3 pm Sunday April 6, 2025
Michael Poll, guitar and Emi Ferguson, flute

This concert will be a new collaborative program of unexpected delights. Program to be announced.

Emi Ferguson, flutist, singer and composer

Hailed by critics for her "tonal bloom" and "hauntingly beautiful performances, English-American performer and composer EMI FERGUSON stretches the boundaries of what is expected of modern-day musicians. Emi's unique approach to the flute can be heard in performances that alternate between the Silver Flute, Historical Flute, and Auxiliary Flute, playing repertoire that stretches from the Renaissance to today. Emi is very proud to be a 2023 recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant.

She can be heard live in concerts and festivals around the world as a soloists and with groups including AMOC, Ruckus, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Handel and Haydn Society for whom she is Principal Flute, and the Manhattan Chamber Players. Emi has been named the new music director of Camerata Pacifica Baroque in Southern California, dreaming up programs of and inspired by Baroque music. Emi was a featured performer, alongside Yo-Yo Ma, Paul Simon, and James Taylor at the 10th Anniversary Memorial Ceremony of 9/11 at Ground Zero, where her performance of Amazing Grace was televised worldwide. Her performance that day is now part of the permanent collection at the 911 museum.

Emi has recorded two solo albums: Amour Cruel as a flutist, composer, singer and arranger; and Fly the Coop: Bach Sonatas and Preludes, which has topped several charts. This will be her second appearance, with Michael Poll at the Stone Church Cultural Center.

As a guitarist, MICHAEL POLL has performed across North and South America and in Europe. He is known for sensitive and 'masterful' performances' of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, heard on his album 7-Strong Bach. In 2022, he conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Lancaster House in London, England. A 2010 Fullbright and a 2012 Marshall Scholar, he holds a BA in music summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, where he was concurrently a visiting student at the Curtis Institute of Music. In 2012 Poll received the Graduate Performance Diploma from the Pederewski Academy of Music in Poland, in 2014 the MPerf degree from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, where he was awarded a doctorate in 2022. He is a founder of SoundingLab, a charity that uses music to inspire young people to engage with mentorship and improve their educational outcomes. This will be Michael's second appearance with Emi Ferguson at the Stone Church Cultural Center.

Youth under 18 are admitted free to all concerts presented by Friends of the Stone Church.

Holders of the Massachusetts Card to Culture, a program of the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency, are entitled to request one or two free tickets at the box office. Reservations are not required to use the Card to Culture. If you are planning to obtain a free ticket and wish to make a reservation, you may contact us by email to Events@FriendsoftheStoneChurch.org at least 48 hours prior to the start of the event. Thank you.