April 21, 22, 23, 2011
7:00 pm in The Studio
Tickets: $6 adults; $3 students/seniors
Tickets may be reserved in advance.

Every other year the Sant Bani School Theatre Department girds its loins, as it were, and puts on a musical comedy. This year, Mary Randall Vaiden (whose past SBS directing credits include Guys and Dolls, Bye Bye Birdie and Brutebeast) takes on Moby Dick! The Musical, the cult-hit in England, a wacky, campy and decidedly lo-fi version of Melville’s classic tale.

But isn’t Moby Dick a story with men only? No longer: Welcome to St. Godley’s School for Girls, which is about to close its doors due to lack of funds. Fortunately, one of the girls (played by sophomore Isabel Bogacz) has just finished writing a surefire hit musical that might save the day. The headmistress (in a gender-bending guy-plays-woman-playing-guy performance by senior Marc Gonzalez) nabs the role of Ahab for herself, and then leads her wayward girls, along with a couple of boys the girls have sneaked in (juniors Caleb Jaster and Adison Lintner), the somewhat deranged janitor (senior Dylan Dinger) and a security guard (faculty member Jonathan Powell) in a hastily put-together production as a last-ditch effort to save the school.

Plausible? Not in the least! Faithful adaptation? Hardly! However, the cast did get a serious introduction to the novel Moby Dick on March 12, when it took a field trip to Portsmouth to see The Whale, a remarkable one-man adaptation of the book written and performed by NYC actor/dancer/designer Carlo Adinolfi. Carlo has designed several sets for SBS productions over the years, including the beautiful set for the school’s 1990s production of The Good Person of Szechwan. He also built the set of little red wooden benches we have used in countless productions. In a talkback after the show, Carlo shared with the SBS cast why the novel inspired him to take what became a ten-year journey developing the piece.

In addition to the high school and junior high students and one staff member on the cast of Moby Dick! The Musical, we are delighted to have a great lineup on the production team, including new parent Irina Kirilenko (accompanist and vocal coach) as well as Libby Danahy, parent of an alum, wife of longtime staff member, and current SBS piano teacher. She will serve as vocal coach and rehearsal accompanist. Department head Craig Jaster is technical director and will play bass and lead the pit band. Rose Marie Marinace, parent and teacher, provides fodder for the dance sequences. Students in both art blocks and clubs are working on set and props under art teacher Tina Busch, whose recent design for the K-2 production of The Lorax wowed us all.

An Evening of Tibetan Culture

Tuesday, December 4, 2007 beginning at 7 p.m.
Two Dolma Ling Monks from Gaden Jangtse Monastery who visited with us in 2004 paid a return day-long stay at the school to perform for the students and again for the general public in the evening. They performed for the whole school in the morning, talking with the World Religions class in the afternoon, and presenting “An Evening of Tibetan Culture” at the school at 7 p.m.

They cobined a program of dance, ritual chanting and story with colorful authentic costumes. Admission was the evening is by donation. The public was encouraged and welcome to the evening event.

To help support their monastery in India, they offered a sales table of Tibetan crafts also opened to the public in the evening and from 3:30-4:30 p.m., and to the staff and students in grades 6-12 at lunch. They had a wonderful assortment of unique items at very reasonable prices and it’s all for a great cause. Younger students are invited to return in the evening and purchase items with a parent’s guidance after the performance. All proceeds went to benefit their home monastery in India.

Click here to see the event poster.

Click here to read more about the Gaden Tsawa Monks and Monastery and Dolma Ling Buddhist Center

Sant Bani Students Kai deMello-Folsom(‘07) and Kaitlin Gaudette(’07) present A Vanity Lane Production -

All Are Welcome!

Location: Smitty’s Cinema, 630 West Main St., Tilton, NH
Date: Thursday June 14, 2007
Time: Showtime 4:30pm
Doors Open: 3:30pm
Admission: FREE, but reservations required.
Contact for Admission: Kai deMello-Folsom: kaid@widbiz.com

Click HERE For Photo Gallery, Journal, Video Trailer, and More Information about Mourning Remnants and its production.

