We are excited to announce our 2025 season, The Last Rose of Summer, an exploration of love in its many forms. This year, we reflect on the question: What, precisely, is a love song? We will examine the multifaceted nature of love—whether romantic, patriotic, familial, or rooted in our profound connection to nature—while exploring its complexities and the range of emotions it evokes, from ecstatic joy to longing, melancholy, and devotion. Throughout the season, we will consider how composers give voice to these intricate human feelings through their music.
The Last Rose of Summer will be a season filled with beauty, introspection, and emotion. We invite you to join us in celebrating music’s unique ability to express what words often cannot.
Stay tuned for additional details on programming, special events, and ticket information as we embark on a season that promises to touch hearts and inspire deep reflection on the many dimensions of love.
Live Through the Looking Glass
July 8, 2025 — 6:00 PM — Dreamland Studio Theater & Dreamland Harborview Room
In collaboration with Nantucket Dance Festival
An intimate performance exploring the collaboration between dance, live music and the different styles that will be presented in the final Festival performance. This presentation will allow audiences to get an understanding of how ballet, tap, ballroom, krump, theater & modern dancers respond to rhythm, stay inspired and approach their art.
Join us afterwards for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres overlooking the harbor, with some music and ballroom dancing to accompany the view.
NDF Benefit Performance
July 12, 2025 — 6:00 PM - Mary P. Walker Auditorium
In collaboration with Nantucket Dance Festival
The Rossini Club will be participating in the Nantucket Dance Festival’s final performance - a culmination of the week long Festival’s events and a chance to catch stellar artists doing what they do best.
Special Free Screening: Ned Rorem in Paris
August 18, 2025 — 7:00 PM — Nantucket Dreamland Theater
This special presentation is underwritten by Cecilia Johnson and friends of the Rossini Club.
A tribute in film & music ~ From the provocative pages of composer/writer Ned Rorem’s 1950’s Paris Diary~ the dashing young artist’s self-portrait in words and music. Film by Susan Sandler and live performance by The Rossini Club.
~Live performance by The Rossini Club of early works by Ned Rorem: Pianist Wesley Ducote, soprano Christine Honein, clarinetist Nick Davies
“Ned Rorem’s diaries are an incomparable resource, certainly the fullest version of a composer’s daily life we have, and perhaps the most vivid self-portrait there is of a contemporary creative artist. Work and play, professional and social duties, the network of lovers and contacts, the underworld of desire and ambition, the buzz of scandal and rumor, the hangovers, the pettiness, the glamour, the bright rush of ideas.”
~ The Paris Review
Ned Rorem, hailed as “the world’s best composer of art songs” (Time magazine), is celebrated for his immense catalog of musical compositions, as well as his acclaimed body of literary writing: sixteen books, including five volumes of diaries and collections of lectures and criticism. Recipient of a Pulitzer Prize and GRAMMY Award—Rorem’s music includes three symphonies, four piano concertos, and an array of other orchestral works; music for numerous combinations of chamber music; ten operas; choral works of every description; ballets and other music for the theater; and literally hundreds of songs and cycles.
Susan Sandler’s work spans both fiction and non-fiction, including the screenplay for the Golden Globe nominated Crossing Delancey which she adapted from her own play of the same title and which recently joined the Criterion Collection; and the award-winning Friends At Last starring Kathleen Turner and Sarah Paulson, as well as projects for Sony, Twentieth Century Studios, Disney, TNT, and Columbia. She directed and produced the feature documentary Julia Scotti: Funny That Way, streaming now on Amazon and Apple TV. She is on the faculty of NYU Film & TV where she guides the Fusion Film Festival.
From then til’ Now
August 20, 2025 — 6:30 PM — The Nantucket Atheneum
Join us for a special tribute concert celebrating the music of Boston-based composer Howard Frazin, as we explore the unique relationship between lyric poetry and the sung word. This evening features soprano Christine Honein and pianist Wesley Ducote, who will perform a collection of Frazin’s art-songs written over the span of nearly three decades (1996–2023). These songs set some of the most evocative poems of celebrated poets like E.E. Cummings, Theodore Roethke, William Blake, and Langston Hughes, capturing the depth and beauty of their words.
In addition to Frazin’s works, the program will feature art songs by French masters Maurice Ravel, Gabriel Fauré, and Lili Boulanger, whose music served as key influences on Frazin’s style.
