taka learns the dude skills of hanging out and waiting for a challenge. Eventually the Outsiders, as a pride of white lions is known, show up and do offer a challenge. Sensing that his pride isn’t strong enough to defeat the pride of Outsider king Kiros (voice of Mads Mikkelsen), Obasi sends Taka away, to find his own lands to be king of, with Mufasa serving as his protector. But Kiros, seeking vengeance after his son was killed in an earlier battle with Obasi’s lions, continues hunting Taka and Mufasa even after singing a disturbing “I’m going to kill you” song called “Bye Bye” (as in, now I will make you go bye bye) to Obasi and Eshe. Taka and Mufasa decide to head for the Milele, a land of abundance that Mufasa’s parents used to tell him about. Along the way, they meet feisty lady lion Sarabi (voice of Tiffany Boone) and her scout bird Zazu (voice of Preston Nyman) and the younger Rafiki. All set out together to Milele, with the Outsider lions on their various tails.
Throughout the story, Pumbaa and Timon in the wraparound story break in to provide the comic relief — basically doing comedy bits like commercial interruptions in an otherwise mostly laughs-free story. This sometimes breaks the flow but it also, I think, helps hold kid attention, which can wander during segments of Kiros talking about his quest for total domination or Taka’s feelings for Sarabi, who of course has feelings for Mufasa.
It’s all just enough, perfectly fine, unmemorable but inoffensive. The songs are all serviceable but only “Bye Bye” became a kid favorite in my family — the menace of the scene where it’s sung is maybe a lot for younger kids who get what’s going on but for older elementary schoolers who are getting bored I guess the implied violence is welcome. From an adult perspective, the whole endeavor feels kind of tepid. Mufasa is a puzzle piece that doesn’t quite fit with The Lion King, Taka’s turn to Scar feels abrupt and motivated by the plot’s need for him to break bad more than anything going on with the character. Likewise, the movie seems to want to deliver a “together, my animal brethren, we can stand up to bullies” message which doesn’t completely snap together with the whole “circle of life” thing which, as Kiros points out, is just a polite way of saying predator and prey. The movie doesn’t feel like a seamless, tonally similar part of the original Lion King universe but it is so beholden to it that it can’t be its own thing either. B-In theaters and available for rent or purchase.
When The Nash, the new casino in the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua, opens its doors this week, there will be a lot of food and drink involved. It boasts four restaurants and two additional bars, plus catering for private parties and service to guests practicing their golf swings or watching sporting events on a gigantic television screen — but perhaps the most surprising food fact about The Nash is how staggeringly good its pancakes are — lightly crispy around the edges, not too thick, and gently sweet with the tang of buttermilk.
“In the state of New Hampshire,” said Eric Althaus, the general manager of The Nash, “no casino is allowed to be open 24 hours. We have to close for at least five hours a day. Every day we open at 9 a.m. Sunday through Thursday we close at 2 a.m. and then on Friday and Saturday we close at 4 a.m.” Even for guests and staff on a civilian schedule, that means a lot of breakfasts.
The Woodlands Cafe on the casino’s lower level is a casual three-meals restaurant, where you would probably order the pancakes. It has “everything from obviously breakfast items to your sandwiches and burgers to more fine dishes at night as well,” Althaus said. The lower level is also the home of Stadium Social Sports Bar & Grill, where guests might order food and drinks while they watch the big game. There is also a coffee bar. On The Nash’s main level are two more restaurants: the Lucky Lantern Noodle House, and Proper Chophouse & Cocktails, The Nash’s formal restaurant, which will stock more than 1,000 bottles of wine. There is also an additional bar, the Electric Pheasant.
“Lucky Lantern was going to be the late night dining outlet,” Althaus said. “We’re not going to be ready for that at opening; we’re still making some fine enhancements to the cook line. So we are modifying the hours here [at two of our other restaurants] to ensure that we do have the food offering because we’re serving alcohol all the way until two o’clock .”
The goal, Althaus said, is to present guests with a wide variety of food options. There are luxury dishes, like premium steaks and cocktails, to luxe interpretations of popular dishes, like lobster benedict, or sliders made with wagyu beef. Special attention has gone to perfecting classic snack foods, such as house-fried potato chips and perfectly crisp french fries, fried pickles.
