The Mid-Atlantic Symphony, the Delmarva peninsula’s only professional orchestra, continues its 22^nd season with two exciting programs dedicated to the Holiday Season.

On December 6 in Easton, MD, December 7 in Lewes, DE, and December 8 in Ocean City, MD, the MSO will present its annual Holiday Joy Concert. While performing seasonal favorites that pay tribute to the great Pops Orchestras of America, the MSO will feature international opera star, Kevin Short. As a soloist, Short has performed with many of the country’s top orchestras and opera companies, including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington Opera, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, and National Symphony.

Short will be joined by rising stars and students from the University of Maryland’s Opera Studio, Ester Atkinson, Mezzo Soprano; Michael Butler, Tenor; and Erica Ferguson, Soprano. The concert will feature something for everyone, from Classical to Jazz and Popular music.

On December 31 in Easton, MD the MSO will present their annual New Year’s Eve Concert. The concert will feature the incredibly talented and versatile Soprano, Rochelle Bard. She will be joined by two soloists from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Principal Trumpeter Andrew Balio and Principal 2^nd Violinist Qing Li.

According to Maestro Julien Benichou, “This year’s season includes an incredible mix of new music, iconic masterworks and amazing soloists. Like every season, the MSO continues to break new ground and introduce new repertoire. We can’t wait to share our 22nd season with our patrons!”

Additional information about these concerts and the rest of the MSO’s 2019-2020 season are available online at midatlanticsymphony.org or by calling 888-846-8600.

The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council, the Talbot County Arts Council, the Worcester County Arts Council, Sussex County, Delaware, the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, Inc, Delmarva Public Radio, What’s Up Media and Coastal Style Magazine.

Holiday Joy: A Salute to the Great Pops Orchestras

Friday, December 6, 7:00PM – Avalon Theater, Easton, MD

Saturday, December 7, 7:00PM – Cape Henlopen, Lewes, DE

Sunday, December 8, 3:00PM – Ocean City Convention Center, Ocean City, MD

Guest Artists: Kevin Short, Bass Baritone & Students from the University of Maryland Opera Studio

Ticket Link: midatlanticsymphony.org/holiday-joy-2019-concerts

A Toast to the New Year!

Tuesday, December 31 7:00 p.m. Christ Church, Easton, MD

Guest Artists: Rochelle Bard, Soprano; Andrew Balio, Trumpet; and Qing Li, Violin.

Ticket Link: midatlanticsymphony.org/december-2019-new-year-concert

About the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra

The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra is a professional orchestra that exists to offer citizens of the Mid-Atlantic Region opportunities for musical entertainment and enjoyment, the development of the musical arts, the promotion, development and operation of musical enterprises in the performing arts, particularly through symphonic programs and choral activities; and to engage in enterprises directed at discovering and fostering musical talents, and to promote musical activities and programs for the cultural and educational benefit of the public.

On Friday, September 27 at Chesapeake College’s Todd Performing Arts Center, the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra will kickoff its 22^nd season with Lalo Schifrin’s Mandolin Concerto and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.

The concert will begin with Nicolas Mazmanian’s “Mission Impossible Variations” which was dedicated to Lalo Schifrin. Schifrin is an Argentine-American pianist and composer who is best known as one of Hollywood’s top composers. His most notable compositions are the “Theme from Mission: Impossible” and “Bullitt.”

Schifrin wrote his “Mandolin Concerto” for Vincent Beer-Demander, one of Europe’s foremost mandolinists. Beer-Demander will join the MSO for the American Premiere of Schifrin’s concerto.

The concert will conclude with Beethoven’s iconic Seventh Symphony, which Wagner called “the apotheosis of dance itself.”

Tickets are $45 and can be purchased online at www.midatlanticsymphony.org, by phone at 888.846.8600, or at their box office (open 1 hour before each performance – subject to availability).

Friday, September 27, 2019, 7:30 p.m. – Chesapeake College, Todd Performing Arts Center: 1000 College Cir, Wye Mills, MD 21679

The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council; the Talbot County Arts Council; the Worcester County Arts Council; Sussex County, Delaware;the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, Inc; Costal Style Magazine; and Whats Up? Media. These concerts benefit the Mid-Atlantic Symphony’s mission to offer to the citizens of the Mid-Atlantic Region musical entertainment and enjoyment and to promote musical activities and programs for the cultural and educational benefit of the public.

