PREVIOUS CONCERTS


The Great Bay Philharmonic Orchestra with Simone Porter – Apr 22, 2023

Simone Porter plays the celebrated Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor with the Great Bay Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by music director David Upham

Also featuring Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Opus 90 (“Italian”). This is the third concert in the 2022-2023 Season for the Great Bay Philharmonic Orchestra (GBPO), and the program features two of the most beloved pieces in the classical repertoire.


The Great Bay Philharmonic String Quartet – Dec 9, 2022

Elegant, world-class strings bring quartet masterpieces to life, including sparkly holiday favorites! 

The Great Bay Philharmonic Orchestra offers the second concert of their 2022-2023 season with their exquisite String Quartet featuring:
JESSE IRONS, Violin; ASUKA USUI, Violin; JASON FISHER, Viola; and JACQUES LEE WOOD, Cello.

Program: Mozart String Quartet K. 465 “Dissonance,” Haydn String “Sunrise” Quartet, and Holiday Favorites


The Great Bay Philharmonic Orchestra with pianist Mathilde Handelsman –
Sept 24, 2022

French pianist Mathilde Handelsman played with the Great Bay Philharmonic Orchestra for an evening of uplifting orchestral music. The program began with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17 in G major, a work full of joyfulness, lyricism, and the composer’s unerring sense of drama. George Walker’s devastatingly beautiful Lyric for Strings is the composer’s reworking of the slow movement of his first string quartet, inspired by and dedicated to the memory of his grandmother. The concert concluded with Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky’s formidable masterpiece for strings, the Serenade in C Major.

Recognized for her unusual, imaginative, and refined interpretations, Mathilde Handelsman has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe and the United States. Recent festival performances include the Tanglewood Music Center, Sarasota Music Festival, Wissembourg International Music Festival, and Pianofest in the Hamptons. In 2019, Sheva released her début solo album devoted to Claude Debussy.


Beyond Borders – World Fusion Octet
– Apr 9, 2022

Randy Armstrong, Biography & Photos

Volker Nahrmann, Biography & Photos

Jose Duque, drummer, composer, and session musician, was born in Venezuela and currently resides in Miami. He was a longtime resident of seacoast New Hampshire and a graduate of Berklee College of Music. Biography & Photos

ERINI (aka Erini Tornesaki) is a vocalist of jazz and Greek traditional music who blurs the lines between genres and explores intercultural dialogue through music. She hails from Heraklion, Greece, and is now an assistant professor at Berklee in Boston. She has performed over 1000 performances for the Cirque du Soleil show Kurios and collaborated with Danilo Perez, Luciana Souza, Christos Zotos, Daniel Hope, Mario Frangoulis, amongst others, and has appeared at Panama Jazz Festival, Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, and Carnegie Hall, NYC. Biography & Photos
Theo Nii Martey
is a talented drummer and dancer who was born and raised in Accra, Ghana, West Africa. Theo is a Songwriter, Recording Artist, Producer, Performer, and Teaching Artist Award recipient of the 2019 Governor’s Arts Award for Arts Education. Biography & Photos

Charlie Jennison, saxophonist, pianist, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and composer, is a legendary jazz musician based in seacoast, NH. A longtime featured musician with Randy and Volker in Do’a World Music Ensemble, Unu Mondo, and Beyond Borders, he has performed with an astounding array of musicians, including Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy DeFranco, Alan Dawson, and Marshal Royal. Biography & Photos

Ben Cook, pianist, and keyboardist, is the principal pianist for the Boston Pops Orchestra. He has shared his amazing talents with conductors Keith Lockhart and John Williams and backed such diverse artists as Yo-Yo Ma, Melissa Etheridge, Kenny Loggins, Carly Simon, Tom Morello, Donna McKechnie, Jim Belushi, the Dropkick Murphys, Tom Scholz, Train, Chris Isaak, Joey McIntyre, Emmy Rossum, Melinda Doolittle, Katharine McPhee, Ayla Brown, and many others. Biography & Photos

Nick Phaneuf, guitarist, and multi-instrumentalist, is a sought-after session musician and recording engineer, performing & teaching artist. He has performed throughout the East Coast with the likes of the Soggy Po Boys, NOVEL / NOVELLA with vocalist Taylor O’Donnell, Dan Blakeslee and the Calabash Club, Tan Vampires, and Fiveighthirteen. He helped engineer the Beyond Borders album with his extraordinary skills. Biography & Photos

The Great Bay Philharmonic String Quartet – Dec 17, 2021

Kiyoshi Hayashi, Violin I

Asuka Usui, Violin II

Jason Fisher, Viola

Jacques Lee Wood, Cello

Celebrate the holiday season with the Music Hall’s elegant Stage Door Cabaret series, featuring world-renowned artists in a speakeasy martini bar atmosphere. With an intimate layout, you can enjoy seating on the Historic Theater’s stage with professional table service.

Sparkly, elegant, professional strings bring classical quartet music to life, including holiday favorites! Great Bay Philharmonic Orchestra returns to The Music Hall this year with their string quartet, led by cellist Jacques Lee Wood.


Simone Porter – Sept 28, 2019

We’re pleased to announce that a rising star in the musical world, the virtuosic SIMONE PORTER, will perform Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D Major with the GBPO on Saturday, September 28, 8:00 PM, at the Music Hall Historic Theater, Portsmouth, NH.

Speaking of Simone Porter, Music Director David Upham says, “She is one of the great young talents performing in the world today. Only a handful of artists win the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize and go on to solo with New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and other world-class orchestras. We’re thrilled to have her perform the sublime Beethoven Violin Concerto with us, and the jubilant Seventh Symphony will round out a wonderful all-Beethoven program.”

More about Simone Porter


A Celebration of Spring – Mar 28, 2019

David Upham, Musical Director, presents A Celebration of Spring, featuring Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G. Including works by Corelli, Handel, Rognoni, and Vivaldi.

Featuring Hannah Reitz, Violin; Jacques Lee Wood, Cello; Margaret Herlehy, Oboe; Robert Haskins, Harpsichord.

South Church, 73 Court St., Portsmouth, NH. Presenting Sponsor: The Market Square Group at Morgan Stanley.