This article is part of a special series celebrating the 2025 inductees into the Plein Air Easton Hall of Fame. Now in its second year, the Hall of Fame honors individuals, organizations, and patrons whose dedication, creativity, and support have helped shape Plein Air Easton into the nationally recognized event it is today.

When Hali Asplundh first set foot in Easton in the late 1990s, she didn’t expect it to be more than a weekend getaway. She and her husband, Scott, were looking for a second home—a quiet place with water views, some charm, maybe a lovely sunset or two. They came from the Philadelphia area and had already checked out the Jersey Shore, but nothing had quite clicked. Then they visited the Eastern Shore.

“It was in February—Valentine’s Day, actually…,” said Hali. “We drove from St. Michaels down to the ferry dock, and I looked across at Oxford and said, ‘Let’s go over there for dinner.’” The ferry wasn’t running, of course, so they had to drive all the way around. “We ended up at Pope’s Inn Tavern and had this great meal.”

That’s when she opened one of the local booklets you find around the Shore—she can’t remember much else about it, but she remembers the real estate advertisement. “There was this little house in Easton,” she said. “I showed it to Scott and said, ‘We need to go look at that house.’ And then, as Scott likes to say, ‘four months later, we owned it.’”

That house, and the house after that in Oxford, would become the base for years of memories, not just as a retreat, but as a way to connect with the area’s growing community. “Living here made us instantly understand the beauty of the area,” Hali said. “So I started looking for a picture of a sunset, because they’re just so glorious down there, right?”

What started as a hunt for a piece of sunset art to hang on the wall turned into conversations with local gallerists and artists. One of those conversations was with Nancy Tankersley, who mentioned she was working with a group hoping to bring a plein air festival to Easton.

“I thought it was an excellent idea,” Hali said. “I was instantly enamored, and we got involved from the start. We supported it that first year and every year after in one way or another.”

Even though neither of them was an artist, they were captivated by the creative process. They would walk the streets of Easton and Oxford during festival week, watching artists painting in real time. “I love driving down the road and seeing four or five easels in the same spot,” she said. “But every painting is slightly different—the angle, the color, the interpretation. I love that.”

They also loved the feeling of being present for something special—of seeing a piece of the festival take shape right before their eyes. One time, they were having lunch at the Robert Morris Inn when Hali noticed a woman painting on the patio next to them. “She was painting a couple under a big red umbrella—it was a hot day, I remember. She did such a masterful job. I took a picture of her painting, posted it, and later found out it won the grand prize. That was fun to see.”

Though their involvement was never about being seen, the Asplundh name is one many people know, especially in the Mid-Atlantic. Scott comes from a family that built one of the country’s largest tree service companies. It’s not something they ever led with, but in some ways, it fits. A respect for land and the natural world is part of what drew them to the Shore and part of what they’ve quietly supported ever since. They showed up, gave, and helped build the foundation that allowed the festival to grow. “We just adored it,” Hali said. “It’s something we made time for. Scott was always very busy, but he made time for that event.”

That appreciation deepened over time. What began with admiration turned into participation. At some point, they asked if there was a way to get more directly involved in supporting the artists themselves. That’s when they took on the Artist Choice Award—an honor voted on by the painters, and one that Hali and Scott have proudly supported ever since. “It became really dear to our hearts,” she said.

But their support wasn’t just financial—it was part of how they experienced the festival, year after year.”Most of their time during the event was spent in Oxford, where they felt most at home. They often arrived by boat, cruising to opening events or just soaking in the scenes from the water. Hali especially loved how the festival offered access to places most people never see. “That first year I went to an artist opening at one of the farms,” she said, “and I remember thinking what a wonderful way it was to see these hidden parts of the Shore.”

And the more time she spent there—on the water, at the farms, walking the small-town streets—the more closely she began to appreciate the craft of painting. “I remember once asking a local artist during a talk if he thought the light here was different,” she said. “He went off on this explanation about how it’s like a lampshade—the light holds. It’s bright but soft, and reflective in a way that’s hard to describe. He compared it to the south of France. Ever since then, I’ve looked at it through that lens.”

That way of seeing—of noticing things others might miss—stayed with her, even as their visits became less frequent. Scott’s health has kept them away in recent years, but their connection to the place hasn’t faded. They still own their home in Oxford, and Hali hopes to return soon, possibly with her daughter. “It’s kind of a cherished memory for us now,” she said.

