Concert for Peace

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC | The Bennington College Music Program presents a Concert for Peace at 2:00 PM in the Greenwall Music Workshop at Bennington College. The concert is free and open to the public. In partnership with the Center for the Advancement of Public Action (CAPA), this concert brings together more than one hundred musicians: Southern Vermont’s River Singers directed by Mary Cay Brass, the Bennington Children’s Chorus directed by Kerry Ryer-Parke, the Bennington College Balkan Ensemble directed by Dr. Joseph Alpar, and a Bennington College choir led by Dr. Kathy Bullock, visiting faculty at Bennington College, a scholar, teacher and performer of Gospel music and a frequent visitor to many Vermont choirs and schools. All of these groups share an interest in using music to overcome and heal from conflicts and violence. Together, these musicians will offer a powerful message of hope, joy and peace to the Bennington community and beyond. The master of ceremonies of this event will be Vahidin Omanovic, peacebuilder and founder of the Center for Peacebuilding in Sanski Most, Bosnia.

Dr. Bullock will be leading songs from her project highlighting recently rediscovered songs about protest and emancipation by Abolitionists and enslaved people in America from the 1800s. Ms. Brass and Dr. Alpar will present songs from Southeast Europe, offering a glimpse into the everyday joys, resilience, and humor of a region that has its own complicated history of unrest.