Chamber Music at the Sant Bani School is pleased to present Alon Goldstein in concert at the Franklin Opera House. The piano concert will begin at 7:00 pm on Saturday September 29, 2007.

Alon Goldstein is one of the most respected young pianists on the international scene. Admired for technical prowess and musical intelligence, he is poised to lead his talented generation. Goldstein earned his masters degree from the Peabody Conservatory, where he worked intensively with Leon Fleisher. He has earned glowing recommendations from Fleisher, Claudio Abbado, and Zubin Mehta, among others.

In recent seasons, Mr. Goldstein has played with the Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, Baltimore, Seattle, Vancouver, and Saint Louis Symphony orchestras under such conductors as Raphael Frübeck de Burgos, Peter Oundjian, and Leon Fleisher. Other recent highlights include recitals at the Metropolitan Museum and Peoples’ Symphony Concerts in New York, Dame Myra Hess Memorial concert series in Chicago, The Phillips Collection and Strathmore Hall in Washington DC. Recent international appearances include “George Enescu” Philharmonic in Bucharest, and performances with the Bulgarian National Radio Orchestra, the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, the Jerusalem Camerata and the Orchestre National de l’Ile de France in addition to closing the 2004 “Proms at St. Judes” festival in London and a recital in Moscow at the Kremlin.

Highlights of the 2006-07 season include Mr. Goldstein’s Columbus Symphony debut, as well as performances of the complete concerti of Beethoven, in addition to return engagements with the Orchestre National d’Ile de France and the Shreveport Symphony, recitals in Chattanooga and West Palm Beach, and a performance with the Tokyo String Quartet at the 92nd Street Y.

On Friday, November 2, we will welcome violinist Ittai Shapira and pianist Pamela Pyle to the Sant Bani Studio Theater.

This promises to be an outstanding event. We hope you and your family will also attend! Children are free. The reception starts at 6 p.m. and the concert at 7 p.m.

For more info consult the program poster or call the school office at 603 934-4240 during business hours.

Conversations in a Changing World: An Educational Conference at the Sant Bani School

Sant Bani School is hosting this conference to bring together a community of people who believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives, and ultimately the world. Moving our children toward a new education and preparing them for the transforming world has been our aim for over three decades. Many of you are similarly engaged in this essential work. “Conversations in a Changing World” is an opportunity for people from varied backgrounds to share what they are doing through workshops and discussions. It is a time to be inspired by each other’s work as we are energized by imagining together.

Click here for the October conference

Alia Whitney-Johnson: Emerging Voices, Emerging Vision: Engaging Youth in Global Service

Free and Open to the Public: Refreshments – Thursday’s Talk is at 7PM

On Thursday October 9, 2008 evening at the Gilford, NH Public Library, Alia will tell her story of founding Emerge Global while in college. Emerge Global is a nonprofit that works to develop the economic and personal capacity of girls and women in Sri Lanka who have survived tremendous abuse. Her presentation will focus on Emerge as an evolving story of inspiration, tremendous obstacles, and community development. Moreover, she will talk about how educators, students, and schools can get involved in Emerge’s evolving mission or can begin their own service learning programs.

This free public event opens the 2nd Sant Bani School Educational Conference “Conversations in a Changing World” and is partly sponsored by a Community Grant from the Franklin Savings Bank. Read more about the conference here .

Alia Whitney-Johnson is a senior at MIT, studying environmental engineering with a focus on international development. She has helped refine a process for converting agricultural waste into charcoal for use in Haiti, conducted tsunami relief work in Sri Lanka, worked to develop appropriate technologies in Guatemala, and has been a consultant to the World Bank. She is currently an advisor to Worldwide Mobility, an organization working to ensure access to appropriate wheelchairs in developing countries. Her greatest passion, however, lies in her work with women survivors of abuse in Sri Lanka. After traveling to Sri Lanka in the summer of 2005, she founded Emerge Global, Inc. Emerge Global is currently launching its second project: a community with homes, a school, and a women’s cooperative for a group of deserving young women who are currently being sheltered in the Sri Lankan prison system for protection from abusive family members.

