Mount Holyoke College Department of Music

03/07/2026

03/06/2026

Join the Jazz Ensembles of Mount Holyoke College in their annual trip back through time to the 1940's! The Big Band, Chamber and Vocal Jazz Ensembles present music from the American Popular Songbook. Created and directed by Mark Gionfriddo and hosted by WWLP-TV 22's Brian Lapis, it's a beloved tradition celebrating its 21st anniversary this year. Sponsors: 22News/CW Springfield, the Republican/MassLive, NEPM, Reminder Publications, PeoplesBank, and Loomis Communities. Tickets: $25 VIP/$20 GA/$10 SS
(Snow Date if needed: Sunday, March 8)

03/02/2026

Classical music practices in Africa predated colonial rule. Elitism, canonicity, sustainability, institutionalization, and the capability of a musical genre to gain widespread recontextualization are embedded in indigenous African traditions, as illustrated in Kora music, the focus of this year’s edition of the African art music conversation series. The Kora is a 21-string harp lute played by Mande indigenous professional musicians, known as Jali or Jalolu (plural). In addition to advising, critiquing, and praising political leaders, the Jalolu are regarded as distinguished oral historians whose performances help to preserve ancient records of social and political life. This year’s event will feature one of the most influential performers of the tradition, Yacouba Sissoko, from Mali. He will be accompanied by a second player on N'goni. Yacouba Sissoko will also participate in a Q&A moderated by Bode Omojola. Refreshments will be provided. Funded by: Department of Music, Mount Holyoke College. Five College Lecture Fund. Department of Music, Amherst College. Department of Music, Smith College.

02/28/2026

Come check it out - Sunday in McCulloch!

02/26/2026

The Mount Holyoke College Choral Forces present their winter concert, featuring music by Arianne Abela, Claude Debussy, Elaine Hagenberg, Joan Szymko, Eric Whitacre, and Paul Williams & Kenneth Ascher, plus the winners of the second installment of the Pioneering Voices Choral Series Composition Competition.

02/24/2026

The Mount Holyoke Symphony Orchestra, welcomes Lucas Bouk, for a program of transformations, from Peteris’ Vasks haunting Symphony No.1 focusing on global change, concluding with Bedrich Smetana’s iconic tone poem depicting the Vltava or the Moldau river as it flows through the Czech Republic.

02/24/2026

The show may be over, but take a look at the Figaro Files Website, a website created by MHC students as a companion guide to the opera!

02/10/2026

Memories from Five College Opera's 'The Marriage of Figaro'! Congrats for a wonderful production to everyone involved!

02/08/2026

Don't miss this weekend's Five College Opera production of Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro.' We are very proud of our Mount Holyoke students involved, including the students who created a companion website to the production with Professor Adeline Mueller! This companion website will take you on a tour of the characters, costumes, historical references, and highlights of Mozart and da Ponte’s enduring opera buffa. Meet the cast and creatives, find out which Figaro character matches your personality, and hear some of Mozart’s effervescent music for the story of four pairs of lovers sorting themselves out over one “crazy day”!

Get Tickets Here: https://commons.mtholyoke.edu/figarofiles/

10/17/2025

Calling all music history enthusiasts! Happening this weekend, as a part of the Early Music Exploration series, a collaborative concert is coming to Northampton. Featuring local musicians Tim Eriksen, Loren Ludwig, Alice Robbins, Allison Monroe, and Nate Steele - you are invited to learn the stories behind music from the Connecticut River Valley and make your own!

Date, Time, and Location:
October 19, 1-3 pm, Sweeney Concert Hall, Smith College

Sliding Scale Admission:
$15: Discounted Ticket for those on restricted incomes
$25: Regular Ticket
$50: Stretch Ticket for those who wish to support the full cost of this program
$0: Mass Cultural Council Card to Culture Program for EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare cardholders

08/28/2025

Auditions for singers for this year’s Five College Opera, “The Marriage of Figaro,” take place on September 5th from 3:30pm-6:00pm in MHC’s McCulloch Auditorium.

For more information and updates, follow the link/QR code to https://www.fivecolleges.edu/five-college-opera or email [email protected]

Hope to see you there!