11th annual Stars and Stripes Concert in Rangeley is July 1
RANGELEY – Sunday, July 1, 2018 at 4 p.m. at Church of the Good Shepherd in Rangeley, Robert and Nancy Ludwig will present their Eleventh Annual Stars and Stripes Concert. These hour-long popular concerts feature the Ludwigs performing a varied program of classical and popular music on the church’s Allen organ and Mason and Hamlin grand piano, and always conclude with an inspiring patriotic sing-a-long honoring the various branches of the Armed Forces and the United States.
This year’s concert will include selections by Bach and Mendelssohn as well as American music by Leonard Bernstein, Bangor Symphony Orchestra conductor Lucas Richman, and Wake Forest University composer Dan Locklair.
Robert and Nancy Ludwig have had careers as directors of music in some of the country’s most notable settings for church music. Their professional work has taken them from training and degrees at Davidson College, the Curtis Institute of Music, and Yale University to academic and church positions in Connecticut, Kentucky and New York. Longtime summer visitors to the Rangeley area, they got a camp at Loon Lake fourteen years ago and in 2012 moved to Bangor so that they could spend more time in Rangeley. Since that time, they have served as Directors of Music at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Bangor and also Artistic Director and Accompanist of the Bangor Area Children’s Choir. This June they retired from those positions and are now full-time residents of Dallas Plantation and Robert begins as Director of Music at Church of the Good Shepherd on June 24.
The July 1 concert is free, but donations will be gratefully received and 100 percent of contributions will go to the Hurricane Relief Fund of Episcopal Relief and Development, to support affected communities in the Caribbean and US.
After the concert, Robert Ludwig wrote to Lucas Richman:
“I wanted to let you know that I played “The Brentwood Rag” and “Comedy Cakewalk” at a piano and organ concert yesterday afternoon. Both were received with enthusiastic applause – especially The Brentwood Rag. I told the audience I would let you know that you got a bigger ovation than Bach! “