Along with his recording, teaching and performing obligations, in recent months pianist Will Ogmundson found himself wading through amber waves of popular tunes from Theodore Roosevelt’s lifetime in preparation for this Sunday’s season-opening concert at the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish.
“There was a plethora of music,” Ogmundson said last week during a phone interview from his home in New London. “It was kind of daunting.”
On the other hand, the wheat separated itself from the chaff in short order.
“A lot of it is surprisingly good,” Ogmundson said of the ragtime, marches, two-steps and sentimental and heroic ballads of the late 1800s and early 1900s he perused. “A lot you can tell why it’s in the dustbin of history.”
“It” includes one of TR’s favorites, Danny Deever, a musical adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s poem about the hanging of a British soldier for the murder of a comrade.
“It’s really dark,” Ogmundson said. “Dark and creepy, even without the words.”
Ogmundson will, however, play The Dinner Bell Polka, which Massachusetts bandmaster Patrick Gilmore wrote in 1858 to honor the Crawford House in New Hampshire’s Crawford Notch.
Ogmundson started his long march through the music of the era, much of it also coinciding with the life of sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, after concert series director Fern Meyers enlisted him to lead off the summer series, which will feature concerts on the theme of “A musical celebration of America’s National Parks.”
“Will was highly recommended by one of our concert sponsors who noted that he does not do ‘just classical music,’ ” Meyers said. “He plays ragtime and composes, too.”
Indeed, Ogmundson on Sunday also will perform his own Saint-Gaudens Suite, which he wrote for this occasion — and may yet be fine-tuning as you read this.
“It has kind of an Americana feel: late 1800s, early 1900s,” said Ogmundson, a 1995 graduate of Kearsarge Regional High School and an alumnus of the University of New Hampshire. “I’m still writing it. Who knows how it’s going to turn out?”
While juggling his private piano lessons, his camp for 7- and 8-year-olds preparing for a musical, and his regular playing gigs in and around the Upper Valley, Ogmundson also wondered how the concert as a whole would turn out, until he started looking behind the music he was studying, and beyond the ragtime with which he was already familiar.
“It’s not something that everybody gravitates toward,” Ogmundson said. “When people talk about the music they like, they don’t say, ‘Wow, I want to listen to Teddy Roosevelt’s stuff. … But the more I worked through it all, I found that it’s really fascinating trying to get inside the head of the composer.”
In the opening concert of the summer series at Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish, pianist William Ogmundson performs music of the era of President Theodore Roosevelt on Sunday afternoon at 2. Admission is included in the $7 fee to enter the historic site. Saint-Gaudens concerts later in the season will include Upper Valley saxophonist Fred Haas joining rangers from the New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park on July 17 on a Haas composition, and the Arianna String Quartet playing a chamber piece by national parks composer Stephen Lias on Aug. 21. For more information on Sunday’s concert and the series, visit nps.gov/saga/planyourvisit/summer-concerts.htm.
The Haitian roots ensemble Lakou Mizik performs at the Feast and Field Market at the former Chase Farm in Barnard tonight between 5:30 and 7:30. The nine musicians, ranging in age from early 20s to late 60s, came together during their country’s recovery from the earthquake of 2010, and released their debut album, Wa Di Yo, in April. To learn more about the band, visit lakoumizik.com.
French-born, Boston University-educated singer-songwriter Francesca Blanchard plays on the village green in Woodstock tonight at 5:30, in the next installment of Pentangle Arts’ free series of Brown Bag concerts.
As part of its Summer Festival tour of the state this season, on the theme of “Wanderlust,” the Vermont Symphony Orchestra performs at the Suicide Six ski area in South Pomfret on Friday night at 7:30 and at the Three Stallion Inn in Randolph on July 9 at 7:30 p.m. Gates opening at 5:30 for picnickers. For advance tickets ($32) and more information, including other venues and dates, visit vso.org or call 800-876-9293, ext. 10.
∎ George and Donna Butler lead their 15th annual Fourth of July sing-along on Monday morning at 11 in the Mary Keane Chapel of the Enfield Shaker Museum. Donations at the door are welcome.
∎ Liam Ryan-O’Flaherty, of Norwich, performs with Circus Smirkus’ team of nimble-bodied and -minded teens during the troupe’s swing through Hanover on Tuesday and Wednesday at Fullington Field. Shows on this year’s theme of “Up, Hup and Away! The Invention of Flight,” highlighting aerial acts, are scheduled for 1 and 6 p.m. both days. To reserve tickets ($15 to $22) and learn more, visit smirkus.org or call 877-764-7587.
∎ The Etna Old Time Association duo of Billy Corbett and Marc Shapiro plays Americana and bluegrass on the bandstand at Lyman Point Park in White River Junction on Wednesday night at 6:30.
Sonny Knight and the Lakers will perform soul and R&B on the green in Hanover next Thursday night at 5:30. Admission is free.
The Walden Chamber Players kick off the Summer Music Associates’ first concert of the summer next Thursday night at 7:30 at the first Baptist Church in New London. The ensemble of French horn, violin, two violas and cello will perform works of Haydn, Mozart and Strauss. Admission costs $5 to $25. To learn more, visit summermusicassociates.com or call 603-525-8234. To acquire tickets in advance, call the aforementioned number or visit New London’s Morgan Hill Bookstore, Tatewell Gallery or Chamber of Commerce.
The Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph stages a youth production of the Cole Porter musical Anything Goes tonight, Friday night and Saturday night at 7 and on Sunday afternoon at 2. To reserve tickets ($12.75 to $19.75) and learn more, visit chandler-arts.org or call 802-728-6464.
∎ The New London Barn Playhouse’s 2½-week run of the musical comedy How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying includes performances tonight, Friday night and Saturday night at 7:30, Sunday afternoon at 5, Tuesday night at 7:30, Wednesday afternoon at 2 and Wednesday night at 7:30. For tickets ($20 to $35) and more information, visit the box office in New London or nlbarn.org or call 603-526-6710.
Through his World Under Wonder program, Newport Middle High School theater director Sean Roberts is inviting aspiring performers ages 8 to 19 to his weekly workshops in improvisational acting and in stage combat, at the Claremont Opera House. The improv workshops take place on Tuesday afternoons from 3 to 5 and the combat workshops are on Thursday afternoons from 3 to 5. Admission to each is $3 a session at the door. For more information, visit claremontoperahouse.info or call 603-542-0064 or email office@claremontoperahouse.org.
Folk singer-songwriter Mike Morris performs at Colburn Park from 4 to 7 this afternoon, during the Lebanon Farmer’s Market.
∎ Kerry Rosenthal leads an acoustic jam session at the ArtisTree Community Arts Center in South Pomfret tonight at 7. Admission is free. To learn more, visit artistreevt.org.
∎ Sweet Little Bloodhound plays a set of soul-infused rock at Lebanon’s Colburn Park tonight at 7.
∎ The Hopkinton Town Band appears on the Mary Haddad Memorial Bandstand in New London on Friday night at 6:30.
∎ Singer, guitarist and bouzouki player Lindsay Straw plays traditional songs and tunes from the British Isles at the Sunapee Livery building in Sunapee Harbor on Friday night at 7. Doors open at 6:30. The suggested donation is $15. For more information about the concert and the summer series, visit sunapeecoffeehouse.org.
∎ Redhouse plays blues, funk, soul and rock on the bandstand at the Newport Town Common on Sunday night at 6.
∎ The Shana Stack Band performs on Sunday night at 6 at the Arrowhead Recreation Area’s ski hill in Claremont; Borderstone opens the festivities at 3, and Conrad Farnham leads a line-dancing session from 5 to 6. Admission is $15 to $20. For more information, visit claremontsummerfest.com.
∎ The Flames play rock classics of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s at the Ben Mere Bandstand overlooking Sunapee Harbor on Wednesday night at 6:30.
The Abraham.In.Motion ensemble performs choreographer Kyle Abraham’s work in progress, Dearest Home, on Friday night at 7 in the Moore Theatre at Dartmouth College’s Hopkins Center. The ensemble will premiere the finished product at the Hop in the fall of 2017. Admission is free. For more information, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-2422.
Starting tonight in Norwich, the Vermont Humanities Council is sponsoring participatory readings in three Upper Valley towns of abolitionist Frederick Douglass’ 1852 speech about the irony of expecting former slaves to celebrate Independence Day. The Norwich Public Library reading starts at 6:30 tonight on the village green. Next up are readings at noon on Monday at Randolph’s Kimball Public Library, and at the Tunbridge Public Library at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, the anniversary of the day Douglass delivered the speech. For more information about seeing or participating in these and other readings around Vermont, visit vermonthumanities.org/event/reading-frederick-douglass-2016.
Pianist Jonathan Kaplan plays jazz at the Canoe Club in Hanover tonight at 6:30. Following him to the stage with 6:30 to 9:30 shows over the coming week are guitarist Tom Pirozzoli on Friday, folk-rock chameleon Jospeh Stallsmith, pianist Will Ogmundson on Tuesday and pianist Keith Bush on Wednesday. And on Monday night starting at 5:30, Marko the Magician performs his weekly, tableside sleight-of-hand.
Wichita Jack appears at Bentley’s restaurant in Woodstock tonight at 8.
∎ The Jerrymanders play a set of rock at Jesse’s restaurant in Hanover on Friday night starting at 5.
The duo of Don & Jenn plays indie pop, jazz and folk at Colatina Exit in Bradford on Friday night starting at 7.
Bassist Peter Concilio, tenor saxophonist Fred Haas, keyboard player-singer Bob Merrill and drummer Pete Michellini join forces Friday night at 8 for a session of jazz at the Skunk Hollow Tavern in Hartland Four Corners.
Muddy Ruckus performs Americana, Gypsy swing and punk at Salt hill Pub’s Shanty venue in Newbury, N.H., on Sunday afternoon at 4.
Copilot pulls into Windsor Station to perform Americana music on Tuesday night at 6.
Ramunto’s Brick & Brew Pizza in Bridgewater hosts an open mic starting at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays. Participants get a free large cheese pizza.
String players of all ages and abilities are welcome at the weekly acoustic jam session at South Royalton’s BALE Commons on Friday night from 6:30 to 10.
Joe Stallsmith leads a weekly hootenanny of Americana, folk and bluegrass at Salt hill Pub in Hanover on Monday nights at 6.
∎ Bradford’s Colatina Exit holds an open mic on Tuesday nights at 8.
The Seven Barrel Brewery in West Lebanon runs an open mic on Tuesday nights, beginning at 8.
∎ Jim Yeager hosts an open mic at Hartland’s Skunk Hollow Tavern at 8:30 on Wednesday nights.
David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com and at 603-727-3304.