Yellow Barn Concerts 2025

The Yellow Barn Concert Series 2025 consists of ten diverse musical experiences that celebrate the power of music to elevate the human spirit and bring us together in community. Our primary aim is the elevation of the human spirit through music and an expanded appreciation of its beauty through a wide variety of musical offerings that engage people of all generations and backgrounds.
In 2025, several of our concerts will be organized around the theme of 'The Dance'. Duo Amici will seek to cover 'dance over the ages' from Early Music to the dance of the Dervishes of Turkey! We will feature the dance rhythms of Zimbabwe with Kambuyu Marimba as well as the joyous dance tunes of Early America with Fiddlers Three!
The Iva Smith Gallery, a lovingly-restored 19th Century barn-cum-art gallery, has donated its venue, a setting unique for its architecture, intimate performance space, natural surroundings and extraordinary acoustics. Meet-the-Artist Receptions are one of the delightful, community engagement aspects to our unique venue. The venue is fully ADA compliant.
Special Meet-the-Instrument sessions are scheduled 20 minutes before each concert -- a truly unique opportunity for young people to meet professional performers and their musical
This project is made possible in collaboration with Chippewa Bay Community Club, with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and administered by the St. Lawrence County Arts Council.
Listeners are invited to ask questions of the performers and see their instruments at close hand.
ALL TICKETS: $10 at the door with the exception of our concert with Northern Blend Chorus to benefit the Hammond Area Food Bank. No one is to be turned away.
All children 18 and under listen for free.
Bring kids 20 minutes early to meet the musicians and their instruments in person!
Yellow Barn Concerts 2025

1. CELEBRATION OF THE HARP OF ST. JOSEPH'S
featuring Harpist JANET WITMAN
Sunday, July 29, 2025 at 5 pm
Recently, it came to light that a rare harp of historical significance, created in the year 1810, has been carefully preserved through the devotion of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Watertown, whose Sister Mary Marcelline used it for teaching and performance throughout her life — during the days of the sisters’ musical conservatory until Sister Marcelline’s retirement in 1974. This Erard harp was one of the first ground-breaking harps that enabled their players to change notes both to sharps and flats using foot pedals.
In honor of this rare discovery, Janet Witman—known, loved and admired for her lifelong dedication to expanding the repertoire of music for harp—will be performing pieces that might have been taught and played on this harp over its history of the last 200+ years. The harp itself will be present at the time of the concert to be admired for its remarkable beauty!

2. CANTIGA! MUSIC OF THE REN FAIRE COMES TO 'THE YELLOW BARN'!
Martha Gaye on Harp, Dan Gripp on bass, Thomas Nuendell on violin and Alexander Korolov on violas da gamba, lute and recorders
WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 2025 at 5 PM
The word CANTIGA means 'song' in the language of Alfonso the Wise, the 13th century Spanish "King of the Three Religions" whose royal court was a haven for Christian, Muslim, and Jewish musicians. Following in their tradition, the members of Cantiga are dedicated to the inclusive spirit of musical improvisation which has flourished among musicians in cultural crossroads throughout history and continues to be celebrated in today's diverse Global Village. Words fail to describe the life, the love, the virtuosity, the fun, the creativity, the freedom, the harmony and the sheer beauty of the music of these four Renaissance musicians!

3. UPROOTED -- AMERICANA ROOTS & BRANCHES
Sunday, July 20, 5 PM
Uprooted’s members, Camilla Ammirati, Catherine Jahncke, Rosemary Philips and Lenore VanderZee, have come from all over the U.S. at different times to put down new roots here in the North Country. The band plays an eclectic mix of favorites from the 1890’s to the 1990’s, as well as a range of original songs drawing on the stylings of American music traditions from country to swing to hot jazz to rock, all intertwined with the harmonious strands of their guitar, mandolin, bass, banjo, fiddle, and rich vocals.

4. SHALL WE DANCE!
with DUO AMICI, PEJ REITZ, PIANO, AND HAKAN TAYGA, CELLO
Sunday, July 27 at 3 PM
Throughout history, the dance has had historical meaning from early times up to the present, a way to connect with nature, the heavens and a spiritual cathartic experience.
Both music and dance are ways for us to express ourselves, to tell stories, and to enjoy ourselves so it's natural that the two would go hand in hand. It's thought that humans have always danced. It's almost impossible to say exactly when we started dancing to music, but there's evidence that humans were dancing somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000 years ago!
Duo Amici’s program will include composers from different periods and different countries.
JS Bach, Gluck, Popper, Piazzola, Shostakovich, Sulchan Tsintsadze, American Fiddle Tunes..Just to name a few!

5. ENJOY THE INFECTIOUS RHYTHMS OF KAMBUYU MARIMBA!
The ensemble instruments include 7 marimbas: 3 sopranos, 2 tenors, 1 baritone and 1 bass. The marimbas are accompanied by hosho, or gourd rattles, singing, clapping and drums.“Kambuyu”, a Shona word for “Bugs”, plays happy, percussive music—very rhythmic and driving—meant for dancing. In most songs, one of the soprano marimbas plays the lead melody, while the other instruments provide curious counter-rhythms and chords. The music is infectious. Dance in your seat, in your heart, or get up and move to the infectious rhythms and melodies of the Shona people of Zimbabwe!

6. A JOYFUL NOISE! WITH NORTHERN BLEND CHORUS
Enjoy a good, old-fashioned ice cream social to benefit the HAMMOND AREA FOOD PANTRY!
Admission is a food pantry donation in cash or dry goods!
The irresistible joy of acapella song can be heard nowhere better than with this two-time international championship group of singers! What an opportunity to enjoy the bliss of song, of community and of lending our support to a local food pantry. Come one! Come all! Teens, come early and let the ladies coach you to sing and perform with them!

7. THE IRREPRESSIBLE JOY OF FIDDLERS THREE!’
Featuring Kathy Sommer, Ellen Carlson, Melissa Brandon-Caron
Sunday, August 17 at 5 PM
The irrepressible joy of the triple fiddle sound as it travels through fiddle tunes, country & blues!

8.
IF YOU MUST KNOW....
Featuring Scottish harpist Rachel Clemente and piper Dan Houghton
Sunday, September 7, 7 PM
While firmly rooted in the fertile ground of Scottish traditional music, harpist Rachel Clemente and piper Dan Houghton’s gritty, avant-garde musical interpretations put them at the forefront of Celtic folk musicians in New England.

9. THE ATKINSON FAMILY BAND
Saturday, September 13, 6 PM
Music as history, as storytelling, music that resonates with universal experiences that unite us a human family from our most loved local bluegrass family. "Genuine" is the operative word to describe this amazing group of musicians and human beings. Expect to feel part of their extended 'family' by evening’s end!

FINAL CONCERT OF THE SEASON!
HARVEST MOON MUSICAL CELEBRATION WITH BARB HELLER ON GUITAR AND GRETCHEN KOHLER ON FIDDLE, WITH A SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCE BY... EDGAR ALLEN POE!!!
Sunday, October 5 at 5 PM
Barb Heller, folk musician and host of NPR’s acclaimed radio show String Fever, will pair up with Gretchen Koehler, member of the NYS Fiddlers’ Hall of Fame, to usher in the fall in our final concert, a Harvest Moon Musical Celebration! Rumor has it that we can expect a special guest appearance by Edgar Allen Poe (Todd Moe) who will be reading his legendary poem, “The Raven” and telling us a very scary ghost story! If weather permits, we will close with a marshmallow roast!