World-class piano, April Jazz Jam with TURNmusic at The Phoenix
April 10, 2026 | By Anne Decker
TURNmusic welcomes pianist Michael Arnowitt for a concert April 12 at The Phoenix Gallery and Music Hall. Courtesy photo
Vermont favorite Michael Arnowitt returns to the state to perform a piano concert of lively, evocative, and emotionally moving music on Sunday, April 12, at 4 p.m. at The Phoenix Gallery and Music Hall in Waterbury.
His program features a set of compositions by Claude Debussy. The classic “From Dawn to Noon on the Sea” from La Mer, full of the sonorous and colorful impressionist music Debussy is most famous for, while the prelude “The Interrupted Serenade” shows that Debussy was also very much a people person, as the music vividly depicts personalities in a scene, conversing and displaying their human emotions and foibles.
Other highlights include music from the piano sonatas of George Walker, showcasing the dynamic, sparkling, and powerful music of this outstanding composer. Walker was the first Black-American concert pianist in the period after World War II to perform the major piano concertos with America’s leading symphony orchestras.
Arnowitt will present Olivier Messiaen’s “The Reed Warbler,” from the composer’s Catalog of Birds collection, which wonderfully evokes scenes of nature and bird song, as well as Canadian musician John Kameel Farah’s “Little Beginning,” which creatively blends the style of the Renaissance composer William Byrd with elements from Middle Eastern musical traditions.
More recent compositions on Arnowitt’s program include an excerpt from U.K. composer George Benjamin’s spacious and beautiful “Sortileges,” the present-day Ukrainian composer Victoria Poleva’s spiritual, dramatic, and expressive “Sonata Quasi Una Fantasia,” and his own well-received creation “The Stream,” based on a reflective and meditative selection from Bach’s Well-Tempered Keyboard.
The concert also will present poetic, nostalgic, and even jazzy selections by Prokofiev written during World War II when the Russian composer was evacuated far from the front lines, and the exciting finale to Bartok’s Sonata for piano, a spirited piece influenced by the folk melodies and rhythms of Bartok’s native Hungary.
After living in Central Vermont from 1985 to 2017, Arnowitt immigrated to Canada, where he now lives primarily in Toronto, and part-time in Marshfield, Vermont.
Details: Concert is at 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 12. Admission: $15-30 on a sliding scale; under 21 free. Find more information and tickets in advance online at sevendaystickets.com.
April 15: Jazz Jam hosted by Nina Towne
April’s TURNmusic Jazz Jam hosted by Nina Towne takes place on Wednesday, April 15, from 6 to 9 p.m. at The Phoenix Gallery and Music Hall.
This regular get-together promises surprises and familiarity, giving jazz players and singers of all ages – from students to elders – a home base to gather and play, sing and enjoy jazz and socialize in an organized, relaxed, welcoming atmosphere.
Players join in on the songs others bring, and/or bring copies of sheet music for the tunes they want to call. Many tunes are called from The Real Books. Singers are asked to bring copies of lead sheets or sheet music for their tunes in their key.
Suggested admission: $10.
Anne Decker is the director of the nonprofit TURNmusic.