The Daponte String Quartet performs the first in a series of concerts celebrating the bicentennial of Maine statehood this Sunday in Brunswick. Scott Sell
Two musical ensembles are holding very different celebrations this weekend, when we “spring” our clocks forward to daylight saving time. Oratorio Chorale is celebrating with a program that is explicitly connected to the time change, with performances in Portland on Saturday and Brunswick on Sunday.
The DaPonte String Quartet opens a multi-performance musical program connected to the bicentennial of Maine statehood. The series begins this Sunday in Brunswick and continues through the month in a number of different venues.
Singer-songwriter and traveling troubadour Chris Pureka hails from the West Coast Portland; she’ll perform in the East Coast Portland on Sunday.
Oratorio Chorale
In the early hours of Sunday, Mainers switch to Eastern Daylight Time by moving our clocks ahead one hour, giving us an extra hour of evening sunlight.
Emily Isaacson, artistic director of the Oratorio Chorale, has chosen this weekend’s program to fit around a concept of “from darkness to light,” and it’s slated for performances in Portland on Saturday and Brunswick on Sunday.
The program is titled “Tenebrae: From Darkness to Light,” and it was inspired by the Tenebrae service, which originated in the Roman Catholic Church about 1,200 years ago and is still observed by several other Christian denominations. Tenebrae, celebrated just before Easter, often uses music and is frequently lit by candles mounted in a special triangular candelabra. The concept of combining music with candlelight is central to Isaacson’s program.
The program connects the audience with artistic practices of when much of the music was written. In churches, parishioners sang, looked and listened while surrounded by beautiful architecture, paintings, sculptures and stained-glass windows.
Composers and styles span a large spectrum, from the Middle Ages to the present. Countries represented range from Italy to Finland.
In addition to the 60-member Chorale, now in its fifth decade, the concerts will feature the eight-member Amethyst Chamber Ensemble, which combines voices and instruments, and organist Joel Pierce.
Two performances are slated: March 7 at 3 p.m. at St. Luke’s Cathedral, 143 State St. in Portland, and March 8 at 3 p.m. at St. John the Baptist Church, 39 Pleasant St. in Brunswick. Visit OratorioChorale.org.
DaPonte String Quartet
The bicentennial of Maine statehood occurs on March 15, and a number of our state’s cultural institutions and organizations are observing the event via their 2020 programming. One of these is the DaPonte String Quartet, which has assembled a very innovative program that will be performed multiple times in March between Portland and Rockland. The series opens on Sunday in Brunswick.
The Maine Historical Society began its observance by emphasizing our state’s Native American heritage and the period of first European contact. Ditto the DaPontes.
The program includes nothing of the traditional canon of string quartet literature and relies heavily on transcriptions and arrangements of 13 works written for other musicians and ensembles. The program begins with a Micmac song, with the four string players assisted by percussionist Eric LaPerna, a Bowdoin College music professor.
The program progresses to an arrangement of a Basque song. Why? Basque fishermen were among the first Europeans to establish a semi-permanent presence – seasonal fishing stations – on Maine’s coastal islands in the 16th century.
Other works of European provenance date from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The most prominent American composer, and the only one from Maine, is Supply Belcher, who lived in Farmington for much of his life. Belcher’s “The Harmony of Maine,” published in 1794, was a compilation of 75 of his songs which are considered exemplars of the First New England School of composition.
Six performances are scheduled. The first is March 8 at 2 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 1 Middle St. in Brunswick. The Portland performance will take place March 19 at 7 p.m. at the Maine Jewish Museum, 267 Congress St. For info on other venues, call 529-1555 or visit DaPonte.org.
Chris Pureka
I expect that the transition to daylight saving time will be a theme when singer-songwriter Chris Pureka takes the stage Sunday. Her 2010 album, “How I Learned to See in the Dark,” was critically acclaimed for its themes of relationship conflict and coping with inner demons.
Pureka has been writing and performing since 2001, combining music with a career in microbiology. By 2006 she was earning enough on the coffeehouse-listening room circuit to forgo science in favor of art. She’s recorded seven albums of her own material and has criss-crossed America from her home in Portland, Oregon.
Her vocal style is often understated, underscored by an intricate finger-picking style of guitar accompaniment.
Catch Chris Pureka at 8 p.m. March 8 at One Longfellow Square, corner of Congress and State in Portland. Call 761-1757.
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