Walker Lecture Series

09/29/2026

https://www.ccmusicschool.org/bachslunch/?fbclid=IwY2xjawUpFSJleHRuA2FlbQIxMABwZG9mBWJyaWQRMVA3WmlRbmNFeXNtT2JqYkdzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeONL-_XAenO6s4p8uu6TZaAaZessjSQw4dIwU97Jf86sWawXhXjQrLHSGQfQ_aem_vo67oynK66J6fZ9AfYToSQ

Bach’s Lunches are offered on the first and second Thursdays of the month, October through May, from 12:10 – 12:50 PM. (As we add events on an ongoing basis, please see our Events Calendar for our latest listings.) These lectures and recitals are held in our historic Recital Hall. In keeping wit...

09/04/2026

The Walker Lecture Series Invites You to
Handel’s Messiah
A musical rite of the holiday season, this Baroque-era oratorio still awes listeners more than 250 years after the composer’s death. Concord’s performance, conducted by Benjamin Greene, will include professional soloists and a community chorus.

Saturday, December 12, 2026 10:00 AM Open rehearsal
Sunday, December 13, 2026 4:00 PM Concert
Note that the Sunday starting time is earlier than in previous years.
Free
St. Paul’s Church,
21 Centre Street, Concord, NH
For a complete season schedule, visit www.walkerlecture.org

09/04/2026

The Walker Lecture Series invites you to
Connie Converse: Concord's Cassandra with Howard Fishman

Concord High School class of 1942 valedictorian Connie Converse could see the future. A trailblazing songwriter, composer, performer, thinker, activist, writer, and community organizer, Converse (1924-?) spent her known life engaged with creative and intellectual pursuits that pointed toward many of today’s cultural preoccupations, including: pioneering the DIY indie musician model; railing against fascism; agitating against institutional racism: exploring the roots of human conflict; and experimenting with alternative methods of public education––all decades before such ideas and practices entered the mainstream. There was only one problem: she was invisible.

Like the mythological Cassandra, the character on whom she chose to base her final known musical project, Converse seemed cursed. Her music was ignored. Her ideas about society, conflict, and race were relegated to niche academic journals and sparsely attended lectures. Her deeply-rooted activism was anonymous. And her stubborn refusal to play by the gender rules of her day made her a misfit.

In 1974, frustrated by her lifelong inability to have her life’s work acknowledged, Connie Converse wrote notes to family and friends that spoke of her need to try to start over, somewhere else, and drove off. She was never seen again.

Fortunately, Connie Converse’s legacy did not disappear along with her. It lives on, preserved in a massive archive she left behind containing letters, diaries, music, artwork, photographs, intellectual projects and writing, and recordings of her music–the basis for Howard Fishman’s book To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse.

Wednesday, November 4, 2026
7:30 PM (Doors open at 7:00)
Free
No tickets or reservations required
All ages welcome
Concord City Auditorium, 2 Prince Street
For a complete season schedule, visit www.walkerlecture.org

09/03/2026

The Walker Lecture Series invites you to:
An Evening of Bluegrass with the Southern Rail Bluegrass Band

Southern Rail's concerts are high energy exuberant fun with stunning harmonies, irrepressible good humor and sparkling banjo, guitar and mandolin. Their repertoire is fresh and diverse, featuring lots of originals plus a kaleidoscope of covers (Mavis Staples, Paul Simon, Earl Scruggs, Crosby, Stills and Nash). Two of the band's founding members (guitarist Jim Muller and bassist Sharon Horovitch) were recently inducted into the Rhode Island Bluegrass Hall of Fame.

Wednesday, October 28, 2026
7:30 PM (Doors open at 7:00)
Free
No tickets or reservations required
All ages welcome
Concord City Auditorium, 2 Prince Street
For a complete season schedule, visit www.walkerlecture.org

09/03/2026

The Walker Lecture Series invites you to:
Irish voices with Stephen Collins and
Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven; with a guest appearance by Emily Dickinson with Jeffrey Zygmont

Irish voices
They call it The Norton Anthology of English Literature and yet many of the writers included were born in Ireland. The commonality, of course, is the English language but there are vast cultural differences which will be explored in this performance. Much Irish writing deals with the land, the past, the church, and the changing political landscape. Yeats, Joyce, Heaney, McCourt, and other prominent writers are represented in this dramatic offering.

Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven
Greet Halloween with Edgar Allan Poe.
Hear a dramatic recital of Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous poem, The Raven – the perfect work of American art to put us in a spooky mood. With props to enhance the suspenseful, supernatural tone of the poem, Jeffrey Zygmont delivers the recital with commentary and a summary of Poe’s life and significance. The program includes Poe’s poem “The Bells,” plus some poems by Emily Dickinson that enhance the chilling atmosphere.

Wednesday, October 21, 2026
7:30 PM (Doors open at 7:00)
Free
No tickets or reservations required
All ages welcome
Concord City Auditorium, 2 Prince Street
For a complete season schedule, visit www.walkerlecture.org

07/30/2026

Check out this Nevers Band concert from July 14, 2026. The Walker Fund is a proud sponsor. Thank you to Concord TV for the video.

Nevers' Second Regiment Band plays in Concord's Eagle Square as par...