Muzzy Ridge Concerts - Three Generations of Sirotas

Searsmont’s Muzzy Ridge Concerts Launches Milestone Fifth Season in Searsmont August 9 and 10 with Performances by Three Generations of Sirotas

Muzzy Ridge Concerts, the annual series of summer chamber music concerts founded by composer Robert Sirota, launches its fifth milestone season with two performances presented on Saturday, August 9 and Sunday, August 10. Each performance will take place at 3 p.m. The concerts will feature a first-time collaboration among Bob Sirota and members of his family of professional instrumental performers. The performances just off Lawry Road in Searsmont will run for approximately 60 minutes with no intermission. Indoor seating is limited to 50 patrons with an additional 20 outdoor seats. Bob says that “tickets are going fast” and are now on sale at robertsirota.com/muzzy-ridge-concerts.

The concerts will take place in Bob’s Searsmont studio. He says “this is the creative sanctuary where I’ve composed a great deal of my work over the past 35 years. Muzzy Ridge Concerts were born in August of 2021 when my wife Vicki and I invited a few friends to our house to spend a couple of weekends performing chamber music. Five years later it has become a mainstay of the Maine summer concert calendar. To celebrate this milestone we are gathering three generations of Sirotas to play together for the first time. We invite you to join us!”

The August 9 and 10 concerts will feature Robert Sirota as pianist alongside four members of his musical family. Pianist Victoria Sirota, violist Jonah Sirota, oboist Regina (Gigi) Brady, and flutist Taavi Sirota will complete the multi-generational quintet of Sirotas. Playing on the same program for the first time, they will perform a diverse program featuring “Terzetto” for flute, oboe and viola by Gustav Holst, “Collision Etudes” for solo oboe by Alyssa Morris, and Georg Philipp Telemann’s “Concerto” for flute, oboe d’amore, viola d’amore and continuo. The concert will also Jonah Sirota’s “Spin for Flute, Oboe, Viola and Piano,” and Robert Sirota’s “Compendium de Lumine” for solo viola.

Robert Sirota’s works have been performed by orchestras across the United States and Europe, by ensembles including Alarm Will Sound, and by the Chiara, American, Blair and Telegraph String Quartets. His works have been heard at the Tanglew ood, Aspen, Yellow Barn, Cooperstown, and Bowdoin International Music festivals. Sirota compositions have been commissioned by soloists, the Neave Trio, Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, American Guild of Organists, American String Quartet, Naumburg Foundation, and yMusic. He has also prepared musical arrangements for Paul Simon.

Bob has received grants from the Guggenheim and Watson Foundations, National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, and American Music Center. His works are on Navona Records, Legacy Recordings, and Capstone, Albany, New Voice, Gasparo and Crystal labels.

The Rev. Dr. Victoria Sirota is a concert organist, Episcopal priest and author. A graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Boston University and Harvard Divinity School, Vicki has performed organ recitals in the United States, France and Germany, and taught at Boston University and Yale Divinity School and Institute of Sacred Music. She is a former National Chaplain for the American Guild of Organists and Association of Anglican Musicians. She is the author of articles, reviews and texts for hymns, cantatas and song cycles. Vicki’s book “Preaching to the Choir: Claiming the Role of

Sacred Musician,” is available from Church Publishing. Her recording of “Celestial Wind: Organ Works by Robert Sirota,” is available from Albany Records.

Composer, producer, and violist Jonah Sirota is equally at home scoring and recording music for films, TV, and video games, writing concert music, and performing as a soloist and chamber musician. His first full-length feature film as composer, “The Grand Strand,” is hitting film festivals this year, while his piano trio “Dry Ocean” was premiered in the spring of 2023 by the Grammy-nominated Neave Trio. He has been violist and arranger for Lindsay Marcus’ score to the 2021 Oscar-winning animated short “If Anything Happens I Love You…,” and as violist is heard on the film scores of “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Oppenheimer” and “The Mandalorian.” He is an experienced session player, maintains an active performance schedule with Los Angeles area chamber music groups and plays regularly with orchestras including the Long Beach Symphony, where he is Assistant Principal Viola. He teaches at Colburn School, Cal State University Fullerton and Greenwood Music Camp in Massachusetts, and gives viola and composition master classes across America.

Taavi Sirota is a multi-talented flautist and producer from South Pasadena, California. For three years, they have played principal flute in the Colburn Youth Orchestra, and in 2023 performed Cécile Chaminade’s “Concertino” as a soloist with the orchestra. For the last two years, Taavi has spent summers at Greenwood Music Camp in Cummington, Massachusetts, where they performed over ten chamber works. In 2024, they won the San Diego Flute Guild’s junior division competition. Taavi also enjoys producing, composing, and recording electronic and electro-acoustic music.

Equally adept on oboe and English horn, Regina (Gigi) Brady is a sought-after performer. Gigi is a graduate of the Juilliard Pre-College Division and holds degrees in Oboe Performance and Neuroscience from Oberlin, and from Colburn Conservatory, and Bard College. She performs regularly with orchestras around Los Angeles, including the Pacific Symphony, LA Opera Orchestra and Long Beach Symphony. She has appeared with the LA Opera orchestra in collaboration with the Hamburg Ballet, performed live-to-film chamber music at the Wende Museum of the Cold War, and played an English horn solo in a pop release. She has played chamber music with Jean-Yves Thibaudet and David Breitman, performed in a duo with her partner, violist and composer Jonah Sirota, and has premiered dozens of new works. Gigi has been a fellow at the Kent/Blossom, Texas and Sarasota music festivals and is a teaching artist for both the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Youth Orchestra Los Angel and Pasadena Symphony’s Youth Orchestra. She has a private teaching studio and teaches oboe and coaches chamber music at Greenwood Music Camp.

The second week of Muzzy Ridge Concerts’ fifth season takes place on Saturday, August 16 and Sunday, August 17. The 3 p.m. concerts feature violinist Laurie Carney and pianist David Friend, an extraordinary duo that last performed in Searsmont as part of Muzzy Ridge Concerts’ first season in 2021. The duo will perform chamber music including works by Mozart, Debussy, Lili Boulanger and Robert Sirota.

Free parking on-site. FMI, tickets ($25 and $15, limited seating) and directions, www.robertsirota.com/muzzy-ridge-concerts