Allegro Academy of Easton invites the community to its Second Birthday Celebration on October 4, 2019.  The celebration will take place at The Birdcages, 12 N. Washington Street, Downtown Easton with refreshments and happy hour at 5:30 pm and music beginning at 6pm.  Attendance is free, along with refreshments, and all are welcome.

The birthday celebration will feature programs, students, and artists of Allegro Academy including performances with the Allegro Children’s Chorus, Allegro Women’s Chorus, Summer Sing choir members and soloists, and Academy instructors Merideth Buxton and Amy Morgan.

The programs of Allegro Academy are funded by the Talbot County and Maryland State Arts Councils and generous contributions from our community.  The mission of Allegro Academy is to offer exceptional music education and performance experiences to the greater Talbot County Area, and to make these offerings affordable to all.For more information, please visit www.allegroacademyeaston.com or call 410-603-8361.

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 Academy Art Museum in Easton, MD, has announced changes to its Board of Trustees. Four new trustees have been appointed to the Board: Julie Madden, Chuck Mangold, Jr., Roy McGrath, and Karen Shook.

“We welcome an extremely talented group of new board members, who bring a wealth of experience in marketing, arts activism, government service, education, and journalism. We look forward to their service to the Museum and to the energy they will bring to our Board of Trustees,” states Ben Simons, Director of the Academy Art Museum. Catherine McCoy, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, comments, “We are so grateful for the talent we have had on our board over the years. With the incoming Trustees, the Museum is poised for a bright future as we complete Capital Campaign improvements to our building over the next year.”

Chuck Mangold, Jr. has been a Talbot County resident since the age of eight. He completed an associate degree at Chesapeake College and later attended Loyola College in Baltimore. After a 13-year career in the retail automobile business, Chuck joined Benson & Mangold. He is on the Board of Directors for the Mid Shore Board of Realtors and has served as a past board member of Habitat Choptank, The Country School, and the Talbot County Chamber of Commerce. He lives in Easton with his wife Lauren and their three sons Charlie, Robbie, and Peter.

Julia (Julie) Madden, a lifelong arts activist and supporter, worked as Maryland’s Director of Arts and Community Initiatives implementing cultural programs for the Office of the Governor. In addition to the Maryland State Arts Council, she serves on the boards of the Maryland Citizens for the Arts, the Maryland Humanities, the Commission on Artistic Property, the Maryland Historical Society, the World War 1 Centennial Commission, as well as the Walters Art Museum and Baltimore Museum of Art (ex-officio). Julie holds an M.A. in Decorative Arts from the Smithsonian-Corcoran College of Art and Design and is a graduate of Leadership Maryland class of 2017​. She and her husband Marty divide their time between homes in St. Michaels and Clarksville.

Photo: Pictured left to right are new members of the Board of Trustees with outgoing members: Chuck Mangold, Jr., new Trustee; J.T. Smith, retiring Trustee, Ben Simons, Director; Amy Haines, retiring Trustee; Catherine McCoy, Chairman; and Roy McGrath, new Trustee. Absent from the photo are new Trustees Julie Madden and Karen Shook and retiring Trustees Lisa Morgan, Susan Phillips, and Deborah Willse.

Roy McGrath, a lifelong Marylander, is Director/CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Maryland Environmental Service. He previously served on the executive staff of Governor Larry Hogan, and as the Governor’s liaison to Maryland Board of Public Works and was most recently Vice President of Business Development for the National Association of Chain Drug Stores. He also served in two departments of the federal government and on the staff of former Maryland Congressman Wayne T. Gilchrest. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, and a member of the University’s College of Behavioral and Social Sciences Board of Visitors and holds credentials from the American Society of Association Executives and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Institute for Organization Management, where he also serves as an adjunct faculty member. He lives in Edgewater.

Karen Shook is an Emmy-award winning journalist who worked at television stations in Washington and Baltimore. In the past, she has served on the D. C. Board of Education, National Council of Urban Boards of Education, and the Woman’s National Democratic Club in Washington. More recently, she has been active in numerous local organizations, including the St. Michaels Community Center and the Talbot Democratic Central Committee where she chaired two Douglass-Tubman Dinner Committees. She currently teaches water aerobics at the YMCA of the Chesapeake and is a docent leader at the Academy Art Museum. Karen holds a B.A. in History from the University of Michigan and a M.A. in American Studies from George Washington University. She lives in St. Michaels with her husband Langley. They have two adult daughters, two sons-in-law, and four grandchildren.