She was surprised and touched when she received the call about the Hall of Fame honor. “I thought that was quite nice, actually,” she said. “Whether we were in the Hall of Fame or not, we would have continued to support it. We love it.”

And that love—for the light, the water, the land, the trees, and the art that emerges from it—has become part of Plein Air Easton’s story. Not everyone who shapes a festival picks up a brush. Some simply stand back, quietly, year after year, and make it possible for others to paint what they see.

This article is part of a special series celebrating the 2025 inductees into the Plein Air Easton Hall of Fame. Now in its second year, the Hall of Fame honors individuals, organizations, and patrons whose dedication, creativity, and support have helped shape Plein Air Easton into the nationally recognized event it is today.

Diane DuBois Mullaly was out painting when she got the call. She was standing at her easel at Wade’s Point Inn, in the middle of a plein air painting, when Al Bond phoned to tell her she’d been selected as one of this year’s Hall of Fame honorees.

“I was astonished,” she said. “I knew that my name had been submitted the year before, and I thought, well, maybe someday—but I didn’t expect it this soon.”

It was a full-circle moment. Not just because she’s been juried into Plein Air Easton ten times. Not just because she’s painted the landscapes of the Eastern Shore for more than two decades. But because she’s been part of the event since day one, quietly shaping the experience for artists and audiences alike.

In 2005, Diane was part of a small group of local artists who met at Coffee East, a café in Easton, every Friday morning. One morning, Nancy Tankersley came in to tell them about a new plein air festival being organized by the Avalon Foundation. She was looking for volunteers.

“I really wanted to meet all the artists coming to town,” Diane said. “I just put my name and email address on a piece of paper.” A few days later, she got an email: “Thank you for volunteering to co-chair the Quick Draw.”

Her response: “What’s the Quick Draw?”

She soon found out. Nancy brought Diane and co-chair Cliff Fleener to South Street Art Gallery and showed them a slideshow from a similar event in California. From that model, they were tasked with designing Easton’s own version.

“Cliff was very gregarious and great on the ground. I was quieter and studious,” she said. “So I went home and wrote a full outline—how I thought it should work. A timeline, logistics, and boundaries. I emailed it to Nancy and Al Bond. We went back and forth and refined it. But that basic structure? They’re still using it today.”

Diane also credits Cliff with the three-part sales ticket system that is still in use. “He came up with this really ingenious design and brought the giant roll of tape,” she said. “He marked where the artists would set up, made sure we had an air horn, a tent, water to give away—he figured out all the stuff on the ground so I could paint that day.”

Diane’s path to plein air painting had its own kind of quiet beginning. She’d studied at Tyler School of Art at Temple University but hadn’t worked in oil until she moved to the Eastern Shore in 2002. Something about the light, the landscape, the wide-open spaces—she couldn’t stop thinking about painting them.

“For Christmas, I asked my husband for a set of oil paints,” she said. “And then I didn’t open them. I was terrified. I had painted in oil in college, but it had been so many years. I was just so intimidated by the thought of doing what I wanted to do most.”

Eventually, late one night, she opened the box.

“I read the instructions. I tried painting. And it went much better than I expected.”

She started studying with artists who came through the area—Camille Przewodek and Tim Bell (now Tim Beal). She also worked for Nancy at South Street Art Gallery and joined workshops led by Nancy. Before long, she was entering plein air events. And then she was accepted. Ten times over.

In Easton, where there’s no shortage of art events or galleries, Diane believes Plein Air Easton stands apart because of the energy and immediacy it brings.

“It’s very interactive,” she said. “Because the art is being created on site, it’s kind of like a spectator sport. People can find the artists, talk to them, and see the work in progress. That’s different from other festivals, where the art is already complete and hung in an exhibit.”

For Diane, that connection is everything. She’s had countless people walk up to her while she’s painting, curious and engaged. And just as many who connect emotionally with the finished work.

“What’s really great is when your art touches someone,” she said. “Seeing a familiar scene through the artist’s eyes makes it fresh for them, and they fall in love with it. That is really gratifying.”

She’s also formed lasting friendships with other competition artists—people she never would have met if not for the festival—the kind of friendships that start in a tent, over lunch, or while waiting for a painting to dry in the heat.

But more than anything, she keeps coming back to the atmosphere of generosity.

“There’s a kindness that flows through the event,” she said. “The kindness of the volunteers, the kindness of the Avalon staff, the kindness of the artists to the spectators and each other. It’s the host families. It’s just amazing. It’s a giant act of goodwill.”

