Winchendon Music Festival is set to celebrate 10th anniversary

Winchendon is a small town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, USA, but as Richard Duckett wrote in Worcester’s Telegram & Gazette, the Winchendon Music Festival (WMF) ‘puts Winchendon on the musical map’.

The series was founded by multi-instrumentalist, Andrew Arceci (pictured left). As a viola da gamba, violone and double bass player in Europe, he has worked with Collegium Musicum Den Haag in The Netherlands, Venice Music Project in Italy and a number of British groups including Dunedin Consort, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Oxford Baroque. Arceci’s recording credits include works with APM Music/Juice Music, Cedille Records, Centaur Records, Novum, Bôłt Records/Monotype Records, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Music & Arts, and performances broadcast on National Public Radio (USA), Public Radio International, Deutschlandradio and BBC Radio 3, as well as soundtrack work for BBC One’s Silent Witness.

WMF is dedicated to the memory of Arceci’s late father, Robert J Arceci MD PhD. Originally from Winchendon, Dr Arceci was an internationally recognized pediatric hematologist/oncologist and one of the world’s experts on histiocytic disorders and pediatric acute myelocytic leukemia. When Dr Arceci was killed after an illegal driver struck his motorcycle in 2015, Andrew Arceci decided to honour his father’s passion for the arts with a memorial weekend featuring three concert programmes.

Since then, WMF has developed into a world-class series of local, national, and international artists spanning classical, folk, jazz, world music and more. WMF programs are free to the community, with support from several businesses and foundations. Thus far, the three largest contributors have been the Robinson Broadhurst Foundation, the David Greenewalt Charitable Trust, and the Gardner Cultural Council, with additional support from the Athol Cultural Council, Beals Memorial Library, Comeau’s Heating - Boiler Services, Morin Real Estate, NETSCOUT - IT Services, Sparks Real Estate, Templeton Cultural Council, To Each His Own Design - Flowers & Gifts, Winchendon Cultural Council, Winchendon History & Cultural Center, and several individuals.

WMF presents solo, small ensemble, and chamber orchestral programs. Noted performers have included Boston Camerata director Anne Azéma, the Arcadia Players (with whom Arceci served as the artistic director from 2022 to 2024), contralto Emily Marvosh, keyboardist and musicologist Joshua Rifkin, Turkish American artist Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol, countertenor Randall Scotting, and soprano Teresa Wakim.

The 2024 festival presented concerts from 25-29 September and 6 October, featuring guitarist Colin Davin(pictured right). Currently director of Guitar Studio and associate professor of Guitar at Shenandoah Conservatory, Davin has emerged as one of today’s most dynamic artists. His performance highlights include concertos with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, New Mexico Philharmonic, Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra, and Richmond Symphony; collaborations with guitarist Sharon Isbin, violinist Tessa Lark, and cellist Edward Arron; and solo and chamber music performances at the Aspen Music Festival and Maui Classical Music Festival. In 2015, Davin appeared as a featured musical guest on the final season of The Late Show with David Letterman in duo with the late Jessye Norman.

Highlights from the festival’s 2024 season include a programme featuring works by Thomas Campion, William Byrd and others, performed by soprano Hailey Fuqua, tenor James Mead, baritone David McFerrin, recorder player Aldo Abreu, violinist Asako Takeuchi, festival director and viol player Andrew Arceci, archlute player Adam Cockerham, and harpsichord player Libor Dudas. Arceci also performed at another highlight concert alongside violinists Asako Takeuchi and Rebecca Nelson, viola player Lauren Nelson and cellist Jacques Lee Wood.

Clavichord player, harpsichordist and musicologist John McKean  (pictured left) also featured in this year’s programme. Based in Boston, MA, where he serves on the faculty of the Longy School of Music, McKean is the assistant treasurer for The Boston Clavichord Society. McKean performs with leading American and European ensembles including Apollo’s Fire, Emmanuel Music, the Catacoustic Consort, Camerata Vocale Freiburg, and has appeared with the Jacksonville, Naples, Portland (Maine), and Pittsburg symphony orchestras, among others. He counts among his live radio broadcasts performances on NPR, BBC Radio 3, and Deutschlandradio Berlin.

The 2024 festival welcomed performances from John Arcaro (pictured right) and his band. A professor at the Berklee College of Music, Arcaro has performed with Boston Musica Viva, Nick Brignola, Richie Cole, Hal Crook, Alan Dawson, Paquito D'Rivera, Jon Faddis, Fred Lipsius, Bob Mintzer, Bob Moses, Jimmy Mosher, Rebecca Parris, Gray Sargent, Carol Sloane, Ed Thigpen, Bill Watrous, Phil Wilson, and others. He's recorded with Garrison Fewell, George Garzone, Jamey Haddad, Skip Hadden, John Lockwood, Jimmy Madison, Michael Moore, Jack Pezanelli, Bill Pierce, and Mark White on the Brownstone, BCM and TBA labels. Arcaro is a member of numerous jazz ensembles and big bands, including the Worcester Jazz Orchestra.

This year WMF audiences also enjoyed performances from pianist Yoko Hagino (Pictured left). In addition to performing solo and chamber repertoire, Hagino has appeared as a soloist with Osaka Century Orchestra, UMass Boston Chamber Orchestra, Key West Symphony Orchestra, and White Rabbit Sinfonietta. Hagino is a prize winner of the Steinway Society Piano Competition, the First International Chamber Music Competition, the All-Japan Selective Competition of the International Mozart Competition, and Chamber Music Competition of Japan. As well as teaching at Concord Conservatory of Music, she has been a staff pianist at the Boston Conservatory and has led workshops at Morgan State University, Longy School of Music and Berklee College of Music.

Next year will mark Winchendon Music Festival’s 10^th anniversary. Currently, the festival team is securing the funds for the celebration, but can reveal that the 2025 programme will feature folk ensemble Floyds Row, John Arcaro, and several other acts.