Fivesparks

Warner Free Lecture - Randy Hodgkinson Presents Bach's Goldberg Variations
2025-01-24 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Fivesparks Gallery, 7 Fairbank Street, Harvard, MA, 01451, United States
Randy Hodgkinson was the Grand Prize Winner of the Fourth International American Music Competition sponsored by Carnegie Hall and the Rockefeller Foundation. Over his forty-year career, he has performed with orchestras in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Buffalo, Boston, Cleveland as well as abroad in Italy and Iceland. In addition, he has performed numerous recital programs spanning the repertoire from J.S. Bach to Donald Martino. He is on the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music, Wellesley College, and the Longy School of Music.
In this presentation, Randy will discuss aspects of Bach’s Goldberg Variations that will guide the listeners through a complete performance of this monumental work.
This performance is supported by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

The Revolution Sings Benefit Concert
2025-04-18 19:00 - 21:00 | Fivesparks Gallery, 7 Fairbank Street, Harvard, MA, 01451, United States
The concert is being produced by Musicians for the Greater Good, a non-profit network of musicians that supports social change organizations.
The Revolution Sings is a concert of protest and social justice music from throughout America’s history. It will be a benefit for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.
Performers include leading New England singer-songwriters, such as Tom Smith, the Lied Tos, Chris and John Boehmer, Howie Altholtz, Steve Azzaro, Mark Hastings, Karen Sauer, Tom Maynard, Dan Tappan, and Ron and Tristan Israel.
It will take place live on Friday, April 18, from 7:00-9:00 PM at Fivesparks, 7 Fairbanks Street, Harvard, Massachusetts, and also can be viewed via livestream.
Tickets to the live show are available at TheRevolutionSings.Eventbrite.Com and at the door.
The Live Stream will be available starting at 7:00 PM Friday the 18th at https://tinyurl.com/3ddjr6fx. Donations can be made at the following link https://tinyurl.com/ACLUM-MGG

Koan Jazz Quintet - Album Release Concert
2025-06-28 19:00 - 20:30 | Fivesparks Gallery, 7 Fairbank Street, Harvard, MA, 01451, United States
2nd Album Release – Tributaries by the Northampton based Jazz Quintet, Koan.
About Koan and the music:
Koan sprouted from our shared love and respect for the traditions of Black American music. This music is a powerful framework for communal storytelling, which captures the energy, beauty and poignant power of being human. Through our music we seek to tell our own stories and to bring our audiences into the expressive power of this artform. We approach each performance like a grand narrative weaving together our original music with arrangements which pay homage to the great innovators of modern jazz, R&B, funk, and hip hop. We hope, like any good movie, this musical narrative will be not just nice to listen to, but will immerse all in the stories we have to tell.
Have a listen here!
Koan began in the fall of 2024 out of a desire to play the music of the Second Great Quintet and Contemporary artists like Ambrose Akinmusire and Joel Ross as well as workshop our own compositions. As a collective we seek to support the projects and visions of our members. Our first album came out in June under the leadership of Mathew Mueller. We recently released our second album, Ian Behrstock’s Tributaries.

Ian hails from Maynard and Boxborough and his family is from Harvard. The Fivesparks concert brings his music back to his original community. Ian still has very strong connections to the area through family and friends.

Saturday, June 28, 7pm
TICKETS $20 — AVAILABLE FOR ADVANCE PURCHASE
OR at the door.

440 Gypsy Jazz (Fall Concert Series)
2025-09-11 19:30 - 21:30
Join Fivesparks and Fugitive Productions in an intimate setting for a four-event concert series in Harvard’s beautiful town center.
Come to the whole series:
Thursday, September 11: 440 Gypsy Jazz
Thursday, October 16: RD King plus Lindsay Straw & Andy Cambria
Thursday, November 13: Cassandre McKinley
Thursday, December 4: Bruce Gertz Quartet
About 440 Gypsy Jazz
In the style of hot club jazz, 440 presents their toe-tapping original tunes and Django’s music arranged with beautiful harmony by violin and clarinet.
Tomoko Iwamoto, violin, a leader of 440, has been in Boston jazz scene for more than 30 years. Being a “jazzy” violinist with a strong classical background, she expanded her repertoire in jazz, rock, pop to world music, toured with Hypnotic Clambake, while studying Jazz Composition and Arranging at Berklee College of Music. During her recent trip to Europe, she jammed with world renown gypsy jazz musicians; Tcha Limberger & the members of Les Violins de Bruxelles, and Chris & Julian Brunard. She appeared as a guest soloist with Mood Swings Orchestra and Women In World Jazz, and collaborated with modern jazz guitarist, Chris Mcdermott.
John Clark, clarinet, is the founder of the Wolverine Jazz Band and has been a fixture on the New England Jazz scene for many years. He has played professionally in the Boston area with numerous traditional jazz and big bands, including the High Society Dance Orchestra, Dan Gabel’s Abeltones, Commonwealth Jazz, the New Black Eagle Jazz Band, and the Paramount Jazz Band of Boston. John is an acknowledged authority on the history of jazz and has recorded extensively. He holds a PhD. in Musicology and has published books and articles on the foundations of Early Jazz.
Jack Soref, guitar, graduate of Berklee College of Music, became captivated by the music of Django Reinhardt after attending the International Django Reinhardt festival in Samois-sur-Seine France in 2002. Jack is a mainstay of Django Festivals Django in June, where he has taught since 2009, and the Midwest Gypsy Swing Fest, where he has performed as recently as 2023.
Gregory Toro, bass, was born and raised in Boston. He fell in love with music and rhythm as a child, and at the age of 10 joined a neighborhood steel band that played calypso and church music on weekends. He found his true calling as a bass player when he was 16 years old. Greg studied electric and upright bass and jazz composition at Berklee, where he collaborated with musicians from many countries and cultures. He has traveled the world with jazz and rock groups.
Doors: 7pm • Performance: 7:30–9:30pm • $22/advance, $27/door (incl. fees) • Tickets

