Baritone saxophonist Mikayla McClure steps onto the beach after performing ‘Flocking’ by Phong Tran from a dinghy on Range Pond in Poland on June 21. The performance was part of Vigorous Tenderness, an outdoor concert series that occurs on solstices and equinoxes.
Seven separate musical performances were spaced throughout the park — along the sandy shores of the pond and deep in the sun-dappled woods — and for an hour and a half, more than 350 concert-goers moved from installation to installation, listening to soloists and groups perform chamber music by composers Anahita Abbasi, John Cage, Hawa Kasse Mady Diabaté, Gabriela Lena Frank, Annette Kruisbrink, Isabella Leonarda and Phong Tran.
The concert series Vigorous Tenderness was born in the early days of the pandemic, when social distancing and fresh air were necessities. It is held on each solstice and equinox at a different location in Maine, with the first on the autumnal equinox in 2020. It has since occurred at Fort Williams Park, Bradbury Mountain State Park and Two Lights State Park, among other locations.
The event is organized and curated by violist Kal Sugatski.
“For me, the most important aspect of this is radical change in classical music and radical equity in programming,” Sugatski said in an email.
“Vigorous Tenderness, and all of my work for that matter, is centered around music by marginalized composers: composers of color, queer composers, women composers, gender-expansive composers, disabled composers, and other voices in classical music that have been too long overlooked. For me, visibility is activism, bringing this music to Maine is activism, changing the way people think about classical music is activism, and I am driven by a mission for equity. It matters a lot whose music is being performed, who is listening, and how people are engaging with it.”
While Vigorous Tenderness does not maintain a website, more information is available at their Instagram account, @vigorous.tenderness. The next event will be held on Saturday, Sept. 23, the autumnal equinox, at a location to be determined.
Late-day sunlight illuminates Max Bachvarova as they stand in a forest alongside other concert-goers, listening to a performance of Isabella Leonarda’s ‘Sonata a Violino Solo e Organa, Op. 16 No. 12’ at Range Pond State Park.
Musicians perform Peruvian-American composer Gabriela Lena Frank’s ‘Tarqueada’ at Pine Cove in Range Pond State Park in Poland on June 21, the summer solstice. From left: violinist Katherine Liccardo, violinist Sam Schuth, cellist Zoe Hardel and violist, and event organizer and curator Kal Sugatski.
Flutist Roberta Michel performs Anahita Abbasi’s ‘No, I Am Not Roaming Aimlessly’ near a stand of arborvitae at Range Pond State Park.
Rebecca Shaw plays Baroque cello while performing Italian composer Isabella Leonarda’s ‘Sonata a Violino Solo e Organa, Op. 16 No. 12.’
Double bassist Alyson Ciechomski and guitarist Jordan Guerette perform Annette Kruisbrink’s ‘Cirex’ on the beach.
Audience members listen as bassist Alyson Ciechomski and guitarist Jordan Guerette perform Annette Kruisbrink’s ‘Cirex.’
Sylvia Schwartz, left, plays Baroque violin and Rebecca Shaw plays Baroque cello while performing Italian composer Isabella Leonarda’s ‘Sonata a Violino Solo e Organa, Op. 16 No. 12.’
At each of the seven performance locations at Range Pond State Park on Wednesday were music stands containing sheet music and information about the featured composers. Here, at a trail junction within the park, a music stand provides information about composer Hawa Diabaté and her song ‘Funtukuru,’ while the musicians take a short break from performing.
Musicians perform Hawa Diabaté’s ‘Funtukuru’ at a trail junction at Range Pond State Park. From left: hand-clapper Aidan Montmeny, violinist Dean Stein, violist Kimberly Lehman and cellist Christina Chute.
Harpist Virginia Flanagan performs John Cage’s ‘In a Landscape’ while Heather Kromer of Lewiston dances with her toddler Luna on a woods road in Range Pond State Park.
Audience members are illuminated by a shaft of late-day sunlight as harpist Virginia Flanagan performs a composition by John Cage.
Joshua Witham plays melodica and Mikayla McClure plays baritone saxophone while floating in neighboring rowboats on Range Pond during a performance of Phong Tran’s ‘Flocking.’
Musicians Maria Wagner, Molly Harmon, Mikayla McClure and Joshua Witham prepare to return to shore after performing as part of a Vigorous Tenderness summer solstice concert.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.