This concert promises to be an introspective and nostalgic evening, where the past and present of the art song come together to illuminate the timeless power of poetry and music.
Rossini Club 2025 Showcase Concert
August 23, 2025 — 6:30 PM — The Nantucket Atheneum
Join us for a special evening of solo performances from our incredible cast of musicians. This concert offers a unique opportunity to get to know our artists on a more personal level, and to witness the magic that happens when they step into the spotlight and show off a bit. After the performance, stick around to chat with us about the festival, this season’s exciting lineup, and discover more about who we are and what fuels our passion for music. It’s the perfect chance to connect, celebrate the artistry that makes the Rossini Club so special, and share in the joy of live performance.
Meet & Greet
August 25, 2025 — 6:30 PM — Nantucket Atheneum
Our annual Meet & Greet gives our audience a chance to explore the music of this season with attention to the history, context and inner workings of the pieces we love to perform. This year we explore the lasting connections between music of the Baroque era by J.S. Bach, Dietrich Buxtehude and Henry Purcell vis-a-vis chamber music of the modern era, including our featured composer Sarah Gibson and Rossini Club director Nick Davies.
Come curious, as we’ll be taking your questions for our esteemed guest artists!
Annual Summer Gala: The Truth About Love
August 26, 2025 — St. Paul’s Church of Nantucket, Rectory
Come celebrate the lively and heartfelt cabaret music of the 20th century at our annual Summer Gala! Join tenor Benjamin Boskoff for an evening of uproarious tunes and earnest ballads. Support your favorite local chamber music group while enjoying an unforgettable night of friends, libations, and — of course — the truth about love. Don't miss out on this festive and fun-filled celebration!
Hearth & Homeland
August 27, 2025 —6:30 PM — St. Paul’s Church of Nantucket
Love of country has long been a powerful cultural force, shaping everything from personal identity to politics and art. This concert delves into the varied portrayals of Eastern Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries, as expressed through the music of three of the region's most renowned composers: Shostakovich, Dvořák, and Khachaturian. Soviet era composers, such as Aram Khachaturian and Dmitri Shostakovich, found themselves grappling with questions of cultural identity and its place in a collectivist society, while also reflecting the profound sense of isolation that marked this repressive time. Looking further back to the 19th century, Antonín Dvořák used his compositions to celebrate his Czech heritage, drawing inspiration from the rich folk traditions and national music of his homeland.
Sounds and Sweet Airs
August 30, 2025 — 6:30 PM — St. Paul’s Church of Nantucket
Inspired by Caliban’s iconic soliloquy from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, this unique concert invites you to immerse yourself in the sounds and sweet airs of our island, where music mirrors the beauty, violence, and dream-like qualities of the natural world. The first half transports us to England, featuring the evocative music of Baroque master Henry Purcell and selections from Thomas Adès' contemporary opera based on The Tempest, both of which capture the ethereal and tempestuous spirit of Shakespeare's play.
In the second half, we journey to nature itself, with works that evoke its primal power and pastoral beauty. Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Quintette em forma de chôros channels the raw energy of nature through its primitivist style, while Robert Schumann’s Waldszenen (Scenes from the Forest) offers a whimsical, almost dream-like exploration of the forest’s quiet beauty. Together, these pieces reflect the paradox of humanity’s relationship with nature: both a part of it and yet distanced from it, caught in a world where both violence and tranquility coexist.
This concert celebrates the love of music, nature, and the dream-like qualities that weave them together into a seamless, transcendent experience.
The Heart of the Matter
August 29, 2025 — 6:30 PM — Nantucket Dreamland
August 31, 2025 — 2:00 PM — Nantucket Dreamland
"Still falls the rain," writes Edith Sitwell, capturing the haunting aftermath of post-Blitz London. This poignant poem was later set to music by English composer Benjamin Britten in his Canticle III for tenor, horn, and piano—a powerful meditation on the horrors of war and the violence inflicted upon the innocent. From this seed, the Rossini Club and tenor Benjamin Boskoff have crafted a theatrical evening that pays tribute to the resilience of the human spirit.
The performance will feature a curated selection of music from early 20th-century Britain, alongside works by Mahler, Shostakovich, Berlioz, and others, creating a narrative that reflects the deep scars and enduring hope of a world reshaped by conflict. This special evening has been designed exclusively by the Rossini Club for our second staged collaboration with the Nantucket Dreamland.