Three kilt-wearing, bagpipe-playing men filed into the concert hall at the Mahaney Center for the Arts on Friday, March 18, starting off the St. Patrick’s Day Concert in style. Middlebury’s Alexander Twilight Artist-in-Residence Francois Clemmons joined them, dressed for the occasion in a kelly-green shirt, black suspenders, a black kilt, tall yellow polka dot socks and a black beret fitted with a crown. Clemmons created the event, which celebrated its eighth anniversary this year.
“I started this series of concerts because, [as] I looked around when I arrived in Middlebury as Alexander Twilight Artist-In-Residence, I didn’t hear or see a broad way of celebrating this wonderful holiday except by going to a local bar and drinking green beer,” Clemmons said. “After only one beer, that’s no fun to me!”
After its first year, the event progressively expanded to include more students and community members. Bagpiper Andy Collins ’12 has been a part of the St. Patrick’s Day Concert for three years, but Friday night’s event was not his first of the year.
“My favorite piping performance at Middlebury is when I commit ‘random acts of piping’ around campus on St. Patrick’s Day each year,” he said.
Collins also had more to celebrate than just St. Patrick’s Day on Friday. After giving the audience a brief welcome to the event, Clemmons invited everyone to sing “Happy Birthday” to Collins, who turned 21.
The concert formally began with Affiliate Artist Tim Cummings, Elias Alexander ’12 and Collins playing traditional Irish songs on bagpipes. Local Celtic harpist Margie Bekoff later joined Clemmons onstage.
Discussing his song choice, Clemmons described the personal connection he feels with Irish music.
“I feel that these songs ar e a not-so-distant cousin to American Negro Spirituals,” he said. “Both peoples have suffered a great deal, but nevertheless embody a universal and powerful message of hope.”
Bekoff performed solo pieces, followed by singer Carol Christensen and pianist Cynthia Huard’s renditions of traditional Irish music. Cummings and Alexander then played bellows-pipes and whistles.
Next came a change of pace, as local guitarist David Moore and fiddler Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki ’08 entered. Moore and Tirrell-Wysocki prefaced their music with an instruction to the audience to imagine that they were in an Irish pub. He encouraged the audience to take an active part in the music, and to feel free to express their connection with it in whichever ways they desired. The crowd willingly complied, clapping their hands and yelling out at particularly moving points.
After a sing-along portion led by Clemmons, Alexandra Siega ’12.5, the 2006 Irish Dancing National Champion, took the stage to perform.
“I love being able to share my passion with the community, and to contribute in my own way to Middlebury’s cultural diversity,” she said.
As the evening drew to a close, Clemmons bid farewell to the audience. Reflecting on this concert and many others, Clemmons expressed deep gratitude for his position within the College community.
“I feel that I’ve been given a lot of leeway by our administration to be creative and involved on campus as well as in the larger Vermont community,” he said. “I love this job.”
After the concert, Connor Wakayma ’14 expressed similar sentiments, when he said, “The Irish culture is not one I’m extremely familiar with, but it has a way of moving the heart to dance and sing.”
Francois Clemmons leads St. Patrick's Day concert
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