For their 2024 Spring program, Counterpoint will present works by Brahms, Beethoven, and Bartok which mine the rich lode of European folk songs as inspiration for lively and sophisticated music for chamber vocal ensemble and piano. Johannes Brahms’s Zigeunerlieder sets translations of Romani poetry to Brahms’ own original music, similar to his beloved Liebeslieder Walzer but with even more passion and verve. Ludwig van Beethoven never visited the British Isles, but over a period of several years he set dozens of traditional Scottish songs for singers with piano trio accompaniment. Counterpoint’s Artistic Director Nathaniel G. Lew has arranged seventeen of these into a cycle encompassing love, warfare, soccer, and drinking, and ending with the familiar “Auld Lang Syne” on which the audience is invited to sing along! Hungarian composer and ethnomusicologist Bela Bartok’s Four Slovak Folk Songs probably uses songs that he himself collected, set with evocative piano accompaniments and modernist harmonies. These contrasting choral works are balanced by lyrical movements for solo piano by the most famous 19th-century German female composers, Fanny Hensel and Clara Schumann.
The program features three stellar instrumentalists in addition to the vocal ensemble: Violinist Laura Markowitz, originally from Pittsburgh, is a member of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and other ensembles. Her professional career has included the Florida Orchestra, the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, and the Santiago Philharmonic (Chile). An avid fiddler in Swedish and Celtic styles, she is a member of the band Symphony Reel, which plays for children across the state through the VSO’s Symphony Kids program.
Cellist John Dunlop has been performing in the Northeast for over twenty years as principal cellist with the Vermont Symphony, Burlington Chamber Orchestra, Opera North, and other ensembles. He has performed as soloist with both the VSO and BCO, as well as many chamber music performances with notable area musicians. John has also composed and recorded several award-winning film soundtracks for short films, and has worked with Trey Anastasio of Phish on many of his solo albums.
Pianist Annemieke McLane was born in the Netherlands and has performed in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as her native country. She holds degrees in Performance and Pedagogy from the Conservatory of Zwolle, and has been staff accompanist at the Boston Conservatory and instructor and collaborative pianist at Saint Michael’s College. She presently serves as pianist for the Handel Society of Dartmouth College and the Dartmouth Theater Department. In addition she plays in a duo with her husband, accordionist Jeremiah McLane.
Counterpoint, Vermont’s professional choral ensemble, based in Montpelier, Vermont, has been praised for their “clarity, skill” and “sophisticated musical expressiveness.” Founded by legendary choral director and arranger Robert De Cormier and now led by Artistic Director Nathaniel G. Lew, Counterpoint is dedicated to performing choral chamber music and engaging with student musicians throughout Vermont and the surrounding region. Counterpoint has recorded seven CDs with Albany Records and has released four further CDs independently. Their repertory includes folksongs from around the world, African American spirituals, sacred music of many traditions, and concert works by classical composers of the past and our own age.