Allegro Academy invites all singers to join the Summer Sing Choir Festival to take place July 26 at Easton’s Waterfowl Building.  Nearly 100 community musicians alongside professional soloists and instrumentalists come together to perform a major choral work for this annual event.  This year’s program will feature Dan Forrest’s Jubilate Deo, a global, celebratory setting of Psalm 100 in seven different languages. 

“Dan Forrest’s Jubilate Deo brings to life the global aspect of the traditional Psalm 100 text, “O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands,” by setting it in seven different languages and drawing from a wide spectrum of musical influences. Each movement combines some characteristics of its language-group’s musical culture with the composer’s own musical language. Movements include liturgical Latin, intertwined Hebrew and Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Zulu, Spanish, Song of the Earth (untexted), and a closing movement combining several of these languages with English. The result is a stunning global celebration of joy, as all the earth sings as one, “omnis terra, jubilate!””

Singers will begin rehearsals the week of July 7, and will find plenty of assistance along the way including recordings and rehearsal tracks.  There is no audition or participation fee required for singers, in keeping with the Allegro mission to make exceptional music performance and education opportunities available to all.  The Summer Sing Choir Festival was founded and is directed by Amy Morgan, a skilled conductor, educator, performer, and Artistic Director of Allegro Academy.

For more information please visit www.allegroacademyeaston.com or call 410-603-8361. Programs of Allegro Academy are funded by generous community members, Talbot Arts, the Mid-Shore Community Foundations, and the Maryland State Arts Council.

The Spy Nights performance with Meredith Davies Hadaway and guest Deidra Greenleaf Allan, initially scheduled for May 7, 2025, has been postponed to a later date yet to be determined.

It’s hard to believe that The Market at Dover Station has been open for six months. A walk through its retail space and fine art gallery exudes a solid sense of belonging, as if the Market belongs in this space, and this space belongs in Easton’s East End.

Featured for the month of May are several of the Market’s initial partners. Known as Market Partners, these vendors work in cooperation with the management to create the eye catching, upscale regional shopping hub which the Market has become.

Savington & Hill Floral Co., Ltd. provides a welcoming array of fresh flowers, plants, giftware and chocolates just inside the Market’s entry. Owner Richard Savington says, “I grew up in the industry, the fifth generation of our family business. We trace our beginnings back to a wholesale florist who provided most of the calla lilies sold up and down the Eastern Seaboard from the Gilded Age until shortly before the Second World War, garnering the moniker ‘Calla Lily King’.” Upon graduation from college, Rick was given charge of the same store where he swept floors and cut flowers as a teen. Leaving to pursue a law degree, Rick closed the door on that part of his life, thinking it was forever. Then came COVID and life came to a screeching halt for everyone. Finding himself at a crossroads, Rick chose to reenter the industry he had loved since childhood. Rick’s son, Nicholas, has since moved home from Manhattan to join him, marking six generations in the floral industry.

Susan Schauer John’s bright and inspiring The Little Zebra Gallery sells original artworks by skilled artisans from around the world and right here at home. The more colorful, whimsical or inspirational, the better! Artworks from The Little Zebra are meant to bring joy and smiles. This gallery is an outcropping of The Zebra Gallery at 5 N. Harrison Street in Easton. Says John, who is a gifted and skilled fine artist herself, “It seems there is never enough room to show wonderful art!”

Sean Harmer’s Rivr House Furniture offers beautiful handmade and bespoke custom furniture, home goods, cutting boards, topographic maps and art. All crafted with exceptional skill and loving care right here on the Eastern Shore, from many species of wood.=

The fun, funky boutique-style booth Glass Tidings by Kelly Alteri, features handcrafted jewelry from repurposed and upcycled materials, handmade clothing and vintage-style aprons along with other fanciful items of decor. Alteri says her wares are “all the colorful things that make my life happy. I personally source end of bolt fabrics to make lovely French Market Skirts, which of course have pockets! Vintage tins are transformed into fun earrings and my ever-popular enameled penny earrings match any skirt you may find.” She is always looking for the next creative inspiration to repurpose with a purpose.

Enjoy browsing through Peddlers Cottage, curated by Margaret Henning and her daughter Laurie, with its charming assortment of home décor, accessories and vintage items. Eastern Shore nostalgia and a love of nature permeates this ever-changing collection.