For the most part, food for all the restaurants will be prepared in a large central kitchen, then served at each restaurant.
“There’s one production kitchen,” Althaus said. “The Lucky Lantern Noodle does have an action station that will produce additional food as ordered, but a lot of the broths and most of the other dishes are still prepared back of house in the production kitchen.”
Once The Nash has opened (the opening is slated for March 5), serving food and beverages throughout the casino will require precision and attention to details. Althaus said the casino’s staff has been working hard to prepare.
“They’re excited,” he said. “A lot of them have been working for months, getting prepared, making sure that we’re training. We’ll be pushing through over 4,000 people just in the restaurants to work on ticket time [orders that come into the kitchen], work on consistency, presentation, everything that goes with it.”
The Nash Casino
Where: 310 DW Highway in Nashua Restaurants & bars: Woodlands Cafe, Stadium Social Sports Bar & Grill, the Lucky Lantern Noodle House, and Proper Chophouse & Cocktails and the Electric Pheasant. More info: thenashcasino.com
The mother-and-child theme has been part of Ann Agee’s art going back to a 1999 porcelain figure recently revived for the Rena Bransten Gallery’s RBG at 50-Focus on Ceramics exhibition in San Francisco. She’s frequently returned to the form, but recently Agee has taken a different approach, making Madonnas with a feminist touch.
“Madonna of the Girl Child” has grown into a significant body of work, and on March 7 the Currier Museum will begin showing five of the largest figures from it. Also on display at the exhibition, running through June 5, are two relief works done in porcelain, welded steel and epoxy resin, “Offering Madonna” and “Donatello Riff Madonna.”
In a recent phone interview Agee said she made the first piece out of curiosity in 2019, then a few more to fight a bout of altitude sickness. Occasionally she’d ask herself why she was focusing on religious icons. It was, she decided, a good way to look at and comment on their inherent oppression.
As she walked through churches on a trip to Italy, the clash between depictions of violence like the crucifixion and the gentle nature of the Madonna got her thinking.
“So many horrific things that were the guides to how to live your life … don’t do that, watch out for this,” she said. “Then you see the Madonna, and it’s … have a child, and everything is peaceful.”
Amidst this warmth and maternal comfort, however, something stark stood out to Agee.
“It’s always a boy child,” she said. “I wanted for myself a Madonna that held a girl child and publicly showed the interest that a mother could have in her. That this child, this girl, could deserve your hopes and dreams in the same way that your boy child could. Slowly, it became a little bit of a campaign.”
The upcoming Currier display is a departure for Agee, who usually displays her Madonnas in groups of mixed sizes. It will be held in the Manchester museum’s Welcome Gallery, which is a space between other spaces.
“There’s a sprawling staircase, it spreads out to both sides, and there are banisters of a different material,” she said. “I decided to keep it really simple, and have the work stand up to all that’s architecturally going on in that room, and the movement of people coming and going.”
The five pieces are the largest ones she’s done, Agee said.
“I’ve enjoyed slowly learning how to make things bigger,” she said. “Last summer I was sitting on someone’s deck and looking out into this grass and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to just have a big red figure in the grass there?’ So I made one in red, and then I made one in pink.”
She was further inspired by a trip to Boboli Gardens in Florence, Italy. “I was looking at all the white marble sculptures that are in the garden there. They’re not really that big, but they’re one color. There’s all this stuff around them, and they hold their form. That’s basically the shift in these Madonnas, they’re big and they’re a solid color.”
The works, however, further Agee’s “campaign” for a feminist reinterpretation of religious iconography. More than a simple exploration of motherhood, “Madonna of the Girl Child” is a critical commentary on the way these traditional symbols have reinforced gender roles. Agee’s art usurps an image steeped in patriarchal culture.
This shift is a deliberate act of reclaiming this symbol for women. Agee wanted to present a vision where a mother could hold and nurture a girl child with the same devotion and aspirations traditionally reserved for sons. In this new context, the Madonna figure becomes a symbol not just of motherhood but of equality.