Calendar Listing

Mid-Atlantic Symphony Presents Schifrin Mandolin Concerto& Beethoven Symphony No. 7
Friday, September 27, 7:30 p.m.
Chesapeake College
Todd Performing Arts Center
1000 College Cir, Wye Mills, MD 21679

The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra begin its 2019-2020 season with “Movie Themes to Classica,” featuring Nicolas Mazmanian’s “Mission Impossible Variations,” the American Premiere of Lalo Schifrin’s “Mandolin Concerto,” and Beethoven’s iconic “Symphony No. 7.” The MSO will be joined by one of Europe’s foremost Mandolin Soloists, Vincent Beer-Demander.Tickets are $45 and can be purchased online at www.midatlanticsymphony.org, by phone at 888.846.8600, or at their box office (open 1 hour before each performance – subject to availability).

About the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra

The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra is a professional orchestra which exists to offer citizens of the Mid-Atlantic Region opportunities for musical entertainment and enjoyment, the development of the musical arts, the promotion, development and operation of musical enterprises in the performing arts, particularly through symphonic programs and choral activities; and to engage in enterprises directed at discovering and fostering musical talents, and to promote musical activities and programs for the cultural and educational benefit of the public.

About Music Director Julien Benichou

Hailed as “one of the most interesting and accomplished conductors of his generation,” Julien Benichou is noted for his blend of flexibility and control, inspiring musicality and incredibly infectious energy. Benichou currently serves as Music Director for the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra (MSO) and was recently appointed Principal Conductor of the Washington Opera Society. He is also the Music Director of the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra (CYSO) and the Southern Maryland Youth Symphony Orchestra (SMYOC). This past December, he made his debut with the New York City Ballet, in Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, and returned to Carnegie Hall, in a concert that featured Robert Redford and Vice-President Al Gore.

As Music Director of the MSO for the last 12 seasons, Benichou has greatly raised the profile of the ensemble, attracting premier artists, as well as expanding the orchestra’s season. This year, he collaborates with Stefan Jackiw, Virgil Boutellis-Taft, Kurt Nikkanen, Brandie Sutton and Leon Fleisher. Previous seasons have included concerts with such noted artists as Kevin Short, Lester Lynch, Arnaud Sussmann and Tine Thing Helseth.

Served by a keen attention to detail and an ability to bring forth a wealth of expression from singers, Benichou has also found success conducting operatic productions. Most recently, as principal conductor of Washington Opera Society, he conducted La Cenerentola at the French Embassy, and L’elisir d’amore at the Residence of the Ambassador to Colombia. This June, he will conduct their production of Carmen with Jonathan Tetelman as Don José. He has conducted, to great critical acclaim, fully staged performances of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess with the Morgan State University Choir and Opera Workshop. In September of 2016 he conducted the premiere performance of James Lee’s Mother’s Lament with the Morgan State University Choir.

Benichou has also garnered acclaim as guest conductor at the Annapolis Symphony, Newark Symphony, Ballet Theatre of Maryland, Baltimore Concert Opera, Baltimore Symphony/Mobtown Modern Synchronicity projects, Orquestra Sinfonica do Parana in Curitaba, Brazil, the St. Petersburg State Symphony in Russia, the Maison Symphonique de Montreal in Canada, and the Siberian State Symphony in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, where he will return next season. Other return engagements will include a collaboration with Tim Janis at Carnegie Hall.

An avid supporter of new music, Benichou collaborated with many composers and was the Principal Conductor of the Towson New Music Ensemble for ten seasons. He also served as principal conductor for the Mobtown Modern Ensemble. Also a composer, Benichou has received commissions for theater, film and concert music; most recently from the Siberian State Symphony Orchestra.

