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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.