Linda Radtke A Concert for Fuel Assistance featuring works by Handel, Bach, Purcell, Telemann and a few surprises will be held on Friday, September 4 at the Episcopal Church at 7 p.m.

Artists will include Elizabeth Hilgartner, soprano, Linda Radtke, alto and Ernest Drown on the harpsichord.

All proceeds from a free-will donation at the door will benefit the fuel assistance program of CERV (Community Emergency Resource Volunteers) which serves citizens in the Northfield area.

Participating musicians soprano Elizabeth Hilgartner, alto Linda Radtke, and harpsichordist Ernest Drown. began to work together twenty-five years ago in the central Vermont area as members of VOX SACRA, a vocal quartet, which gave concerts for the Food Shelf at area churches.

The upcoming Labor Day weekend program, "Songs of Comfort and Joy," includes Baroque gems by Bach, Handel, Telemann, and Purcell as well as a few surprises.

The concert will be in the historic St, Mary's Episcopal church on Main Street in Northfield.

Volunteers for CERV have said that there have been increased requests for fuel assistance already this year due mainly to employment difficulties.

Mary Denny will attend the Northfield concert to answer questions about the program.

CERV volunteers also maintain the Food Shelf.

On the Sept 4 program, Ms. Hilgartner and Ms. Radtke will sing a duet from Bach's cantata #78, two-part songs by Henry Purcell and Telemann and, from the world of opera, a short scene from the end of Handel's Theodora, the love duet from Monteverdi's Coronation of Poppea and a comic duet from Rossini.

Each singer has chosen favorite aria from the period for the concert, including Purcell's "Evening Hymn," and a song about a cat by Britten.

Harpsichordist Drown will accompany the singers and will also perform a sonata, "The Cat's Fugue" by Domenico Scarlatti.

Alto Linda Radtke, is a choir member at St. Mary's Church in Northfield, is a frequent alto soloist with the Vermont Mozart Festival, Oriana Singers, and sings with Vermont's professional vocal ensemble Counterpoint. She also tours the state with "Vermont History through Song" for the Vermont Humanities Council's Speakers' Bureau, and lives in Middlesex.

Soprano Beth Hilgartner is rector of St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Norwich, Vermont and has published eight books. She is an avid gardener, knitter and horsewoman as well as riding with the Blue Angels Drill Team at Breckenridge Farm in Barre.

Ernest Drown, a native of Barre, served as librarian at the Aldrich Public Library in Barre and organist at Bethany Church in Montpelier and now is the Minister of Music at the Church of Christ at Dartmouth College.

He and Ms. Hilgarter live in Orford, New Hampshire. The concert will be repeated on Saturday, September 5 at 7:30 at the Church of Christ at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. That concert will benefit fuel assistance LISTEN.

On September 6, the concert will again be repeated at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Norwich, Vermont to benefit fuel assistance SEVCA.

For further information about the Northfield concert, call Linda Radtke at 802-223-2712. For the Hanover concert on Sept 5, 603-643-3150. The contact for SEVCA in Norwich is 603- 353-9303.