The sounds of spring will fill the air as the National Music Festival’s Resonance Concert Series presents solo violinist Emily Daggett Smith, April 24, 3 p.m. at St. Paul’s Parish, Kent. She’ll perform a rich mix of violin classics, tango and a composition written expressly for her.
“Emily is one of the most compelling artists of her generation, always demonstrating great rapport with the music, whether classic or modern,” commented Richard Rosenberg, artistic director of NMF’s Resonance Concert Series. “We are so fortunate to have such an accomplished musician and violin mentor in our National Music Festival Chestertown family.”

Emily Daggett Smith
In addition to works by Telemann, Bach and Piazzolla, Smith will perform a new solo violin work that she commissioned – Amid a place of stone – by Spanish composer Andrea Casarrubios. It was conceived during the 2020 pandemic and the ensuing crisis in the performing arts and expresses the phases isolation, vulnerability and survival that many professional musicians experienced.
A reviewer for the Albany, N.Y. Times Union newspaper praised the work’s “lyric writing as it alternated between invigorating and consoling.” (Sneak Peek! See a brief video clip at https://youtu.be/QMSnnO8CaEk).
Among other concert highlights is Bach’s Partita No. 2 in D minor BWV 1004. Violinist Joshua Bell has described the work’s final movement, Chaconne, as “not just one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, but one of the greatest achievements of any man in history.”
Smith recently joined the Vega Quartet, the string quartet in residence at Emory University in Atlanta, as first violinist. An accomplished musician and educator, she holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School and recently completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Stony Brook University. She served as concertmaster of the Julliard orchestra under the batons of Leonard Slatkin and Michael Tilson Thomas among others.
Dr. Smith made her New York solo debut at the age of 21 in Alice Tully Hall, playing the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Juilliard Orchestra. She has been praised as playing “gorgeously” and with “gracefulness” (The Boston Globe) and with “irrepressible élan” (The Seattle Times).
Her recital and chamber music performances have taken her across the United States, Europe, South America and Asia. Smith has appeared on many of the world’s greatest stages including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center and Tanglewood.
In addition to the Bach and Casarrubios works, her program will include:
· Telemann’s Fantasia No. 1 in B-flat Major
· Passacaglia in G, The Guardian Angel by Heinrich Biber
· Astor Piazzolla’s Café 1930, arranged by Casarrubios and Smith, and
· Piazzolla’s Tango Etude No. 3, Molto marcato e energico
Tickets are on sale now at nationalmusic.us/events-and-tickets/resonance, where you’ll also find Covid-19 masking and vaccination protocols for this concert. While some tickets will be sold at the door, seating is limited, and advance purchases are recommended to ensure your seat. St. Paul’s Parish, Kent, is located at 7579 Sandy Bottom Rd., Chestertown MD 21620.
Passes for the 2022 National Music Festival, which returns June 5 – 18 after a two-year hiatus, can also be purchased online.
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