Public Events
Public Events to be Held at UU Belfast
The Volta, at the Belfast Poetry Festival
Friday, October 16, 2026Time: 6:30 - 7:30pm
Location: Sanctuary
Hosted by Belfast Poet Laureate Audrey Gidman.
The volta is characterized in poetry as the turn within a poem, found traditionally in the final couplet of a sonnet. The turn flips the poem on its head in large and small ways, offering a pivot, changing what came before it into something else. In a Volta event, the turn arrives in the empty space between individual poems written by individual poets who are reading in sequence, without knowing what will come before or after their poems, and we, the audience, will find out alongside them. Come witness the interesting and emergent architecture of the Volta, which can only ever happen once.
>> Festival Website
Belfast Chamber Music: Trillium String Quartet w/ Philipp Elssner
Saturday, October 31, 2026Time: 2pm
Location: Sanctuary
Cost: Free. Donations are encouraged to support the performers
Program: Caroline Shaw: Valencia; Florence Price: Five Folksongs in Counterpoint; Johannes Brahms: String Quintet no. 2 in G Major, Op. 111 (with Philipp Elssner, violin).
We are so excited to welcome back the Trillium String Quartet as our season openers, following last year’s sell-out performance!
Since their last appearance in Belfast, Trillium has been made the graduate string quartet in residence at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where they teach and perform at the conservatory and throughout the community. In 2025, the quartet completed a year-long residency as the Graduate String Quartet at Montclair State University. The quartet also served as faculty for the inaugural Kinhaven Semester School Program in Vermont, a holistic educational opportunity for young musicians with a special interest in chamber music.
Trillium has appeared in concert alongside the Grammy-winning Attacca Quartet and Béla Fleck, and performed at New York’s Merkin Hall, National Sawdust, and Symphony Space. The group has worked closely with composers Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) and Jake Runestead, and has attended and performed at festivals including the Calidore String Quartet Seminar, Texas Chamber Music Institute, Daponte String Quartet Institute, and the Stretto Festival.
In Spring 2026 the quartet embarked on a coast-to-coast tour through concert halls, university stages, libraries, museums, living rooms, and bars. They performed in residence at the University of Georgia ABAC and DePauw University and at stops across Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, Rhode Island, New York, and Washington.
>> Trilliam String Quartet Website
Utterly Unbelievable Clothing and Boutique Sale
Friday, November 13, 2026Time: 10am-6pm on Friday, 10am-2pm on Saturday
Location: Sanctuary
The annual Utterly Unbelievable Clothing and Boutique Sale of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Belfast will be held Friday, November 13, 10am to 6pm, and Saturday, November 14, 10am to 2pm. The church sanctuary will be filled with a range of women’s and men’s clothing from the simple tee, sweaters, etc. in the general areas to favorite labels in the boutique section. This will be a good opportunity to pick up winter coats, jackets, and warm accessories. All at utterly unbelievable prices!
>> Email Jane Dopheide
Penobscot Bay Orchestra Winter Afternoon Concert
Saturday, December 12, 2026Time: 2pm - 3pm
Location: Sanctuary
Cost: Free
The program includes movements form Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 and more.
PBO players come from all walks of life, from teens to seniors, from intermediate players to professional musicians. They are farmers, teachers, innkeepers, students, retirees, long-time residents and summer visitors.
The PBO director, Dr. Deirdre McClure (DMA, Peabody Conservatory of Music), brings a dynamic musical spirit and enthusiasm to rehearsals, with an ear to phrasing, rhythm, intonation, and shared interpretation. Before conducting in Maine, McClure was Music Director of the Oakland (CA) Opera Theater, leading productions of contemporary operas by Glass, Stravinsky, Britten, Weill, Anthony Davis, and many others. Dr. McClure is on the Faculty of the University of New England, and conducts the Sea Change Chorale in Portland.
>> See the PBO Website