The Greybeards Delight Guests at the Meeting House

Classical music filled the on Main Road in Tiverton on Sunday afternoon as The Greybeards performed a roster of seventeenth and eighteenth century composers. The group consists of three members: Mike Shand plays the Baroque flute, Glenn Giuttari plays the harpsichord and Will Ayton plays the viola de gamba. 

“We like playing the Meeting House because it’s the right size, has the right reverberation and the right dynamic," said Shand. "It offers a big sound, but quiet at the same time."

All three musicians greeted their audience after the performance. They played musical arrangements by George Francis Handel (1685-1759), Michel de la Barre (1675-1745), Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) and Michel Blavet (1700-1768). All of their instruments are copies of original period pieces.

Guests chatted with the performers, examined the classic instruments and caught up with friends.

After moving back to his native Tiverton after a stint in New Jersey, Shand was in search of a musical group to join. He decided to start his own, The Greybeards, and quickly acquired fellow members Giuttari and Ayton. He has performed solo and in ensembles in northern New Jersey, Newport, New Bedford and Boston. He works as a physicist and flutist.

Giuttari, a Rehoboth, MA native, is the founder of Harpsichord Clearing House. He works as a harpsichord builder and technician and also on the business side as a broker. Guittari has served as the Music Department Chair at Salve Regina University and the Choirmaster at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in Fall River, MA. He is also one of the co-founders of the Providence Singers.

Ayton was born in Kansu, China and educated in Taiwan and the United States. Currently, he lives in Providence and is a Professor of Music at Roger Williams University in Bristol.

He said he enjoys the Tiverton audience because “they’re comfortable to play for and open to listening.”

The Four Corners Arts Center sponsored the event. For additional information on upcoming events at the Meeting House, please visit fourcornersarts.org.