OLD LYME–Decoda, Musical Masterworks’ ensemble-in-residence, has announced two free concerts in Old Lyme as part of its mission to create a more compassionate and connected world through chamber music.
Musical Masterworks invites the public to an interactive family concert on Saturday, Nov. 22 and a “Celebration of Joy and Gratitude” concert on Sunday, Nov. 23.
Across a weeklong residency at Musical Masterworks, Decoda brings together students, families, and music lovers for programs that blend classical mastery with contemporary imagination.
The residency features Decoda artists Clara Lyon, violin; George Meyer, violin; Sæunn Thorsteinsdöttir, cello; and Catherine Gregory, flute.
Interactive Family Concert
Saturday, Nov. 22
2:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library, 2 Library Lane
Attendees are invited to explore tempo, dynamics, and tone through hands-on music-making as they create a new anthem of thanks. They’ll leave with creative prompts to continue the musical celebration at home during the holiday week.
A Celebration of Joy and Gratitude
Sunday, Nov. 23
2 to 3:30 p.m.
Saint Ann’s Episcopal Church, 82 Shore Road
The program will explore music for flute and strings, spanning Mozart to contemporary reimaginings that include a fiddle-inspired duo by Decoda’s George Meyer and flutist-composer Valerie Coleman. The concert will be followed by a light reception to meet the musicians.
Braiden Sunshine takes a cheerful break from recording in the studio. Photo courtesy of Braiden Sunshine.
LYME, CT — Braiden Sunshine, who first captured national attention as a contestant on NBC’s The Voice in 2015, will perform at Lyme Public Hall on Sunday, Oct. 26.
The performance will run from 4 to 6 p.m. A $10 donation is requested to support the Public Hall’s community concert series featuring local musicians.
In publicity materials for the event, organizers describe Braiden Sunshine as a passionate and dynamic artist, known for his soulful voice and captivating performances, who continues to hone his craft through live shows across the Northeast and a growing catalog of original music.
Sunshine is set to release several new tracks this year.
Witness Stones Old Lyme poets at the Juneteenth celebration. From left to right: Rhonda Ward, Antoinette Brim-Bell, Kate Rushin and Marilyn Nelson. All photos courtesy of Witness Stones Old Lyme.
OLD LYME—The north lawn of the Florence Griswold Museum earlier this month filled with music and poetry as the community gathered for a Juneteenth celebration honoring those who once lived enslaved in the historic town of Lyme.
The Avery Sharpe Quartet performing at the Juneteenth event.
The June 22 event in partnership with the Witness Stones Old Lyme organization featured a powerful performance by renowned bassist and composer Avery Sharpe and his Quartet—Zaccai Curtis on piano, Haneef Nelson on trumpet, and Yoron Israel on drums—whose dynamic jazz rhythms set the tone for an afternoon of remembrance and hope.
Artists gather at the Juneteenth Jazz & Poetry event on Sunday, June 22. Left to right: Poets Marilyn Nelson, Kate Rushin, Rhonda Ward and Antoinette Brim-Bell with musicians Zaccai Curtis, Avery Sharpe, Yoron Israel, and Haneef Nelson
Interwoven with the music were readings by four of Connecticut’s most distinguished poets: Marilyn Nelson, Kate Rushin, Rhonda Ward, and Antoinette Brim-Bell. Their verses, inspired by the lives of those commemorated through the Old Lyme Witness Stones Project, gave voice to the past and called listeners to deeper understanding and reflection.
Audience members enjoy the sounds of live jazz and poetry on the lawn of the Florence Griswold Museum.
The poets, who began their partnership with the Witness Stones Project in 2021, created a cycle of poems that was later published in Poetry magazine. Their verse continues to serve as a poignant tribute to the lives, labor, and humanity of those long forgotten by history.
Photographer William Earle Williams signs copies of the exhibition catalogue for poets Rhonda Ward (left) and Kate Rushin.
Following the program, the Florence Griswold Museum welcomed guests to view Their Kindred Earth: Photographs by William Earle Williams on its closing day. Drawn by his interest in the Witness Stones Project, Williams became the museum’s third artist-in-residence and made stunning photographs that reveal historic sites of enslavement in Old Lyme and elsewhere in Connecticut.
Witness Stones Old Lyme
Between 1670 and 1826 at least 300 enslaved and indentured African Americans and Native Americans labored in the historic town of Lyme.
Today, Witness Stones honor the humanity and the contributions of vital members of our community. The bronze plaques that mark sites of enslavement on Lyme Street restore forgotten history and serve as memorials to those once held here in bondage.
Each of the 60 Witness Stone placed on Lyme Street, McCurdy Road, Old Shore Road, the Sill Lane Green and at the Lyme Public Library includes the name of an enslaved individual, along with details about their lives and circumstances derived from land records, emancipation certificates, and other available historical documents.
An interpretive sign installed on the lawn of the Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library provides a map showing the locations of the small brass plaques that are installed flush with the ground on Lyme Street and elsewhere in the community.
