Summer at St. Mary's
Professor Jeffrey Silberschlag conducting the Chesapeake Orchestra at the River Concert Series.
Study abroad in Italy
You can participate in the Alba Music Festival, or study for a semester at our campus in the north of Italy.
River Concert Series and School
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 recent 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, Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 2 (with Leon Bates) and Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 3 (with Jon Nakamatsu). New music has included Kenji Bunch's Hardware Concerto (with the Ahn Trio) and Jeffrey Mumford's "verdant and shimmering air," and much else, including world premieres of music by William Thomas McKinley written for Ben Bradlee as narrator (What the Presidents Said), David Froom (Songs of a Summer Evening, Striking Silver), Scott Wheeler (Gradualia, a piano concerto for Eliza Garth) and Louis Karchin (Chesapeake Overture).
The principle players in this full-size, professional orchestra are the music faculty of St. Mary's College of Maryland. Student musicians play alongside SMCM faculty and other fine musicians, drawn from among the best players of the Baltimore/Washington region, 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. It is possible to do both of these.
During this same time, nearly every week features an international performance masterclass. Prominent musicians from around the world are invited to teach, coach, and conduct. While there is some variety from year to year interms of offerings, each summer in the past few years has included a week of activities for brass (all instruments), flute, and piano.
For complete information on the River Concert Series and School, please see: http://riverconcertseries.org
