an immersive outdoor concert series that amplifies marginalized voices in classical music and democratizes new / experimental sounds

Vigorous Tenderness is an outdoor distanced concert series that amplifies marginalized voices in classical music and democratizes new/experimental music.

A response to pandemic music-making, Vigorous Tenderness brings audiences to meaningful outdoor spaces and invites them to re-engage safely with acoustic sound.  These experimental performances resemble an art museum experience, with chamber music ensembles spread across the landscape while the audience forges a self-curated path through the installation. The programming highlights BIPOC and queer composers, and features some of Maine's most thoughtful musicians.

Many of the methods we have to mark the passage of time have been so compromised recently.  With concerts on the fall equinox, winter solstice, vernal equinox, and summer solstice, Vigorous Tenderness provides an earthly and grounded way to observe the passage of time.  

These performances are a musical offering of vigorous tenderness to the community, fostering an atmosphere of deep listening and reflection.