News and Events

Sospiri Opens Phillips Exeter Academy's 2011 Library Summer Concert Series

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Exeter, NH (June 29, 2011)—Phillips Exeter Academy opens this year's Summer Concert Series with a performance by the ensemble Sospiri, featuring oboist Margaret Herlehy, bassoonist Janet Polk and pianist Arlene Kies. The trio will premiere new works and traditional selections on Wednesday, July 6, 7 p.m., in a recital entitled, "Sospiri." The premiere event of PEA's Summer Concert Series is hosted by the Friends of the Academy Library of Phillips Exeter Academy, and will be held inside Rockefeller Hall in the Class of 1945 Library, located on Front Street. The event is free and open to the public.

Sospiri, a unique ensemble of double reed/piano, will perform works by Beethoven, Francis Poulenc, André Previn and Christopher Kies, as well as premiere new works alongside "stolen gems" or works restructured for these instruments. 

An active chamber musician and orchestral performer throughout the Northeast, Herlehy received her musical training at the University of Michigan and Sarah Lawrence College. Currently, she performs as the principal oboist of the Green Mountain Opera Festival, Hanover Chamber Orchestra and the Granite State Symphony Orchestra. Previous season highlights include performances of the Mozart Concerto and the Vivaldi Double Concerto with the Granite State Symphony Orchestra; participation in the Competition de Ville d'Avray, in France; and several concert performances of Brazilian music with noted guitarist David Newsam. In addition to performing with Sospiri, Herlehy has played with Infinities Chamber Ensemble as a member of the Massachusetts' Young Audiences presenting Young People's Concerts throughout New England. She is the director of the Evening Ensembles for Phillips Exeter Academy's Summer School, lecturer of oboe at the University of New Hampshire, and founder and artistic director of Music da Camera Chamber Music Workshops since 1992.

After earning her undergraduate degree in music education from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst and a graduate degree in music history from the University of New Hampshire, Polk taught music in the Massachusetts public schools for five years. Currently, she serves as the principal bassoonist of the Portland (Maine) Symphony Orchestra and the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. Polk has performed with the Springfield (Massachusetts) Symphony, the New Hampshire Symphony, the New Hampshire Music Festival, the Indian Hill Symphony, and has traveled to Honduras through the Partners of the Americas. Active as a soloist, she has also performed concertos with the Portland, Vermont and Indian Hill symphonies; Furman University Band; UNH Wind Symphony and the Dartmouth Wind Ensemble. When she is not performing, Polk also teaches bassoon at the University of New Hampshire and Dartmouth College.

Kies attended the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston on full scholarship, and earned a bachelor's and a master's degree in piano performance. As a recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, she studied music in Vienna, Austria and Siena, Italy, and eventually returned to the U.S. to continue her studies in Boston. In !988, Kies was awarded an Individual Artists Fellowship by the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. A music instructor for more than 20 years, she has been on the faculty of Tufts University, has taught at Phillips Exeter Academy, and has been a member of the University of New Hampshire piano faculty since 1995.

Highlights of Kies' recent seasons include a performance of Ravel's Piano Concerto in G with the Granite State Orchestra, hailed by critics as "spectacular," as well as a performance of Mozart's C Minor Piano Concerto. In 2006, she performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra DePasquale Quartet in Vermont, Reading, PA, and Philadelphia, PA; as well as choreographed performances of Schumann's Carnaval, Mozart's C Minor Piano Concerto with the New Hampshire Philharmonic, and Bartók's Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, among numerous other solo and chamber recitals.

For further information, contact Reference/Music Librarian Drew Gatto at 603-777-3308 or visit the library's webpage for a complete listing of upcoming events in the library. A list of upcoming public events is also available on the Phillips Exeter Academy public events line at 603-777-4309 and on our website's Community Calendar. To learn more about the Academy, visit our website; for directions, call 603-777-4330.

—Famebridge Witherspoon