The Library’s Summer Concert Series Returns with Performance by Eric Sinclair

The Friends of the Academy Library is pleased to announce that after a two-year, COVID-mandated hiatus, it will host a summer concert in Rockefeller Hall at 7pm on Wednesday, August 3^rd. The concert will feature guitarist and vocalist Eric Sinclair, a longtime PEA music instructor and Exeter Summer faculty member, in an evening of original compositions and familiar favorites.  

An Exeter native, Eric Sinclair has enjoyed a fruitful career as a teacher and performer both at PEA and throughout the Seacoast region. A graduate of the University of New Hampshire, Sinclair found his home at the Academy after teaching music at a local elementary school. He quickly found the Music Department’s collegial atmosphere, along with his students’ openness to new ideas, the ideal environment in which to grow as a teacher and mentor. In 1988, Sinclair accepted an offer from then-Music Department chair Irving Forbes to teach during Summer School. For the past sixteen years, Sinclair has continued to teach guitar while also serving as the Music Building Supervisor for what is now Exeter Summer.

When asked to describe any similarities between the Academy’s summer music students and those whom he teaches during the regular school year, Sinclair notes that they all exhibit a “growth mentality” in his guitar studio; while he admits that “it is challenging to get to know students during such a short (5-week) period of time,” he is impressed by the “passion, dedication and willingness to try something new” that his Exeter Summer students have consistently brought to the program in his 35 years of summer teaching.

His concert on August 3^rd will feature a mixture of original compositions and arrangements of familiar songs, including pandemic-inspired material that will receive its first public performance. As with all of Sinclair’s performances, audience participation will be welcome!

This family-friendly concert is free and open to the public, and masks will be required for all attendees except young children.

Inquiries about the Library’s Summer Concert Series may be directed to Drew Gatto by phone at (603)777-3308, or by email at agatto@exeter.edu. Please join us in the Library on August 3^rd as we celebrate the re-opening of our concert stage by a treasured colleague in air-conditioned comfort!