Ann Agee: Madonna of the Girl Child When: Friday, March 7, through Thursday, June 5 Where: Currier Museum of Art, 150 Ash St., Manchester More: annageestudio.com
Featured photo: “Offering Madonna” by Ann Agee. Courtesy photo.
The N.H. Secretary of State’s office has a “New Hampshire Town Meeting Voter’s Guide” on its website, sos.nh.gov, which explains the basics of town meeting and town elections including what to bring to the polls to register to vote on site on Election Day, which is Tuesday, March 11, for many area towns. The site also explains updates to voter registration requirements which no longer allow applicants to complete affidavits to prove qualifications to vote; to register, applicants must bring proof of identity, citizenship and residence, the website said.
Exploring the trades
The New Hampshire Preservation Alliance is accepting applications through March 14 for the second week of its Career Exploration program, which runs during April school vacation, Monday, April 28, through Friday, May 2, for ages 16 to 21, according to an Alliance newsletter about the program. The program has locations in central New Hampshire (including Canterbury, Andover and Warner) and the Seacoast, the newsletter said. The program offers applicants exposure to historic preservation activities including traditional construction techniques, wood window restoration and more with mentors who are focused on these specific trades, the newsletter said. See nhpreservation.org/internship-program.
Poetry finals
High schoolers competing in the statewide 2025 Poetry Out Loud program will attend the finals at Representatives Hall at the Statehouse in Concord on Friday, March 14. The 11 participants, who have each memorized a poem for recitation, will compete for a spot at the national championships in Washington, D.C., in May, according to a press release. The competition begins at 5 p.m. and is open to the public and livestreamed on the N.H. State Council on the Arts’ Facebook page, the release said. See nharts.dncr.nh.gov/programs/poetry-out-loud. The finalists include Deepsun Adhikari of The Derryfield School in Manchester; Summer Brackett of Coe-Brown Northwood Academy, Susanna Hill of Nashua High School South and D’Aleczandria Johnson of Hopkinton High School, the release said.
Nature on Zoom
The NH Audubon will present “Butterflying New Hampshire’s Woodlands” via Zoom on Wednesday, March 12, at 6:30 p.m. with Levi Burford, Errol Count Circle Coordinator, to discuss the species of butterflies that live in the state’s woodlands. The NH Audubon will also host a nature book club the second Thursday of each month starting in March with The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer for the session on Thursday, March 13, at 6 p.m. Both events are free but require registration at nhaudubon.org.
Friday, March 7, is the final day to buy tickets for the Red River Theatres Oscar After Party Trivia Night Fundraiser, which will take place Friday, March 14, 5:30 p.m., at Pembroke Pines Country Club in Pembroke. Tickets cost $125 per person for the evening of food, music, movie trivia and more. See redrivertheatres.org.
Goffstown Public Library will present The Human Library on Sunday, March 9, from 1 to 3:30 p.m. The event features people who serve as “Books” to discuss their experiences with adversity due to race, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, culture, profession and/or lifestyle, according to a library press release. See humanlibrary.org for more about the concept, which was “conceived in 2000 by a Danish youth organization,” the release said. The event concludes the library’s 2025 Community Conversation Series, the release said; see goffstownlibrary.com/communityconversations.
Save the date: According to nhmapleproducers.com, New Hampshire Maple Weekend, when sugar houses open their doors to the public for tours, samples and more, is slated for Saturday, March 15, and Sunday, March 16. Peterson Sugar House in Londonderry, for example, will be open those days from noon to 4 p.m. with samples of ice cream with maple drizzle and more, according to a press release. See the NH Maple Producers website for other participating sugarhouses.
The Milford Garden Club will have a program on “Automatic Plant Watering Systems” with Richard B. Kahn of Kahn Landscaping on Monday, March 10, at 10:30 a.m. at First Congregational Church Parish House, 10 Union St. in Milford.
A look at Symphony NH as its music director prepares to pass the baton
Though it doesn’t take cues from the movie Conclave, the process of finding a successor to Roger Kalia, Music Director of Symphony NH, is similar in spirit.
“You’re really looking for someone who is the face of the organization,” search consultant Nick Adams said recently. “How they interact with a whole host of fairly disparate groups of people … you want to have a system that allows you to see that person in these different environments.”
