River Concert Series with Ballet Caliente July 20, 2018

The weather was perfect on Friday night, July 20th for Dancing Under the Stars.  The performance featured a small ensemble from the Chesapeake Orchestra (led by Jeffrey Silberschlag), and the young dancers from Ballet Caliente lead by artistic director, Sheryl-Marie Dunaway.  The performance was held at 7 PM at the Townhouse Green at St. Mary's College of Maryland.  The dancers were graceful and lovely, followed by some orchestral selections.  It was such a nice evening that the crowd stayed for quite a while following the concert.

 Before the concert began, we attended an Arts Alliance party, a volunteer group which helps support the River Concert Series and many other cultural and art activities. 

Young Arts Alliance volunteers

Representatives from other concert sponsors with Jeffrey Silberschlag and Deborah Greitzer

Gail Harmon, Board of Trustees, St. Mary's College of Maryland performed introductions

 Ballet Caliente Dancers

 Sheryl-Marie Dunaway, Ballet Caliente

 Robert Hayes, pianist

 Chesapeake Orchestra ensemble

 Sunset from the back of the crowd

 Zachary Silberschlag, trumpeter

 Bryan Bourne, Trombonist and Orchestra Personnel Manager

 Tuba player

Bows

Coming Soon, Photos from the Clazzical Jazz concert on Sunday July 22nd.

River Concert July 7, 2017 Choral Music

Larry Vote was the guest conductor at the River Concert at St. Mary's College of Maryland on Friday, July 7th on the Townhouse Green.  Larry's daughter, Olivia, was the special soloist, a former choir member and fellow soprano in my church choir.  Since then, she has performed in many operas around the country and fairly recently in Switzerland.  The RCS choir (including several friends) and the Chesapeake Orchestra performed "Gloria" by Vivaldi and Mahler's "Songs of the Wayfarer".  Olivia also sang some of her favorites and mine "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".

Olivia Vote (Mezzo soprano) Singing 

 Arts Alliance Volunteer

 Suzanne

 José Cueto, Concertmaster

 Olivia Vote Awaiting her Performance

 Larry Vote, Guest Conductor

 Olivia and Larry Vote

 Artistic Fun with the Sun

 River Series Choir (RCS) Members

 Crowd at Sunset

 Beverly Babcock

 Olivia Vote and choir soloists

 Graceful Conducting by Larry Vote

Flowers from Her Dad

More Winning Photos at SMCCC

We had a fairly difficult new photo judge last week for April’s St. Mary’s County Camera Club competition.  At the last minute, he tossed out one of my favorite dog photos, but kept my Eastern Screech Owl for Advanced Digital First prize and my photo of an Old Boat at St. Mary’s College of Maryland for third prize.  I liked the reflection of the autumn trees in the boat photo and the big eyes of the owl, the way its’ ears waved in the wind in front of the bokeh(BOH KAY or BOH KA) background (out of focus blur that sometimes looks like circles).  The 8 or 9 inch owl kept closing his eyes from the wind making it challenging to photograph.

Next month’s competition theme is St. Mary’s County.  Maybe I should have kept the photo for next month, but I have some others I can use.

Last St. Mary's College River Concert of the 2011 Season Delights the Audience

The final River Concert in 2011 was delayed until 7:30PM on July 29th to reduce the effects of another hot summer evening at St. Mary’s College of Maryland on the green overlooking the St. Mary’s River. Cooling stations with water and air conditioning were once more in place, to avoid health issues from the temperatures in the high nineties.


The concert began with Maurice Ravel’s “Daphnis and Chloe Suites”. The piece was based on a Viennese Waltz. Jeffrey Silberschlag described the work as “a conflicted orchestra with a conflicted waltz and a maestro in crisis.” He told us that the piece was written about the troubles of the collapse of the Royal Austrian family, the Hapsburgs. The music had a strange beginning that was both dark and light at the same time and generally quite dissonant.


A “Trumpet Concerto” by Corrado Saglietti followed, with Jeffry Silberschlag playing solo trumpet. Silberschlag joked that his “mouthpiece has been slipping” so he “borrowed rosin from Jose”, the first violinist. I was glad to see that Larry Vote conducted the piece, since his July 8th performance was sadly rained out earlier. The music had an Italian and pop feel and was mellow, smooth and pleasant.

After presenting plaques to the many sponsors of the concert series during intermission, the star of the series, Broadway’s Melissa Errico took the stage. She sang a powerful performance including a number of popular songs like “Windmills of Your Mind”, “I Could Have Danced All Night” from “My Fair Lady” and “How are Things in Glocca Morra?” from “Finian’s Rainbow”. She amazed the audience with her incredible speed while singing “Getting Married Today” from the musical production “Company” while wearing a wedding veil. Ms. Errico also presented her own peaceful song, “Gentle Child” written about a memorable moment with her daughter, Victoria. Melissa Errico has performed many classic musicals including “Finian’s Rainbow”, “My Fair Lady” which I personally saw in the early 1990’s, “Camelot” and “The Sound of Music”. Like Kate Baldwin, last year’s award winning performer, Ms. Errico also sings often at Birdland Jazz Club.
The last concert of the season wasn’t complete until the Chesapeake Orchestra played its’ signature piece “Sleigh Ride”. We will be earnestly awaiting next year’s performances!