This Concert has a new program, due to illness of one of the performers previously scheduled. Malcolm Halliday, clarinetist Chester Brezniak and tenor Stanley Wilson, will perform a sonata by Francis Poulenc for piano and clarinet; art songs by Benjamin Britten’s composition teacher Frank Bridge and by Henri Duparc; a suite for Clarinet and Piano by Darius Milhaud; and songs by Cole Porter.

Malcolm Halliday, pianist, has performed and recorded extensively as a soloist, accompanist and choral director. In this rare appearance , he returns to the Stone Church from his permanent residence in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. For this special concert, he has assembled a trio calling on fine musicians whom he has accompanied in performance and in making multiple recordings.

Stanley Wilson, tenor - Hailed in the Opera News review of Ned Rorem’s Our Town, Joshua Rosenblum proclaims, “The full-of-character tenor Stanley Wilson is amusingly put-upon as Simon….” “This is a real gem” states Henry Fogel in Fanfare magazine of Stanley Wilson’s CD, Art Songs of the British Romantics. Stanley is equally at home singing opera, oratorio, concerts and recitals. Opera credits include Tanzmeister in Ariadne auf Naxos, the Witch in Hansel and Gretel, Bardolfo in Falstaff, El Rememdado in Carmen, Kaspar in Amahl and the Night Visitors, Tinca in Il Tabarro, Gherardo in Gianni Schicchi, Gastone in La Traviata, Lorenzo in I Capuleti e I Montecchi, and Bardolf in Sir John in Love. Oratorio credits include Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven’s Mass in C, Mozart’s Requiem and the DuBois Seven Last Words of Christ. CDs include Stanley Wilson Sings Cole Porter with arranger and pianist Ben Cook, Art Songs of the British Romantics and Robert Schumann: Dichterliebe and Liederkreis with pianist Malcolm Halliday, Thomson’s Four Saints in Three Acts and Rorem’s Our Town under the baton of Maestro Gil Rose and a video of Floyd’s Susannah with St. Petersburg’s Opera conducted by Maestro Mark Sforzini.

Clarinetist Chester Brezniak's orchestral experience includes the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra, Sao Paulo Symphony, Boston Pops Orchestra, Czech
Radio Symphony, Hanover Chamber Orchestra, Bridgeport Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra;Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra; and most recently the Boston Orchestra for the Andrea Bocelli concert at TD Garden. Mr. Brezniak debuted with the Vermeer String Quartet to critical acclaim in 1972. Since then a sampling of his live performances includes the Fromm Foundation Series for Contemporary Music, Harvard University; US West Coast tour with soprano Benita Valente of Earl Kim's Exercises En Route; Frick Fine Arts Series, University of Pittsburgh; Duo Recital with pianist, Richard Goode; Entree des Artistes Summer Series, Orliac, France; guest artist with the Raphael Trio Chamber Series, Ouray, CO; and Arthur Berger Memorial Concert at Jordan Hall. In 1977, Mr. Brezniak joined Robert Stallman, flutist, as a founding member of the Cambridge Chamber Players/ Marblehead Summer Music Festival in Massachusetts (CCP), where for twenty years a unique series of chamber music concerts, broadcast regularly on WGBH and PBS, was presented. He is presently the clarinet instructor in the music departments of Clark University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and the University of Massachusetts/ Boston.

This concert is sponsored by Kaye Boothman.

For public safety, we request that all attendees be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 unless a valid medical exemption exists. Attendees will be asked to comply with public health guidelines in effect at the time of the event.

This performance is being supported, in part, by a grant from the Mass Cultural Council and by grants from the Local Cultural Councils of Barre, Hardwick-New Braintree, North Brookfield, Oakham and Petersham. Local cultural councils are local agencies supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Friends of the Stone Church will re-schedule  "Songs of Summer," the program originally planned for this date. 2022 Concert Season Subscribers will be admitted to both concerts for the cost of their subscription.