For Diane, it’s been deeply personal. From volunteering to painting to mentoring younger artists, she’s been involved in every layer of the experience. Her work helped lay the foundation, and her presence helped nurture the culture.

“I’ve been there since the start,” she said. “And to see how it’s grown, how it’s evolved—but still stayed connected to what it was at the beginning—it means a lot.”

That beginning included spreadsheets and sketches, sales ticket mockups, and air horn checklists. It included stepping into roles without knowing what they’d become, an unopened box of paints, a quiet decision, and a willingness to try.

This summer, Diane DuBois Mullaly joins the Plein Air Easton Hall of Fame. And for those who know what she’s given—on canvas and off—the honor speaks for itself.

Ordinarily, the closest you can get to world-class opera in Easton – or anywhere on the Eastern Shore – is taking in a Metropolitan Opera live simulcast Saturday matinee at the Avalon Theater. But on this Independence Day weekend, one of the hottest young American tenors will be in concert, solo at the Ebenezer Theater as part of the Gabriela Montero at Prager concert season. 

Michael Fabiano

Michael Fabiano, sometimes referred to as the high-flying tenor superstar, is not just because he’s performed in leading roles at opera houses all over the world. In his free time, Fabiano chills by flying small aircraft in or around New York City, near his native Montclair, New Jersey. 

Among the many classic arias he has performed in his more mature post-2016 career – Fabiano turned 41 in May – are from his debut with the Royal Danish Opera in Verdi’s “Requiem” and the title role of Faust with the Houston Grand Opera. He’s also performed several roles with the Metropolitan Opera, including Rodolfo in “La Boheme” and Alfredo in “La Traviata,” as well as his highly acclaimed interpretation of Lensky in Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” at the Royal  Opera Covent Garden. 

  These are among many pieces he may perform in his solo debut at the Ebenezer on Saturday night. Or he might polish up on the role of the Duke in Verdi’s “Rigoletto” from his 2018 Los Angeles Opera debut. 

  In a recent interview with Opera World, Fabiano reserved his highest praise for Verdi as, perhaps, his favorite composer. Responding to a recent review that called him a “True Verdi Tenor,” Fabiano said that Verdi’s operas are “medicine for the voice.” Speaking as if Verdiwas still alive and writing music, he added: “He’s a centralizing composer for a large-voiced tenor” – implicitly referring to himself. 

Earlier in his career, Fabiano won both the prestigious Beverly Sills and Richard Tucker awards, the first singer to have achieved that double feat in the same year, 2014.

Pianist Bryan Wagorn will accompany Fabiano for the Easton recital. Gabriela Montero, a Venezuelan-born keyboardist, is the namesake host of the series.

***

Coming up later this month on the classical music calendar, The Birch Trio’s “Time Travels” will take you as far back as Haydn – with 100-plus symphonies to his credit as well as myriad chamber concertos – on up to contemporary composers James Cohn, Valerie Coleman and others, with a nod in between toward Romantic classical pieces.

The Birch Trio

The trio of music professionals – all residing on the Easton Shore – comprises Ashley Watkins on flute, Nevin Dawson on violin and viola, and Denise Nathanson on cello. Together, they’ll perform in concert on July 19 at the Dorchester Center for the Arts in Cambridge and on the 20th at Easton’s Christ Church.

TENOR MICHAEL FABIANO & A SHORE TRIO

Solo performance in the Gabriela Montero at Prager concert series, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Ebenezer Theater of the Prager Family Center for the Arts, Easton. Piano accompaniment by Bryan Wagorn. bluepoint.hospitality.com 

The Birch Trio, 7 p.m. Saturday, July 19, Dorchester Center for the Arts, Cambridge, and 4 p.m. Sunday, Christ Church, Easton. dorcchesterarts.org, eventbrite.com

Steve Parks is a retired New York arts critic now living in Easton.

This article is part of a special series celebrating the 2025 inductees into the Plein Air Easton Hall of Fame. Now in its second year, the Hall of Fame honors individuals, organizations, and patrons whose dedication, creativity, and support have helped shape Plein Air Easton into the nationally recognized event it is today.

Before Plein Air Easton was anything more than a spark of an idea, Laura Era was already saying yes.