Link to the Emerge Global Website
(right click and open in a new window)

Location of Talk: Gilford Town Library.

Join us for the April 17, 2009 concert of the The Sant Bani School Chamber Music
Series.

Beth Guterman, viola, and Randall Hodgkinson, piano

The Concert Program will include Bach Suite No. 1,
music of Rebecca Clarke,
and Sonatas by Shostakovich

Beth Guterman, viola
A native of Massachusetts, Beth Guterman has performed across North America, Europe, and Asia.
Ms. Guterman has performed concertos with the Spoleto USA Orchestra, the Juilliard Symphony, and Aspen’s Sinfonia Orchestra. Ms. Guterman received the top prize in the Juilliard Viola Competition and in the first-ever Aspen Nakamichi Lower Strings Competition. She was the recipient of the 1999 Eugene Lehner Chamber Music Award for Excellence from the New England Conservatory. Studying with Mr. Kawasaki, Ms. Guterman received her bachelor of music and her master of music degrees from the Juilliard School.

Randall Hodgkinson, Piano
Grand Prize Winner of the International American Music Competition, sponsored by Carnegie Hall and the Rockefeller Foundation, Randall Hodgkinson has performed with orchestras in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Boston, Cleveland and abroad in Italy and Iceland. In addition, he has performed numerous recital programs spanning the repertoire from J.S. Bach to Donald Martino.
He is an artist member of the Boston Chamber Music Society.
Mr. Hodgkinson is presently on the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, and the Longy School of Music in Cambridge.

Chamber Music Season Finale at Sant Bani School

Sant Bani School is presenting Gryphon on Friday, May 29, 2009, as the last in this season’s Chamber Music Series concerts. The concert will feature Judson Griffin and Małgorzata Ziemnicka, on violins and Patricia Ann Neely, viola da gamba. Light refreshments will be served at a reception at 6 p.m. and the concert will be held at 7 p.m.

The evening of music will center on 17th-century chamber music from diverse European countries: Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Poland, and England and the music of Rosenmueller, Bertali, Salamone Rossi, Buonamente, Jacquet de la Guerre, Mielczewski, Falconiero, Biber, Purcell, and Buxtehude. The 17th-century was a time when national styles were singularly isolated, yet, through the travels of peripatetic musicians (especially Italians), people were increasingly exposed to the attitudes of others. The performers will play music by Italians who worked in the north (Bertali and Buonamente), a German who spent many years in Venice (Rosenmüeller), a Jew (Salamone Rossi “l’ebreo”), a woman (Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre), A Pole (Mielczewski), an Italian working in Spain and Spanish-dominated Naples (Falconiero), a Bohemian working in Austria (Biber), an Englishman strongly influenced by the French and Italians (Purcell), and a mystic north German of Danish ancestry (Buxtehude.)

To foster music appreciation among students, children are free, adult tickets are $15 and seniors are $13. The concert will be at 7 p.m. in the studio of the school and is preceded at 6 p.m. by a reception.

The Sant Bani School, an independent kindergarten through twelfth grade day school, is located in Sanbornton. The school has a strong performing arts program, and all the artists in the series also give in-school performances during school and meet with individual classes to answer students’ questions and talk about their instruments and career.

Tickets may be purchased by contacting the school at (603) 934-4240.

Children’s Theater

Thursday, Friday and Saturday, April 23, 24, and 25 at 7:00pm
Matinee, Saturday April 25th at 2:00pm

This year, the spring musical is a group effort incorporating the staff as well as middle grades and high school students. The Brutebeast, the Witch and the Monister, written by Karen Boettcher Tate and directed by Mary Vaiden, is especially designed with children in mind.

The village of Mickleville, home to assorted trolls and a loony witch named Mabel (played by senior, Rachel McCarthy), is celebrating the grand opening of a Vegetable Soup Bistro. Mabel and her assistant, the once fearsome Brutebeast (senior, Nate Houran), now tame and meek an rather slow on the uptake, are hosting the villagers when a horrible Monister appears. He threatens to pig-out on his favorite delicacy, troll sandwiches, until the combined magic, bravery and wit of the villagers saves the day.