Kalia announced his departure in early 2024. When the final notes of Aaron Copland’s American Symphony fade at his last concert on May 10 at Concord’s Capitol Center for the Arts, the maestro will have spent six years leading the state’s largest orchestra. By then, four or five potential new conductors will be finalized.
What happens next is an interesting twist on filling an outgoing leadership role. Each candidate will have an opportunity to perform for the classical music community over the course of the 2025-26 concert season. At the end, one will become Symphony NH Music Director.
Adams, who served as Operations Manager at Symphony NH from 2007 to 2014 and now heads the Boston-based Cantata Singers along with his search efforts, believes the season-long audition is the best way for a community to choose a potential conductor. They’ve considered 10 candidates thus far.
“What we were looking for is are they able to take an art form that’s hundreds of years old and program it in a way that … speaks to people who already know the language of classical music and orchestras, but also package it and involve composers and other music in a way that might bring new 21st-century audiences in.”
Symphony NH Executive Director Deanna Hoying values this long hello as a way to see how potential Music Directors will bond with the orchestra. To that end, the search committee will attend rehearsals to evaluate chemistry between them and the candidate.
“You want to know how these folks work with the musicians,” she said by phone in late February. “Are they efficient in how they use the time that they have? How do they work with our librarian? Watching how they work, how they treat people in that environment is really important, because our musicians are our most valuable asset. Many of them have been with us for decades.”
The selection process that culminated in 2019 was the result of a national search for a Music Director. Kalia lives in Evansville, Indiana, where he leads that city’s orchestra, and traveled to Nashua for his work there. The current effort is focused on finding a candidate based in the region.
Deanna Hoying. Courtesy photo.
“Working with a Music Director who doesn’t live here; I think one of the things they realized is the value of having them be a little bit closer is, one, you just get to see them more, and that helps a lot,” Hoying said. “People have connections to these artists.”
They began with an element of uncertainty, wondering if they could attract enough candidates, and they built safeguards into the process in case they needed to expand at some point.
“We felt like, ‘let’s start with what we actually want, which is somebody within a two-hour drive of New Hampshire,” Hoying said, adding the net would widen “if we felt that we didn’t have enough in the pool.”
Fortunately, she continued, “We had so much wealth of talent that we didn’t need to do that. What blew us all away was that we had so many incredibly talented people who are local … because you don’t know until you throw the net out what you’re going to get.”
Kalia and Hoying came to Symphony NH in the same year. After moving to Manchester from Louisville, where she worked with their orchestra, Hoying reached out to then director Mark Thayer to offer her services. She started as a grant writer in the spring. Kalia began his tenure that fall.
When the pandemic arrived, the organization turned from celebrating a new leader to wondering how it could survive.
“Roger started and didn’t even get through his first season, dear guy,” Hoying said. “In spring, it’s like, ‘Guess what? We’re going to have to pivot.’ He and I talked about pivoting a lot and we did it a lot as more information became available. We got through Covid; we did the livestream shows.”
Emerging from months of virtual programming, there were still plenty of restrictions to address.
“Everything was changing, sometimes very rapidly, and we were always having to respond,” Hoying recalled. “What’s everybody feeling now; how is this going to work? We knew there might be a percentage of our pre-Covid audience who may never come back.”
During that time, Thayer left to work for the symphony in Elgin, Illinois. He recommended Hoying, whose role had expanded into development, as his replacement. She accepted, but asked to begin as Interim Executive Director. “I wanted the board to feel like they had some agency, and to make sure they were comfortable with me,” she said. “And that I, in all honesty, was comfortable doing the job. I mean, this is a big job.”
The upcoming 2022-2023 season marking Symphony NH’s centennial year was an immediate challenge as she moved into her permanent position. “Covid really upended planning, but we were able to put together a season that really celebrated, as we called it, looking back.”
This included longtime partner organization the Nashua Choral Society performing Mozart’s Requiem with the local Nashoba Valley Chorale.“We looked to our past for inspiration,” she recalled. “We celebrated the hundredth at the brand-new Nashua Center for the Arts, which was lovely. We were one of the first shows; I think they had been open all of three weeks.”