Yes to the idea of Easton as an arts town. Yes to a fledgling plein air festival. And when developer Timothy Dills—who owned Talbot Town Shopping Center and had helped Troika Gallery find its footing—asked whether he should back this unknown thing with actual money.

“We told him, yes,” said Laura, “My gosh, yes.”

Troika was already established then, a fine art gallery run by three professional artists—Laura, Jennifer Heyd Wharton, and Dorothy Newland. When the idea of Plein Air Easton started taking shape, Laura and her partners did what they’ve always done: they showed up.

There were planning meetings, early judging panels, and community conversations about what this could be. Troika even helped sponsor one of the very first awards. “It was a Troika Gallery award… I forgot what the category was—it could have been for Best New Artist or something like that,” she said. There were also the Sunday auctions at private estates, figuring out logistics late into the night, only to be up again at the crack of dawn, making it all happen. “We did what had to be done,” she says. “It was a lot of work.”

However, if you’re picturing clipboards and spreadsheets, think again. Laura’s memories of those early years aren’t just about logistics—they’re also about stories. Like the time a local homeowner stood up in the middle of an auction and confronted a bidder trying to buy a painting of her house. She had a cane. She made it clear: this was her estate, her painting, and she wasn’t leaving without it.

“She walked over to the person outbidding her, like the Grim Reaper,” Laura said, laughing, “and said, ‘I am bidding on that painting.’ And this poor man… he just kind of folded.”

But that’s part of it, too. Plein Air Easton has always had moments like that. The kind you don’t forget. The kind you’re still laughing about twenty years later.

Back then, Troika also hosted exhibitions of the judges’ work. Kenn Backhaus and West Fraser were among the first. The gallery was where things were happening—it was a hub, a backdrop, a resource. When Laura heard that the Avalon team was looking for a judge for the 15th anniversary, she suggested Dr. Dan Weiss, then President of the Met Museum in New York. He came. He judged. “That was a big coup, and now that he’s retired to the Shore,” she said, “he keeps showing up—most recently to judge Troika’s ‘Fabulous Forgeries’ show.”

Like everything else on the Eastern Shore, Plein Air Easton has grown. What started as a few days in one town has become a sprawling, multi-location event stretching across counties. The artists go to Oxford, Tilghman, and St. Michaels. There’s more art, more collectors, more energy. And yes, many more galleries.

“At first we were the only ones,” Laura says. “Then they started popping up, and we wondered—are we creating competition for ourselves?”

She smiles when she says it.

Troika has always played the long game. Laura never set out to be the “plein air gallery”—her artists are landscape painters, portrait artists, and sculptors. Some do plein air; some don’t. But they’re all serious professionals. And Troika, for 28 years now, has been a place for serious art.

It started with three artists and the idea that Easton deserved a proper fine art gallery. They brought in other artists they admired—about fifteen to start—and built a reputation on quality. Dorothy passed away a few years ago. Jennifer moved to South Carolina. Laura now runs it on her own, with help from her gallery manager, Peg. They represent over 40 artists.

“We’re just about fine art,” she says. “Not just plein air.”

Still, she knows what plein air brings to the town. The immediacy. The sense of occasion. The magic of seeing a painting that was made just hours before, fresh from the easel. “You capture the moment, the feel,” she says. “And hopefully the viewer connects enough to open their wallet.”

That combination—the energy of the artists and the willingness of the community to support them—is part of what makes Plein Air Easton unique. The volunteers, the venues, and the patrons who open their homes. And then there is the Avalon Foundation’s attention to detail— the steady hand of leadership from Al Bond, Jessica Bellis, and the team behind the scenes.

“They’ve done a phenomenal job,” Laura says. “I can’t say enough good about them.”

When Al called to let her know she’d been selected for the Hall of Fame, Laura wasn’t sure what to say. There’s a long history here—long memories, long hours, long friendships—and it’s not easy to sum up what all of that has meant.

But the recognition matters.

“In my opinion,” she says, “we were definitely worthy. And we are very humbly pleased.”

The truth is, without people like Laura Era, there might not have been a Plein Air Easton. There certainly wouldn’t have been one with this kind of foundation—this kind of credibility—this kind of heart.

Easton has changed. The festival has grown. But Troika is still here, holding the door open. Still saying yes.

This article is part of a special series celebrating the 2025 inductees into the Plein Air Easton Hall of Fame. Now in its second year, the Hall of Fame honors individuals, organizations, and patrons whose dedication, creativity, and support have helped shape Plein Air Easton into the nationally recognized event it is today.

