Binghamton NY area folks are cordially invited to the opening concert of the Madrigal Choir of Binghamton’s season featuring music by American composers on Sunday, October 18 at 3 PM at Trinity Memorial Episcopal Church, Binghamton.
You are also invited to join in with Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/10/14/one-liner-wednesday-leafing/
A memorial organ recital in memory of Jonathan Biggers, featuring his former students, will be Saturday, September 19 at 4 PM at United Presbyterian Church of Binghamton, sponsored by the church and the Binghamton Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
This bonus One-Liner Wednesday brought to you as part of Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays. Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/09/16/one-liner-wednesday-facts-few-and-far-between/
Binghamton area folks are cordially invited to a fun and FREE community sing-along on Sunday, September 20, 2026 at 2 PM at the Phelps Mansion Museum, offered by the Madrigal Choir of Binghamton as a kick-off to their ’26-’27 season celebrating American music!
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/09/16/one-liner-wednesday-facts-few-and-far-between/
When Dolly Parton was asked about her ultimate goal in life, she answered:
“Just to be happy, to be as productive as I can be, make as many people happy as I can, make as much money as I can, so I can do for more people. And I just want the freedom to work, and everybody else can have the money.”
Mission accomplished, Dolly. Rest in peace. The good you have done in the world will live on for generations.
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/09/02/one-liner-wednesday-getting-old/
Just proving that I made it through the reading event at the Broome County (NY) Arts Council last night.
Things went well with poems, a short story in translation, music, paintings, and a film, all represented.
Thanks to Connie, Ann, and all the BCAC staff for making the America 250 exhibition and event possible. Thanks also to fellow poet Samantha Terrell who sent me this photo that her husband took while I was reading.
Vote for Democary #58
(Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash)
Donald Trump has been corrupt for a long time but, in his second administration, they don’t even try to hide it. The crypto schemes. Donors getting big contracts from the government, sometimes without any competitive bidding. The president promoting companies in which he is invested. The tearing down of the East Wing without proper authority and using taxpayer funds to build a ballroom after saying it would be privately funded. Not spending funds that Congress had authorized, such as ending USAID, which has resulted in untold deaths when critical health and nutrition programs overseas were cut. The president and his family profiting from his presidency so that they are over a billion dollars richer. Deporting people without due process. Lying over and over about individuals, groups, and countries. Starting a war without authorization or public support. Investigating people without cause. Ignoring court orders. Filing a bogus lawsuit to try to wrangle a deal to create a $1.776 billion slush fund to dole out to supporters along with an agreement that any past tax malfeasance from Trump, his family, and his businesses could not be investigated. I could go on, but you get the idea.
In contrast, last week saw the official opening of the Obama Presidential Center on the South Side of Chicago. While most presidents have a library, President Obama chose to create a community center with a park, public spaces for a variety of activities, a museum, and a public library branch stocked with some of the President’s favorite books. There will also be a digital archive of presidential papers, replacing the prior practice of having them all on paper. The opening ceremony on June 18, 2026 was a joyous celebration with music and inspirational speeches, including from Barack and Michelle Obama. The Center opened for visitors the next day, which is a national holiday commemorating Juneteenth, the day in 1865 when Black people who had been enslaved in Galveston Bay, Texas, learned that they had been freed by Lincoln’s Final Emancipation Proclamation of Jan. 1, 1863.
It was heartening to see people from across the country and the world come together to celebrate being in community, upholding the common good, and nurturing present and future generations. It was also a reminder, with our nation’s 250th birthday only days away, that we can make progress as “We the People” toward “a more perfect union,” despite the current administration’s malfeasance.
It’s time for all people of good will to stand up for each other, especially for those most vulnerable, and reject those who would supress or divide us.
Together, we can do it.
I’m sharing this with love for our Canadian neighbors; when the singer’s microphone developed problems, the hockey fans in Buffalo took over singing the Canadian national anthem and it’s so beautiful that it brought tears to my eyes.
Please join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/04/29/one-liner-wednesday-almost-didnt-make-it/
Last Sunday, I sang a concert of music from the Baltic region with the Madrigal Choir of Binghamton under the direction of John M. Vaida.
It was a great experience for us and for our audience. We got to perform pieces by composers that were new to most of us. I added languages to my personal list of sung texts, Swedish and Estonian. We also welcomed the Fair Winds Quintet as our guests, made possible by a grant from the United Cultural Fund of the Broome County Arts Council. They played a set before the sung concert and another to begin the second half of the program after intermission. It was wonderful to have these talented local artists join us for the concert.
One of my favorite pieces on the program was “Cantate Domino”, a setting of part of Psalm 98 by the Lithunian composer Vytautas Miškinis. Another highlight was Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Bogoroditse Devo” from his All-Night Vigil. I had first sung this under the direction of Dr. Bruce Borton with the University Chorus. Bruce had prepared a new edition of the Vigil for us to use and we later sang this movement in later programs, so it always reminds me of him. Bruce also became the second artistic director of the Madrigal Choir a few years before his retirement from Binghamton University. After the pandemic shutdown and the end of University Chorus, Bruce welcomed me to Madrigal Choir. Shortly after I joined, Bruce fell ill. I wrote about the last concert he conducted with Madrigal Choir here and about singing at his funeral and Madrigal Choir tribute here. This Rachmoninoff piece was part of a concert dedicated to Bruce at the University. I was grateful for the opportunity to sing it again, especially at Trinity Episcopal Church where Bruce had sung and volunteered for many years as a congregant.
I particularly loved the final piece of the program, a newly written hymn by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, set to the tune “Finlandia” by Jean Sibelius. Rev. Gillette is a local Presbyterian pastor and hymnist with over 500 hymns to her credit. This poem, “O God of Love, This Is a Time of Turning”, was written in January, 2026, after speaking with a seminary friend serving in Minneapolis. We printed the words in the program and invited the audience to join us in singing – and they did!
We sang, “May we stand firm for truth and peace and justice;
May we leave fear and hatred far behind.”
May it be so.
Binghamton NY area folks are invited to Trinity Memorial Episcopal Church (opposite Binghamton High School) on Sunday, April 19, 2026, for a concert by the Madrigal Choir of Binghamton highlighting music of the Baltic region, beginning with the Fair Winds Quintet at 2:45 followed by the choral concert at 3:00.
This invitation brought to you through Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays. Join us! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2026/04/15/one-liner-wednesday-id-rather-be/
Binghamton, NY area folks, please plan to join the Madrigal Choir of Binghamton and our special guests, the Fair Winds Quintet, for a concert of music from the Baltic region at Trinity Episcopal across from Binghamton High on Sunday, April 19th with Fair Winds at 2:45 and MCOB at 3:00 (NOTE NEW START TIMES)!
Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! I’m double-dipping today so that I can also spread the news of Ellen Morris Prewitt’s book launch today!
