The only professional symphony orchestra on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra (MSO), is celebrating “Reaching Ever Higher,” 20 years of bringing enchantment to audiences from Ocean City, MD to Wye Mills, MD. On Thursday, February 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Avalon Theatre in Easton, MD, and on Saturday, February 10, 2018 at 7:30 p.m., the MSO will present “A Roaring Movies Valentine” at Community Church in Ocean Pines, MD. The concerts will celebrate romance with silent movies and the music of the Roaring Twenties, including Charlie Chaplin’s “The Rink” and Buster Keaton’s “The Haunted House.” Musical selections include “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” “Forty Second Street, and “Let’s Misbehave.” The concert will also feature guest jazz vocalist Alexis Tantau from Baltimore’s jazz scene.
On Wednesday, March 7 at 7 p.m. at the French Embassy Concert in Washington, DC; on Thursday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Easton Church of God in Easton, MD; on Saturday, March 10, 2018 at 3 p.m., with a Pre-Concert Lecture at 2:15 p.m. at Mariner’s Bethel in Ocean View, DE; and on Sunday, March 11, 2018 at 3 p.m., with a Pre-Concert Lecture at 2:15 p.m. at Community Church in Ocean Pines, MD, the MSO will present “In Their Twenties.” The first half of the concerts will feature Phil Munds on the French Horn performing Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 3, in conjunction with a composition titled “Black Bend” (2005) by composer Dan Visconti, which was originally commissioned by the Cleveland Museum of Art and first presented in a version for string quartet. The piece, which takes its inspiration from an old ghost story about a train derailment and a supposedly haunted stretch of Ohio’s Cuyahoga River, features many special techniques in order for the unamplified stringed instruments to produce a raw, distorted tone more typical of electric guitars. “In Their Twenties,” will also feature George Bizet’s “Symphony No. 1” on the second half, who along with Mozart, both composed when they were in their twenties.
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 all concerts, but the French Embassy, are available online at midatlanticsymphony.org, or by telephone (888) 846-8600. French Embassy tickets are available at
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/in-their-twenties-with-the-mid-atlantic-symphony-orchestra-tickets-42792536629. For further information, visit midatlanticsymphony.org.