That connection with Nashua’s newest venue became more critical with the closing of Keefe Auditorium, the site for many concerts in the past. In an interview last fall, Roger Kalia spoke of the challenges presented by losing the Keefe and its larger stage, while at the same time praising the Nashua Center.
“We had a dedicated audience at the Keefe, and that is a little bit challenging in the sense that we’re going to miss that,” he said. The new venue, Kalia added, “is acoustically really good, and close to the audience, in the sense that the seats are very close to the stage. It’s intimate music-making, and I really enjoy that.”
Symphony NH. Courtesy photo.
He went on to say that while the Keefe was the state’s largest auditorium, its 1,400 seats were sometimes hard to fill. “The Nashua Center has 700, and every seat is essentially filled. As a musician, you enjoy that, when you see a full audience sitting there.”
The relationship will continue when the Symphony NH Brass Ensemble is among the performers gathering to celebrate the center’s second anniversary on Tuesday, April 1. The Nashua Community Music School String Ensemble, Ukestra, Ruby Shabazz, Y Dance in Motion, Peacock Players and Actorsingers will also appear.
A statewide entity — the name was changed from Nashua Symphony Orchestra in 2012 — Symphony NH has expanded its reach in recent years, with multiple concerts in Concord, Derry and Manchester, in addition to Nashua’s St. Mary and Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church, where the annual Holiday Brass concert was held last December.
All parties in the search expressed that finding a Music Director who lives in the community comes with an underlying priority: selecting a candidate who will also be of the community. Nick Adams recalled a search committee member telling him that one of their evaluation metrics is, “Would I like to have a bagel and coffee with this person at the corner cafe? They’ll tell me about their musical selections and what inspires them. It’s an excellent way to think about it.”
Hoying concurred, saying, “there are definitely a lot of elements to this job, and Music Director is equal parts being on stage and working with the musicians and then really having that presence in the community … when they go into a local coffee shop, people know who they are.”
Part of classical music’s enduring nature comes from centuries of maestros reinterpreting important works, she continued, citing Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony as an example. “Everybody brings their own take to it, so I think that’s where you want to kind of generate that interest and this level of approachability. You’ve got to be able to connect with your audiences. Otherwise … that’s where I think you miss the mark.”
Further, she continued, “What I look for in a candidate is someone that’s got a very clear vision of what an orchestra can be in the 21st century, knowing that we do still have a lot of challenges. We are still competing with inflation and content on streaming services and all those things that keep people from coming out. What is the vision of the orchestra in the future, and how do we welcome everyone to our family, to our concerts?”
The committee hopes to choose finalists soon.
“Our current field of semifinalists is 10 people,” Adams said. “I tell Deanna all the time, ‘Your next music director is in this pool.’ The number of applicants that we had that are just really talented and are interested in this position is — it’s a very deep pool. I think a host of them will be really exciting for the community to see. What is most encouraging to me is I think the future is really bright.”
It’s a rich and varied list, he continued. “There’s certainly some that bring different kinds of strengths to the table, but each of them has been really able to present a compelling picture of what their music directorship would look like. So I think at this point we’re really looking at whatever the perfect fit is for the southern New Hampshire community…. There’s a lot of reasons to be excited.”
Next up for Maestro Kalia What: “Serenade for Winds,” a unique concert that focuses on the orchestra’s wind section. When: Saturday, March 8, 7:30 p.m., Nashua Community College (505 Amherst St., Nashua) Tickets: $10-$40 at symphonynh.org
Kalia described the program: “Although less common in concert halls than full symphonic orchestras with winds, today’s concert wind ensemble has a lengthy history, rooting itself in the European tradition of Harmoniemusik. Emerging in the late 18th century, Harmoniemusik was a form of chamber music written specifically for wind instruments. These ensembles, typically composed of pairs of oboes, clarinets, horns, and bassoons — the common instrumentation of the wind section for court and theater orchestras — were initially associated with the courts of European aristocracy. They provided lively outdoor entertainment or underscored formal banquets, serving as a sonic emblem of both elegance and status. Composers like Mozart and Haydn were among the first to elevate the genre, recognizing its potential beyond mere functional music.
