PUBLIC CONCERTS
Around Hear’s free, all-ages concert series brings terrific musicians and playfully varied chamber music to the Mystic Activity Center, in the heart of Somerville’s largest public housing facility.
We build each program to be vivid, surprising, and full of contrasts. Piano, strings, winds, and voices meet in different combinations, with music ranging across centuries, cultures, and styles. Alongside great works by composers both famous and overlooked, we commission brand-new music, create our own chamber-music arrangements, and bring together artists whose musical lives span classical, jazz, folk, experimental, and other traditions.
And the music rarely travels alone. Our concerts have included puppetry, dance, storytelling, poetry, video art, silent film, and artwork created by our audiences themselves. Around Hear violin and piano students often open the show, and drawing supplies and room to move are always available for anyone who likes to listen with more than their ears.
Our guest artists are exceptional musicians, but just as importantly, they are curious, generous performers who enjoy trying new things and connecting with audiences. That spirit of adventure is at the heart of every Around Hear concert.
And when the music is over, nobody has to rush home: we end our public concerts with pizza and time to eat, talk, and spend a little longer together.
Upcoming Concerts
Forget Me Not
SATURDAY, OCT. 3, 2026
2-3:30pm
Mystic Activity Center, 530 Mystic Ave. Somerville, MA
Let's spend an autumn day together exploring the music of three Czech composers, each with their own strong artistic signature, who are connected through a shared love of the folk song and dance traditions of their native land.
PROGRAM
Leoš Janáček - Moravian Dances for piano solo
Gideon Klein - String Trio
Antonín Dvořák - Piano Quartet No.1 in D Major
PERFORMERS
Marji Gere, violin
Jenn Chang, viola
Adrienne Taylor, cello
Dan Sedgwick, piano
Before this event, we will be sharing this concert program with seniors and people with disabilities at SHA residents at Properzi Manor, Bryant Manor, and Brady Towers.
Odd Couple
SATURDAY, DEC. 5, 2026
2-3:30pm
Mystic Activity Center, 530 Mystic Ave. Somerville, MA
This program is a celebration of the ties that bind sun to storm, story to sonata, violin to piano, skunk to...badger? Opposites attract in a program of joyous Schubert and furious Poldowski, alongside music by female songwriters of Tin Pan Alley and scenes from Amy Timberlake's hilarious and tender children's novel Skunk and Badger.
PROGRAM
Franz Schubert - Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major “Grand Duo”
Scenes from Skunk and Badger by Amy Timberlake,
interwoven with music by the women of Tin Pan Alley
Irène "Poldowski" Wieniawska - Sonata for Violin and Piano in D Minor
PERFORMERS
Will Green, tenor
Marji Gere, violin & drums
Dan Sedgwick, piano
Before this event, we will be sharing this concert program with 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders from the Arthur D. Healey School and seniors and people with disabilities at Properzi Manor, Bryant Manor, and Brady Towers.