Please bring your kids and your own inner child along on our little adventure.

Contact Roxanne DelFrari for ticket information and reservations.

Admission $4 for adults, $2 for children

Join us for the season opening of the The Sant Bani School Chamber Music Concert Series.

Date: Friday September 19, 2008
Time: 6pm Reception with the Artists; 7pm Concert
Place: Sant Bani School Studio
Cost: $15 adult; $13 senior citizen; free for all students
All are most welcome.

Advance Tickets may be purchased by contacting the school at (603) 934-4240 or at Alan Soule Jeweler, 422 West Main Street, Tilton, NH 03276.

Alon Goldstein, pianist, and Amit Peled, cellist, will play a program
of Beethoven, Brahms, Bloch, Eccles, Schumann, and Stutschewsky on
Friday, September 19 at the Sant Bani School, Sanbornton, NH. The
concert is part of “Chamber Music at Sant Bani School," which is in
its sixth season.

Alon Goldstein has an active career, both in the United States and
abroad. In recent seasons, Mr. Goldstein has played with the
Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston, Baltimore, Vancouver, and Saint
Louis orchestras. Other recitals include the Metropolitan Museum and
Peoples’ Symphony Concerts in New York, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial
concert series in Chicago, and concerts at the Phillips Collection and
Strathmore Hall in Washington DC. Outside the U.S., Mr. Goldstein has
played with the Jerusalem Camerata, the Orchestre National de l’Ile de
France, and the “Proms at St. Judes” festival in London. Mr.
Goldstein has been a soloist with the Saint Louis Symphony, the Dallas
Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonica, the “George Enescu”
Philharmonic (Bucharest), the Bulgarian National Radio Orchestra, and
the Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana.

Mr. Peled has performed as soloist with orchestras at Carnegie Hall
and Alice Tully Hall (New York), Salle Gaveau (Paris), Wigmore Hall
(London), Konzerthaus, (Berlin), and Mann Auditorium (Tel Aviv). Mr.
Peled has performed at summer music festivals such as the Marlboro
Music Festival, Newport Music Festival, Seattle Chamber Music
Festival, Heifetz International Music Institute, Schleswig Holstein
Festival and Euro Arts Festival (Germany), Gotland Festival (Sweden),
Prussia Cove Festival (England), the Violoncello Congress (Spain), and
the Kfar Blum Music Festival (Israel). Mr. Peled is a Professor at the
Peabody Conservatory of Music.

The Program:
H. Eccles
Sonata for cello and piano in g minor
Largo,Allegro con spirito, Adagio, Vivace

E. Bloch
Suite for cello solo no.1

J. Brahms
Scherzo in E flat minor, Op. 4 for piano solo

R. Schuman
Fantasy Pieces op. 73

Intermission

L.V. Beethoven
Sonata No. 4 in C Major, Op. 102, No. 1
Andate, Allegro vivace
Adagio, Tempo d’andante, Allegro vivace

J. Stutschewsky – Hassidic Suite
Bessarabic Hassidic Song, Latvian Song, Nuts and Wine, Dance

Dowload the full Concert Poster here.

Dowload the Concert Press Release here.

Alon Goldstein, Ilya Kaler, and Amit Peled; with Beth Guterman, Viola

Time: 7pm Thursday, May 10, 2012
Location: Sant Bani School Studio
Tickets: Adults – $15, Students and Children are free
Contact: 603 934-4240 or email the school

The Tempest Trio will be performing at Sant Bani School as part of the ninth season of the Chamber Music series at Sant Bani School on Thursday, May 10. The concert will be at 7 p.m. Desserts, coffee, and tea will be served at intermission. Concert tickets may be reserved by calling the school at 934-4240 or may be purchased at the door. Tickets are $15. Students and children are free.