“The growing prominence of the wind ensemble coincided with a broader interest in exploring the unique tonal palette of wind instruments. While strings dominated the symphonic repertoire, winds offered a range of colors — from the playful chirping of flutes and clarinets to the noble warmth of horns. By the early 19th century, advancements in instrument design allowed for greater technical and dynamic capabilities, inspiring composers to craft more ambitious works for winds. The wind ensemble transformed from a courtly entertainment medium to a standalone artistic force, paving the way for masterpieces such as those featured in this program.
“I would also mention that Mendelssohn was only 15 years old when he wrote his Overture for Winds. A very impressive achievement!”
Indiana wants him
Maestro Kalia talks about his final Symphony NH concerts
Roger Kalia’s tenure as Symphony NH’s Music Director draws to a close with three more concerts, the final in May. In a phone interview on Feb. 24 he talked about his final three concerts and shared memories about his time leading the orchestra, once again intimating that classical music fans may see him again.
Though he’s not participating in the search for his successor, Kalia offered his thoughts on becoming the Music Director at Symphony NH through a similar process.
For my year, they had, I think, eight or nine candidates. So it was a little bit bigger. I think it was over a year and a half rather than just one season. All the finalists conducted a concert, and then during the week we’d meet with search committee members and all sorts of community members. It’s an intense process.
Roger Kalia. Courtesy photo.
“Serenade of the Winds”happens Saturday, March 8, at Nashua Community College.
There are three incredible works in this concert that really are probably the most famous pieces from the wind repertoire, I would say. When Mozart was writing these pieces, he was really kind of opening up a … I don’t want to say new genre, but a new way of writing for chamber music, and the focus was on wind instruments. The Mozart is one of the most famous works; it’s called the Gran Partita. It’s full of elegance, charm. It has a stunning slow movement, which is an adagio. It’s a seven-movement work, and we’re doing the first three movements and the finale…. We’re also doing the Dvorak Serenade for Winds, which is a joyful work that’s infused with a lot of Czech folk music, which is where he was from [and] it features, once again, all of the wind instruments of the orchestra, and really highlights the principal winds…. We’re opening the concert with a work by Felix Mendelssohn called the Overture for Winds, a very youthful, energetic piece, that really highlights his gift of melody and drama….
I feel that it’s important to highlight our wind musicians because they’re incredibly talented and it gives them more of a soloistic feature…. A lot of orchestras, I think, don’t program these works often just because … the strings aren’t playing. I think Symphony NH is unique in that, I feel especially during my tenure, we’ve done a lot with chamber works, and I call them that because they’re smaller works, it’s not a full orchestra. We did it during Covid especially.
With music from West Side Story and Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, “It’s All Overtures” on Saturday, April 19, will appeal to even casual fans of classical music.
They’re all shorter pieces, let’s say 5 to 10 minutes. We’re doing nine or 10 overtures on this program, all pretty popular ones. I mean, talk about accessible and familiar pieces. You think about Rossini, the William Tell Overture, the one made famous by the Lone Ranger, something I think everyone would know. West Side Story with Bernstein … Maestro was an Oscar-nominated movie with Bradley Cooper. Because of that, Bernstein’s music has … been in the spotlight a little bit more. I think a lot of people know the Marriage of Figaro Overture by Mozart. It’s light, it sparkles, it’s fast, virtuosic.
The concert will also feature a piece by Fanny Mendelssohn, Felix’s older sister — a rarity, a 19th-century female composer.
It’s a great work, eight to nine minutes, and it sounds a lot like early Beethoven. It’s so melodic and rich. So I’m excited to feature that work. It deserves to be heard and celebrated. She faced a lot of barriers, [but] this overture now is getting played everywhere, the Overture in C. I think it’s a hidden gem, and it’s a fun one. The orchestra is featured, especially the woodwinds. There’s some beautiful clarinet solos and oboe flute solos.
For the all-American “Rhapsody in Blue” concert on May 10, Kalia bids adieu to Symphony NH with a program featuring pianist Fei Fei.