If you asked Mary Kellogg what year it all started, she might tell you 2013–or maybe 2014. What she knows for sure is this: someone mentioned there wouldn’t be a Vanishing Landscape Award that year because no one could identify a scene that qualified. Mary disagreed, suggesting three vanishing landscapes on Tilghman–the barns at Gray Goose Farm, the Crow Brothers’ oyster planting boat, and Harrison Seafood. All three have since disappeared, except for one remaining barn.

That’s when Mary picked up the phone and called the Avalon Foundation. She didn’t know who to talk to, so she asked for Executive Director Al Bond and introduced herself. She told him the Tilghman Watermen’s Museum, which she and her husband, Hall, had founded in 2008, could help make the award happen—and that Tilghman had plenty of vanishing landscapes to choose from. If that was the holdup, they’d find a way. He said yes.

It was the start of a relationship that has lasted decades.

The following year, it was Al’s turn to call. Artists were arriving early for the festival and looking for places to paint. Would the Museum be willing to host a pre-competition paint-out on Tilghman Island?

Mary and Hall said yes, without quite realizing what they were signing up for. They had maybe three weeks to pull it together. They opened the Museum early for sunrise painters, kept water and snacks on hand, and made sure the air conditioning was running when the heat rolled in. They didn’t even have easels—just folding chairs to prop up the paintings. “We were unprepared,” Mary said. “But it went off. The artists liked it. So we did it again.”

And again and again for several years. The artists kept coming, and the Kelloggs kept showing up. Then, about three years ago, Tilghman became an official part of the competition.

Which is just fine for the Kelloggs, as they love getting into the whole spirit of the event. Hall said one of the most amazing things is watching the painters start the day with a blank canvas and seeing what they’ve created by dinner. To Mary, there is the surprise in having artists bring to life and see things she’s long since stopped noticing.

She remembers one artist painting a huge stack of old baskets behind a crab house–baskets that were falling apart and about to be burned. He asked Mary to make sure no one moved them before he could return to finish the piece. The crabbers were confused but agreed. “That’s what I mean, an artist will stop and paint a pile of broken crab baskets or something held together with duct tape. And it turns out beautiful.”

That kind of eye—for overlooked beauty—is something Mary and Hall have long tried to support. The Artist’s Choice Award, handed out year after year, wasn’t funded by the Museum’s budget, but by friends, neighbors, and community members who believed in the same thing: giving artists the space and resources to do what they do best. That part, Mary emphasized, was important to her. And it speaks to how she and Hall operate—quietly, without seeking recognition, and with a clear sense of purpose.

Though they’ve since stepped back from running the museum, they’re still involved—and always ready to help make things happen. “We said we’d retire,” Hall said. “But we’re not going anywhere.”

They’re also continuing to be part of the Plein Air Easton community, “It’s been wonderful,” Mary said. “I’ve loved working with the staff. They make it easy. They make it fun. And it’s been amazing to watch the artists grow.” Hall added, “We’re just happy to help however we can.”

That’s part of what makes their nomination to the Hall of Fame feel so fitting—and so surprising to them. They never looked for credit. They never needed a spotlight. They just showed up, year after year, doing what needed to be done.

When the phone rang this year—with Al Bond on the other end—it wasn’t to organize an event or brainstorm a new idea. It was to let them know they’d been chosen for the Hall of Fame. Mary said she was stunned. “I was honored. I still get shaky thinking about it,” she said.

Hall put it simply: “We’re low-key people. This isn’t something we ever expected.”

And maybe that’s what makes the recognition feel just right. The artists have changed. The festival has grown. But the heart of it—neighbors making space, opening doors, and putting water on ice for whoever shows up with a canvas and a brush—that part hasn’t changed at all.

Thanks to people like Mary and Hall Kellogg, it never will.

This year, the Spy is expanding its commitment to the Chesapeake Film Festival by co-producing a monthly podcast with CFF Executive Director Cid Walker Collins and her dedicated team of volunteers. The series will feature in-depth conversations about the films being presented throughout the year, offering listeners a behind-the-scenes look at the creative forces behind them.

In this episode, Irene Magafan, the CFF’s new board president, speaks with Rebekah Louisa Smith, better known as The Film Festival Doctor. Irene and Rebekah chat about the Chesapeake Film Festival podcast, Irene Magafan interviews Rebecca Louisa Smith, founder of The Film Festival Doctor. They discuss Rebecca’s fascinating scholarship on Tarantino’s audiences, her accidental start in festival consulting, and two standout films she will be bringing to the festival this year.