Benichou has taken the Chesapeake Youth Orchestra on six different European tours, performing side-by-side concerts with the Orchestre des Jeunes de Montréal and the St. Petersburg State Symphony. He also brought the orchestra to prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall. The orchestra has been invited by several festivals in France, with an upcoming tour where they will premiere Lalo Schifrin’s Mandolin Concerto with Vincent Beer-Demander.

Julien Benichou also enjoys crossover and pops concerts, and has worked with The US Army Blues Big Band, the Army Strings, the Irish band Lunasa, and such artists as Warren Wolf, Mairead Nesbitt, Loreena McKennitt, Sarah McLachlan, and Matthew Morrison.

Benichou received a Graduate Performance Diploma from The Peabody Institute and earned a Master’s Degree from Northwestern University. He also pursued graduate studies at Yale University. In master classes he has worked with Leonard Slatkin, Yuri Temirkanov, Marin Alsop, Michael Tilson Thomas and JoAnn Falletta. His main teachers have been Victor Yampolsky, Gustav Meier and Jorma Panula.

Before coming to the United States, he trained in France, with Roland Hayrabedian and Pol Mule at the Marseille Conservatory and Jean Sébastien Bereau at the Rueil-Malmaison Conservatory, as well as privately with Yves Cohen. He also studied harmony and counterpoint with Pierre Doury at the Schola Cantorum in Paris.

About Mandolinist Vincent Beer-Demander

Vincent Beer-Demander (born in 1982) has won many awards from prestigious Conservatoires in France and Italy. He is the only mandolin player who has been granted the grade of as concert performer at by the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris and has won several international competitions, among which Giacomo Sartori (2004), Raffaele Calace (2008) and Jose Fernandez Rojas (2009).

He has played in many countries with such renowned musicians as Richard Galliano, Vladimir Cosma, Mike Marshall, Roland Dyens, Didier Lockwood, Philip Caterine, Claude Barthélémy, Roberto Alagna, Thomas Leleu, François Rossé, Nana Mouskouri, Féloche, Agnès Jaoui. Vladimir Cosma, Claude Bolling, Francis Lai, Jean Claude Petit, Richard Galliano, Hamilton de Holanda,Mike Marshall, François Rossé, Félix Ibbarondo, have dedicated their mandolin concertos to him.

As a soloist as well as in chamber music groups, Markeas, Moultaka, Bon, Bosseur, Hadad, Solano, Martin, Pattar, Marty,Charpy, Rolin, Festou, Vella, Eychenne, Houdy, Crousier, Nascimento, Ogawa, Ourkouzounov, Hue, Iacono, Nicolau, Paliotti, Grivel, Oger, Carrenio, Tarroncher, Houdy, Peyrebelle, Tognan, Bensa, Arrue, Della Vechia, Vial, Besingrand, Bakas, Parwez, Bohn, Branch, Giles, Gomes, Mollerskov, Olano, Tonawanda, Kan-no, Yip, Laval, Kassap, Brizmur, Feldhandler, Mazmanian, Sassier.

He is a regular collaborator of L’Orchestre National de France, l’Orchestre National de France, Minsk Philharmonic, l’Orchestre National de Lyon, L’Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, L’Orchestre National de Toulouse, The Israel  Chamber Orchestra Ramadgan, l’Orchestre National de Montpellier, Bucuresti Orchestra Sinfonica, l’Orchestre National de Nice, l’Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie,  l’Orchestre du CNSM de Paris, l’Orchestre Philarmonique de Marseille, l’Opéra de Toulon Provence Méditérranée., l’Opéra National de Paris – Bastille, Romania National Orchestra,  l’Ensemble Cbarré, l’Ensemble TM+, Proxima Centauri.

As a professor at the National Conservatory of Marseille in France, the Royal Conservatory of Liège in Belgium, he is regularly called upon to give master-classes either alone or in collaboration with such well-known musicians as Pierre Henry Xuereb, Philippe Muller, Patrick Gallois, Emmanuelle Bertrand, Dejan Bogdavovic, Hélène Dautry, Fabrice Pierre, Yehuda Hanany, Christophe Giovaninetti, Denis Pascal.

As a composer, he has produced a vast array of pieces which have been published by the Oz musical library (Canada), Mundoplectro (Spain), Trekel (Germany) &Hody (France).

