River Concert Series

The River Concert Series attracts over 30,000 people each summer.

Every summer, the Chesapeake Orchestra, under the artistic direction of Jeffrey Silberschlag, plays a seven-concert series on Friday evenings in June and July.  The programs include music from the heart of the standard orchestral repertoire, including, in the last two seasons, Mahler's Symphonies No. 1 and 5, Bruch's Violin Concerto (with Lara St. John), Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, Strauss's Thus Spake Zarathustra and Till Eulenspiegel, Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 and Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 2 (with Leon Bates). New music has included Kenji Bunch's Hardware Concerto (with the Ahn Trio) and much else, including two world premieres, one by William Thomas McKinley written for Ben Bradlee as narrator (What the Presidents Said), the other by David Froom (Songs of a Summer Evening).

Student musicians play alongside SMCM faculty and other fine musicians, drawn from among the best players of the Baltimore/Washington area.

The principle players in this full-size, professional orchestra are the music faculty of St. Mary's College of Maryland.

Our students are involved in every part of this series.  Those students whose interest includes arts management are paid for the full range of behind the scenes work.  Students who are interested in performance are, as appropriate, hired to play in the orchestra.


For complete information on the River Concert Series, please see:
http://www.riverconcertseries.com