Queen Anne’s Chorale is excited to announce their return to the Todd Performing Arts Center located at Chesapeake College in Wye Mills on December 7^th at 7pm. The campus, at the intersection of Routes 50 and 213, provides easy access from all directions.

For many years, Queen Anne’s Chorale performed at TPAC, but the pandemic changed that. They have since been using the Centreville Methodist Church for practice and concert but have grown in members enough that they needed more space. Also, the Holiday Concert draws big crowds that will appreciate the ample seating and parking on the campus of Chesapeake College.

With a theme of Holiday Spirit, the concert promises to deliver holiday spirit to both young and old.  Robert Huntington, Artistic Director since 2003, has carefully chosen repertoire of sacred and secular selections. The full Chorale will perform, among others, Lo How a Rose, It’s the Holiday Season, Let It Snow and Calypso Lullaby.  Also, the Select Ensemble, auditioned from within the Chorale, will perform Celebrate Hannukah Tonight and Walking in the Air with video enhancement.   And it wouldn’t be a concert, without the audience being invited to a sing-along with the Chorale.  A reception after the concert is always a perfect ending to an uplifting evening of music that promises to fill your heart with the Holiday Spirit.

Tickets can be purchased by visiting qachorale.org and clicking on a link that will send you to the TPAC ticket office. Cost is $25 for adults over 18, $15 for students 13-18 and FREE for children under 13.

Queen Anne’s Chorale is supported in part through grants from the United Way of Queen Anne’s County, the Queen Anne’s County Centre for the Arts, and the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive.

Presenting Sponsors The Ed Beres Group at REMAX Executive and Soistman Family Dentistry and Associates along with Corporate Sponsors David Harrison with Long and Foster, Chesapeake Hearing Centers, Heron Point of Chestertown, Koons Easton Toyota, Mid-Atlantic Cat Hospital and Shore United Bank also enable QAC to present Holiday Spirit.

There are also always opportunities to support to QAC with donations, program ads or sponsorships. For more information visit www.qachorale.org.

The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is spreading seasonal cheer with its Holiday Joy Concerts this December. The concerts will feature festive favorites and special guest soloist Jonathan Pierce Rhodes, the celebrated young tenor known for his resounding voice and captivating performances.

The Holiday Joy Concerts will take place on Thursday, December 5 at 7:30 PM at Todd Hall Performing Arts Center in Wye Mills, MD, Saturday, December 7 at 7:00 PM at Cape Henlopen High School in Lewes, DE and Sunday, December 8 at 3:00 PM at the Performing Arts Center in Salisbury, MD

Led by Grammy Award winning Music Director Michael Repper, the concert program will feature a blend of orchestral holiday favorites and stunning vocal solos by Jonathan Pierce Rhodes. Audiences can expect a festive mix of timeless classics such as It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Winter Wonderland, and Sleigh Ride, as well as beloved carols like Silent Night and O Holy Night, performed by Rhodes. Also included in the program are the popular White Christmas, In the Bleak Midwinter, and a special rendition of T’was the Night Before Christmas, with a narrator.

Rhodes, a recent graduate of the Washington National Opera’s prestigious Cafritz Young Artist Program, is quickly becoming one of the most exciting voices in opera today. Known for his powerful stage presence and rich tenor voice, he has performed with top-tier companies such as The Lyric Opera Chicago, Opera Parallele, and The Glimmerglass Festival. This season, Rhodes will also make his Carnegie Hall debut and appear in several high-profile opera productions, continuing to earn rave reviews for his expressive voice and artistry.

The Holiday Joy Concerts will be a perfect way to celebrate the season with loved ones. With a blend of orchestral warmth, spirited holiday music, and world-class solo performances, this concert is sure to create lasting memories for audiences of all ages.

For tickets and more information, visit the Mid-Atlantic Symphony’s website at www.midatlanticsymphony.org.

ABOUT THE MID-ATLANTIC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra (MSO) is the only professional symphony orchestra serving southern Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore with a full season of programs. The MSO is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council; the Talbot County Arts Council; the Worcester County Arts Council; the Sussex County, Delaware Council; and the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, Inc.