I’ve always loved conducting the music of American composers like Gershwin and Copland. Appalachian Spring has always been one of my favorite works, but rather than do that, I wanted to do a grand, majestic work like the Symphony No. 3…. It captures the spirit of America, the optimism of our country. It culminates in the triumphant Fanfare for the Common Man. I’m a former trumpet player and this is one of the great brass works in the repertoire…. Fei Fei, I want to say this will be our fourth time collaborating on Rhapsody in Blue…. She performs it with a unique twist … she really brings out the jazz elements, and she is so exciting to watch.
On becoming Musical Director of the Terre Haute Symphony on July 1.
I’m looking forward to working with their [outgoing] music director next month on … a decades-of-pop concert [featuring acts like] Frank Sinatra; Earth, Wind & Fire; Metallica; Led Zeppelin. It’s going to be a fun show with a singer [and] not to get off track here, I grew up a huge metal fan, and I was a big Metallica fan when I was in high school, and I love conducting rock shows with an orchestra, it’s so much fun. Audiences just go crazy. It’s not your typical classical audience where they’re just sitting there. They’re up, moving around, dancing, it’s great to see. Terre Haute, as with Symphony NH, they’re open to innovative programming. So I’m looking forward to all of these different innovative programs that we’re going to be putting on, the variety of music.
Though he’s leaving, it’s not goodbye forever.
I’m still going to be in touch with everyone from Symphony NH. Even though it’s a job, I’ve made a lot of personal friendships…. Deanna, who’s been my partner the last four years since she took the job as Executive Director, she’s been great to me. We see eye to eye on programming, and she’s all about … expanding the repertoire and making it more inclusive, and being about the community and reaching new audiences. I hope to continue that in a community like Terre Haute. I know they’re open to it. They’re open to innovation and making the orchestra accessible and community engagement is the key. I think that’s going to be a big part of my tenure there.
Finally, a favorite memory.
One of my most proud moments with the orchestra was the New Hampshire Concerto that we did last year, where we collaborated with four student composers from four different universities in New Hampshire, and they created a multi-movement work that was about New Hampshire, about the topography, the geography, the history, whatever it had to do with New Hampshire. It was really special to give those kids an opportunity to work with a professional orchestra, and I’m actually hoping to bring that model to my other orchestras now because I think it was so successful. Because it celebrated not only new music, but connected with the local community, the state of New Hampshire. Which is what this is all about, community engagement. It was also an opportunity to showcase our focus on music education, giving student musicians opportunities.
Symphony NH upcoming concerts
Serenade of the Winds Saturday, March 8, 7:30 p.m. at Nashua Community College, Judd Gregg Hall Auditorium, 505 Amherst St., Nashua A concert dedicated to the orchestra’s wind instruments, the program includes Mendelssohn’s Overture for Winds, Op. 24 in C Major (1824), select movements from Gran Partita, Mozart’s Serenade No.10 in B-flat Major, K.361, (1781) and Dvořák’s Serenade, Op.44, B.77, D minor (1878)
Hollywood Hits Saturday, March 29, 7:30 p.m. at Stockbridge Theatre, 22-98 Bypass 28, Derry Sunday, March 30, 3 p.m. at Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St., Concord Blockbuster movie themes from Gone with the Wind, The Magnificent Seven, Dr. Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, James Bond, Rocky, The Pink Panther, Moon River, Dances with Wolves, Ben Hur and more.
It’s All Overtures Saturday, April 19, 7:30 p.m. at Nashua Center for the Arts, 201 Main St., Nashua Well-known overtures, from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro to Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story.
Rhapsody in Blue Saturday, May 10, 7:30 p.m. at Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 South Main St., Concord, Maestro Kalia leads his last concert, with guest pianist Fei-Fei. It’s an all-American affair with works of Aaron Copland, Florence Price and George Gershwin. The program includes Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (1924), Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement (1934) and Copland’s Symphony No. 3 (1944-46)
Illuminated Ensembles – Chamber Favorites Sunday, May 18, 4 p.m. at Bank of New Hampshire Stage, 16 S. Main St., Concord The final concert in the Illuminated Ensembles series, with the Symphony NH Woodwind Quintet performing an evening of classical chamber music.
