BRATTLEBORO-The Brattleboro Music Center (BMC) presents “An Evening With Ben Cosgrove,” Friday, May 29, at 7 p.m. The concert will feature the traveling pianist-composer-performer whose music explores themes of landscape, place, and environment. According to promotional materials, the Boston Globe has described Cosgrove as “a sonic plein-air painter” who uses “his piano as a paintbrush.”
Over the last year, Cosgrove has collaborated with the BMC and The Landmark Trust USA to compose new works inspired by southern Vermont landscapes. One of these pieces, reflecting the BMC’s setting along Whetstone Brook, will premiere at this concert.
A second Cosgrove composition, based on the setting of the Landmark Trust’s Dutton Farmhouse and environs, including Scott Farm Orchard, will also be included in this performance. Following the concert, the audience will be able to view a display of images of the Dutton Farmhouse landscape.
The BMC says it is grateful to the Windham Foundation for helping to support Cosgrove’s work on these compositions. He has performed in every U.S. state save one, working with groups ranging from rock bands to research scientists, contributing music to several radio and film projects, including, he says, the recent Ken Burns documentary, The American Buffalo.
He reports that he has held residencies and fellowships with institutions including NASA, Acadia National Park, White Mountain National Forest, Isle Royale National Park, Harvard University, Middlebury College, the New England National Scenic Trail, the Schmidt Ocean Institute, the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife & Fish Refuge, the Connecticut River Museum, and the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology.
Cosgrove’s latest album, Topograph, a collection of 16 new pieces inspired by land-shaping processes around the country, was released in January of this year.
Tickets are $20 for advance general admission, $25 at the door, and are available at bmcvt.org, 802-257-4523, and info@bmcvt.org. A limited number of reduced-price tickets are available.
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.