Upcoming Events — Sayon Camara(Saturday 11/3), and many more!

Sayon Camara

November 3, 2023 @ 6:30 PM at WCCMA at Union Church

Join Sayon Camara and friends for a participatory drumming performance at WCCMA!

Join Sayon Camara and friends for a participatory drumming performance at WCCMA! Sayon Camara is a cultural ambassador for his people, the Malinke (or Mandingo), of the Sankaran region of Guinea. He is a keeper of generations of music that he loves to share, creating joy and carrying his culture forward in the world. Sayon is joined by Dave Kobrenski who is a long time participant in Malinke culture and music, Grant Ellerbeck who has played, studied and taught the drumming music of Guinea and Lev Camara who loves to dance. Together they will bring you to the heart of Sayon’s culture through drumming, fula flute, bolon, song, story and dance!

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THB’s Music Appreciation Hour/Questions & Improvisations

November 6, 2023 @ 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM at WCCMA at Union Church Hall

Musician & educator Taylor Ho Bynum will lead open sessions dedicated to introducing listeners to jazz and other forms of improvised music.

On the first and third Mondays of October and November, musician and educator Taylor Ho Bynum will lead open sessions dedicated to introducing listeners to jazz and other forms of improvised and creative music. The first hour will consist of listening to classic albums in their entirety, with introductory comments and post-listening discussion around the history and aesthetics of the recordings. The second hour will consist of musical and verbal dialogues prompted by audience questions, with THB performing solo and occasionally with invited guests. Attend in person in Claremont, or join us online via zoom (advanced registration required). The series kicks off on October 2 with “And His Mother Called Him Bill”, Duke Ellington’s tribute to his compositional partner Billy Strayhorn, and will conclude on November 20 with a live performance of Bynum’s collaborative duo with acclaimed drummer/composer Tomas Fujiwara. Registration for the first three sessions is sliding scale donation suggested at $10-50, with all proceeds going to support WCCMA, and sliding scale tickets for the November 20th concert.

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Dinuk Wijeratne Trio

November 11, 2023 @ 7:00 PM at Union Episcopal Church

Vivifying globally-inspired music effortlessly blending Classical, World, and Jazz. Compositions by award-winning composer Dinuk Wijeratne .

Vivifying globally-inspired music effortlessly blending Classical, World, and Jazz. Compositions by award-winning composer Dinuk Wijeratne. The Trio are Dinuk Wijeratne (piano, composer), Nick Halley (percussion, hand percussion), and Jon Sutters (upright bass, bass).

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Taylor Ho Bynum / Tomas Fujiwara Duo

November 20, 2023 @ 7:00 PM at WCCMA at Union Church

Musician & educator Taylor Ho Bynum will lead open sessions dedicated to introducing listeners to jazz and other forms of improvised music.

Over the past thirty years, over twenty-five albums and hundreds of gigs in dozens of different bands, drummer Tomas Fujiwara and cornettist Taylor Ho Bynum have developed one of the deeper levels of creative communication in the contemporary music scene – in groups under Fujiwara’s leadership like Triple Double and Shizuko, ensembles led by Bynum including his Sextet, 9-tette, and PlusTet big band, and collective projects like Illegal Crowns (with Mary Halvorson and Benoit Delbecq) and the Thirteenth Assembly (with Halvorson and Jessica Pavone). Throughout this history, they’ve maintained their duo, which has released four albums: “True Events” (2007), “Stepwise” (2010), “Through Foundation” (2014), and “Notice” (2022). Described as “a ubiquitous presence in the New York scene…an artist whose urbane writing is equal to his impressively nuanced drumming,” (Point of Departure) Brooklyn-based Tomas Fujiwara is an active player in some of the most exciting music of the current generation. He leads the bands Triple Double, 7 Poets Trio, and Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up; is a member of the collective trio Thumbscrew (with Mary Halvorson and Michael Formanek); has a collaborative duo with Taylor Ho Bynum; and engages in a diversity of creative work with Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Mary Halvorson, Tomeka Reid, Matana Roberts, Taylor Ho Bynum, Nicole Mitchell, Ben Goldberg, Amir ElSaffar, Benoit Delbecq, and many others. In 2021, he won the Downbeat Critics Poll for Rising Star Drummer, and premiered two suites of new music as part of his Roulette Residency: “You Don’t Have to Try” (with Meshell Ndegeocello) and “Shizuko.” His most recent work is “Dream Up,” a suite for percussion quartet, commissioned by NYSCA and Roulette Intermedium. “Drummer Tomas Fujiwara works with rhythm as a pliable substance, solid but ever shifting. His style is forward-driving but rarely blunt or aggressive, and never random. He has a way of spreading out the center of a pulse while setting up a rigorous scaffolding of restraint…A conception of the drum set as a full-canvas instrument, almost orchestral in its scope.” (New York Times)

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Saturday 10/28— HOPSTOP & Celebration of All Hallows and Dia de Muertos (and more!)

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.

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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!

Coming up: Jazz Listening Hour, Dia de Muertos, Big Drum Taiko Performance

Taylor Ho Bynum’s Music Appreciation Hour/Questions & Improvisations

October 2; October 16; Nov 6; Nov 20

@ 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM at WCCMA at Union Church Hall

Musician & educator Taylor Ho Bynum will lead open sessions dedicated to introducing listeners to jazz and other forms of improvised music.

Online participation is available, if registered in advance. Contact [email protected]

On the first and third Mondays of October and November, musician and educator Taylor Ho Bynum will lead open sessions dedicated to introducing listeners to jazz and other forms of improvised and creative music. The first hour will consist of listening to classic albums in their entirety, with introductory comments and post-listening discussion around the history and aesthetics of the recordings. The second hour will consist of musical and verbal dialogues prompted by audience questions, with THB performing solo and occasionally with invited guests. Attend in person in Claremont, or join us online via zoom (advanced registration required). The series kicks off on October 2 with “And His Mother Called Him Bill”, Duke Ellington’s tribute to his compositional partner Billy Strayhorn, and will conclude on November 20 with a live performance of Bynum’s collaborative duo with acclaimed drummer/composer Tomas Fujiwara. Registration for the first three sessions is sliding scale donation suggested at $10-50, with all proceeds going to support WCCMA, and sliding scale tickets for the November 20th concert.

More information


Burlington Taiko Group Performance: Big Drum performance!

* RAINLOCATION *

Due to the weather condition, the performance will be at the Claremont Savings Bank Community Center, 152 South St, Claremont, NH 03743

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October 22, 2023 @ 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM at Claremont Savings Bank Community Center at 152 South St, Claremont, NH 03743

Celebrate WCCMA’s 15th Anniversary with a performance by Burlington Taiko Group and a Japanese taiko demonstration.

Celebrate WCCMA’s 15th Anniversary with a performance by Burlington Taiko Group and a Japanese taiko demonstration. After more than a decade of annual performance with Burlington Taiko Group we are pulling out all the stops: See the biggest contingent of drummers and drums yet performing at Broad Street Park! Stay tuned for more information about anniversary festivities during this very special event. Suggested donation: $40 per family. No tickets required. Rain location TBD. This Burlington Taiko performance and residency is funded in part by the New England States Touring prograrm 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.

More information


Celebration of All Hallows and Dia de Muertos

October 28, 2023 @ 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM at WCCMA at Union Church

A very special celebration of music and tradition with the Villalobos Brothers and Melissa Richmond

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, flute. We will have special food in honor of the celebration. 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. We recommend making reservations for the event to ensure that seats will be available.

Check back for more information on this festive event!

More information