The Millay Sisters

FARMINGTON — A rousing and inspiring performance of the Millay Sisters Cabaret will be offered at the Old North Church, 118 High St., following a musical opening act at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 3. The performance will follow the story of Edna St. Vincent Millay and her sisters.

Dana Maiben

In this performance, the middle sister, Norma Millay, shares the story of her sister, Vincent, who grew up in Camden and who became an American icon. Through Norma’s eyes, the audience witnesses Vincent’s life and work in vivid detail, beginning with her upbringing when she was, at times, left alone by her working single mother in charge of her two younger sisters, Norma and Kathleen.

In this household, literature, music and creative independence were stimulated and Vincent and Norma grew especially close to each other while Kathleen was both cherished and challenged in the shadow of her famous sister. Meet the famous one, the charming one, and the one they left behind!

The music and songs in the performance are drawn from the American Songbook, sung by the Millay girls at the turn of the 20th century.

As an opening for the Millay Sisters Cabaret, soprano Christien Beeuwkes and ac-companist and composer Dana Maiben will give the premiere performance of a song cycle by Maiben, titled “Love Is Not All — Six Poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay.” The musical settings of the songs draw on styles that would have been familiar to Millay, from neo-classical to Broadway and jazz.

Christien Beeuwkes

Longtime professional actors and singers, Rachel Murdy and Margi Shaw Douglas conceived and created the Millay Sisters Cabaret 12 years ago to keep the spirit and the words of Millay ringing. Szep, co-creator of the New York Opera Alliance and creator of the Indie Opera Podcast, joined the cabaret as musical director and accompanist in 2012. They have performed the show at numerous venues in New York City, as well as in other places, including Stonington, Maine, and Orlando, Florida.

Maiben, composer, pianist, violinist and conductor, won the 2018 Miriam Gideon Prize for her composition, “The Green House.” She is the musical director of UU Church in Northampton and teaches at the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge , Mass.

Beeuwkes holds a performance degree in voice from the Longy School of Music of Bard College, and plays cello and viola da gamba. Both performed in “Concerto Incognito” in Farmington two years ago.

There will be a short break with refreshments between the opening and main performance.

Admission is $15; free for 18 & under and for students with UMF ID. For more information, visit artsfarmington.org or call 207-587-2361.