Guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan: “It had to be a lullaby, not a dance with the title ‘Lullaby.’ ” Kelly Davidson photograph
Aaron Larget-Caplan, New Lullaby Project, Nov. 17, Uphams Corner Branch of Boston Public Library, 500 Columbia Road, Dorchester
By Keith Powers
The last thing Aaron Larget-Caplan imagined was giving concerts for kids drinking hot cocoa in their jammies.
“I hated the idea of ‘tracks to relax,’ ” says the guitarist/composer. “But the project took on a life of its own.”
The New Lullaby Project, now more than five dozen compositions, began in 2007. The idea came simply: Larget-Caplan recorded a Cuban lullaby on his first LP, “and people really responded to it.
“So I started asking composers,” he says. “Three to five minutes, no more than two scordatura string adjustments. And it had to be a lullaby, not a dance with the title ‘Lullaby.’ ”
He has indeed given concerts to jammikins, and adult-hour nighty-nights as well. And just plain concerts, and a made few recordings. He’s collected scores into anthologies.
The next concert of new lullabies, the fifth and final of a free series, comes on the 17th in Uphams Corner, and includes works by Curtis Hughes, Francine Trester, Anthony Green, Laurie Spiegel, Larget-Caplan himself, and others.
“I did a New Lullaby album in 2010, and I thought the project would be over,” he says. “It was not. I kept receiving them—microtonal, 12-tone, contrapuntal, tonal, minimalist—it’s an interesting exploration. I’m not asking for a fugue or a sonata, and I get them from students, from audience members. I’ll get to number 71 in October.
“It’s been a labor of love, but I wouldn’t call it a sacrifice,” he says. “And it’s been exciting to have audiences for it.”
Guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan performs his New Lullaby Project on Nov. 17 at 5:30 p.m. in the Uphams Corner Branch of Boston Public Library, 500 Columbia Road, Dorchester. He also performs with the Convergence Ensemble Nov. 20 at St. Mary’s Church in Uphams Corner, playing music of Celso Ribeiro, Larsen, Read and Dyens.
CoOS, Criers, Sarasa, Orpheus/Hewitt: Chamber Music Events, Nov. 17 through 22
Castle of Our Skins continues an impressively active fall, playing works by Moore, Taylor-Perkinson, Brown, Hailstork and Dawson, interspersed with poetry by Angel C. Dye, at the Boston Athenaeum on the 17th and in New York at the Schomburg Center on the 18th. A separate ensemble of CoOS members performs on the 27th at Tanglewood, in the Linde Center.
Boston Artists Ensemble plays Mendelssohn and Schumann trios on the 18th in Salem’s Hamilton Hall. Pianist Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta and flutist Orlando Cela perform Peruvian inspired music on the 18th at Arlington Town Hall.
More south of the border: A Far Cry performs Full Ensemble, a suite of early Mexican music arranged by Crier Alex Fortes, on the 18th at Jordan Hall. Palaver Strings gives a fascinating recital on the 18th in Rockport Music’s Shalin Liu Performance Center, centered around Mary Lou Williams’s Zodiac Suite. Family Ball—a staged creation of pianist/composer Jason Moran and mezzo/composer Alicia Hall Moran—examines pandemic relationships on the 18th and 19th at the Institute of Contemporary Art.
Some nice events in Worcester. Music Worcester presents pianist Simone Dinnerstein with cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach at Tuckerman Hall on the 19th, Bach gamba sonatas. Competing on the 19th, gambist Andrew Arceci performs Renaissance repertory with soprano Elizabeth Hungerford at Trinity Lutheran Church in Worcester.
Sarasa Chamber Music performs Beethoven and Brahms (with clarinetist Eric Thomas) on Nov. 19 at Harvard-Epworth Church and Nov. 20 in Lexington.
Angela Hewitt performs Bach harpsichord concertos with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra—marking its 50th season—on the 19th, part of Rockport Music’s classical season. The Chameleon Arts Ensemble has concerts on the 19th and 20th at First Church in Boston—the complete Brandenburgs, continuing its 25th anniversary season.
In addition to his Lullaby projects performance on the 17th, guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan joins the Convergence Ensemble for duo and trios on the 20th in Uphams Corner. Orlando Consort sings Renaissance songs on the 20th at the Gardner Museum. Boston Chamber Music Society performs at First Church in Cambridge on the 20th. Orion Chamber Ensemble—pianist Randall Hodgkinson, violinist Peter Zazofsky and cellist Ronald Lowry—plays trios at Carter Memorial United Methodist Church in Needham on the 20th.
Duo Maresienne performs English Renaissance lute music on the 20th at the Somerville Museum. Borromeo String Quartet has its first official concert with new violist Melissa Reardon on the 20th at NEC’s Burnes Hall (Haydn/Bartok series, part 2). Period ensemble Eudaimonia and bass clarinet ensemble Improbable Beasts share a bill (looks like fun) on the 20th at United Parish in Brookline. Flutists Tim Macri and Vanessa Holroyd team up for midday duets on the 22nd at King’s Chapel in Boston.
Nov. 27 through Dec. 2
Concord Chamber Music Society hosts the Escher Quartet, playing Janacek, Beethoven and Brahms, on the 27th. Intriguing pianist Vikingur Ólafsson makes a Celebrity Series debut on the 29th at Longy (music from his recording Mozart & Contemporaries). The Boston Early Music Festival chamber opera series returns Thanksgiving weekend (26th, 27th) with Lully’s Idylle sur la Paix and Charpentier’s La Fête de Rueil at Jordan Hall.
Not live but lively: Guerilla Opera has transformed itself in the past few years, and starts its 16th season with the Emergent Festival (Nov. 29 through Dec. 2), four streaming programs on consecutive evenings. Included are a performance of Elena Ruehr/Royce Vavrek’s The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage (30th), and Bahar Royaee’s Salt (Dec. 1).