This podcast is approximately 30 minutes in length.  For more information and to purchase tickets for the Chesapeake Film Festival, please visit this link.

It was so great to curate, interview and edit the catalog for the Alper Initiative for Washington Art (June 14 – August 10, 2025) the exhibition Intersections which brings together the poetic vision of Northern Virginia artist David A. Douglas, whose large-scale works blend drawing, painting, and photography to explore memory and place. Through landscapes and interior scenes glimpsed through windows, doors, and thresholds, Douglas invites viewers into layered environments that feel both deeply personal and universally familiar.

At the heart of Douglas’s work is a compelling question: Who are we, and how do we fit into the places we inhabit? His images reflect a deep engagement with the natural world, yet always with traces of human presence—benches, houses, clotheslines, and quiet figures—that hint at stories unfolding across time. These are not literal depictions of specific locations, but imaginative composites drawn from fragments of memory and observation. The result is a body of work that feels timeless, introspective, and emotionally resonant.

Ultimately, Intersections is an exploration of what it means to be a human being on this planet—connected to home, landscape, memory, and one another. The works ask gently profound questions: What makes a place meaningful? What does it mean to belong? What do we notice, and why? Through this exhibition, viewers are encouraged to slow down, reflect, and perhaps see themselves in a new way—not just in relation to the art, but in relation to their own lives, communities, and the world around them. Engaging, contemplative, and quietly powerful, Douglas’ art opens a space for wonder and self-inquiry. 

David A. Douglas and his family live in Alexandria, VA and Easton, MD. 

Look out for Gallery Talk – Intersections
Friday July 25, 2:00–3:00 p.m.

Anke Van Wagenberg, PhD, is Senior Curator & Head of International Collaborations at the American Federation of Arts in New York and lives in Talbot County, MD. 

It’s hard to say whether the current musicians who play under the celebrated banner of the Juilliard String Quartet are more in demand as virtuoso ensemble players or as elite teachers on the strings and chamber music faculties of their namesake Juilliard School.

Violinist/violist Catherine Cho, co-artistic director of the Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival along with cellist Marcy Rosen, has been a member of Juilliard’s faculty since 1996, currently teaching in the school’s Chamber Music Community Engagement Seminar. So it was no stretch for her to recruit the Juilliard Fab Four – violinists Areta Zhulla and Ronald Copes, violist Molly Carr and cellist Astrid Schween – as guest artists for the 40th anniversary Chesapeake festival, concluding this week at the Ebenezer Theater.

Week 2 of the festival opened Thursday night with Mendelssohn’s String Quintet No. 1 in A Major performed with Cho on violin with a fellow Chesapeake Music regular, violist Daniel Phillips, along with three of the four Juilliard players – violinist Zhulla, violist Carr and cellist Scheen. If the five-string piece strikes you as exuberantly youthful, consider that Mendelssohn was not quite 20 when he composed it and completed a revision at 24. (His prolific career was cut short by premature death at age 38.)

Even with a melancholic opening, a quintet of strings can establish a vigorous chamber presence, which this one did with relish. A solo theme lyrically played by violinist Zhulla surrenders to a contrapuntal conversation involving all five strings punctuated by an energetically impatient staccato motif. The second movement, an intermezzo, suggests a hymn-like awakening that leads to a restless range of melodies ending with a lone pluck. The third movement scherzo introduces busy viola turns of phrasing by Carr and Phillips overtaken at a mercurial pace by all strings on hand and Schween’s declarative cello statement that sounds like authority or maybe a bit of rebellion. The final movement solves all that with confident notes by all five players, each striving for attention like a youngster eager to grow up.

Tara Helen O’Connor

Next up was Louise Farrenc’s Trio in E Minor for Flute, Cello and Piano with longtime Chesapeake Music regular Tara Helen O’Connor and festival co-artistic director Rosen, on flute and cello respectively, accompanied by pianist Wynona Wang.

Farrenc was quite the exception among female 19th-century musicians or composers who gained any attention at all. In 1843, she won the position of professor of piano at the Paris Conservatory, the only woman to do so in all that century – in part because she held the position for 30 years. She also, perhaps an even greater achievement, was to be recognized as a celebrated composer. Only American Amy Beach a few generations later came close to matching Farrenc’s success as a woman in classical music. Perhaps that’s why her 1861-62 trio is so ebulliently cheerful. Farenc was particularly prolific as a composer of chamber music. Her final piece – the one for flute, cello and piano – had very few precedents back then and even now.

