Louise Bonar Remembrance Classical Guitar Concert

Francesco Barone

Award-winning guitarist Francesco Barone has performed throughout the United States as a soloist and chamber musician. He has been featured at guitar festivals and societies in New England, including the Connecticut Guitar Society, the New England Guitar Society, and the Hartt School Guitar Festival. He has also performed nationally through the classical music startup Groupmuse. Dr. Barone was a prizewinner in the Philadelphia Classical Guitar Society Guitar Competition, was featured on a La Bella Strings-sponsored concert, and has had performances broadcast on NPR. He received a DMA and MM from The Hartt School, University of Hartford, where he studied with Richard Provost. His treatise on the Russian guitar composer Nikita Koshkin was the first to analyze his music and discuss one of the composer’s chamber works.

Louise Bonar (1930 – 2025)

She was a remarkable individual whose dedication to community affairs and civic activism left an indelible mark on Allston-Brighton. Her love and concern for the community were truly phenomenal. Louise was the first Coordinator of the Heritage Museum guides and served as a role model for leading a life of civic engagement. She was a creative and active participant in numerous activities, contributing to the neighborhood's success.
Louise's involvement in local affairs was extensive. She was a long-serving Brighton-Allston Historical Society Board member, a League of Women Voters member, and an active participant in the Brighton Garden Club. She also served as a voter poll warden at the Oak Square YMCA and was a great friend and supporter of the Oak Square Common and the Oak Square Faneuil Library.
As a founding member of Unbound Visual Arts in 2012 and a published poet, Louise's contributions to the arts were significant. She was an experienced management consultant, educator, and longtime community activist dedicated to neighborhood improvements in Allston-Brighton. Louise also served on the Board of Directors of the Allston-Brighton Community Development Corporation and the Brighton-Allston Historical Society & Heritage Museum. She was a former staff member for Brighton Main Streets and a founding member of the Brighton Historical Society in 1968.
In the early 1980s, Louise was an original member of the now-defunct Allston-Brighton Arts Council. In 2013, she organized UVA's first poetry event, "Poems Among Paintings," which featured 13 poets, including Boston's then Poet Laureate, Sam Cornish. This event was held amidst two of UVA's exhibitions at the Harvard Ed Portal galleries. In 2015, she was on the planning committee that organized the Farewell Tribute to Sam Cornish, an event co-sponsored by UVA, the City of Boston, and the Harvard Ed Portal, which attracted over 100 guests. Louise also curated the "Monica McAlpine: Waterscape Edges" exhibit at the Faneuil Library Art Gallery. Louise Bonar's legacy of civic activism, community involvement, and dedication to the arts will be remembered and cherished by all who knew her.

What's the music?

Francesco Barone

Attendees

Diane A.