This season’s Tuesdays’ Music Live Series kicked off Sept. 24 with a lunchtime concert by Duo Beaux Arts.
“It was a great opening,” said Keith Shafer, the Director of Music and Organist of historic Saint Paul’s Church and series founder.
Held at noon from September to March at Saint Paul’s, the free 12-concert series features a variety of musicians from across the country who play diverse styles of music.
This season features two encores from last year.
When weather forced a school cancellation, people assumed the MusAlliance concert was also a no-go, but the show went on with a small audience. Shafer said it was a marvelous concert that he hated audiences missed out on, so he’s brought the duo back for an Oct. 8 concert.
“With Anna Kusner on guitar and Peter Omelchenko on domra (mandolin), MusAlliance is an exciting new string duo offering virtuoso interpretations of classical, international, and folk favorites. Both natives of Russia and graduates of Moscow’s prestigious Gnessin Academy of Music, Anna and Peter formed Musalliance shortly after Peter’s immigration to the United States in 2017,” according to Omelchenko’s website.
Also on last season’s calendar was a Duke Ellington tribute by the Bloom-Funkhouser Duo. When one of the members came down with COVID last season, the performers had to cancel. The ViMaDeAn Duo (Anastasia Petrunina and her husband Denis Petrunin) stepped in at the last minute.
The Bloom-Funkhouser Duo has been rescheduled for Nov. 19 with the ever-popular ViMaDeAn Duo performing March 4, 2025.
When Tuesday’s Music Live began, it featured the half-hour concerts plus lunch.
Because of COVID and a dwindling number of volunteers who helped keep costs down, the lunch portion had to be discontinued, but the concerts have continued thanks to the generous sponsorships of foundations and businesses, he said.
The number of attendees fell off due to COVID, but even without the lunch portion, attendance is back up, Shafer said.
For more about Tuesday’s Music Live and its slate of offerings, visit the website here.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years and is a Georgia Press Association award winner. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
