Music

Music director Rob Earp and Mitch Dotson, members of Contemporary School of the Arts and Gallery Inc., volunteer at Julia Manor with monthly music sessions. They entertain the residents at the senior center, which is off Frederick Street in Hagerstown. The gallery is at 4 W. Franklin St., Hagerstown. For more information about the music sessions, call 301-791-6191, send an email to ronlytle3@netzero.net or go to csagi.org .

Here I go again. Although I've said many times that I'm not a "music writer," I often find myself writing about music. Well, of course. I've been previewing Maryland Symphony Orchestra concerts for years. But here and now, I'm talking about my column that runs the first Sunday of every month in Lifestyle. Even a quick glance at the archives reveals how often I reference song titles or lyrics to make a point. No, I am not a "music writer" in the technical sense of the term.

Bundled in their winter coats and shivering from the December cold, members of Hagerstown Choral Arts streamed into Trinity Lutheran Church on a recent evening for rehearsal. Their weekend performance of Handel's "Messiah" was just days away and on this night it was about fine tuning. Clutching their scores, the singers did what comes naturally. First one voice, and then another, and soon the room was swelling with song so rich and strong it almost spilled outdoors. While the local choral group's performance will not approach the extremes that some productions have reached over the centuries, member Jack Myers is confident their rendition will leave a lasting impression on audiences.

Myersville (Md.) Elementary School, New Well Ministry invites you to hear Light Ministries, a music ministry from Liberty University, sharing in music and testimonies on Sunday, Feb. 11 at 6 p.m. For directions to the school call, 301-733-1866.

Greenbrier Baptist Church, U.S. 40 at Md. 66, the Tri-State Harp Ensemble will perform a Christmas concert Saturday, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m.

andrear@herald-mail.com For acclaimed violinist Nicolas Kendall, making music isn't a job. Playing the violin on stages around the world is a way to express himself and an avenue for living life to its fullest, he said. "It's about saying something with your music," said Kendall, 25, of Philadelphia. "It's about meeting people and learning about different cultures. " Kendall will perform Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D Major - a piece he called "the pinnacle of Romantic music ... lush and colorful" - during the Maryland Symphony Orchestra's season finale MasterWorks program at The Maryland Theatre in Hagerstown.

Music is something that we all know and love. But for two students from North Hagerstown High School, music is more like a passion. Quinn Gelestino, a 17-year-old senior, and Ethan Jones, a 16-year-old junior, earned seats in the Maryland High School All-State Band. Both of them play clarinet in the All-State Band's concert Sunday, Feb. 25, at the Baltimore Convention Center. Both had different opinions on the music they received for the all-state auditions, though. "I knew it was a challenge," Ethan said.

katec@herald-mail.com Mary Chapin Carpenter will be at The Maryland Theatre on Friday night. The concert is one of 40 she'll perform in support of her latest album, "Between Here and Gone," released last month. Carpenter wrote all 12 songs, and the CD is the first she's recorded in Nashville, Tenn., something that strikes her as ironic, since she's been on the Sony Nashville label for years. Although Carpenter's five Grammy Awards have been in the country genre, her music doesn't fit neatly in that pigeonhole.