Sleigh Ride! Holiday Bach's Lunch Programs Feature Favorite Carols Old & New

CONCORD, N.H.—The festive tradition of carol singing is the theme for the next two installments in the Bach’s Lunch Series of lectures and concerts at the Concord Community Music School.

On Thursday, December 3, Hannah Schramm Murray, Chair of the Music School’s Voice Department, will give a lecture titled “Caroling: A Sharing of Community Traditions.” The following week, on December 10, the soprano trio Trillium, comprised of Peggo Horstmann Hodes, Hannah Schramm Murray, and Jane Berlin Pauley will join with pianist Calvin Herst for a concert titled “Sleigh Ride!: Old & New Christmas Favorites.” Bach’s Lunch programs are free and open to the public, and take place from 12:10 to 12:50 p.m. in the School’s Recital Hall, 23 Wall Street, downtown Concord.

For centuries, the yuletide tradition of Christmas caroling has brought together friends, neighbors, and communities. In her December 3 program, Voice Department Chair Hannah Schramm Murray will invite audience members to share stories and sing along with favorite carols.

Trillium’s December 10 holiday concert will feature some of the group’s favorite Christmas music from local composers, including “Wise Child” by Peggo Horstmann Hodes, “Namaste” by Steve Schuch, “Halle-lu-lu-jah” by Kathy Lowe, and “3 Quodlibets” by William Fletcher. The group will also introduce a new set of Christmas pops selections, including “Sleigh Ride,” “X-mas Medley,” and “All I want for Christmas.” Come join Trillium as they sing and swing through the season!

For more information, please call 603-228-1196 or visit www.ccmusicschool.org.

About the Speaker and Artists

Hannah Schramm Murray, soprano, earned a master’s degree in music from Westminster Choir College. Additional studies include Connecticut College (B.A.), the Royal Academy of Music in London, and Middlebury College’s Deutsch fur Sangerin Program. Mrs. Murray is a frequent soloist throughout the Northeastern United States, including singing for the Nashua Symphony, Trinity United Methodist Church in Springfield, Mass., the Monadnock Valley Chorus, and Concord Community Chorus. Mrs. Murray is also an in-demand voice teacher. Her students have gone on to some of the nations leading schools of music and have sung off and on Broadway. She is the Chair of the Voice and Choral Department, and the Manager of Community Partnerships at Concord Community Music School. Mrs. Murray is an active member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and the mother of two girls, Grace and Caroline.

Peggo Horstmann Hodes, soprano, is an extraordinarily versatile performer. She holds masters’ degrees in Elementary Education from Lesley College and in Vocal Pedagogy from New England Conservatory. Director of the Songweavers women’s chorus at the Concord Community Music School where she also presents Vibrant Voice workshops, Peggo has been a soloist with the New Hampshire Symphony, the Granite State Symphony, the Concord Chorale, and the Musicians of Wall Street. In recital, she has premiered works written for her by William Fletcher and Thomas Oboe Lee. In 2009, Peggo premiered “Kaddish,” a new work about the Holocaust by Lawrence Siegel. Peggo has recorded six CDs with her husband, Paul Hodes, in their groups Peggosus and Peggo & Paul, two of which won Parents’ Choice Awards. Peggo has recorded numerous other CDs, including with femme m’amie, a solo CD - Peggo: In Love, and recently, Homeward Bound with Larksong Trio. Peggo loves to sing anytime...anywhere.

Jane Berlin Pauley, soprano, received her bachelor of music in performance from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts and her master’s degree from the New England Conservatory of Music. She pursued further studies at Westminster Choir College, Manhattan School of Music, Aspen Opera Theater Center, and the Tanglewood Music Center. Her opera and concert engagements include Rutgers Summerfest, New England Lyric Operetta, Dartmouth Handel Society, Longwood Opera, and Opera D’amore. Her teachers include Susan Clickner, Bruce Kolb, Cynthia Hoffman, and William Sharp.

Calvin Herst, piano, performs frequently as a collaborative pianist. He has appeared in concert performances at the Kennedy Center, the Philadelphia Academy of Music, throughout the People’s Republic of China, and in venues across northern New England. He has performed in numerous regional, state and national competitions supporting both student and professional performers. He can be heard on recordings with Peggo Horstmann Hodes (Summer Nights) and the Larksong Trio (Homeward Bound), of which he is the founding pianist. He is the pianist for the Unitarian Universalist Church in Concord and the Suncook Valley Chorale. Recognized with the NH Governor’s Arts Award in Education in 2015, he has previously been on the faculty of the Ithaca College School of Music, the Community Music Center of Boston, and Buckingham Browne & Nichols School. Mr. Herst received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees magna cum laude in piano performance from Ithaca College, along with the Dalcroze Eurhythmics Teaching License. He has also studied conducting extensively, including a summer at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria.

About the Concord Community Music School

Concord Community Music School is a full member of the National Guild for Community Arts Education and is recognized nationally for program innovation and management excellence. Welcoming adults, teens and children of all musical abilities, 53 artist teachers reach more than 33,000 people in four states with educational programs, concerts, workshops and community partnerships. CCMS has received major funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Hearst Foundation, New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, Jane’s Trust, and the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, and is the 2005 recipient of the NH Governor’s Arts Award for Cultural Access Leadership.