MacDowell Downtown Series Featuring Composer and Pianist Pamela Madsen
Friday, September 5, 2025
7:30 pm
Location
19 Grove Street, Peterborough, NH
Price
Free
MacDowell Downtown Series Featuring Composer and Pianist Pamela Madsen
Overview
Join us Friday, September 5 at 7:30pm for MacDowell Downtown: In America: Modjeska! an evening with composer, pianist, and writer Pamela Madsen.
Pamela will share excerpts and insights from her new concerto-aria inspired by Helena Modjeska, a Polish immigrant and Shakespearean actress whose star was rising in the same era as Edward and Marian MacDowell. Madsen’s working method begins with archival research, which she then translates into music and story. With the Modjeska piece, she weaves together themes of immigration, legacy, and sense of home. She will present pieces from her song cycle Tesknota (“Longing”) and perform piano interludes inspired by MacDowell’s Woodland Sketches.
Having returned to Peterborough from California for her second Fellowship, Madsen is extending her lifelong passion for amplifying the voices of women artists, inviting us into her layered creative process, grounded in deep listening and historical research.
Don’t miss this opportunity to experience this combination of narrative, recordings, and live piano performance by one of today’s most thoughtful and innovative composers.
Event Details:
Monadnock Center for History and Culture
Friday, September 5 | 7:30 p.m.
Free and open to the public –RSVP here
More info: [email protected]
MacDowell Downtown is held at the Monadnock Center for History and Culture in Peterborough. The free series of presentations by MacDowell Fellows is open to the public. It takes place on the first Friday of the month from March to November. Each season of MacDowell Downtown features a wide array of programming, including film screenings, readings, artist talks, interviews, musical performances, and more.
Pamela will share excerpts and insights from her new concerto-aria inspired by Helena Modjeska, a Polish immigrant and Shakespearean actress whose star was rising in the same era as Edward and Marian MacDowell. Madsen’s working method begins with archival research, which she then translates into music and story. With the Modjeska piece, she weaves together themes of immigration, legacy, and sense of home. She will present pieces from her song cycle Tesknota (“Longing”) and perform piano interludes inspired by MacDowell’s Woodland Sketches.
Having returned to Peterborough from California for her second Fellowship, Madsen is extending her lifelong passion for amplifying the voices of women artists, inviting us into her layered creative process, grounded in deep listening and historical research.
Don’t miss this opportunity to experience this combination of narrative, recordings, and live piano performance by one of today’s most thoughtful and innovative composers.
Event Details:
Monadnock Center for History and Culture
Friday, September 5 | 7:30 p.m.
Free and open to the public –RSVP here
More info: [email protected]
MacDowell Downtown is held at the Monadnock Center for History and Culture in Peterborough. The free series of presentations by MacDowell Fellows is open to the public. It takes place on the first Friday of the month from March to November. Each season of MacDowell Downtown features a wide array of programming, including film screenings, readings, artist talks, interviews, musical performances, and more.