Departing from the Board are Amy Haines (6 years), Susan Phillips (6 years), J.T. Smith (7 years), and Debbie Willse (6 years), who all will be greatly missed. Haines enhanced the Museum particularly with her encouragement of children’s education. She and Willse co-chaired one of the Museum’s important fundraising galas and both served as enthusiastic and successful ambassadors of the Museum to the community. Smith has been an invaluable part of Museum leadership through a Capital Campaign and several significant transitions, serving as Vice Chair of the Board for four years. Phillips made great contributions to development efforts, the annual craft show, and the recently renewed docent program and is now involved in the Museum’s new Trustee Alumni Program. Also recently departing the Board is Rima Parkhurst (3 years), who served two terms on the Board, as well as many years as an invaluable volunteer and staff member. Cathy McCoy and Ben Simons write: “We thank all of our departing Trustees for their invaluable service, support, advice, and friendship during their terms on the Board. We particularly extend our thanks and appreciation to J.T. Smith, an incomparable Trustee, for his leadership during times of transition, stabilization, and growth.”

The new Trustees join Trustees Donna Alpi, Jocelyn Eysymontt, Maxine Farrell, Holly Fine, Craig Fuller, Peter Gallagher, Lisa Hunter, Jeffrey Huvelle, Kentavius Jones, Margaret Keller, Trish Malin, Catherine McCoy, Jill Meyerhoff, Carol Minarick, Jeffrey Parker, Courtney Clark Pastrick, John Pinney, Nancy Powell, Mary Ann Schindler, Nancy Trippe, Marilyn Weiner, and Hanna Woicke. The Board officers for 2020 are Catherine McCoy, Chairman; Jocelyn Eysymontt, Vice Chairman; Craig Fuller, Vice Chairman, Jeffrey Huvelle, Secretary; and John Pinney, Treasurer.

Albrecht Altdorfer, Large Spruce, 1517

From early sacred drawings to modern exhibitions, the tree features prominently in art. Join Benjamin Tilghman, assistant professor of art and art history at Washington College, for an October lecture series at Adkins Arboretum that considers instances where artists have made trees the primary subject of their artworks. Woven Mulberries, Abandoned Oaks and Gilded Larches: Exploring the Tree in the History of Art aims toward developing a deeper understanding of the relationships among humans, trees and the environment as a whole. Each of Tilghman’s three lectures can be enjoyed individually or in a series. Programs include:

Renaissance Era: Sun., Oct. 13, 1–2:30 p.m. The program will focus on the Renaissance artists Albrecht Dürer, Albrecht Altdorfer and Leonardo da Vinci. While all three helped to revolutionize artistic depictions of the natural world, their approaches are different in ways that highlight diverging ideas about nature in the sixteenth century.

Romantic Era: Sun., Oct 20, 1–2:30 p.m. This talk will highlight artists such as Caspar David Friedrich and John Constable and will explore how trees played a role in their attempts to bring together the sublime power of the natural world with changing ideas about the environment and national identity.

Contemporary Era: Sun., Oct. 27, 1–2:30 p.m. This final lecture will explore how contemporary artists, including Ai Wei Wei, Andy Goldsworthy and Giuseppe Penone have used trees to highlight the fraught but meaningful relationship between humanity and the environment.

Tilghman specializes in the art of medieval and early modern Europe but maintains an active interest in the art of the Islamic world and modern and contemporary art. His research has focused primarily on objects from early medieval Ireland and Great Britain, with special interest on manuscripts such as the Book of Kells and the Lindisfame Gospels. Since 2010, he has been a core member of the Material Collective, a collaborative working group of art historians dedicated to fostering innovative and humane research in the humanities.

Each lecture is $15 for members and $20 for non-members. Advance registration is appreciated at adkinsarboretum.org or by calling 410-634-2847, ext. 0.

Adkins Arboretum is a 400-acre native garden and preserve at the headwaters of the Tuckahoe Creek in Caroline County. Open year round, the Arboretum offers educational programs for all ages about nature and gardening. For more information, visit adkinsarboretum.org or call 410-634-2847, ext. 0.

Aaron Taylor Kuffner, Gamelatron

EXHIBITIONS

The following Academy Art Museum exhibitions are sponsored by the Talbot County Arts Council, the Maryland State Arts Council, and the Star Democrat. Open daily, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

GAMELATRON @ AAM: Bodyphones
Through April 2020
Open daily from 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
Museum Front Yard
Bodyphones is an immersive installation by Aaron Taylor Kuffner (1975), an American-born conceptual artist, based in New York. The artwork’s mission is to expand the legacy and creative cultural power of the traditional Indonesian instrument called the gamelan. Kuffner uses exhibitions of the Gamelatrons to create sanctuaries both in public and private spaces. He views the body of the work as an offering to the observer.

LECTURES
Kittredge-Wilson Speaker Series
Lecture: A Discussion of the Gamelatron
Taylor Kuffner, Creator of the Gamelatron
Sunday, October 6, 2019, 2 p.m.