A complete schedule of the 2024-2025 season’s Masterworks and Ensembles programs, venues, times, and other information is available at www.midatlanticsymphony.org

ONGOING WEEKLY CLASSES  

Mon, 1-2:30pm; Yoga with Suzie Hurley, Advanced beginners, $20/class, 10 classes $150

Sat, 9:30-11am; Yoga w Suzie Hurley, Intermediate, $20/class, 10 classes/ $150

Tues-Thurs, 10am; Steady & Strong w/ Janet Pfeffer, $10/class 10/$80

DECEMBER 2024

December 11, 3pm-10pm – Longwood Gardens Holiday Excursion!

The Oxford Community Center, in partnership with the Oxford Garden Club is offering a wonderful Holiday bus excursion and group tour of 

Longwood Gardens.  This is a very special ‘VIP’ trip as we are fortunate to have an Oxford resident who works at Longwood Gardens who will greet the group and share some secrets of the garden. And the group will meet up with Longwood Gardens’ very own Jim Sutton, who is the Associate Director of Display Design at Longwood Gardens and an expert in floral design. He is responsible for the themes and ideas behind the gardens’ horticulture displays. This is truly a once in a lifetime experience! Tickets are selling fast at $160 per person and includes coach bus fare, tickets into Longwood Gardens, VIP experience and snacks on the way home. Dinner is on your own at either The Café or the Longwood Gardens Beer Garden. 

December 12, 5:30pm – Community Talk with Author Neil Harpe
Author Neil Harpe grew up along the creeks and marshes of the Chesapeake Bay and has documented his experiences through artwork and photographs. He will be discussing his book, ‘Pictured in Time – An Artist’s Journey Around the Chesapeake’. Guests will enjoy Harpe’s ‘sensitively-rendered art and entertaining narrative’ with over 125 stunning photographs that tell a story of Maryland’s maritime heritage. FREE

December 18, 2024, 5:30-8:30pm – OCC Holiday Potluck with Tred Avon Players Holiday Entertainment

This is a good old fashioned Potluck Dinner to celebrate the holidays! Join your friends and neighbors at the Oxford Community Center Holiday Potluck Celebration 2024! RSVP online at oxfordcc.org and let us know what you’re bringing!

For more info contact: [email protected] or [email protected]
For tickets to classes and shows visit oxfordcc.org
To volunteer at our events, visit oxfordcc.org/volunteer

The Working Artists Forum’s 1st Annual Pretty in Pink Art Show and Sale, held on October 4 at the Waterfowl Building in Easton, raised $13,918 to benefit patient care and outreach programs offered by the Clark Comprehensive Breast Center at UM Shore Regional Health (UM SRH). Shown at the check presentation are (left to right) Rebecca Bair, Vice President of Philanthropy, UM SRH; Jeanie Scott, Director of Oncology Services, UM SRH; Kathryn Kelly, MD, Breast Surgeon and Roberta Lilly, MD, Medical Director, Clark Comprehensive Breast Center; and Working Artists Forum members Stacey Sass and Mary Ford.

About University of Maryland Shore Regional Health 

A member organization of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health (UM SRH) is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of five counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore: Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot. UM SRH consists of approximately 2,000 team members, including more than 600 health care providers on the Medical Staff, who work with community partners to advance the values that are foundational to our mission: Compassion, Discovery, Excellence, Diversity and Integrity. For more information, visit https://www.umms.org/shore.

About the University of Maryland Medical System

The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is an academic private health system, focused on delivering compassionate, high quality care and putting discovery and innovation into practice at the bedside. Partnering with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore who educate the state’s future health care professionals, UMMS is an integrated network of care, delivering 25 percent of all hospital care in urban, suburban and rural communities across the state of Maryland. UMMS puts academic medicine within reach through primary and specialty care delivered at 11 hospitals, including the flagship University of Maryland Medical Center, the System’s anchor institution in downtown Baltimore, as well as through a network of University of Maryland Urgent Care centers and more than 150 other locations in 13 counties. For more information, visit www.umms.org.

Prickly Heat, Marcy Dunn Ramsey (2024)

Marcy Dunn Ramsey’s annual exhibition – small blessings – represents the work created over the spring and summer months and will be featured in the High Street gallery from November 8 – December 15.

