Concert Series

The Wellesley College Concert Series presents world-class performers, enhancing both the Music Department’s curriculum and the cultural vibrancy of the College and surrounding communities. The series spans genres from classical and jazz to early, electronic, and world music, with performances by guest artists, performance faculty, and faculty-directed student ensembles.
 
Live concerts offer a unique and immersive musical experience for our students. Exposure to guest artists brings fresh perspectives, techniques, and insights, which are invaluable to students and the broader community. This direct engagement is a core component of the Concert Series mission, enhancing learning and deepening a life-long appreciation of all that music has to offer.
 
If you're interested in learning more about upcoming events within the Music Department, click HERE to subscribe to the Concert Series newsletter. 
 
Concert & Residency Series Fall 2023:
 
Annette Richards: Organ Concert
Saturday, September 30, 7:30pm | Houghton Chapel
 
Annette Richards is Professor of Music and University Organist at Cornell and the Executive Director of the Westfield Center for Historical Keyboard Studies. She is a performer and scholar with a specialty in 18th-century music and aesthetics, and interdisciplinary research into music, literature and visual culture. At Cornell, Prof. Richards teaches courses on eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century music aesthetics and criticism, intersections between music and visual culture, music and the uncanny, organ culture and technology, and organ performance.
 
Midday Muse: The Jazz Pops Ensemble
Thursday, October 5, 1:00pm | Jewett Auditorium
 
Join jazz bass faculty member Mark Henry and his ensemble for a joyful midday concert, featuring an entertaining and unique blend of jazz and pop standards. Combining elements of the classical style with free-flowing improvisations, the Jazz Pops Ensemble have a cohesiveness and a spontaneity that is both swinging and mellow.

 

On the Trails of the Pied Piper: Norbert Rodenkirchen, transverse flutes, Larry Rosenwald, recitation
Saturday, October 14, 7:30pm | Houghton Chapel
In residence Oct 12-15
 
Norbert Rodenkirchen, an internationally renowned specialist in medieval flute music, has long been fascinated by the figure of the Pied Piper and was inspired to embark on a search for musical sources with close regional and temporal connections. He struck lucky with the melodies of Prince Wizlaw III of Ruegen and his teacher, the so-called “Unghelarte” [“the Untaught”] and other tunes of the German minnesinger tradition of the late 13th-century, augmented by ancient Slavonic dance fragments from Northern Poland. On the basis of his extensive experience in medieval improvisation, Norbert Rodenkirchen has utilized these musical models to weave a series of enchanting melodies in the style of medieval traveling musicians which could quite conceivably have been played by the Pied Piper himself. Esteemed Wellesley College Emeritus Faculty Larry Rosenwald will join Norbert Rodenkirchen as the orator for the program. 
 
Fall Faculty Concert: An Evening of Art Music
Saturday, October 28, 7:30pm | Jewett Auditorium
 
The Music Department Faculty at Wellesley College has some of the finest performers in the area, and we are proud to showcase them in this semi-annual concert!
 
Featuring faculty members:
Eliko Akahori, piano
David Collins, piano
Kristin Lawler, mezzo-soprano
Kanako Nishikawa, piano
David Russell, cello
Jane Starkman, violin
Rebecca Thornblade, cello
Hui Weng, guzheng
 
Robyn Kamira: WAI.TAI
Friday, November 10, 7:30pm | Jewett Auditorium
In residence Nov 6-10
 
WAI.TAI is a unique, contemporary, originals band comprising a fluid line up of seasoned musicians that create authentic music from Aotearoa. The band merges their authentic sound with music from all over the world and seamlessly infuses it with Te Reo Maori language and the music from Aotearoa at its core. This residency brings to campus traditional indigenous Maori music, as well as a juxtaposition of cultural expressions from other lands, continuing the conversation surrounding cultural respect in contemporary creative musical practice.