Rachel Calloway’s Eastern Shore roots are evident in her original watercolor paintings and prints on display at her Hidden Bird Studio, featuring a lovely array of North American birds and wildlife. Time spent in nature was a big part of her childhood. Calloway received her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Fine Art with a concentration in Painting, and went on to explore several avenues in the art and design world. But she found that painting birds and wildlife is a merging and expression of her true artistic spirit, where she has found great joy.

Antique Clock Repair by David Brandon features a fascinating variety of beautifully refurbished 100 plus year old clocks for sale. Check in on the hour to hear them chime! Expert repair services are available.

In the Market Gallery at Dover Station, the Working Artists Forum, a juried group of local and regional artists, will exhibit member works for sale during May and June. And the Market is excited to be participating in Downtown Easton’s May Day celebration, decorating with flowers for the weekend, and hosting a Tea Time with fine china, on First Friday from 2-4 p.m.

Since it opened on November 30, 2024, The Market at Dover Station has established itself as an upscale regional hub showcasing the work of fine artists and artisans alongside a selection of antique and vintage goods, handmade balms and lotions, and more. Market partners also offer interior design, fine china rental, and many other unique finds. The Market hosts events including yoga classes, Zentangle, urban sketching on the Rails to Trails, a book club, photography, jewelry and art classes for kids and adults. And it offers space for weddings, meetings and family gatherings. Coming soon in phase 2 are plans for a bistro café and future brewery.

The Market at Dover Station is located at 500 Dover Road, Easton, Maryland 21601. For hours, events, and more information, please stay informed at www.doverstation.com and sign up to follow on social media.

Lotus Number Seventy-Five, Frank DePietro, Oil on canvas

The Zebra Gallery will open two shows in May, with an opening on Friday, May 2 from 5 to 7 p.m. with artist talks. The two artists in the Main Gallery, Frank DePietro and Richard Fritz, MD, feature color palettes and subject matter represent springtime and growth.

Frank DePietro lives in Landenberg, PA, teaching classes at Longwood Gardens and The Delaware Art Museum. He describes his work as contemporary realist paintings. His work is derived from experiences making traditional landscape and plein air paintings. Conceptually similar, his art attempts to capture time through the changes of light and color displayed in the natural world.

“I prefer to work in the controlled environment of a studio, where I can spend long periods of unlimited time with my subject matter, contemplating the relationship of nature to the formal elements of painting. I begin my process with a photographic search for visually impactful compositions that reveal and document a specific time and place.  The images I collect are transformed and simplified with considerations of shape, line, form, texture, space, tone, and color,” DePietro states.

Richard Fritz, MD, a retired physician living in Easton, describes himself as an oil painter in the colorist tradition, focusing primarily on landscapes. The academics of painting requires discipline in mastery of medium, draftsmanship, and composition. But the real joy of painting lies in the creative journey it provides.

‘My artistic vision has spiritual roots relating to the belief that consciousness follows light, and light manifests in color. Painting landscapes opens a dialogue with creation, exploring the interplay of light and dark, form and color, object and awareness. The act of painting is, in itself, meditative and joyful. My artistic aspiration is to animate natural scenes with a sense of innate mindfulness and quiet compassion, and to communicate that feeling to the viewer,” he shares.

Additional artists, Shelton Hawkins and April Claggett will have work on display in June with an opening on Friday, June 6 from 5 to 7 p.m. Shelton Hawkins, of Easton, MD, will have his second annual basketball-themed event at the gallery. This show called “For Love of the Game” will feature his basketball courts painted all over the world. April Claggett, an Easton MD native, will display a group of paintings she calls “Entanglements.” This work from Africa does not depict suffering but premises a symbolic realm where the longing for wholeness, even perhaps with things antithetical or past, can be real and present. Simple fictions of accompaniment in daywork and daydreams—playful, mysterious, absurd, violent—inhabit indeterminate spaces.

Susan Schauer John comments, “The upcoming artists featured in the gallery bring an amazing range of interpretations in their work and I think the community will really enjoy these inspiring works of art.”

The Zebra Gallery address is 5 N. Harrison Street, Easton, MD (across the street from the Historic Tidewater Inn). For further information, visit https://www.thezebragallery.com.