For thirty years, Marcy Dunn Ramsey has blessed us with her small gouache studies. This year we will have over twenty “small blessings” in her November exhibition. These will be in addition to eight richly colored mid-size oil on canvas paintings celebrating the woods and waterways of the Chester River.

Champagne Reception
Friday, November 8, 5-7 pm
Artist Talk – Saturday, November 9, 12 noon

Also featured will be a collection of mixed media/gilded floral photographs by Laurie Peek – In Lieu of Flowers. This series was created in memory of her son, Jackson R. Turner, who was 37 years old when he tragically drowned in Tulum, Mexico, in July 2020, and in honor of friends who have endured similar losses.

In the rear gallery, we will feature the work of Grace Mitchell, Jacqui Crocetta, Joe Karlik, Michael Kahn, Janis Goodman, B Proud, Celia Pearson, Cristine Yurick, Rosemary Cooley, Claire McArdle, Blake Conroy and Vicco von Voss.

Small Blessings will be on exhibit in the 203 High Street gallery. Hours during the show are Thursday – Friday, 11am – 4pm, Saturday, 10am – 5 pm.

The Cross Street gallery is open Sunday 12-3 and private appointments may be scheduled at any time by contacting Carla Massoni. 410-708-4512

Current and Upcoming Exhibitions:
Marc Castelli – Merroir
October 25 – November 24, 2024
At the Cross Street Gallery

Holiday Exhibition
December 1 – 31, 2024
At the Cross Street Gallery

For additional information, please visit www.massoniart.com.

Easton Choral Arts is proud to present ‘Gloria!’ a concert that radiates the joy and splendor of the Christmas season. At the heart of this program is Vivaldi’s iconic ‘Gloria,’ a timeless masterpiece that has warmed the hearts of countless audiences for centuries.

Paired with Vivaldi’s work will be a number of modern compositions and Christmas arrangements by some of our favorite living composers including Rosephanye Powell, Dan Forrest, James Mulholland, Ola Gjeilo, Andre Thomas, Rollo Dilworth, Elaine Hagenberg, and Reena Esmail.

 Musical styles on this program will span from classical and gospel to beloved traditional Christmas carols and rousing spirituals. The choir will be joined by professional vocal soloists and a live professional chamber orchestra, adding a dynamic and lush accompaniment to the performance. 

As ECAS ushers in the holiday season, the group invites the community to attend and enjoy music that encapsulates the splendor and majesty of the iconic phrase, ‘Gloria in Excelsis Deo!’ 

Performances will be on Friday, December 6th at 7:30 pm and on Sunday, December 8th at 4:00 pm – both at Christ Church, 111 South Harrison St. in Easton, MD.

 Tickets are $25 for adults. Students from grade 1 through high school are admitted free but must be registered in advance on the ticket site.

ECAS December concerts often sell out in advance. Visit the website: eastonchoralarts.com  to purchase tickets, learn more and view videos of past performances.

Light, shadow and color are the language of the seven artists whose exhibit, Plein Air Voices of the Natural Landscape, is on view at Adkins Arboretum’s Visitor’s Center through December 21. Celebrating the natural beauty of the Eastern Shore with joy and playfulness, they capture moments of changing light throughout the seasons. There will be a reception to meet the artists and view their work on Saturday, November 23 from 2 to 4 p.m.

There are few art forms as fresh and energetic as plein air painting. Deriving its name from the French for “in the open air,” it’s a particularly challenging art form requiring the artist to work outdoors, painting quickly to catch the light and atmosphere of a scene before it changes and is lost. Cambridge artist Jose Ramirez’s watercolor, “Autumn by the River,” captures a fleeting moment of orange and green leaves swirling in an exuberant dance, while a forested path is suffused with hushed radiance in Easton artist Maggii Safarty’s “Cathedral.” In “Last Light,” an oil painting by Seaford, Del., artist Jim Rehak, you can practically feel night’s darkness creeping across the water and a shadowy marsh under a huge cloud brushed in shades of purple.

The artists in this show were chosen both for their skill in plein air painting and for the variety of their mediums and approaches. While Ramirez’s watercolors describe the details of autumn trees in gently luminous shades of color, startlingly vibrant colors radiate from Easton artist Richard Fritz’s oil paintings. With its simplified forms, “Morning Haze,” is hardly more than a patchwork of colored shapes, yet there’s no question that you’re looking at a tree-lined marshy creek reflecting a misty sun.

