HOPSTOP : Celebrate Dia de los Muertos (The Day of The Dead) with music and mask making.
Dia de los Muertos or Day of the Dead is a holiday celebrated by people of Mexican heritage. People make shrines to honor the deceased relatives featuring the person’s favorite food and drink, and gifts. This holiday is a joyful celebration of those who have passed instead of a day of mourning.
We welcome you to join us for music and mask making with the Grammy-winning Villalobos brothers who have captured the hearts of audiences around the world with their virtuosic musicianship, infectious energy and profound messages of love, brotherhood and social justice. You will learn more about the Day of the Dead and how to create traditional Mexican masks found at the celebration.
This workshop is best suited for youth ages 7 and up, but children 5 or younger can participate with adult assistance.
This workshop is free. Please make sure to wear clothes which can get dirty as we will be using paint and other materials which can damage clothing.
Saturday 10/28 at 11AM — CSB Community Center at 152 South St., Claremont, NH Sunday 10/29 at 11AM — RWB Community Center at 48 Lebanon St., Hanover, NH
No tickets are needed for the HopStop events. All are welcome.
Celebration of All Hallows and Dia de Muertos
October 28, 2023 @ 6PM at WCCMA at Union Church
A very special celebration of music and tradition with the Villalobos Brothers
Join us for a very special performance of music inspired by All Hallows Eve, Día de Muertos, Samhain, and Harvest. Music performed by the grammy winning Villalobos Brothers and Melissa Richmond. Earlier in the day families can participate in a mask making HopStop event in partnership with the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College in both Claremont and Hanover. Costumes welcome! This event will be presented in person and livestream/available on demand after the show. If tickets are sold out on Eventbrite please contact us for additional tickets, there will be tickets available at the door. We recommend making reservations for the event to ensure that seats will be available.
SAVE THE DATE : Friday, November 3rd at 6:30PM — Sayon Camara
In Partnership with BarnArts: Join us for a culminating celebration of Sayon Camara’s week of school residencies as BarnArts Fall Global Music Residency artist!
Performing with Dave Kobrenski and Grant Ellerbeck as Sayon Camara & Landaya, they will bring you to the heart of Sayon’s culture through drumming, fula flute, bolon, song and story in a participatory performance of traditional music from Sayon’s home village in the Sankaran region of Guinea, West Africa.
There will also be a performance with BarnArts on Nov 4th.
Get ready to respond in song in Sayon’s original language, Malinke, to hear the rich oral stories behind the music, and to feel the irresistible pull of the rhythms bringing you to move and dance.
We wish you a happy fall! Stay warm, and see you soon!
Join us for the acclaimed Afro-Carribean band. Rain location: Union Episcopal Church. Bring your own chair or blanket. This event is a collaboration with Claremont Parks and Recreation.
There will be a post-concert chat with the artists to learn more about Garifuna Culture.
This program is supported in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies. The Garifuna Collective from Belize has begun a New England tour, running June 30th through June 20th including 12 concerts, all in New England, aside from a stop in London Ontario for the prestigious Sunfest. The band, renowned for their captivating performances and powerful celebration of Garifuna culture, has performed on major festival stages around the world, and their upcoming tour includes stops in notably smaller communities across New England including with the West Claremont Center for Music and the Arts in Claremont, NH. Audiences can expect an enchanting journey through Garifuna traditions as the Collective presents their unique sound that spans traditional songs, modern compositions, and vibrant reinterpretations of classic Garifuna melodies. Hailing from the Caribbean coast of Central America, the Garifuna people are descendants of West African, Indigenous Arawak, and Carib peoples, with a rich history of resilience, cultural preservation, and musical expression.The Garifuna language was designated by UNESCO as a “Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” in 2001. In addition to the inspiring performances, the Garifuna Collective’s tour will offer educational workshops and various opportunities for cultural exchange, fostering a deeper understanding of the Garifuna people, their heritage, and their ongoing contributions to the world of music. The tour was funded in a large part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies. The NEST Grant has allowed a diverse array of community organizations to host the artists for a tour of free or sliding scale accessible concerts through Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Of the 12 stops on their tour, 7 nonprofit organizations have received support from NEFA to support the tour. _______ “The meeting point where ancient meets modern, this music stretches forward defying the listener to pin it down. Whatever people mean about music being universal, surely that is the perfect demonstration of their argument.” – The Observer (UK). Based in Belize, The Garifuna Collective are one of the most unique Afro-Caribbean bands on the planet. As representatives of the Garifuna people – a separate language and culture group spread across several countries in Central America – they harness the indomitable energy of their African and Indigenous ancestors, generating an irrepressible, positive energy every time they perform. They have created feverish dance floors in over 30 countries across 5 continents and have been part of the most celebrated world music releases of all time, including the critically acclaimed Wátina – recipient of the Womex and BBC World Music Award and voted by Amazon as the Number One World Music Album of All Time.
August 21, 2023 @ 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM at West Claremont Center for Music and the Arts @ Union Church
Award-winning composers and performers Dinuk Wijeratne & Kinan Azmeh fuse elements of Arabic and South-Asian vocabulary with classical and jazz music idioms to create a new sonic world.
July 4, 2023 @ 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM at WCCMA @ Union Church
UPDATE FOR RAIN CONTINGENCY: Bassel and the Supernaturals will appear at the rain location: West Claremont Center for Music and the Arts at Union Church, 133 Old Church Rd. The July 4th festivities will be held at Monadnock Park on JULY 5TH. It is very helpful if you register in advance just in case we have a big audience (we can’t seat 2500 now!)
