Hawthorne Community Association to present global jazz duo concert

The Hawthorne Community Association will host an evening of global jazz featuring the McCoy Mrubata/Gary Wittner Duo at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 18.

The jazz concert will be held at Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Boyhood Home, located at 40 Hawthorne Road in Raymond. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. and light refreshments will be available for a suggested donation.

A limited number of tickets are available online for a jazz
concert at the Hawthorne House in Raymond featuring the
duo of McCoy Mrubata and Gary Wittner. The concert is 
Sponsored by the Hawthorne Community Association.
SUBMITTED PHOTO

South African saxophonist and composer McCoy Mrubata, a recipient of the South African Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Kennedy Center International Arts Gold Medal, will be touring the United States in 2026 with guitarist Gary Wittner. Mrubata performed with the legendary Hugh Masekela’s band in the 1990s and has since led his own groups, touring extensively throughout Africa and Europe.

Mrubata has released more than 20 albums that combine jazz and elements of traditional South African music.

Gary Wittner has performed on five continents, representing the U.S. as a Kennedy Center Jazz Ambassador, a Fulbright Specialist, and a US Embassy Outreach Artist. He has performed with numerous jazz luminaries and has released seven albums as well as the popular book Thelonious Monk for Guitar. He is a music faculty member at the University of Southern Maine School of Music and at Bowdoin College.

Wittner has collaborated with numerous jazz artists and leads ensembles performing original instrumental and vocal jazz, as well as Latin and Middle Eastern music.

The concert’s location at Raymond’s Hawthorne House is a picturesque setting and was the boyhood home of the legendary author of “The Scarlet Letter” and “The House of the Seven Gables” and has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1969.

Author Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts, a descendant of William Hathorne, a Puritan who emigrated with his family from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Hawthorne’s grandfather John Hathorne was a judge who presided over some of the Salem Witch Trials.

Hawthorne’s mother was widowed when he was age 4 and after living for 10 years with relatives in Salem, the family moved to a home near Sebago Lake in Raymond built for them by Hawthorne’s uncles Richard and Robert Manning in 1816. He lived there with his family for three years until being sent to boarding school in 1819, but later in life, Hawthorne was quoted as saying that the time he spent at his home in Raymond was the happiest period of his entire life.

Concert admission is $25, with seating limited to about 40 guests. Advance ticket purchase is recommended.

Walk-ins will be accommodated for the concert as space allows. Tickets are non-refundable.

Tickets are currently available online at www.hawthorneassoc.com or by contacting [email protected] or 329-0537. <