As part of a collaboration between the Artists for the Great Marsh and the Manship Artists Residency, this concert features the premiere of 2022 Composer-in-Residence LJ White’s “Great Marsh Songs.” It is for youth voices and piano and is on the theme of the human and natural history of the Great Marsh.

The chorus will be conducted by Rebecca Kenneally of Endicott College and include members of her Endicott College Choir and members of Rockport School choruses, rehearsed by Patti Pike. , with Christopher Lawnsby as the pianist. The program will begin with Robert Honstein’s “Great Marsh” string quartet piece (premiered a number of years ago by Music at Eden’s Edge) and continue with a new piece by Gloucester composer Robert Bradshaw, “On the River: Jones River (Creek) Salt Marsh,” performed by a piano quintet and accompanied by stunning visuals, and in celebration of Gloucester’s 400th Anniversary.  Cellist Jacques Lee Wood leads the string quartet and Christopher Lawnsby is the pianist for “Great Marsh Songs.”.

A reception prepared by Willow Rest will follow the concert in the third floor reception hall.

ABOUT ARTISTS FOR THE GREAT MARSH

“Artists for the Great Marsh” is an organization with a continuing artistic focus on the whole Great Marsh, including painting, sculpture, photography, music, video, dance, prose, poetry, theater, and any other creative endeavors, to bring attention to the importance, beauty, and fragility of the Great Marsh, because climate change is accelerating the damage to our coastal resources.

ABOUT MANSHIP ARTISTS RESIDENCY

Manship Artists Residency is dedicated to the preservation of an environmentally- and historically significant site that has been given new life as an international, interdisciplinary artists residency for the benefit of the community and visitors to Cape Ann. Manship Artists values those who challenge us to think differently and aims to create an environment where creativity and questions are encouraged, and where all are welcome.

ABOUT LJ WHITE

In March 2022, the Manship Artists Residency announced its 2022-2023 Composer-in-Residence, LJ White. A composer inspired by vocal communication, popular culture, sociopolitical conditions, issues of gender and sexuality, and scientific and natural phenomena, White has been commissioned by the Manship Artists Residency to write a choral piece for young voices in celebration of the Great Marsh. This effort is a collaboration with Artists for the Great Marsh, Rockport Public Schools and Rockport Music.

Currently a Postdoctoral Fellow and Visiting Professor of Music and Composition at New College of Florida, Sarasota, White’s experience, education and professional career have prepared him to be the ideal candidate for this choral celebration of the Great Marsh. White has a strong interest in writing music that advocates for environmental preservation amid the threat of climate change. Described as “radiant” by the Philadelphia Inquirer, his most recent choral work, a carol called love, was designed to ebb and flow like the ocean and evoke its vast, meditative character. Having spent summer vacations as a child along the New England coastline and day trips to Crane Beach while a student at Boston University and New England Conservatory, White feels a spiritual connection to the ocean.