KENNEBUNKPORT — The 2019 Monday Evening Summer Concert Series at First Congregational Church of Kennebunkport will host a return performance by award winning teen cellist Roric Cunningham with Paul Dykstra on piano.

The concert will be held Monday, July 8 at 7:30 p.m. The program is open to the public and admission is free. Free will donations are welcome and will be used for “music and building.”

Cunningham’s music will include: “Cello Suite 2 in D Minor” by Bach, Beethoven’s “Magic Flute Variations in E flat major,” Beethoven’s “Cello Sonata 3 in A major,” and Chopin’s “Polonaise Brilliante.”

Cunningham began playing the cello at age 12 in the public school system. After being self-taught for two years he enrolled at the Manchester Community Music School on a full scholarship, studying with Harel Geitheim.

In 2017, Cunningham won both major student competitions in New Hampshire: the Portsmouth Student Concerto Competition and the Lakes Region Concerto Competition. Currently, he is the principal cellist of the Dino Anagnost Youth Symphony Orchestra at Manchester Community Music School and is a member of the New Hampshire Philharmonic.

He was principal cellist of the 2017 and 2018 NH All-State Music Festivals.

He’s also played with the Portsmouth Symphony, Nashua Chamber Orchestra, and Keene Chamber Orchestra. For the second year he will tour as a member of the National Youth Orchestra of the USA, which last year played at Carnegie and other world famous halls in China, Taiwan, and South Korea. This year’s tour will include concerts at Tanglewood, and major festival performances in Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Germany. He is also on Symphony NH’s cello sub-list.

In July 2017, Cunningham presented an acclaimed solo recital at the First Congregational Church of Kennebunkport and returned to perform in First Church in the summer of 2018 to an audience of admirers.

Along with many recitals, he has soloed with the Portsmouth, Lakes Region, and Dino Anagnost Symphonies and lives in Manchester, New Hampshire. Cunningham recently graduated high school and will be attending the Juilliard School of Performing Arts in New York City.

In addition to suppers and other events hosted by church members, music director Joyce Painter Rice, and minister Rev. Charlotte E. Y. Bell welcome all to attend Sunday church service which begins at 9:30 a.m. and coffee fellowship at 10:30 a.m.

First Congregational Church is located 1.5 miles south of the Seacoast Trolley Museum where Log Cabin Road becomes North Street, next to Arundel Cemetery, and the Kennebunkport Historical Society. From Kennebunkport’s Dock Square area take Spring Street to a left on Maine Street to North Street and follow North Street to First Congregational Church on the right.

For directions or more information, call the church office on Tuesdays at 967-3897.

The church’s website is www.firstchurchkport.org. The church’s Facebook page can be found by typing “First Congregational Church of Kennebunkport” in the search line on Facebook.