River Concert "A Midsummer Nights Dream" July 11, 2025

Last Friday's River Concert Series program included lots of beautiful Felix Mendelssohn pieces with the Chesapeake Orchestra's first violinist José Cueto, including "Violin Concerto in E", "Symphony no. 4 The Italian", and "A Midsummer Night's Dream Overture".  There was also a pre-program featuring intern vocalist Hailey Castanera-Bartoszek with her ukelele, accompanied by guitarist Kris Kostoff starting at 6:30 pm (before the regular event at 7 pm).  The concert took place on the green at St. Mary's College of Maryland on July 11th.  There was even a lovely orange sunset on the St. Mary's River with the view of a few yachts at a mini-Rendezvous out on the water.

Hailey Castanera-Bartoszek

Bonnie Green

Jeffrey Silberschlag and Bonnie Green

Jose Cueto, First violinist

Jose Cueto

Jeffrey Silberschlag and Jose Cueto

Woodwinds

Violist

Julies Wirth Principal Violist

Jeffrey Silberschlag, Music Director

River Concert A Swingin Singin 4th

There was quite a crowd for the River Concert Series second concert at 7pm on the green at St. Mary's College of Maryland, not surprising considering that it was performed on July 4th.  Fireworks were included at the end.  We enjoyed seeing Sara Jones again, former alumna of St. Mary's College of Maryland perform lots of great jazz favorites in a very sparkly dress (that I envied).  They played some Duke Ellington music and old favorites like "Tea for Two" and "A Time for Love".  I especially liked how she encouraged and praised her accompanists quite a bit and had nice things to say about our favorite nearby college.  I was happy to see Zachary Silberschlag back home from Israel, safe and sound, performing with his Dad, music director, Jeffrey Silberschlag on the trumpet and conducting.  

Please join me and the Chesapeake Orchestra for the next three Friday night concerts at 7pm.  Next week is "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with José Cueto on violín, weather permitting.

Jeffrey Silberschlag, Music Director of the Chesapeake Orchestra 

Rhonda Phillips, new President of St. Mary's College of Maryland 

Sara Jones, Jazz vocalist

Zachary and Jeffrey Silberschlag on trumpet

 

Representatives of St. Mary's College of Maryland 

The music shell with sun rays, very carefully photographed.

 

Who doesn't love bubbles!

Sara Jones accompanists 

Rick Humpreys, saxophone soloist 

Zachary Silberschlag conducting with a smile 

A family music moment

What a crowd!  15 photos from the stage merged into a panorama

River Concert Series Fireworks July 4th, 2025

 The fireworks at the River Concert Series were further across the creek than usual this year.  Unless you were on a boat or on the edge of the water, there were quite a few wires in the photos.  I used AI in some of the photos to remove the wires here, but I thought I would post both, so you can see the difference.  Using photojournalism, I try to show the real event, microphones and all, only using cropping, dust removal, brightening and color correction so you see what actually happened. 

No Wires using AI

Originals with wires

Poppies 2

Baltimore Oriole