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FREDERICK HISTORIC PIANO COLLECTION

Historical Piano Concerts
at the
Ashburnham Community Church
 

Unless otherwise noted, the venue for our concerts is the Ashburnham Community Church, on Main Street (Rte. 12) at the corner of Chapel Street. The entrance, wheelchair accessible by ramp, is on the north side of the building.

The room is spacious, bright, and acoustically clean, well-suited to concerts of this nature because it allows the individual qualities of the different piano voices to be clearly heard. And they are very different as we progress through the collection, whether through time or by maker or city. Our artists choose a piano appropriate to the program material they are presenting, allowing the audience to hear the selection on an instrument familiar to the period, much as an audience, or the composer, would have heard it at the time.
 
Earlier in the afternoon, before the doors are opened to the public, the performers find the atmosphere of the room conducive to preparing themselves for the concert to follow.
Ishmael and Vita Wallace, the Orfeo Duo, before the concert.
 
The scale of the room is small enough, comfortably seating about 150, with a small amount of overflow seating available in the balcony, that many of our artists also speak with the audience, illuminating the pieces about to be played, or the life of the composer, or simply sharing a bit of themselves.


Stephen Porter speaking to the audience.


Stephen Porter and Katherine Kayaian in concert.
 Of course, what we have come to hear is the performance, but you may have noticed the microphone stands there in the front. All of our performances are also recorded by Christopher Greenleaf and submitted to Public Radio's Performance Today, and some have been shared with listeners around the world.


Ishmael and Vita Wallace, the Orfeo Duo, in concert.

The Ashburnham Community Church is easy to find. There is very limited parking on the street, and although you may easily drop off passengers within just a few feet of the door, we ask that you fully respect the parking reserved for the handicapped. There is a small parking lot of the west side of the Community Church, and a larger parking lot immediately across the street on the east side of Saint Denis R.C. Church in which you are welcome to park. Doors open to the public about 3:30 in the afternoon, one half hour before the concert.

For more detailed directions on reaching Ashburnham from other parts of the state, please click here.


For further information on the Historical Piano Concert Series, The Historical Piano Study Center, or any other item on this page please send e-mail to  .

For complete contact information and how you can help support the Historical Piano Concert Series and/or The Historical Piano Study Center, please click here.

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