An assertive series of chords, principally played by flutist O’Connor, launches the first movement before introducing the minor-key theme shared by flute and cello, the latter played by Rosen, both with the aplomb of musicians who have performed together for decades. Together the three instruments play multiple roles as the cello doubles the piano’s bass line while Wang skillfully accompanies the flute in its upper register with her right-hand on the keyboard, leading to a sweepingly lyrical first movement denouement. The second movement feels as if someone in the trio would break out in song at any moment amid harmonic turns from dark to light, while the third movement scherzo offers with its return to the opening theme a chance for the players and audience alike to relax and sort of dance to the music in their seats. In the finale, Farenc’s lyricism sparkles with bright tones and light-hearted flavors that close out with an E-major boom of celebratory musical fireworks.

Following intermission, the Juilliard guest ensemble performed Bedrich Smetana’s concert headliner “From My Life,” also known as the String Quartet No. 1 in E-Minor. Molly Carr, in previewing for the audience the four movements of “From My Life,” said her instrument has been described as the “heart-renderer of doom.” Perhaps. But in this case it is Smetana’s own life story as represented in his famous string quartet that is heart-rending. Smetana himself called the first movement of his autobiographical piece a romantically inspired portrait of his youthful dream to be a great artist along with a darker foreboding of the then-unknown future.

The Juilliard violist who introduced the piece also opens it with a prominent solo soon supported as the other three players join in before a dramatic solo by Areta Zhulla in the first violin chair. The second movement, recalling his love of dance, is sketched out as a Czech polka that moves from the innocence of a 6-year-old to a party animal followed by a bit of swooning undercurrent on cello by Astrid Schween and concluding with hints of a troubled future, played on viola, of course. A romantic cello solo ushers in the third movement ode to the love of Smetana’s life, his wife. Sweepingly off-their-feet expressions of endearment are portrayed instrumentally, especially in the perfect syncopation of violinists Zhulla and Ronald Copes. The final movement opens with a joyful remembrance of his sheer joy for dance. But it all comes to a literally screeching halt as the sudden high-pitch E note reminds him of his loss of hearing two years before composing this masterpiece. The note reminded Smetana of his tinnitus, a ringing of the ears, that presaged his deterioration. Other somber viola notes of loss and regrets – syphilis ultimately caused his deafness – ends the piece with a single pluck of a single string.

There’s still more to come, with two nights of Chesapeake chamber concerts, Friday and Saturday, including more from the Juilliard String Quartet.

A sylvan serenade including actual songbirds tweeting, unrehearsed, with the human players who led a “Forest Music” concert spread out along a trail at Ridgely’s Adkins Arboretum. The musicians, participants in the National Music Festival in Chestertown through Saturday night, performed in a multi-disciplinary artistic event that also introduced 12 new outdoor sculptures by mid-Atlantic artists. Together they created a “Sensory Sensation” matinee on Thursday.

Melissa Burley’s “Optimistic Dwellings”

Crossing a pedestrian bridge near the start of a woodland trail, we were greeted by a pair of string solos performed by Peijun Xu and Harmony Grace, both “apprentices” – student performers in the annual festival based at Washington College. Xu played the Bach Suite No. 3 written for cello but played here on viola. A complex and demanding piece but easy to listen to with its vibrantly shifting tempos and key signatures, the suite was performed with a confident rigor by this accomplished apprentice. Grace followed with her violin solo interpretation of a Meditation from the opera Thais by Massenet. More subdued in tempo than the Bach suite, as you would expect for a meditation, Grace played it with a dignified solemnity in an operatically tragic and romantic vein.

We next encountered a set of familiar duets performed by mentors to the festival apprentices: Jennifer Parker Harley on flute and Jared Hauser, delivering lively selections from Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” deftly rearranged for oboe instead of the clarinet as originally composed. Taking a left off the main trail, we heard the unmistakable percussive notes of a xylophone thumped by an apprentice, Matthew Kerlach. He played new improvisations by a contemporary composer, Tyler Klein, a friend of the performer.

