Jacqueline Schwab (Ken Burns’ pianist) Concert | Partner

Pianist Jacqueline Schwab, heard on Ken Burns’ Civil War and numerous other documentaries by him, will perform in concert at First Parish UU Church of Kennebunk, on Sunday, September 29, 2024, at 4:30 p.m. Jacqueline will feature pieces from her Burns soundtrack performances and will also from her own work celebrating cultural diversity, inspired by her work with Ken. You’ll hear Irish and Scottish airs and dance tunes, spirituals, ragtime and other vintage American music, and vintage Latin and other pieces connected with American immigrants. Jacqueline will share stories about the tunes and speak about Burns’ unusual way of working with music—how he elicits emotive performances and uses music to amplify his messages and shed historical light on our lives today.

Jacqueline spins emotive musical stories out of the myriad strands in the American quilt, with the spirit of community music making at their heart. Her signature playing features in over a dozen of Ken Burns’ documentaries, including his Grammy-winning Civil War, Baseball, Lewis and Clark, Mark Twain, The War and his recently-released Benjamin Franklin, as well as in other PBS documentaries, such as The Irish in America—The Long Journey Home. She has performed at the White House for President Clinton and (twice) on national PBS with the American Pops Orchestra, and she has accompanied Scottish singer Jean Redpath on public radio’s A Prairie Home Companion and on CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman. She is well known to the traditional dance world for her groundbreaking playing with the Bare Necessities ensemble. Her recently-released solo album I Lift My Lamp—Illuminations from Immigrant America celebrates vintage music from American immigrants. Jacqueline graduated from New England Conservatory, majoring in piano improvisation. She grew up in Pittsburgh and has since lived in Boston and on Cape Cod.

Jacqueline’s concert is part of the “Concerts in West K!” series, produced by Mousam River Music in its new collaboration with the Brick Store Museum. Admission to the concert is $20.00 per person at the door. There is open seating for the concert on a first come-first served basis. Reservations are not required, but may be made via e-mail to paul.wells@mousamrivermusic.net.