Sheryl Southwick, also of Easton, shares Fritz’s love of unexpected colors but with a more descriptive, almost cartoonlike energy hinting at fantastical stories behind each of her oil paintings. In contrast, both Diane DuBois Mullaly, another Easton artist, and Chestertown artist Kate Quinn have a talent for creating a sense of place by blending just enough realism into their quick impressions of mood, lighting and color to identify specific landscapes, yet their work is very different. Mullaly paints in oils with a palette knife, creating highly textured works that shimmer with color. She often scratches back into the wet paint to reveal the color hidden underneath. In “Radiant,” spidery red lines flash through the myriad colors of marsh plants and the dark boughs of an evergreen like glimpses of a vital life force.

Like Mullaly, Quinn has a knack for bringing a scene alive with light and color but she paints with pastels. Rendered with quick, light strokes of luscious color, “Morning Walk” shows a forest path striped with sunbeams and purple shadows. More sunlight glances off the edges of tree trunks and dances high in the branches above. Enticing and mysterious, it’s an invitation to explore the beauty and mysteries of nature.

These artists are all inspired by a deep love of nature and art and have won awards for their work in plein air competitions or exhibits. Several teach classes or workshops in their respective mediums, and all are members of the Plein Air Painters of the Chesapeake Bay, a group of over 70 artists whose members gather regularly to paint outdoors in a variety of Eastern Shore locations.

Because of plein air’s focus on studying nature firsthand to discover what is present in the landscape at a particular moment in time, it often reveals deep beauty and a sense of awe. In Safarty’s “Cathedral,” the path running between the trees is indeed like an aisle in a cathedral, and the scene is infused with a magical feeling of stillness that speaks of nature’s ever-present potential for rejuvenation and healing. It’s an image of a moment so brief that you might miss it if you weren’t paying attention.

As Rehak noted in his artist’s statement about plein air painting, “What better situation to practice moment to moment awareness?”

This show is part of Adkins Arboretum’s ongoing exhibition series of work on natural themes by regional artists. It is on view through December 21 at the Arboretum Visitor’s Center located at 12610 Eveland Road near Tuckahoe State Park in Ridgely. Contact the Arboretum at 410-634-2847, ext. 100 or [email protected] for gallery hours.

A 400 acre native garden and preserve, Adkins Arboretum provides exceptional experiences in nature to promote environmental stewardship.

Allegra! Women’s Chorus, a prestigious 16-voice ensemble, will be presenting two concert performances this November.  The first at Trinity Cathedral, 315 Goldsborough St, Easton on November 16 at 7pm and the second at St. Paul’s, 225 S Morris St, Oxford on November 17 at 3pm.  Allegra! Women’s Chorus fall concert program will feature compositions and arrangements of songs old and new.  Poetry from William Wordsworth to Langston Hughes to Bob Dylan alongside the contemporary sounds of composers Elaine Hagenburg, Sarah Quartel and Susan LaBarr will highlight the archetype of the mother’s journey. Tickets can be purchased for $15 at the door or by visiting www.allegroacademyeaston.com. 

The women’s chorus is conducted by Amy Morgan, an accomplished musician whose education includes a Bachelors degree in Piano Performance from Salisbury University and Masters Degree in Choral Conducting from Messiah University. Amy has extensive experience as a choral, operetta, and musical theatre director, is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, and is an active musician the Easton community.  The program will be accompanied by Ellen Grunden on piano and Carey Miller on cello. 

Allegra! was formed in the spring of 2019 and is a program of Allegro Academy, a non-profit music conservatory located downtown Easton, MD.  Other programs of the Academy include the Allegro Children’s Chorus, Summer Sing choir festival, group classes and private lessons.  Allegro Academy’s mission is to offer exceptional music education and performance experiences to the greater Talbot County Area and to make these offerings affordable to all.  Programs of the Academy are supported by the generosity of the Talbot County community, Talbot Arts, and the Maryland State Arts Council.  For more information please visit www.allegroacademyeaston.com.