On Sunday afternoon, September 27, at 4 p.m., Friends of Music at Guilford presents internationally acclaimed vocal quartet New York Polyphony at Centre Congregational Church on Main Street in Brattleboro. Their "Faith & Reason" program augments a 16th-century mass by Thomas Tallis with complementary opening and closing movements by modern British composers Gabriel Jackson and Andrew Smith, and also includes three American Folk Hymns arranged by Massachusetts composer Gregory Brown. The concert's "reason" component is Brown's "Missa Charles Darwin," a New York Polyphony commission that replaces standard mass texts with excerpts from "On the Origin of Species" and "The Descent of Man." The genetic code of Darwin's famous finch served as inspiration for some of the musical patterning in the mass. Reservations are required for a 3 o'clock pre-concert lecture by composer Brown, who illuminates the Missa's development with audiovisual aids and live samples by the quartet. Event corporate sponsors include Brattleboro Savings & Loan; Dead River Company; Douglas Cox, Violin Maker; The Richards Group; and Trust Company of Vermont. Tickets: General Admission: $15, Students: $10; Lecture Seating (limited, by reservation): $5 per person; $50 Patron, including lecture seating and a gala reception with the quartet, patrons, and sponsors. Information and reservations: (802) 254-3600 or office@fomag.org. Friends of Music's 50th Anniversary Season is sponsored in part by Vermont Public Radio and the Vermont Arts Council.

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Jan 18, 2025, 5:30 PM