His considerable number of records is evidence of the variety of his musical achievements.

The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra has announced its spring concerts. “A Sense of the Tragic, An Exciting Debut!” will be held on Thursday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Easton Church of God in Easton, MD; on Saturday, March 9 at 3 p.m. at Mariner’s Bethel in Ocean View, DE; and on Sunday, March 10 at 3 p.m. at Community Church in Ocean Pines, MD. The concert will feature Schubert, Symphony No. 4.

Franz Schubert (1797-1828) is the father of the art song, blessed with the gifts of melody and harmony. Symphony No. 4 D 417 “Tragic” was written when Schubert was 19 years old, but never publicly played during his lifetime. The Symphony shows remarkable structure and ability to manage the available orchestral forces and thematic material.  Andrews Sill will be the Guest Conductor for the concert. Sill is Associate Music Director of New York City Ballet and Music Director of Milwaukee Ballet. Active as a concert pianist, he is one of few artists who perform concertos leading the orchestra from the keyboard. In addition to giving solo recitals, Sill has been a member of the Whitney Trio and the Manhattan Contemporary Ensemble.

Andrews Sill, Guest Conductor and Michael McHale, Pianist

The second of the MSO’s spring concerts, “Ode to Humankind, To Country and to Joy!” will be held on Friday, April 26, 7 p.m. at Chesapeake College in Wye Mills, MD and on Sunday, April 28 at 7 p.m. at the Ocean City Convention Center in Ocean City, MD. The concert will feature ‘Finlandia” by Jean Sibelius, a Piano Concerto by Ravel, and Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9.” Ravel was a master of orchestration.  “Piano Concerto in G” was written in 1929-1931 after Ravel’s tour of North America, where he was exposed to jazz and the music of Gershwin.  Originally commissioned by the Philharmonic Society of London in 1817, Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 9” was one of the vehicles with which Beethoven unleashed the creative powers of his maturity. The concert will feature Belfast-born Michael McHale on piano. McHale has established himself as one of Ireland’s leading pianists and has developed a busy international career as a solo recitalist, Concerto soloist, and chamber musician. In 2017, McHale was invited to become a Patron of the Ulster Youth Orchestra, and in 2018 he was appointed as a part-time professor of piano for undergraduate and postgraduate students at the Cork School of Music in Ireland.

The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council, the Talbot County Arts Council, the Worcester County Arts Council, Sussex County, Delaware and the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, Inc. Tickets for these concerts and more of the MSO are available online at midatlanticsymphony.org or by telephone (888) 846-8600.  For further information, visit midatlanticsymphony.org.

MSO President Jeffrey Parker (left) with Raymond Vergne.

The Mid-Atlantic Symphony recently celebrated its holiday concerts with supporters at Scossa Restaurant in Easton, MD. Members of the Orchestra serenaded guests who enjoyed light hors d’oeuvres. The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council, the Talbot County Arts Council, the Worcester County Arts Council, Sussex County, Delaware and the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, Inc. Tickets for the spring concerts, March 7, 9 and 10,  featuring Andrews Sill as Guest Conductor, are available online at midatlanticsymphony.org or by telephone (888) 846-8600.  For further information, visit midatlanticsymphony.org.

The Mid-Atlantic Symphony’s holiday concerts will feature traditional seasonal favorites with a little extra pop! The Symphony is hosting its holiday concert, Holiday Joy, Angelic Sisters! on Thursday, December 6 at 7 p.m. at the Avalon Theatre in Easton, MD; on Saturday, December 8 at 7:00 p.m. at Cape Henlopen High School, 1250 Kings Highway, Lewes, DE; and on Sunday, December 9 at 3:00 p.m. at Ocean City Convention Center, 4001 Coastal Highway, Ocean City, MD. The Karpov sisters will combine opera, jazz and pop in a special way. The MSO’s New Year’s Eve Concert will be held on Monday, December 31 at 7 p.m. at Christ Church in Easton, MD featuring vocalist Jessica Renfro.