Barbara Harvey and Texas Jack Hardesty played from the side porch of Lymes’ Youth Service Bureau. Photos courtesy of Cheryl Poirier unless otherwise noted.
OLD LYME —Make Music Old Lyme rang in the summer solstice Saturday evening with tunes up and down Lyme Street as part of the international tradition promoting free music for all.
‘Two of Us’ attracted listeners in front of Patricia Spratt for the Home.
Economic Development Commission member Cheryl Poirier estimated there were at least 300 people strolling the historic district while more than a dozen musical acts entertained from porches, yards and storefronts.
Chris Gregor entertains at Center School, where folks stopped to listen and to buy something to eat from the Lions Club grills.
Revelers strolled a route extending from fire station, where Old Lyme’s Colin Hallahan played cover songs and originals, to the lawn of the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme on which the 50-year-old Old Lyme Town Band played selections from its 500-piece catalog.
Old Lyme Town Band puts on a show in front of the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme.
Poirier acknowledged the crowd seemed lighter than in previous years, though she said it’s difficult to provide an exact count when attendees are spread out across three-quarters of a mile for two hours.
Howling Hound Dogs wail under the Kousa Dogwood at Cooley Gallery.
Some people walked up and down the street sampling all the sounds, while others sat down to enjoy one band at a time.
The Scoville Jazz Duo became a trio at the former ice cream shop.
The event is produced by the Old Lyme Arts District and the MusicNow Foundation. Launched in France in 1982, Make Music is an international musical festival open to all who would like to participate, and takes place in over 1,000 cities in 120 countries every June 21, the summer solstice.
The Old Lyme Historical Society got interactive with their contribution to ‘Make Music Day.’ Photo courtesy of Edie Twining.
Children made their own music in an activity hosted by the Old Lyme Historical Society during the stroll.
Band of Friends were back on the patio of the Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library.
This year marked the 7th annual Make Music event. Genres represented this year included bluegrass, folk, indie rock, American standards, and pop.
The Celestials croon at Village Shoppes.
The international Make Music phenomenon returns for next year’s summer solstice on Sunday, June 21.
The Lions Club volunteers finish up after a successful event.
Pianist Mihae Lee, left, has stepped down after 15 years as director of the Essex Winter Series. She will be succeeded by accomplished flutist Tara Helen O’Connor. Photo courtesy of the Essex Winter Series.
ESSEX–Tara Helen O’Connor has joined Essex Winter Series as its newest artistic director for the 2026 season following Mihae Lee’s retirement from the role.
The organization in a recent press release said Lee held the leadership position for 15 years.
The group described Lee’s successor as an “exceptional musician who wishes to maintain the reputation, quality, and community commitment that her predecessor achieved.”
O’Connor, a flutist, is a charismatic performer noted for her “artistic depth, brilliant technique and colorful tone spanning every musical era,” according to the group.
A recipient of Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Career Grant and two-time Grammy nominee, she was the first wind player invited to participate in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program. She is a recurring featured artist with the Chamber Music Society.
O’Connor is a regular participant in numerous chamber music festivals across the country. Along with her husband Daniel Phillips, she is the newly appointed co-artistic director of the Music From Angel Fire Festival in New Mexico.
She has premiered hundreds of new works and has collaborated with the Orion String Quartet, St. Lawrence Quartet, Emerson String Quartet, Jaime Laredo, Dawn Upshaw, Eliot Fisk, Jeremy Denk, Ida Kavafian, Peter Serkin and David Shifrin. Tara is a member of the woodwind quintet Windscape, the legendary Bach Aria Group and is a founding member of the Naumburg Award-winning New Millennium Ensemble. An advocate of new music, she is a member of the Talea and Cygnus Ensembles.
O’Connor has appeared on A&E’s Breakfast with the Arts and PBS’ Live from Lincoln Center. She has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, EMI Classics, Koch International, CMS Studio Recordings with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Bridge Records. She has just released a solo CD of American flute works entitled The Way Things Go on Bridge Records with pianist Margaret Kampmeier.
She holds a doctor of musical arts degree from Stony Brook University in New York. At the Purchase College School of the Arts Conservatory of Music, she is an associate professor of flute, head of the woodwinds department and the coordinator of classical music studies. She also serves on the faculty of Bard College Conservatory of Music, the Contemporary Performance Program at Manhattan School of Music and is a visiting artist, teacher and coach at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.
Mihae Lee Legacy Concert
Lee, who became Artistic Director of Essex Winter Series in 2011 when president Fenton Brown stepped down, has been recognized by the Essex Winter Series Board of Trustees through the creation of the annual Mihae Lee Legacy Concert starting in the upcoming season.
The group credited Lee with bringing in accomplished musicians and expanding community outreach to schools, senior communities and libraries.
“With at least four concerts each winter and five days of outreach every year in Middlesex and New London Counties, reaching thousands, her success is clear,” the group said.
