Bangor

Bangor Symphony Orchestra

The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded the Bangor Symphony Orchestra a $10,000 Access to Artistic Excellence grant in support of the BSO-Kruger Brothers’ world premiere concert presentation.

“Music from the Spring: A Romantic Serenade for Banjo, Guitar, Bass and Orchestra” by Jens Kruger will be performed June 2 at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono.

“The Bangor Symphony Orchestra is honored to be the orchestra with whom the Kruger Brothers chose to work in bringing this new form of music to life,” said BSO Executive Director Susan Jonason. “We are thrilled that this special collaboration has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts for its significance to the music world.”

As part of the BSO-Kruger Brothers collaboration, the orchestra has developed the outreach program Strings Attached, which brings classical and traditional musicians into classrooms.

This fall, the Kruger Brothers visited students at Bangor High School and Kermit Nickerson School in Swanville. They also gave a special concert at the Bangor Opera House in November in support of the orchestra’s music education programs.

During the spring of 2007, more outreach performances are scheduled in Bangor, Ellsworth, Farmington and Kingfield, with the Krugers, the Abbott Hill Ramblers from Dexter, the Bangor Fiddlers and BSO musicians working together.

On the national music scene, Jens Kruger is a featured guest artist on Natalie MacMaster’s new CD, “Yours Truly,” which also includes guest appearances by former Doobie Brothers member Michael McDonald and cellist Rushad Eggleston. The latest Kruger Brothers CD recording will be released by Double Time Music Inc. in early 2007.

Originally from Switzerland, the Kruger Brothers have been performing professionally since 1973. In the early 1990s, after playing together in various formations throughout Europe, Uwe Kruger on guitar and Jens Kruger on banjo teamed up with bassist Joel Landsberg to form the band as it appears today.

The Krugers have appeared regularly in the United States since 1997 at many prestigious events and numerous festivals including Merlefest, Doc Watson Music Fest, Wayne Henderson Festival and Walnut Valley Festival.

During the summer of 2006, the Kruger Brothers performed with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra at Kingfield Pops and at Camden Pops.

Hundreds of arts council and theater concerts, plus appearances on national and international radio and television, have earned the Krugers the love of audiences and the respect of the music industry worldwide.

For more information on the world premiere of “Music from the Spring,” visit bangorsymphony.com or call 942-5555 or (800) 639-3221.

Simulated space mission

The Challenger Learning Center will hold a public mission 6-8:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 29, at 30 Venture Way, off Maine Avenue.

The shuttle is ready for launch – are you on board? Invite your friends and family to join you in flying a simulated space mission. Work as a NASA engineer or a scientist on the space station or in mission control.

The fee is $18 for adults, $15 for students. Children must be 10 or older, and those under 14 must be accompanied by an adult. Make reservations at 990-2900.

BSO string auditions

The Bangor Symphony Orchestra will hold string auditions at 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 27, at the Maine Center for the Arts, University of Maine, Orono.

Positions available are: principal viola; contracted seats in the violin, viola and cello sections; and substitute positions in the bass section.

Contracted musicians are paid on a per-service basis, with mileage and housing arrangements included.

The Bangor Symphony Orchestra season includes six classical concerts, “The Nutcracker” ballet, three youth concerts, summer pops and other special events.

For audition requirements, audition location and more information, call Surya Mitchell at 942-5555 or (800) 639-3221, or e-mail surya@bangorsymphony.com.

Poetry reading

A poetry reading featuring poets Christian Barter and David Brainerd will take place 10-11 p.m. New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, at Lippincott Books, 36 Central St.

Christian Barter’s first collection of poetry, “The Singers I Prefer,” was nominated for The Poets’ Prize for the best collection of American poetry for 2005.

His work has been featured on Garrison Keillor’s “The Writers Almanac” and in Poets & Writers magazine, which named Barter one of 18 young poets who “made a splash” in American poetry in 2005.

David Brainerd is the author of several chapbooks, including “A Turn of the Wheel” and “Under the Gold Sun.”

Of the second, the Bangor Daily News wrote that these poems contain “images that accumulate into atmospheres with Asian, almost Buddhist concreteness … contain genuine reverence, clownishness and contemplation.”

Copies of their books will be available for signing. For information, call 942-4398.

Cohen Papers exhibit

The new traveling exhibit extracted from the University of Maine’s William S. Cohen Papers collection, featuring facsimiles of photographs, handwritten notes, speeches and campaign memorabilia from the former congressman’s political papers, is on display at the Bangor Public Library through Wednesday, Jan. 17.

The exhibit illuminates the way Congress was designed to work and what politicians actually do on a day-to-day basis in Washington, as documented by the Bangor native and former U.S. secretary of defense.

Titled “Cohen, Congress and Controversy: Rediscovering Civics in the Archives,” the six-panel exhibit is intended to bring the legislative branch into focus.

Topics include Cohen’s successful 1972 bid for Maine’s second congressional district seat, the powers of Congress granted by the Constitution, the busy life of a senator as portrayed in Cohen’s book about his first year there, and the oversight role of Congress, illustrated with documents from the Watergate and Iran-Contra investigations.

The freestanding exhibit includes interactive panels designed to appeal to young children.

“The Cohen Papers are open for research,” said Raymond H. Fogler Library Dean Joyce Rumery. “This traveling exhibit invites people all across Maine to glimpse the richness of the collection.”

In 1996, Cohen donated his political papers and 1,500 boxes of documents and photographs to Fogler Library’s Special Collections. In 2001, he added a selection of Department of Defense material on 16 compact discs. The University of Maine’s College of Business, Public Policy and Health also is home to the William S. Cohen Center for International Policy and Commerce.

The exhibit has traveled to venues along the route of Cohen’s celebrated 1972 campaign walk from the New Hampshire border to Fort Kent. The first stop was the Bethel Historical Society on July 25. The exhibit moved to the Wilton Free Public Library in early September, and to the Lewiston Public Library in October.

After Jan. 17, the exhibit returns to the Orono campus, where it will be displayed from Jan. 17 through Feb. 7 on the second-floor balcony of the Donald P. Corbett Business Building. From Feb. 7 through March 1, the exhibit will be displayed in the lobby area of Fogler Library’s mall entrance.

Information about the exhibit and its schedule may be found by visiting www.library.umaine.

edu/cohen, by calling Paige Lilly at 581-2665 or by e-mailing paige.lilly@umit.maine.edu.

Brewer

Christmas tree drop-off

The city of Brewer will allow residents to drop off Christmas trees free at the Brewer landfill on Elm Street during its regular hours, or at the Brewer Auditorium inside the lower gate off Wilson Street. Trees will be accepted only before Monday, Jan. 23.

The Brewer Public Works Department will pick up trees at the auditorium at least once a week until Jan. 22.

Regular curbside trash pickup will not take trees, nor will city crews pick up trees curbside.