(12/2021) This season at the Mount has produced some terrific fine art. The events have been manifold and are still ongoing.

The choir took part in a major production of the opera, La Boheme, featuring notable tenor Nicholas Simpson and our own Francesca Aguado-Murray as the lead soprano, with the accomplished chorale director at the Mount, Dr. Andrew Rosenfeld, serving as director. In Dr. Rosenfeld’s words, "What an honor working with this group of amazing musicians—singers and instrumentalists alike were absolutely brilliant. Sellout audience—we had to turn people away at the door. This was the first step toward establishing an opera company in Frederick!" Since the opera was such a success, the community of Emmitsburg can look forward to events like it in the future.

The St. Cecilia Concert on Nov. 22nd was a success and was a great foretaste of the upcoming Advent Concert on Dec. 9th. The Mount’s theatre department had their first mainstage production in two years, The Wolves, a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play focuses on a high school girls’ soccer team during their pregame warmups. It is essentially a series of still-lifes. It does a terrific job representing a girl's locker room; that being said, there is no plot and no resolution. It is not a traditional drama, and it wasn't intended to be. The viewer simply lives the lives of the characters for a short while. The acting was quite terrific, and I'm excited at the Mount's dramatic prospects. However, the play too accurately portrays a girl's locker room—the only thing special about it is that it does what it was meant to do. The piece left the viewer with no additional hope or contentment, no satisfaction; there was no narrative, just like there is no narrative in a girl's locker room. Along these lines, this is not an event to bring children to: there are some quite vulgar jokes and explicit references. It is a unique piece of artistic dialogue; just don't expect what is proper to a drama.

Students taking individual lessons had the opportunity to showcase what they've been working on at a program on Nov. 6th—the first performance in Knott Auditorium since before the pandemic. On the 13th of Nov., the Wind Ensemble, along with the lab band, performed the music of Michael Giacchino, a performance chock-full of beauty and artistic character. Listeners would have recognized several works from this exhibition. The concert opened soft and soothing, with Bundle of Joy from "Inside Out", followed by an upbeat and refreshing rendition of Remember Me from "Coco". Le Festin, from "Ratatouille", featured Angelica Arroyo as soloist, and there were some extraordinary works from "The Incredibles", "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story", "Jurassic World", and "Star Trek".

If you missed these performances, worry not; the best is yet to come.

On Dec. 4th, there will be a faculty recital featuring James Tung, violin, and John Wickelgren, piano, at 7:30 in Horning Theatre. It will be a sonata dual between Brahms and Prokofiev, two powerful composers. If you wish to develop a taste in classical music or develop one in your children, this is the event to attend.

The Flute Ensemble will be playing Christmas carols at the Emmitsburg Library on Dec. 6th at 5:30. They are lovely musicians, and it would be a sweet experience for the Holidays.

There is a Student Art Exhibition through Dec. 10th, featuring art from Dr. Holtry’s environmental art class, made entirely of natural materials from the Mount’s Campus and the local community. The event is in the Williams Gallery, which is located in the Delaplaine Fine Arts Center on campus.

There will be a recital on the 8th in Horning theatre at 7:30, where private lessons students will perform everything they have been practicing this semester. "There are a lot of great up-and-coming musicians this year at the Mount. We want to highlight their skills and showcase what they've been working on," says Dr. Aguado Murray, the vocal instructor at the Mount. There will be staged duets and trios performed from Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute, by her vocal students, as well as pieces that reflect the Mount musicians’ dedication in their private lessons for various instruments. Because there are so many good musicians coming in, the Mount Fine Arts department will be looking to grow in the coming semesters, with more recitals and performances throughout the semester, rather than only the traditional semesterly concerts. This is wonderful news for the Emmitsburg community because it means more collegiate-level performances to attend throughout the year.

On Dec. 9th, the Chorale and Wind Ensemble will be performing an Advent Concert in Immaculate Conception Chapel at 7:30. Dr. Aguado invites you to participate in this event: "The past two years we’ve been unable to make music together, and now is the time to showcase the music that we’ve been working on at the Mount. We’re really hoping to foster a sense of community with this concert, and to get into the Christmas spirit!" This concert will be about an hour-long and will include music from the Wind Ensemble and Chorale along with Christmas carols for attendees to sing along to. This is the perfect event to bring your family to in order to get them into the Christmas spirit, not to mention that it’s not too long for children’s’ attention spans.

These recitals will be wonderful culminating events for the semester and welcomingly bright after two years of sad artistic silence. They are entirely worth attending and would be lovely family events for the holidays. As Dr. Aguado-Murray puts it, "There is no reason to be bored on December 8th and 9th."

Now is a fitting time to be doing all of this music-making. It’s getting colder, and there’s this idea that the world is dying, and will be nearing rebirth in the Spring. In the meantime, we have the coldest and darkest months of the year. The lovely thing about Christmas is that we hope and have joy and light in a time where the natural world lacks so much of it. The world is still scary coming out of the pandemic, and it is therefore fitting that now is when the Mount produces her finest works. It would be a sad thing if the community wasn’t involved in the artistic process—you all are an audience for which the Mount so desires to produce beautiful music.

As the semester comes to a close, students are beginning to submit their pieces for publication in Lighted Corners, the annual literary and arts magazine that publishes poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, fine art, and photography created by students of Mount St. Mary’s. The publication is accomplished and will be rolling its 2022 edition out in the Spring Semester.

Looking forward, there will be a new Opera Workshop class offered at the Mount in the spring. This will come with more performances in various languages from our talented Mount singers—stay tuned for more information.

Mount Arts are looking up, with new talent and big plans! The Emmitsburg community continues to be an important audience in all the Mount’s artistic ventures, and the Mount welcomes your support.