Vino & Vivaldi

SPONSORED BY Bangor Savings Bank 

A Virtual Wine Tasting You Can Hear

There is a long history of combining good drink, good friends and great music. Portland Bach Experience, Wine Wise, and Bangor Savings Bank bring this tradition to Portland Wine Week in a virtual format featuring award-winning musicians from the Portland Bach Experience. Each set pairs musical works with a wine that reflects the composer’s terroir!     

Each pairing is curated and guided by Emily Isaacson, Artistic Director of the Portland Bach Experience and Maine Artist of the Year, and Erica Archer, sommelier and founder of Wine Wise and Portland Wine Week.

HOW IT WORKS:

• Purchase tickets for the online experience.

• Pre-order and pick up your Vino & Vivaldi paired wines at local wine shops throughout Maine. We’ll email the list of suggested pairings to ticket holders.

TIME:

• Beginning, Tuesday, June 15 at 3:00PM, watch and imbibe anytime on your own schedule through the digital concert hall website and your viewing password.

• Join us June 15 at 3:00PM for the premier performance and to chat online with Portland Bach Experience and Wine Wise.

LOCATION: Your computer

COST: $45 not including wine

Award-Winning MUSICIANS:

Music Selection & Wine Pairings By:

Biographies

sarah Braily - Soprano

Hailed by The New York Times for her "radiant, liquid tone,” and “exquisitely phrased” singing and by Opera UK for “a sound of remarkable purity,” soprano Sarah Brailey enjoys a career that resists specialization. She has sung Handel’s Messiah with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; recorded cello and vocal soundscapes for the Fog x FLO public art installation in Boston’s Emerald Necklace; and performed with Kanye West and alternative-classical vocal band Roomful of Teeth at the Hollywood Bowl. Recent highlights include serenading the Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum with John Zorn’s Madrigals, singing Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Colorado Symphony, and recording The Soul in the world premiere recording of Dame Ethel Smyth’s The Prison, for which she has received a 2021 GRAMMY for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album.

Sarah is a member of Beyond Artists, a coalition of artists that donates a percentage of their concert fee to organizations they care about. Her designated organizations include NRDC, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, and the Animal Welfare Institute. Sarah is a co-founder of Just Bach, a monthly concert series in Madison, Wisconsin and the Artistic Director of the Handel Aria Competition. Learn more at sarahbrailey.com.

Dashon Burton - bass-baritone

Bass-baritone Dashon Burton has devoted his career to tearing down the arbitrary walls of what it means to be a classical singer, an artist, and citizen for justice.

As an internationally touring vocalist, he enjoys a particularly robust presence in early music, concert and orchestral music, and art song and recital. Although singing solo music from throughout the ages and traditions of classical music is the foundation of his work, his extensive experience in singing with ensembles has included work with Cantus, Conspirare, and the Grammy Award-winning ensemble Roomful of Teeth.

The 2020-21 season has seen its share of major cancellations and postponements, (including, among others, debuts with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and at the Mostly Mozart Festival and the Tokyo 2020 NIPPON/Olympics Festival in Tokyo, Japan), but during the interim, he successfully continued to spread the power of the human voice through collaborations with universities and institutions gamely working to continue the tradition of building bridges of access for all. His work has included residencies at Vanderbilt University, The San Francisco Girls’ Chorus, Dartmouth College, College of the Holy Cross, and dozens of schools for younger musicians and students across the country. In addition to his education work, Dashon recorded a number of concerts while socially distanced. In October of 2020, he was a featured soloist in Conspirare’s Songs of Unity concert, a technological marvel featuring artists recording in their own studios from around the world, as well as the elite video production of Andrew Timm.

Other recitals in the 2020-21 season included his solo debut at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts for a live-streamed recital with pianist David Fung and an innovative appearance for Kaufmann Center’s Music Storefront Concert Series in New York City.

He has also contributed to albums in his fourth and fifth nominations for the 2021 Grammy Awards: Paul Moravec’s Sanctuary Road (recorded with Kent Tritle and the Oratorio Society of NY), and Ethel Smyth’s The Prison (recorded with James Blachly, Sarah Brailey, and The Experiential Orchestra, and which won the Grammy Award for Best Solo Vocal Classical Album). dashonburton.com

Brandon Acker - theorbo and classical guitar

Brandon Acker is a classical guitarist and specialist on early plucked instruments such as the lute, baroque guitar, and theorbo. His latest passion has been to run his Youtube channel which now has over 290,000 subscribers and 16 million views. His channel provides educational content about early plucked instruments as well as guitar tips and artistic performance videos.

His interest in education has led him to found a new online music school with his wife called Arpeggiato which offers lessons in “All things that go pluck.” In the few months since it opened in 2020, the school has already taught over 500 lessons to students around the world and in countries like Saudi Arabia, Japan, The Netherlands, Germany, the UK, Australia, and more.

Brandon’s performance career has varied from starting out playing electric guitar in metal bands to his current main focus researching and performing on early plucked instruments from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. He has toured extensively through England, Canada, Scotland and Wales, and performed with notable groups such as the Leipzig Baroque Orchestra, Piffaro, the Joffrey Ballet, the Chicago Philharmonic, the Newberry Consort, Haymarket Opera Company, Music of the Baroque, Third Coast Baroque, Opera Lafayette, and Bella Voce.

