Wooster Music Club opens new season

The Wooster Music Club held its first meeting of the 2024-25 season on Sept. 3 with President Kathy Helmuth welcoming club members and guests.

The performance segment of the meeting started with excerpts from each season of “The Four Seasons” by Antonio Vilvaldi, performed by Meg Litteral on piano and her student Lydia Roggio on violin. Roggio is 14 years old and has been studying violin with Litteral for six years.

Next on the program was Annie Gerig on English horn, accompanied by Myra Leeper. After performing Telemann’s “Patita 1” (Arias 1, 4 and 5), they played the “Love Theme” from the 1988 Italian movie, “Cinema Paradiso,” by Andrea and Ennio Morricone.

Eric Fairhurst played baritone saxophone, and Leeper provided piano accompaniment for “Pavane” (Pour Une Infante Defunte) by Maurice Ravel, arranged by Harry Bettoney. The original version of “Pavane” was written in 1899 for piano and was dedicated to the Princess Edmond de Polognac.

“Earth” by Takatsugu Muramatsu was performed by Kathy Hellmuth on flute and Mary-Marie Deauclaire on piano. Muramatsu also composes for movies and TV shows. This particular piece invokes thoughts of mountains, fields and soaring birds.

Joan Swartz completed the performance segment with poetry readings from “Earth Prayers from Around the World,” edited by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amadon. One poem reflected on the season of autumn and the other on the human tendency to worry.

The Wooster Music Club meets the first Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. from September through May, with the exception of January and February, in Wesley Hall in the Wooster United Methodist Church. Guests are welcome.