Etudes in the Gallery: a Benefit Concert on Piano for the Fivesparks Music Festival
2025-10-10 19:30 - 21:00 | Fivesparks Gallery, 7 Fairbank Street, Harvard, MA, 01451, United States
Pianist D.J. Cleavinger returns to the Fivesparks gallery for an intimate night of music, ranging from Beethoven’s dramatic Pathétique Sonata to the harmony of Schubert and Debussy. Some Bernstein closes the first half, and the breathtaking journey of Chopin’s 12 Etudes, Opus 10 serves as the second half. Proceeds from this recital benefit the annual Fivesparks Music Festival.
BIO:
A native of Cincinnati, OH, D.J. Cleavinger grew up in an array of artistic activities: piano and voice study, leading roles in musical theatre productions, studio art classes – earning three gold key awards in the National Scholastic Competition, and various genres of choral singing through churches, schools, and the Cincinnati May Festival Youth Chorus. He completed his Bachelor of Music in 2021 at Miami University of Ohio, and his Master of Music from Boston University in 2025 as a student of Pavel Nersessian.
D.J. has performed at summer festivals in Austria, Germany, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Puerto Rico, and Spain; he has studied with esteemed artists such as Dror Biran, Kenneth Griffiths, Jihye Chang, Frank Huang, Siok Lian Tan, and Asiya Korepanova. Since age 14, D.J. has served in various churches as pianist, organist, and vocalist. He is an avid reader, a lover of languages, and a frequent collaborator of both instrumental and vocal opportunities.
Friday, October 10, 2025
7:30-9:00pm with intermission
TICKETS
General Admission: $20
Seniors / Students 12-18yrs: $15
Kids 12 and under: FREE

RD King plus Lindsay Straw & Andy Cambria (Fall Concert Series)
2025-10-16 19:30 - 21:30
Join Fivesparks and Fugitive Productions in an intimate setting for a four-event concert series in Harvard’s beautiful town center.
Come to the whole series:
Thursday, September 11: 440 Gypsy Jazz
Thursday, October 16: RD King plus Lindsay Straw & Andy Cambria
Thursday, November 13: Cassandre McKinley
Thursday, December 4: Bruce Gertz Quartet
About R.D King
R.D. King is an award-winning fingerstyle guitarist, composer, and music educator. A captivating and energetic performer, King blends guitar pyrotechnics with cinematic and evocative music. King is a TEDx Cambridge performer, the winner of the 2017 Canadian Guitar Festival’s International Fingerstyle Guitar Competition, and a finalist of the 2019 Walnut Valley Festival’s International Fingerstyle Guitar Competition. He has opened for Grammy-nominated Ari Hest, Andy McKee, Liz Longley, and many others
His compositional prowess has earned him numerous awards and accolades, including back-to-back Outstanding Achievement in Songwriting Awards in the 2023 and 2024 Great American Songwriting Contest, placing as a finalist in the 2023 International Acoustic Music Awards, and winning the 2018 Walnut Valley Festival’s NewSong Showcase (Instrumental Category).
R.D. King has released six albums of solo fingerstyle guitar music, the latest of which is Songs of Spring (2023). He resides in Boston where he performs and is an associate lecturer at UMass Boston.
About Lindsay Straw & Andy Cambria
Known among guitar circles for their work at The Music Emporium, Andy Cambria and Lindsay Straw also share a love for pithy, complex songs of the folk, bluegrass and Celtic persuasion. Blending harmony vocals and double guitars, Irish bouzouki and clawhammer banjo, and throwing in some old-time tunes for good measure, the duo loves tackling songs both traditional and contemporary — but there has to be a good story. Their music is sure to appeal to fans of folk duos like Gillian Welch & David Rawlings and the Murphy Beds.
Doors: 7pm • Performance: 7:30–9:30pm • $22/advance, $27/door (incl. fees) • Tickets

