Milton Community Concerts 

The Dance Complex is a 25+ year old central hub of dance - locally, with connections to the New England region and in dialogue with the inter/national dance field. Milton Community Concerts is honored to have Ann Brown Allen, Ann Fonte, Kara Fili, Lindsay LaPointe, Irene Lutts, Hai Dang Nguyen and Lonnie Stanton performing for us at this concert.

                                          

The Dance Complex building, an 1884-circa Odd Fellow’s Hall in the heart of Central Square, Cambridge, is a home to a diverse range of movers and dancers. This unique arts center hosts professional, pre-professional, and recreational movers. All are able to find a variety of movement and dance classes to take their next step. All can access affordable studio space, and participate in programs to help strengthen their choreographic, performance, and production skills. Those who dance, teach and create within our studios receive valued space in a supportive environment.

   

We invite the community to join us for over 100 concerts a year in our theater and studios, and to celebrate with us in seasonal festivals that bring study, creation and performance together. Local artists perform alongside national guest artists in two theatre spaces. www.dancecomplex.org/ 

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Inspired by the natural beauty and brilliance of the constellation Lyra, Ensemble Lyrae brings together five uniquely and highly talented musicians. While each shines as a soloist, together, these women form deep connections in performing duets, trios, and quartets.

     

The pianist and four vocalists of Ensemble Lyrae seek to illuminate musical works often unknown or under-played. They also premiere cutting-edge pieces written specifically for the Ensemble and their remarkable sound.

     

Whether performing in a spacious concert hall or a more intimate salon-style setting at home, these captivating Boston-based musicians enliven the audience's senses, engage their imaginations, and invite them to live in a world of timeless beautiful sound. wwww.ensemblelyrae.org/

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Nyah K. Macklin is a dedicated and charismatic diversity and inclusion professional who has dedicated her life to creating and sustaining systems of education, government, and society that constantly critically engages and re-evaluates the ways they perpetuate the exclusion of historically underrepresented communities. Ms. Macklin specializes in holistic and programmatic reform where in her experience as a consultant, she has analyzed, designed, and implemented policies within institutions that center the empowerment and diversity of marginalized communities therefore strengthening all aspects (people and culture, operations, and revenue) of said institution. Prior to obtaining her degree in African and Afro-American Studies (from Brandeis University), Ms. Macklin studied in New Haven, CT’s public school system where she watched her fellow low-income Black and Latin-x students struggle to excel in educational environments where cuts to education budgets left students with tattered and outdated textbooks, overcrowded classrooms, and frequent engagement with the school-to-prison pipeline.  Her undergraduate studies and her background shaped her drive to re-examine policies that affect urban education, housing markets, and income inequalities, etc.   

      

Ms. Macklin is a Breakthrough Collaborative alumnae and teaching fellow alumnae, the 2015-2016 President of Brandeis University's Student Government, the first Black woman in the history of the university to serve as president of Brandeis University’s Student Government, one of four women of color to negotiate during a 12-day crisis occupation for the rights of 100 students of color that resulted in a thirteen-page, diversity and inclusion implementation plan for Brandeis University, serves on the board of the Black Alumni Network at Hopkins School where Ms. Macklin holds the position of Vice Chair, and is also a New Leader's Council-Boston alumni where she serves on the board as the Co-Chair of Admissions. She currently works as the Legislative Aide to a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and is a proud Dorchester resident. Add her on Instagram @ThatHoodPolitic or on Linkedin at Linkedin.com/in/NyahMacklin. 

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Soprano Jennifer Sgroe has performed across the US and at festivals in Finland, England and Austria in opera, recitals and on the concert stage at venues such as Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall, The Society for Ethical Culture and the United Nations. She specializes in contemporary American opera and repertoire of the Baroque and Classical eras.  Praised for her “patrician ease and polished vocal refinement’ by the Boston Music Intelligencer, Ms. Sgroe made her Jordan Hall debut with The Shakespeare Concerts in April 2017 and returned to Jordan Hall in March 2018 as the Soprano Soloist for Poulenc’s Gloria.  She gave the US Premiere of Jessica Rudman’s Trigger in Fall 2016 and has performed it multiple times since.  She is also the Hunsaker Soprano Soloist at First Parish. www.jennifersgroe.com

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Soprano Emily Tweedy has been hailed as “a delight”, “warm and inviting”, and Opera Today praised her voice for its “genuine beauty and control”. In the 2016-2017 season she made her role debut as Nannetta in Falstaff as well as covering the role of Zémire in Zémire et Azor with Opera Saratoga. Recent seasons have included appearances with Des Moines Metro Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Engagements for the 2017-2018 season include Haydn’s The Creation with Burnt Hills Oratorio Society, appearances with American Lyric Theater, Handel’s Messiah with Boston’s Eureka Ensemble, and appearances with Nashville Opera in Hercules vs. Vampires and Susannah. A Georgia native, Miss Tweedy earned the degree Master of Music at the New England Conservatory. https://www.facebook.com/emilytweedysoprano/

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