"LarryFest" Concert

We went to Goddard College today for a 4-hour concert in honor of Larry Gordon, who died last November. This was an incredible reunion for alumni/ae of Village Harmony, Northern Harmony, and several other choruses Larry led over his fruitful musical life (e.g., Onion River Chorus, Bailey-Hazen Singers, etc.). Ellen and I met at a Village Harmony camp in 2003, I had earlier attended 4 VH Camps and toured in Germany and England with Northern Harmony in 2001, so I know of lot of folks and saw several today: e.g., Bill Fellinger (now with Social Band, who sang today); Carl Linich (Georgian music expert who was my roommate on the Northern Harmony tour; he and his sons sang beautifully today); Brendon Taffe (led the Turtle Dove workshop in Kilfinora, Ireland that Ellen, Katie, Jim, Savanna and I all went to in 2008; his group sang several of his compositions today); Patty Cuyler (was Larry's life-mate for 15 years and is still a passionate fan); Susannah Park (workshops); Moira Smiley (brought her group VIDA to Chicago Theological Seminary in 2001); Cora Nielson (NH Tour), and on and on. And of course some familiar faces like Stephan Amidon (from whom we learned that his dad, Peter Amidon, who planned to be there, was sick again and had to stay home). It was a diverse concert: a lot of shape-note music, South African, Georgian, but also a set from Sardinia - rarely heard. It all took place under a big tent, it was an absolutely gorgeous day - in the mid-70's, very joyful. Wow!

Bill Fellinger with me

Carl Linich singig Georgian music

Brendan Taffe leading his chorus

Northern Harmony from the 1990's

Stephan Amidon with Susannah Park; Stephan's children with him

View of the tent during the break