At The Parish House | The 2025 Winter/Spring Season
Members of the Shenandoah University Conservatory Jazz Department will warm up everyone in January with a performance of music from the Hot Jazz era.
The Conservatory's Hot Jazz Ensemble will feature trumpet, trombone, saxophone piano, bass and drum selections that include New Orleans Blues and Swing from the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s.
The group's roots can be traced back to the 1950s when the Conservatory had one of the first collegiate jazz ensembles in the country. Over the years, the university's jazz groups have toured China, Japan, Ireland, Iceland, Germany, Spain, France and Senegal, and won acclaim at multiple major jazz festivals. Many graduates have gone on to prominent careers in jazz.
It’s easy to think that our area’s most talented singers are mostly found in local choral groups, churches, bands and at performance venues. Meanwhile, right under our noses, there’s a wealth of singing talent flourishing in our area schools!
For the third consecutive year we are bringing together four school choruses so we can all hear and celebrate their talents. They will showcase their wide-ranging repertoires with genres ranging from Renaissance madrigals, pop, Broadway, folk, contemporary and international favorites and more!
Linda Littleton and Karen Hirshon, plus twelve instruments equals one good time when Simple Gifts takes the stage. Drawing on an impressive variety of international ethnic folk styles, this award-winning duo plays everything from lively Irish jigs and down-home American reels to hard-driving Klezmer frailachs and haunting Gypsy melodies. They spice this mix with the distinctive rhythms of Balkan dance music, the lush sounds of Scandinavian twin fiddling, and original compositions written in a traditional style.
They switch with ease among fiddle, mandolin, banjo, guitar, guitjo, recorders, bowed psaltery, hammered dulcimer, baritone fiddle, guitar, and percussion. This duo with their good humor and stunning virtuosity is not to be missed!
To celebrate National Poetry Month in April, our “At the Parish House” arts series is holding its fourth annual poetry event featuring local poets of all ages reading their original works. We call the event “The Living Poets Society” and it always brings in talented wordsmiths who delight, challenge and inspire us with their words and insights. If you have works to share, please contact us!
Poems performed at this event will be available to vw here in two weeks.
About
At The Parish House
WHEN • WHERE • WHAT
We offer events nine months a year in our spacious and historic Parish House. You can tell we like variety as our events range from Dixieland Jazz to Celtic folk music, from operatic arias to show tunes, from small theatrical productions to puppeteers, from poetry readings to re-creations of old time radio shows. Pianists particularly enjoy playing our 1896 Steinway grand piano.
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PAST PERFORMANCES INCLUDE:
Dixie rhythm jazz band, Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, singers Jim & Mary Shaffran and Aani Bourassa, Shenandoah Saxophone Quartet, Bob Brown Puppets, Celtic musicians Poisoned Dwarf and Spencer & Beane, pianists Sophia Vastek and Brian Woods, and a local readers theater group.
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ADDITIONAL NOTES:
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Most events are not ticketed, but we do ask for a donation to help offset costs. However, if you can’t manage a donation, just come. We want everyone to be able to enjoy the performances. What’s most important is that all feel welcome and at home!
EMMANUEL CELEBRATES THE ARTS
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