RANGELEY – The Woodland Chamber Ensemble, which drew a large enthusiastic audience last summer, will perform again on Wednesday, Aug.10, at 7 p.m. in the Church of the Good Shepherd.
Sponsored by the RFA (Rangeley Friends of the Arts,) the concert will feature musicians Sue Downes-Borko:flute, piano, and voice; Lee Lenfest: French horn; Helen Plotkin: cello; Henry Plotkin: violin and viola; Gail Russ: oboe, clarinet, and English horn; and pianists Barbara Ulman and Andrea Keirstead.
The concert encompasses compositions from the Baroque era through the classical to contemporary. Some of the music to be presented includes Mozart’s trio for clarinet, viola, and piano; a Haydn trio for flute, violin, and cello; a piece for flute, oboe, viola, cello, and keyboard by Baroque composer Janitsch; Gaubert’s Tarentelle for flute, oboe, and piano — a perpetual motion depiction of a myth about tarantulas; and compositions by Randall Thompson, ensemble member Barbara Ulman, and several others.
About the Musicians:
Sue Downes-Borko received a Music Education degree from the University of Massachusetts. She has been a high school music teacher in the state of Alaska, a staff accompanist for the College of New Jersey, and a member of several flute quartets. Sue is the director of the Rangeley Community Chorus and has participated in many local music productions. Currently, she operates a private lesson studio and is the Minister of Music for the Rangeley Congregational Church.
Andrea Keirstead, of Farmington, studied social anthropology at Harvard University. She teaches at Mt. Blue Regional School District, and has performed on the piano for many events in this area. Recently she was the pianist for Footloose in Rangeley.
Lee Lenfest is a retired civil engineer who completed 33 years with the U.S. Geological Survey before moving north to enjoy the good life Maine has to offer. Lee has played horn with orchestras and bands at duty stations in Pennsylvania, Wyoming, and Virginia. He is currently principal horn with the Augusta Symphony Orchestra and U. of Maine at Farmington Concert Band, and has also enjoyed engagements at Monmouth Theater and the Waterville Opera House.
Helen Plotkin grew up in a musical household, playing cello with her father (Henry) and other family members. She studied at Swarthmore College, University of Michigan, and Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She spends her summers on Lake Mooselookmeguntic with her family. During the academic year, she teaches Biblical Hebrew and ancient Hebrew texts at Swarthmore College, and she works as a rabbi-educator in the local Jewish community.
Henry Plotkin is a chamber music enthusiast who has played his violin and viola in ensembles in Rangeley as a summer resident and in his home in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. He is a physicist, and has served as science researcher and manager at the US Army Signal Corps, NASA, and UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) while continuing his parallel musical avocation. After acquiring his Oquossoc home in 1992, he became a competitor in the Rangeley Fiddlers Contest, and later participated as a judge.
Gail Russ teaches instrumental music in Maine School Administrative District 58, which includes Phillips, Kingfield, Strong, Stratton and Salem. Since moving to Maine in 2005, she has played oboe, clarinet, and English horn for the Camden Pro Musica Orchestra, Monmouth Theater, Lewiston/Auburn Community Theater, the Bangor Symphony, and other bands and orchestras in the area. She says, “I have the best ‘job’ ever: children and music; I have been blessed!”
Barbara Ulman began piano lessons at age seven, and has had an active musical life. She earned a B.A. from Harvard/Radcliffe, while also studying piano chamber music at the nearby Longy School of Music. In 1989 she completed a second B.A., in Music Theory and Composition, at California State University, Fresno. Off-season, she lives in the foothills near Yosemite National Park. She has spent summers on Rangeley Lake all her life, at a camp that has been in her family since 1915. She plays chamber music for fun and for public performance, and also composes art songs and music for small ensembles and for chorus.
Tickets for the concert ($15) can be purchased at the Chamber of Commerce and also at the door on August 10. For further information, please call Barbara at 864-3629.
