Historical Piano Concert Series begins 22nd Spring season

Historical Piano Concerts' 22nd Spring season at Ashburnham Community Church opens Sunday, April 29, with a piano-cello duo, in sonatas by Rachmaninoff and Debussy; three short pieces by the English composer Frank Bridge; and Rachmaninoff's "Vocalise," all written between 1901 and 1912.

Pianist Stephen Porter, returning for his sixth concert on the series, has been concertizing in the Boston area with cellist Katherine Kayaian, who will be making her first Ashburnham appearance.

Each concert from the distinguished Frederick Collection of European grand pianos in Ashburnham showcases one piano in music relating to that instrument's time and place. This concert will feature an 1877 piano by Erard of Paris, the year the firm introduced this "Extralarge concert model" which they continued to build into the 1920s. Favored by concert artists of the 19th and early 20th Centuries, Erard pianos offer a rich palette of sound-colors from a velvety whisper to a brilliant fortissimo.

The Historical Piano Concerts Series will continue on Sunday afternoons, May 13, 20, and 27, and June 3, at 4 p.m., at Ashburnham Community Church, 12 Chapel St. Admission is $10; children

Fredericks at (978) 827-6232, or visit

and students, free.

For information, please phone the POWER TOOL www.FrederickCollection.org.