He can be heard on his CDs: “A Wanderer’s Guitar,” Schubert lieder arranged for guitar and baritone, “Favorites” a CD of his dearest solo repertoire; and “Strung Up,” minimalist music arranged for harp and guitar. brandonackerguitar.com

Lindsay Garritson - piano

Dr. Lindsay Garritson has performed throughout the United States and abroad since the age of four. She has appeared on stages such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Place des Arts (Montreal), and has been featured as soloist with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra (Texas), Orchestre Métropolitain (Montreal), Atlantic Classical Orchestra, Orquestra Sinfônica Barra Mansa (Brazil), the Yale Philharmonic Orchestra, and the European Philharmonic Orchestra, among others.

An award-winning performer, Lindsay has received top prizes at the Montreal International Piano Competition, USASU Bösendorfer International Piano Competition, and the Mozarteum International Chopin Competition (Salzburg). She was invited as one of thirty participants internationally to compete in the 2013 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, and she was selected as one of six finalists worldwide for the 2014 German Piano Award in Frankfurt, Germany.

An avid chamber musician, Lindsay has performed with Ani Kavafian, Elmar Oliveira, Carter Brey, Ettore Causa, and Ian Rosenbaum, among many others. She is currently a member of the Bergonzi Piano Trio with violinist Scott Flavin and cellist Ross Harbaugh, and their first album of Beethoven and Brahms trios will be released in the summer of 2021. Since 2018, she has been a collaborative pianist for the prestigious Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival.

Lindsay is a passionate advocate for new music, and her Carnegie Hall solo recital debut in November 2019 featured the world premiere of Carl Vine's Piano Sonata No. 4, a work written for her. Additionally, her second solo album titled “Aphorisms: Piano Music of Carl Vine” was just released. She has also recorded the complete works for flute and piano by Samuel Zyman (Albany Records, 2020), and premiered works by composers David Ludwig, Nick Omiccioli, and Polina Nazaykinskaya.

Lindsay holds degrees from Principia College (B.A. in Music), Yale School of Music (M.M. and Artist Diploma), and the University of Miami (D.M.A.). Her piano teachers include Santiago Rodriguez, Boris Berman, Luiz de Moura Castro, Choong-Mo Kang, Zena Ilyashov, Emilio Del Rosario, the late Jane Allen, and Jennifer Lim Judd. She currently resides in Jensen Beach, Florida. lindsaygarritson.com

Emily Isaacson - Conductor, Portland Bach Expereince

Dr. Emily Isaacson is a conductor fiercely committed to reimagining classical music for today’s audience. She is founder and artistic director of Classical Uprising, a performing arts company that believes classical music must rise up, challenge current norms, and re-envision where, how, and for whom we are making music. Classical Uprising includes Oratorio Chorale, a symphonic chorus and professional orchestra, Portland Bach Experience, a series of immersive music festivals, and the Classical Uprising Youth Choirs for singers k-12. One of only a handful of female conductors (and moms) in the country, Isaacson was named the 2018 Maine Artist of the Year by the Maine Arts Commission, one of 50 Mainers Leading the State by Maine Magazine, and the 2018 face of Maine’s Women’s Work. In 2008 Isaacson helped to launch Roomful of Teeth, a GRAMMY-winning new vocal music ensemble, and in 2015 and 2018 won third place in the American Prize in Choral Conducting. She has taught at Clark University, Bowdoin College, and the University of Illinois. A St. Andrews Society Scholar, Isaacson holds a masters degree in musicology from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland; a masters degree in conducting from the University of Oregon; and a doctorate in conducting from the University of Illinois. She lives in Portland, ME with her husband, daughter, and son. portlandbachexperience.com

Erica Archer - Sommelier

Archer is a true oenophile, having obtained high levels of certification in her field. In 2010, she was awarded the Wine Spirit and Education Trust Level Three Advanced Certification in Wines and Spirits (with merit), became a Sommelier in the American Court of Master Sommeliers, and received her Certified Wine Professional award from the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena, California. Erica is the principal of Wine Wise, a wine education and events service, and is skilled at creating truly creative and memorable wine experiences that take guests beyond a typical tasting with her intimate understanding of what makes each wine unique. And she’ll do it with her trademark sense of humor and down-to-earth style. Join her on land and at sea in the iconic Maine locations including Portland, Camden, Ogunquit and The Kennebunks, and abroad on small-group trips to renown wine regions of the world.

In 2018 she founded Portland Wine Week, a week of signature events, incredible wine dinners, wine events, educational seminars, and special events taking place each June in beautiful, coastal, Portland, Maine. winewiseevents.com

Portland Bach Experience is a program of Classical Uprising; our mission is to enliven, strengthen, and connect communities by creating world-class, interactive classical music experiences for everyone. June 11-20, 2021 | portlandbachexperience.com.

Bangor Savings Bank, with more than $6 billion in assets, offers retail banking to consumers as well as comprehensive commercial, corporate, payroll administration, merchant services, and small business banking services to businesses. The Bank, founded in 1852, is in its 169th year with more than 60 branches in Maine and New Hampshire and business offices in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. The Bangor Savings Bank Foundation was created in 1997. Together the Bank and its Foundation invested more than $3.4 million into the community in the form of sponsorships, grants, and partnership initiatives last year. Bangor Savings Bank is an equal opportunity employer and can be found on the Web at www.bangor.com. Member FDIC.