L-R: Suzanne Karpov, Jessica Karpov and Jessica Renfro

Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle for her “elegant” soprano, both “incisive and tender,” Suzanne Karpov is quickly distinguishing herself as one of the country’s leading young sopranos. In the 2016-17 season, Karpov made her debut with Washington National Opera and has made various soprano soloist appearances since including recently her professional debut with American Bach Soloists in Handel’s Messiah, a performance of Messiah at the Kennedy Center with the Washington National Opera Orchestra. Suzanne Karpov’s sister Jessica Karpov is a famous song-writer for artists such as Kelly Clarkson, Brittany Spears, and Demi Lovato.

Jessica Renfro is an accomplished concert artist, having performed with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Delaware Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, Bach in Baltimore Concert Series and the Bay-Atlantic Symphony in solo orchestral works including Handel’s Messiah, the Mozart Requiem, and the Bach B Minor Mass.

The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council, the Talbot County Arts Council, the Worcester County Arts Council, Sussex County, Delaware and the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, Inc. Tickets for these concerts and more of the MSO are available online at midatlanticsymphony.org or by telephone (888) 846-8600.  For further information, visit midatlanticsymphony.org.

The only professional symphony orchestra on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra (MSO), is celebrating a new season, offering concerts from Ocean City, MD to Wye Mills, MD and returning this year to Lewes, DE and Washington, DC.

The November concerts, “Stellar Concertmasters,” in Easton, Ocean View and Ocean Pines, feature Mozart’s “Sinfonia Concertante” and Haydn’s “Symphony No. 102” with the duo Wyatt Underhill, Assistant Concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony on violin and Jonathan Carney, Concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony on viola. The concerts will be held on Thursday, November 1, 7:30 p.m. at Easton Church of God in Easton, MD; on Saturday, November 3, 3:00 p.m. at Mariner’s Bethel in Ocean View, DE; and on Sunday, November 4, 3:00 p.m. at Community Church in Ocean Pines, MD.

Wyatt Underhill and Jonathan Carney

Mark your calendars now for the Symphony’s holiday concerts in Easton, Lewes and Ocean City, which will feature the Karpov sisters, combining Opera, Jazz and Pop in a special way. On New Year’s Eve in Easton, Mezzo-Soprano Jessica Renfro and a few other vocalists will ring in the new year in a highly energetic concert.

The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council, the Talbot County Arts Council, the Worcester County Arts Council, Sussex County, Delaware and the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, Inc.

Tickets are available online at midatlanticsymphony.org or by telephone (888) 846-8600.  For further information, visit midatlanticsymphony.org.

Pictured L-R: Marty Read (former MSO Board Member), Jeffrey Parker (MSO Board President), and Andrea Barnes (Former MSO Board President).

The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra (MSO) celebrated the culmination of its 2017-2018  season, “Reaching Ever Higher,” at Chesapeake College in Wye Mills, MD with a post-concert gourmet dinner in the Atrium of the Todd Performing Arts Center created in the college’s teaching kitchen by Easton’s chef Hugo Ruesgas from Mason’s Redux 2017.

The MSO, whose mission is “to enrich life in the Mid-Atlantic region through the power of live classical music,” is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council, the Talbot County Arts Council, the Worcester County Arts Council, Sussex County, Delaware and the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, Inc. For further information, visit midatlanticsymphony.org.

The culmination of the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra’s (MSO) season, “Reaching Ever Higher,” 20 years of bringing enchantment to audiences from Ocean City, MD to Wye Mills, MD, will occur in April on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. On Friday, April 20 at 7 p.m. at Chesapeake College in Wye Mills, MD and on Sunday, April 22, at 3 p.m., with a Pre-Concert Lecture at 2:15 p.m. at the Convention Center in Ocean City, MD, the MSO will present, “Heavenly Music: Mahler and Leon Fleisher.”  The concerts will feature Ludwig Van Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, followed by Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12 in A Major, performed by Leon Fleisher. The concert will conclude with Gustav Mahler’s heavenly Symphony No. 4.