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Echoing Stevie Wonder’s rhythm and blues, Jamiroquai’s social justice centered lyricism over jazz-infused funk, and Steely Dan’s seamless amalgam of American music, Bassel & The Supernaturals evoke joy and thoughtfulness in diverse audiences throughout hundreds of cities across North America. In addition to performing in major festivals, performance halls, concert series, and clubs, the group works closely with organizations on events and residencies that build awareness and empathy for Syrian refugees and immigrants. Deeply inspired by Otis Redding, Bassel uses the stage as a vehicle to unite his listeners and share the story of his cultural duality. Bassel & The Supernaturals tells the story of Bassel Almadani’s experience as a first generation Syrian-American using soulful melodies, funk inspired rhythms, and captivating lyrics.
July 11, 2023 @ 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM at Broad Street Park
Join us at Broad Street Park for the acclaimed Afro-Carribean band. Rain location: Union Episcopal Church.
Tickets are by donation, students are free.
Join us at Broad Street Park for the acclaimed Afro-Carribean band. This event will be live-streamed, but due to the nature of the outdoor venue conditions the concert video could be delayed. Rain location: Union Episcopal Church. Bring your own chair or blanket. This event is a collaboration with Claremont Parks and Recreation. This program is supported in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies.
“The meeting point where ancient meets modern, this music stretches forward defying the listener to pin it down. Whatever people mean about music being universal, surely that is the perfect demonstration of their argument.” – The Observer (UK). Based in Belize, The Garifuna Collective are one of the most unique Afro-Caribbean bands on the planet. As representatives of the Garifuna people – a separate language and culture group spread across several countries in Central America – they harness the indomitable energy of their African and Indigenous ancestors, generating an irrepressible, positive energy every time they perform. They have created feverish dance floors in over 30 countries across 5 continents and have been part of the most celebrated world music releases of all time, including the critically acclaimed Wátina – recipient of the Womex and BBC World Music Award and voted by Amazon as the Number One World Music Album of All Time.
August 21, 2023 @ 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM at West Claremont Center for Music and the Arts @ Union Church
Tickets are by donation, students free.
Returning as a duo for the first time since 2019, WCCMA Artistic Advisory Board Members and Award-winning composers and performers Dinuk Wijeratne & Kinan Azmeh fuse elements of Arabic and South-Asian vocabulary with classical and jazz music idioms to create a new sonic world. In person and live-streamed.
Hailed by critics and audiences alike, winner of Opus Klassik award in 2019 clarinetist and composer Kinan Azmeh has gained international recognition for his distinctive voice across diverse musical genres.
Originally from Damascus, Syria, Kinan Azmeh brings his music to all corners of the world as a soloist, composer and improviser. In addition to his own Arab-Jazz Quartet CityBand and his Hewar trio, he has also been playing with the Silkroad Ensemble since 2012, whose 2017 Grammy Award-winning album “Sing Me Home” features Kinan as a clarinetist and composer. Kinan Azmeh is a graduate of New York’s Juilliard School as a student of Charles Neidich, and of both the Damascus High institute of Music where he studied with Shukry Sahwki, Nicolay Viovanof and Anatoly Moratof, and Damascus University’s School of Electrical Engineering. Kinan earned his doctorate degree in music from the City University of New York in 2013. His first opera “Songs for Days to Come” which is fully sung in Arabic, was recently premiered in Osnabruck, Germany in June 2022 to a great acclaim. He has recently been appointed to the National Council for the Arts on a nomination by President Joe Biden.
About Dinuk Wijeratne
Sri Lankan-born Canadian Dinuk Wijeratne is a JUNO and multi-award-winning composer, conductor, and pianist who has been described by the New York Times as ‘exuberantly creative’, by the Toronto Star as ‘an artist who reflects a positive vision of our cultural future’, and by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra as ‘a modern polymath’. His boundary-crossing work sees him equally at home in collaborations with symphony orchestras and string quartets, tabla players and DJs, and takes him to international venues as poles apart as the Berlin Philharmonie and the North Sea Jazz Festival.
Dinuk made his Carnegie Hall debut while still a student in 2004 as a composer, conductor, and pianist performing with Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. A second Carnegie appearance followed in 2009, alongside tabla legend Zakir Hussain.
A passionate educator, Dinuk is committed to helping emerging and mid-career classical artists navigate the classical music industry in today’s increasingly complex, diverse, and globalized world. As a Creativity Consultant he serves private clients as well as students of the Banff Centre (Evolution Classical) and Toronto’s Glenn Gould School. His educational guide ‘Define Your Artistic Voice’ was downloaded 150 times from his blog within the first two days of its release. Dinuk also served as Music Director of the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra for thirteen seasons. He is also the recipient of the Canada Council Jean-Marie Beaudet award for orchestral conducting; the NS Established Artist Award; NS Masterworks nominations for his Tabla Concerto and piano trio Love Triangle; double Merritt Award nominations; Juilliard, Mannes, & Countess of Munster scholarships; the Sema Jazz Improvisation Prize; the Soroptimist International Award for Composer-Conductors; and the Sir John Manduell Prize – the RNCM’s highest student honour. His music and collaborative work embrace the great diversity of his international background and influences.