Schubert: Winterriese - Vocal and Piano Performance
2025-10-26 16:00 - 17:30 | Fivesparks Gallery, 7 Fairbank Street, Harvard, MA, 01451, United States
“I will sing you a cycle of horrifying songs…”
—FRANZ SCHUBERT
Franz Schubert’s Winterreise (Winter Journey) is arguably the most influential work for voice and piano of the 19th century.
Throughout their performance of this cycle of 24 songs, tenor Christopher Hossfeld and pianist Trevor Berens weave haunting
melodies into the story of a homeless stranger traversing a metaphorical winter landscape. Reeling from the horrors of a frozen heart in a frozen world, the stranger bares his most interior and private thoughts in this deeply human psychological struggle of resilience in the face of rejection, death, and trauma. Schubert’s highly sensitive and prophetic music inspires profound empathy, not only for the stranger and his plight, but also for anyone today seeking safety, community, and belonging. More information can be learned at www.winterreise.net.
This program at Fivesparks will consist of a brief presentation about the works as well as translation of lyrics for everyone.
Sunday, October 26, 2025. 4:00-5:30pm. $20.
PURCHASE TICKETS

Cassandre McKinley (Fall Concert Series)
2025-11-13 19:30 - 21:30
Join Fivesparks and Fugitive Productions in an intimate setting for a four-event concert series in Harvard’s beautiful town center.
Come to the whole series:
Thursday, September 11: 440 Gypsy Jazz
Thursday, October 16: RD King plus Lindsay Straw & Andy Cambria
Thursday, November 13: Cassandre McKinley
Thursday, December 4: Bruce Gertz Quartet
About Cassandre McKinley
Boston native, Cassandre McKinley, is a singer, recording artist, composer, producer, vocal coach and educator. As an artist and singer, she channels a vast spectrum of genres that include Soul, Jazz, Blues, R&B, Pop, and Country and has unwittingly unified them into a singular sound that is primitively hers. McKinley’s consensual freedom from stylistic boundaries has become her signature approach to making music.
“There’s a music style called ‘jazzsoul’ (we made it up) and our anointed queen is Boston native Cassandre McKinley” (Boston Globe).
McKinley is deeply rooted in a recording career, having released five solo albums, and is revered for her spirited and impassioned live performances. Her most notable collaborations include those with Peter Eldridge (New York Voices), Duke Levine, Dave Mattacks, Clay Osborne, Bernard Purdie, Herb Pomeroy. She appeared as a regular featured artist alongside the great J. Geils in his named Jazz & Blues Review to sold out audiences throughout New England. Her music can be heard on hundreds of national and international radio stations, cable and internet music outlets including iHeartRadio, Spotify, Pandora and XM Radio. She serves an Associate Professor in the Voice Department at Berklee College of Music in Boston and Berklee Online.
Featured Performers
Tim Ray, piano • Dave Mattacks, drums • Robert Nieske, bass
Doors: 7pm • Performance: 7:30–9:30pm • $22/advance, $27/door (incl. fees) • Tickets

Fivesparks Music Festival - Fall Fundraising Concert with Judith Gordon & Rhonda Rider: "Mid-Century, Modern, and More"
2025-11-16 16:00 - 18:00 | Fivesparks Gallery, 7 Fairbank Street, Harvard, MA, 01451, United States
Acclaimed Boston-based cellist Rhonda Rider and celebrated Albuquerque-based pianist Judith Gordon, longtime recital partners, will present a festive concert to benefit the 9th Annual Fivesparks Music Festival (June 21-27, 2026). With violinist Judith Eissenberg, Rider and Gordon were co-founders of the annual Fivesparks Music Festival, bringing the chamber music experience to the community.
This duo program will feature the elegant Fauré D Minor Sonata, the mystical Mirror(s) in the Mirror by Arvo Pärt, Boston composer Yu-Hui Chang’s Alter Ego, an exploration of the relationship between the cellist and their cello, Germaine Tailleferre’s Partita for Piano and one of the 20th-century gems, Arthur Berger’s Duo.

