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

Happy Independence Day 2024!

Happy Independence Day!

My favorite Independence Day photo of Sarita, toy poodle

HVFD fireworks

River Concert Fireworks 2019

July 3: “A Traditional 4th in an Unconventional Way!”

A great way to enjoy Independence Day!

 Hilary Kole

Bryan Bourne

Watch "July 3:  "A Traditional 4th in an Unconventional Way!"

The Online River Concert Series 2020
Featuring jazz artist Hilary Kole performing from New York City, the Southern Maryland Community Gospel Choir, Chesapeake Orchestra Brass, Bryan Bourne on trombone (our photography), fire trucks in "Hosedown" (my photos possibly), Ballet Caliente, and a video by Jim including the 1812 Overture and my fireworks photos set to a song by Jennifer Cooper and Carl Reichelt.

Performers subject to change

Tune in at https://www.chesapeakeorchestra.org/

http://www.smcm.edu/river-concert/#2020-virtual-series

If you miss it live, you can watch it later on Youtube!  The first concert, "Let Us Break Bread Together" is available to watch now online.

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 Hosedown

 The Crowd

River Concert June 30 2017 An Evening of Americana for Our Independence Holiday

The second River Concert of the season featured the lovely voice of Kelly Balmaceda, a 2001 graduate of Leonardtown High School and the Chesapeake Orchestra plus many other soloists.  She sang some American pop favorites like a Medley from the "Sound of Music" and Burt Bacharach music.  The concert also featured Sousa's "Stars and Stripes", "Hosedown" a Morton Gould favorite including members of the Southern Maryland Fire and Rescue squad, and of course the "1812 Overture" and fireworks.  The concert was held on the Townhouse Green at St. Mary's College of Maryland on Friday night at 7 pm.

Here are my favorite photos of the many I took at the concert as the official Chesapeake Orchestra photographer.  Please feel free to share the blog with friends.

Kelly Balmaceda

 Tuajuanda Jordan, President of St. Mary's College of Maryland

 Reflection of the brass section

 Maestro Jeffrey Silberschlag conducting

 Woodwinds:  Bassoons, clarinets?

 Brass section:  trombones and trumpets

 Woodwinds:  oboes, flutes

 Karen Johnson and friend on flutes

Amanda Durst, cellist and fellow musician

 Kelly Balmaceda with the Chesapeake Orchestra

 Kelly Balmaceda

 bubbles, bubbles, catch the bubbles

 Grizzly Mountain Grill vendor

 The huge crowd at sunset

 Serving pizza at the Nicolletti's truck, Yumm

The concert shell at sunset

 (L to R) Amanda, Kelly and a St. Mary's College alumna we met that night

 Trio with Jeffrey Silberschlag

 Deborah Greitzer, Executive Director and narrator for "Hosedown"

 Logan, a choir friend was one of the speakers in "Hosedown"

Local Fire and Rescue participated in "Hosedown"

 Jeffrey Silberschlag

Hats off to the crowd

 Fireworks

Fireworks

Boat reflections after the fireworks