By Stew Gillmor.
On Sunday evening, July 18, 2021 the U.S. Coast Guard Band clarinet quartet gave a well-received concert of American and American-influenced music at the Thankful Arnold House in Haddam, home of the Haddam Historical Society. The clarinet quartet has regularly performed recitals and given master classes for audiences across the nation as part of the Coast Guard Band’s Clamber Players concert series. The group performed for the Haddam audience a program entitled “Sounds of America” which focused on American composers and themes, including works by Gershwin, Copland, W.C. Handy and “The American String Quartet, No. 12” by Antonin Dvorak, written in 1893. This work is in F major, in four movements, and arranged here for four clarinets. The Dvorak Suite was the main element of the evening’s performance and was outstanding.
The four Coast Guard Band musicians included Chief Musician Chantal Hovendick, and Musicians First Class Christopher Howard, Steven Zhang and Robert Durie. The talented Coast Guard musicians brought and performed on the soprano clarinet in Bb, and in Eb. the Bass Clarinet in BBb and the rather rare Basset Horn in F. In this reviewer’s opinion the evening was a great success.
The Haddam Historical Society will present two more summer concerts as part of their Music in the Museum Gardens series. On August 8, 2021 the Old Lyme Town Band will appear, and on August 15, 2021 the troubadour Tom Callinan. Concerts are FREE to all, but donations are accepted. The grounds are open at 5:00 p.m. to picnic and the concerts begin at 6:00 p.m. The Thankful Arnold House Museum is located at 14 Hayden Hill Road, in Haddam.
Why not join the Haddam Historical Society? The Society hosts many education programs for children and adults, including school children, and a summer program for children 8 to 12. It hosts historical tours of local homes and sites and is a member of the Connecticut Women’s Heritage Trail. Its considerable collections of photographs, letters, journals, maps, tools, and other artifacts are catalogued and available to residents, historians, scholars and students. The herb gardens behind the museum are designated as one of Connecticut’s Historic Gardens.
Call 860-345-2400 or see the website at www.haddamhistory.org for information and museum hours.
Photos by YN1 Scott Turner, USCG.
