Coastal Rivers hosts online program with cellist Wilhelmina Smith

Thu, 03/16/2023 - 2:15pm

Sarah Gladu of Coastal Rivers Conservation Trust and cellist Wilhelmina Smith of Salt Bay Chamberfest are offering an online program at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 23 to explore the intersection and interplay of nature and music.

Wilhelmina Smith, artistic and executive director of Salt Bay Chamberfest, will share videos from a project entitled “Harmony on Land and Sea,” which she created with cinematographer Joseph Zizzo. In the videos, Smith performs solo cello pieces in outdoor locations in Midcoast Maine. Smith will offer commentary on how the featured pieces interact with and respond to the environment and perform live excerpts.

Smith’s musical selections include Esa-Pekka Salonen’s “Breathe,” performed amid the spruces of Seal Cove Shore Preserve in South Bristol, Johann Sebastian Bach’s joyful “Prelude from the Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major” set in Round Pond Harbor, and Per Nørgård’s “Solo Intimo,” which Smith filmed at Pemaquid Point with a backdrop of crashing waves.

Coastal River’s Director of Education and Community Science, Sarah Gladu, will contribute a natural history overview of the coastal landscape as it relates to the musical interpretation.

This online program is free of charge. Registration is required at coastalrivers.org/events. A Zoom link will be shared with participants after registration.

As a chamber musician, Smith has performed with Paul Tortelier, Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Pamela Frank, Dawn Upshaw, and Benita Valente. She has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Boston Chamber Music Society, and is a founding member of Music from Copland House. Her recording of solo cello works by Salonen and Kaija Saariaho was released in 2019 by Ondine to rave reviews by Gramophone, BBC, and The Strad, who called her “a consummate communicator of the new virtuosity.”

Smith is also the founder of Salt Bay Chamberfest, an annual summer chamber-music festival based in Damariscotta. She has performed frequently with pop musician Sting and can be heard on recent recordings for both Sting and Bruce Springsteen. She currently lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota, with her husband, Mark Mandarano, and children, August and Giovanna.

Coastal Rivers is a non-profit, member-supported, nationally accredited land trust caring for the lands and waters of the Damariscotta-Pemaquid Region. For more information, email info@coastalrivers.org or visit coastalrivers.org.