It was a long walk between musicians on the trails – and for good reason. The players were stationed at sufficient distances that you could barely, if at all, hear music emanating from one station to the next. In between, you could, and still can through September, 12 site-specific sculptures under the heading of “Artists in Dialogue with Landscape.” Among those we took in along the way was Melissa Burley’s “Optimistic Dwellings,” comprised of rocks covered on top with moss and pine twigs. Further on we puzzled over the title of Chris Combs’ “Board/Bits,” a series of bars on a wooden slab marking time incrementally in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks and years. Another puzzler, mostly because it’s hard to distinguish one type of object from another, is Mark Robarge’s “Memory Returned Like Spring,” which challenges you to identify manmade objects apart from ones created by nature.

Meanwhile, you still have a couple of days to enjoy live music by mentors and apprentices alike in the final two days of the National Music Festival.

Chesapeake and National Music Fests
Week 2 opener: “From My Life” concert featuring the Juilliard String Quartet, Thursday night, Ebenezer Theater in Easton.
Upcoming: “Quartets Old and New,” Friday, June 13, and “Festival Finale,” Saturday, June 14, both at 7:30 p.m. chesapeakemusic.org

“Forest Music”: National Music Festival musicians, Thursday, Adkins Arboretum, Ridgely.
Upcoming: 3:30 p.m., Friday, June 13, Festival Brass Ensemble, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Chestertown; 7:30 p.m. Friday, Festival Symphony Orchestra, Brahms Symphony No. 1 and more. “My Harps Will Go On,” Eric Sabatino, and “Friends of Camilo Carrara,” 2 p.m. Saturday, June 14, Hotchkiss Recital Hall, and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Festival Symphony Orchestra finale, Stravinsky’s “Consecration of Spring,” a Mahler allegro and more, Washington College. nationalmusic.us

Steve Parks is a retired New York arts critic now living in Easton.

Key West has Jimmy Buffett, New Jersey boasts Bruce Springsteen, and now, the Eastern Shore has Steve Lowe.

A fixture in the Annapolis, Eastern Shore, D.C., and Baltimore music scenes for over 30 years, Lowe is set to release his sophomore solo album, “Salted Limes,” on Friday, June 5th. This collection of five original songs is deeply infused with the essence of Eastern Shore living – its unhurried pace, inherent calm, and the expansive beauty of the Bay and its surrounding waters.

“Salted Limes” invites listeners on a journey from its opening notes. The first song, “Reach Toward the Sun,” immediately extends an invitation as Lowe sings, “let me take you for a ride.” He then captures the feel of arriving on the Shore: “Down the shore/ cross the eastbound highway/ ‘long the rivers that stretch toward the sound/ past the orchards and old refineries/ wooden churches that reach toward the sun.”

Similarly, “Feels Like Country” – perhaps the catchiest song on the album — captures a peaceful, water-centric existence: “feels like country/ love and harmony/ life on the river/ just taking it as it comes.”  The album also offers moments of poignant reflection. “Life Along the Way” touches on the quiet passage of time with the line, “Years slip by without a sound.” 

“Face Into the Wind,” is a beautiful, heartfelt song of advice from a father to his son, reminiscent of classics like John Lennon’s “Beautiful Boy” or Jason Isbell’s “Outfit.” Lowe encourages, “Face into the wind/ never let your spirit die/ like a hurricane, let it spin/ like an eagle, let it fly.”

The tracks share a rolling, laid-back sound, with lyrics that vividly evoke the best of Shore life.  Lowe’s distinctive voice drives the album; his singing has never sounded stronger. 

“Salted Limes” is not just inspired by the Eastern Shore; it was born here. Lowe collaborated with music producer and musician Mark Gadson at SoundScape Studio in St. Michaels. The album features a lineup of outstanding local talent, including Gerry Devine (lead guitar and accordion), Joyce Gauthier, Meg Murray, Dave Moore (backup vocals), Chris Levey (bass), and Gadson himself (keys and drums), with Lowe on guitar and lead vocals.  To credit Gauthier, Murray, and Moore with “background vocals” sells their role short – their voices are a key piece of the album’s sound.  Devine’s guitar lifts every song and provides the musical heart of “Salted Limes.”

“Salted Limes” can be previewed and purchased at stevelowe.hearnow.com  and will be available on all major music distribution and streaming platforms.

To learn more about Steve Lowe, his music, and upcoming performance dates, visit www.stevelowemusic.com.

Mark Pelavin is a consultant and freelance music journalist living in St. Michaels.  You can find more of his work on his Substack.