Rhonda Rider
For over two decades, cellist Rhonda Rider was a member of the Naumburg Award-winning Lydian Quartet and Triple Helix Piano Trio. She has been a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America and the Fischoff and Concert Artist Guild Competitions. Rider is on the faculty of Boston Conservatory at Berklee. www.rhondarider.com.
Judith Gordon
Pianist Judith Gordon explores diverse repertoire as a soloist and with a wide range of instrumentalists and singers. A featured player for ChatterABQ, she has been heard recently at Music Mountain, Apple Hill, Santa Fe Chamber Music, The Cello Seminar and Music from Salem. She was an associate professor of music at Smith College from 2006-2020.
Longtime collaborators Rider and Gordon have recorded Lee Hyla’s Dream of Innocent III and the late Cello and Piano Sonatas of Gabriel Fauré. Each summer they direct The Cello Seminar, a week long contemporary cello music intensive.
Along with violinist Judith Eissenberg, Rider and Gordon are co-founders of the annual Fivesparks Music Festival.
ADMISSION
Suggested donation amounts: Adults $25, teens and seniors $15. ADVANCE TICKETS

Proceeds from this concert benefit the annual Fivesparks Music Festival.

Bruce Gertz Quartet (Fall Concert Series)
2025-12-04 19:30 - 21:30
Join Fivesparks and Fugitive Productions in an intimate setting for a four-event concert series in Harvard’s beautiful town center.
Come to the whole series:
Thursday, September 11: 440 Gypsy Jazz
Thursday, October 16: RD King, plus Lindsay Straw & Andy Cambria
Thursday, November 13: Cassandre McKinley
Thursday, December 4: Bruce Gertz Quartet
About Bruce Gertz
Bruce Gertz is an award-winning, bassist, composer, author, educator, touring and recording artist, and is on the staff of Berklee College of Music. In addition to a raft of Boston Music Awards, Gertz has garnered a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Performance grant, a composition award from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and recognition from the music rights organization ASCAP, Billboard magazine, and other organizations.
“Gertz has shown a consistency that the vast majority of his better-known contemporaries have failed to match. The music he creates has the power to evoke feeling, thought, and motion. He continues to work at it, and the fruit of his efforts is unmistakable every time he plays” ( Boston Globe).
Gertz was named “Outstanding Bassist” by Boston Music Awards. His contribution to music education has earned him multiple recognition awards from The International Association of Jazz Educators and the Jazz Education Network and he serves on the advisory board of the International Society of Bassists.
As a bandleader, Gertz has recorded more than 20 albums. He has performed and recorded with such artists as Gary Burton, Jerry Bergonzi, John Abercrombie, Joey Calderazzo, Kenny Werner, Mick Goodrick, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Billy Hart, Bill Frisell, Bob Berg, George Cables, Gil Evans, Tom Harrell, Jon Hendricks, Diane Schuur, Dave Brubeck, George Garzone, Mike Stern, Larry Coryell, Joe Lovano, Cab Calloway, Maynard Ferguson, Count Basie, and many others.
Doors: 7pm • Performance: 7:30–9:30pm • $22/advance, $27/door (incl. fees) • Tickets

An Afternoon of Irish Music with Sarah Collins & Jonathan Vocke
2026-01-18 15:00 - 17:00 | Fivesparks Gallery, 7 Fairbank Street, Harvard, MA, 01451, United States
Sarah Collins and Jonathan Vocke bring a fresh take to Irish music, pairing traditional fiddle melodies with old time two-fingered banjo. Drawing inspiration from the Celtic traditions that Sarah grew up with in the Boston area and the old-time and folk scene that Jonathan calls home in Baltimore, the pair explores the space at the intersection of these musical styles. The music they create together is first and foremost about groove, and plays with the balance of lightness, sensitivity, and grounding. The program of music will include Irish, Scottish, and Old Time tunes and songs, featuring fiddle, guitar, and banjo.
Sarah grew up in Harvard, graduating from Bromfield in 2010, and is excited to return to town and share her music with family and friends.
All are welcome. Tickets ($20) will be sold at the door via cash, Venmo or Paypal.

Ensemble Eclectica Concert
2026-03-22 15:00 - 17:00 | Fivesparks Gallery, 7 Fairbank Street, Harvard, MA, 01451, United States
Ensemble Eclectica weaves together early music and jazz in a lively and light-hearted conversation of genres and styles, finding that these divergent musical traditions have much more in common than we might think. From Thelonious Monk on the theorbo (a large ancient lute) to gentle Jazz scatt improvisation on songs from the Renaissance, this innovative quartet (Peter Lehman, theorbo & seven- string guitar; Rick McGlaughlin, stand up bass; Fabio Pirozzolo, percussion; and Louise Grasmere, vocals) takes listeners on journey that spans centuries, sparks surprising musical connections, and creates a sound that is at once old, new, surprising and fun.

This program is funded in part by a grant from the Harvard Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Sunday, March 22, 2026. 3:00pm-5:00pm, $20
Purchase Tickets Here