Combining technical mastery, expressive depth, and performance experience, pianist Alon Goldstein, violinist Ilya Kaler and cellist Amit Peled have joined forces to form one of the most exciting trios on the international scene. Each virtuoso member of the ensemble has a successful solo career; together, they bring vitality to the concert stage with their dynamic musical interplay and collaborative spirit.

The Tempest Trio has performed in cities throughout the US including Chicago, Baltimore, Seattle, Palm Beach, Spartanburg SC and Washington DC. In 2010 the trio performed the complete Schumann trios at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival and was invited the following year to play the complete Brahms trios. The prestigious Four Arts Society invited the trio to be the featured ensemble in a Beethoven festival performing Beethoven trios as well as the Triple Concerto with the Palm Beach Symphony. The Tempest Trio has since performed the concerto numerous times across the US. The success of the festival resulted in an immediate reengagement to play the following season. In April of 2011 the Trio performed for the first time in Germany (Bad Segebeg and Borstel) and was immediately invited back for the 2013 season.

Other upcoming highlights include concerts in Converse College SC, Allentown PA, Odeon series VA, Baltimore and Washington DC as well performances of the Triple concerto in Chicago in May 2012.

The Tempest trio, whose members are well-known as international soloists and chamber musicians, will perform Brahms Trio in B Major, op. 8. Pianist Alon Goldstein, violinist Ilya Kaler and cellist Amit Peled collectively ignite a musical fuse, producing refreshingly untraditional interpretations of repertoire both rare and familiar. For Brahms Piano Quartet #3 in c- minor, op. 60. they are joined by Beth Guterman. One of the most sought after violists, Beth Guterman performs regularly with Musicians from Marlboro, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Sant Bani School is committed to enriching students’ lives by bring classical music to the school. The students in grades kindergarten through twelfth grade enjoy a free day concert followed by a question and answer session with the visiting musicians. Occasionally Sant Bani School is able to invite other area schools to join them for these daytime performances as well, sharing these world-class musicians with students in the local communities.

Concert 7 pm
at Sant Bani School, Sanbornton, NH

Sant Bani School 2008 Spring Drama Performance

Fast-moving, cinematic scene fragments, with eerie, surreal imagery, down-to-earth language, and unexpected humor rolled together in Sant Bani School’s presentation of the play Woyzeck by Georg Büchner, performed at the school Thursday, April 17 and Friday, April 18 at 7pm, and Saturday, April 19 at 2 pm, 2008. Directed by Craig Jaster, the play was accompanied by live music composed by the director and conducted by Noelle Beaudin.

Woyzeck is considered one of the most important plays in the history of German theater and in the history of the development of the modern theater. Written in 1836 but unfinished when the playwright died of typhus at age 23, the play is loosely based on a real case history, a murder and controversial trial of the early 1820’s, in which one Johann Christian Woyzeck was arrested for stabbing to death his lover. After being tried and sentenced to death, he told a visiting clergyman about visions he had seen and voices he had heard telling him to commit the murder. His defense lawyers lodged an appeal so that his mental state could be thoroughly examined, but in the end he was executed.

Senior Ethan Lawrence of Sanbornton, NH played the part of the soldier Woyzeck, and junior Katharina Duenn of Køln, Germany, played his ill-fated common-law wife, Marie. Though the world of the play is casually cruel, a strong sense of tenderness and empathy is written into Woyzeck’s descent into madness, and the two upper class characters, or rather caricatures, in the play – the Doctor (senior Ernest Tabiri, of Berekum, Ghana) and the army Captain (junior Ben Pollak of Laconia, NH) – provide comic relief.

In addition to the twelve high school actors, joining the action for this production were four student musicians, playing original music on cello, violin, accordion, guitar and percussion, under the direction of Noelle Beaudin, who directs the New Hampshire Independent School of Music as well as teaches private piano lessons.

Sant Bani School is an independent kindergarten through twelfth grade day school located in Sanbornton, NH. It was founded in 1973 with six students and has grown to over 175. No child is ever turned away for a family’s inability to pay; over 70 percent of Sant Bani students receive financial aid. For information call (603) 934-4240