Leon Fleisher began playing the piano at the age of 4 and gave his first recital at the age of 6. After winning the Queen Elizabeth competition in Belgium in 1952, he achieved international acclaim over the next decade and made many recordings, some considered “definitive.” In the mid 1960’s, however, Fleisher was stricken with a debilitating condition of his right hand which forced him to withdraw from public performance and concentrate on conducting. In 1970 he was appointed Music Director of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, and in 1973 became Associate Conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

His condition was final diagnosed as focal distonia and eventually treated with Botox, with considerable relief. He was able to return to Carnegie Hall for a historic recital in 2003. His disc, “Two Hands,” was well received and extensively praised by the critics. In 2007, he was the recipient of a Kennedy Center Honors award and has continued his long association with many prestigious institutions, including the Tanglewood Music Center, Peabody Conservatory, the Curtis Institute and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Canada.

Hailed by The New York times for her “warm, ample voice” and “distinctive earthy coloring,” and by Opera News for her “sumptuous, mid-weight soprano,” Brandie Sutton began her professional career with a solo recital in the province of St. Maarten and many presentations of Handel’s Messiah around the United States. She later made her debut at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in a solo recital in Washington, DC, and her Manhattan recital debut at Merkin Concert Hall in Lincoln Center.

Sutton has toured and soloed with the internationally-acclaimed American Spiritual Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Everett McCorvey and with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra under the baton of Damien Sneed. Most recently, she was one of Aretha Franklin’s picks in her national competition to find the next opera star to sign to her label. Sutton believes that she was blessed with a gift from God. She continues to work hard to develop and perfect this gift and share it with the world.

The MSO will host two optional post-concert gourmet dinners after the April concerts. The dinner in Wye Mills, which will be served in the Atrium of the Todd Performing Arts Center at Chesapeake College, is being created in the college’s teaching kitchen by Easton’s chef Erin O’Shea from Mason’s – Redux 2017. The dinner in Ocean City will be served at the Clarion Hotel. The cost for both dinners is in addition to the concert ticket price and reservations are required.

​The MSO, whose mission is “to enrich life in the Mid-Atlantic region through the power of live classical music,” is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council, the Talbot County Arts Council, the Worcester County Arts Council, Sussex County, Delaware and the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, Inc. Tickets to the concerts and post-concert dinners are available online at midatlanticsymphony.org, or by telephone (888) 846-8600.  For further information, visit midatlanticsymphony.org.

Dan Visconti

The only professional symphony orchestra on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra (MSO), is celebrating “Reaching Ever Higher,” 20 years of bringing enchantment to audiences from Ocean City, MD to Wye Mills, MD. On Thursday, February 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Avalon Theatre in Easton, MD, and on Saturday, February 10, 2018 at 7:30 p.m., the MSO will present “A Roaring Movies Valentine” at Community Church in Ocean Pines, MD. The concerts will celebrate romance with silent movies and the music of the Roaring Twenties.

On Thursday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Easton Church of God in Easton, MD; on Saturday, March 10, 2018 at 3 p.m., with a Pre-Concert Lecture at2:15 p.m. at Mariner’s Bethel in Ocean View, DE; and on Sunday, March 11, 2018 at 3 p.m., with a Pre-Concert Lecture at 2:15 p.m. at Community Church in Ocean Pines, MD, the MSO will present “In Their Twenties.” The first half of the concerts will feature Phil Munds on the French Horn performing Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 3, in conjunction with a composition titled “Black Bend” (2005) by composer Dan Visconti, which was originally commissioned by the Cleveland Museum of Art and first presented in a version for string quartet. The piece, which takes its inspiration from an old ghost story about a train derailment and a supposedly haunted stretch of Ohio’s Cuyahoga River, features many special techniques in order for the unamplified stringed instruments to produce a raw, distorted tone more typical of electric guitars. “In Their Twenties,” will also feature George Bizet’s “Symphony No. 1” on the second half, who along with Mozart, both composed when they were in their twenties.

The MSO, whose mission is “to enrich life in the Mid-Atlantic region through the power of live classical music,” is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council, the Talbot County Arts Council, the Worcester County Arts Council, Sussex County, Delaware and the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore, Inc. Tickets to the concerts are available online at midatlanticsymphony.org, or by telephone (888) 846-8600.  For further information, visit midatlanticsymphony.org.