Justin Cavagnaro

SPECIAL PROGRAMS

Academy Art Museum Craft Show: Celebrating the Makers
Friday–Saturday, October 11–12, 2019, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Sunday, October 13, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Preview Event: Thursday, October 10, 5:30 p.m.
Artist Talk: Sunday, October 6 at 2 p.m. – Aaron Taylor Kuffner
The show will again be an indoor, juried craft show featuring 70 artists from across the United States whose work encompasses all craft media: basketry, ceramics, glass, fiber, jewelry, metal, mixed media, sculpture, and wood. This year’s Visionary Artist is Aaron Taylor Kuffner. New at this year’s Craft Show will be several emerging artists. For further information, visit academycraftshow.com.

Art in Three Acts
Thursday, October 17, 6 p.m.
$10 per person (Registration required, limited seating)
Come enjoy writers’ interpretations of artists’ works, as well as listen to local musicians’ interpretations of the artwork. Art in Three Acts promises to inspire and entertain.

Open MIC
Second Wednesday Each Month
October 16 – You’re Not the Boss of Me
FREE. Contact Ray Remesch at RayRemesch@gmail.com for additional information.

Georgia June Goldberg

ARTS EXPRESS BUS TRIPS
Phantom of the Opera
Hippodrome Theatre, Baltimore
October 19, 2019
Cost: $125 Members, $150 Non-members

ADULT CLASSES

Color Theory
New Instructor: Georgia June Goldberg georgiajunegoldbergart.com
9 weeks: October 15–December 10
Tuesdays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
Cost $250 Members, $300 Non-members

Drawing the Human Figure
Instructor: Bradford Ross bradross@goeaston.net
6 weeks: October 24 –December 5 (no class November 28/Thanksgiving)
Thursdays: 10 a.m.–1p.m.
Cost: $190 Members, $228 Non-members

Cid Collins Walker

Composition and Design for the Artist
New Instructor: Cid Collins Walker cidcollinswalker@gmail.com
4 weeks: October 24, 31 and November 7, 14 Thursdays, 1:30 p.m.–4 p.m.
Cost: $150 Members, $180 Non-members

Pastel: Creating Strong and Vibrant Compositions in Still Life and Landscape
Instructor: Katie Cassidy wkmcgarry@verizon.net
2 sessions of 5 weeks: Session 1: October 2 – 30 Session 2: November 6–December 11 (no class November 27)
Wednesdays: 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
Cost per Session: $195 Members, $234 Non-members

Back to School Watercolor: Session 2
Instructor: Heather Crow heather.crow@goeaston.net
4 weeks: October 24, 31, November 7, 14
Thursdays, 1:30 p.m.–3:30 p.m.
Cost: $160 Members, $192 Non-members

The Next Step – Oil Painting for New or Returning Painters

Bernie Dellario

Instructor: Diane DuBois Mullaly dunepainter@earthlink.net
5 weeks: October 17, 24, 31, November 7, 14
Thursdays, 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
Cost: $185 Members, $222 Non-members

Still Life Painting in Oil
New Instructor: Bernie Dellario bernie.dellario@gmail.com
2-Day Workshop: October 26 and 27 Saturday and Sunday – 10 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Cost: $125 members, $150 Non-members

Oil Painting: How to See as a Painter
New Instructor: Meg Nottingham Walsh megwalshart@gmail
4 weeks: October 15, 22, 29, November 5
Tuesdays, 1 p.m.–3:30 p.m.
Cost: $160 Members, $192 Non-members

Meg Nottingham Walsh

Creating a Photo Project
Instructors: Maire McArdle and Stephen Walker
4 weeks: October 19, 26, November 2, 9
Saturdays, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Cost per session: $120 Members, $145 Non-members

CHILDREN’S CLASSES

All aboard!! Travel the World to Mexico
Instructor: Museum Staff
Saturday, October 26, 2019 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
FREE

Homeschool Classes
Ages 6 and up.
Fridays, 1-2:30 p.m.
Instructors: Constance Del Nero for ages 6 to 9 years and Theresa Schram for ages 10+
Late Fall Session: October 25 – December 6. (Note that there are NO classes on November 29)
Cost (per session): $90 Members, $100 Non-members
After the first full-priced tuition, siblings attend for $60 (members) and $67 (Non-members)
Pre-registration is advised as space is limited in each group.

Mini Masters
An Early Enrichment Program for Children Ages 2 to 4
MSDE Childcare Development License # 255007, Exp. 11/30/20
Mini Masters is a fully licensed flexible program based on The Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center’s approach. Contact Anne Hansen at AHansen@academyartmuseum.org
for program details.

PERFORMING ARTS CLASSES

Piano & Guitar Lessons
Instructor: Raymond Remesch
Contact Instructor for further information at (410) 829-0335 or rayremesch@gmail.com.

Voice Lessons
Instructor: Georgiann Gibson
Contact instructor for Information at (410) 829-2525 or georgiann@atlanticbb.net.

Ballroom and Latin Dance
Instructor: Amanda Showell
Contact instructor for information at (302) 377-3088 or visit dancingontheshore.com.

For additional information, visit academyartmuseum.org or call the Museum at 410-822-2787.