May 18, 2021
With leaves fully emerged, the quarries’ warm-weather acoustics can be evaluated. So, a trio of musicians came last week to test instruments and locations for the Victory Hall Opera Company’s production exploring natural sound on July 24 and 26. The featured photo shows Katy Ambrose playing the alpenhorn as quarrydog Skyla adopts the RCA Victor pose.
Katy and I-Jen Fang tried French horn and various percussive instruments on the high North Quarry bridge— to astonishing effect.
Miriam Gordon—standing in for both tenor Adam Diegel and soprano Tracy Cox—sang across the water in various directions, here toward a South Quarry wall. It was a fine demonstration of the power rock walls and water have to amplify music and create magic.
The audience for Soundflight will walk along the main trail to see and hear a sequence of performances at various points around the quarry pools. Both dates are sold out, but ideas for next year are already being discussed.
May 10, 2021
May 7 was a beautiful day at the Quarry Gardens for Piedmont Master Gardeners to celebrate the graduation of 26 newly minted Albemarle County EMG interns. The day’s program featured trail walks led by QGs’ owners, a buffet lunch with mentors in the picnic pavilion, and distribution of certificates, t-shirts, and gifts.
Over the past three months, these volunteers received 55 hours of expert horticultural and environmental instruction on such topics as soils, botany, integrated pest management, and plant disease diagnosis, after which they completed a written examination. As new interns, they will be expected to complete 50 hours of volunteer project service within one year to become certified EMGs. This year’s online classes allowed nearly 40 volunteers from five surrounding counties to join the Albemarle County group.
Extension Master Gardeners bring science-based information and recommendations from Virginia Cooperative Extension to the public through a wide range of educational and service projects. The Quarry Gardens is one of those projects. Volunteers assist the Center for Urban Habitats in maintaining the gardens as well as guiding visitors. We are proud to be their partners.
Apr 29, 2021
“Before there were concert halls or microphones, there were Nature’s amplifiers: rocks, trees, water. And the human voice.”
. . . says the announcement for Victory Hall Opera’s July 24 Soundflight production at The Quarry Gardens, which will explore the effects of natural features on musical instruments including the human voice.
The early evening program will unfold as a sequence with performers stationed around the gardens’ two quarry pools. The audience will follow the trails through native plant galleries to see and hear them.
Adam Diegel, tenor; Tracy Cox, soprano (both pictured); Simone Baron, accordion; Katy Ambrose, horns; and I-Jen Fang, percussion will be the featured performers. Vocal and instrumental works by Wagner, Strauss, Xenakis, Messiaen, Britten, Bizet, Rachel Devorah, and Puccini have been chosen for their appropriateness to the site.
Tickets go on sale May 1 at https://www.victoryhallopera.org/soundflight
The Charlottesville chamber opera company is in its sixth season of presenting creative opera performances.
Apr 26, 2021
The Quarry Gardens are a volunteer project of four organizations engaged in educational outreach related to horticulture, landscaping, and the natural environment.
Volunteers of Central Blue Ridge Master Naturalists, Rivanna Master Naturalists, Albemarle County Master Gardeners, and Master Gardeners of Nelson County work along with the Center for Urban Habitats to plant and maintain the QGs’ galleries of native plant communities. They also guide visitors on occasion and take on other research and educational projects.
The current issue of Cville Weekly features a cover article about the training of Rivanna Master Naturalists, written by Carol Diggs, a member of this year’s RMN class. The 2021 training program included field trips to the Quarry Gardens, led by Bernice Thieblot, which are pictured in the article and on the cover.
In May, this year’s training class of Albemarle County Master Gardeners (AKA Piedmont Master Gardeners) will hold graduation at the QGs with lunch and ceremony in the picnic pavilion and guided walks along the trails.
For the volunteers, the QGs provide both opportunities for land stewardship and resources for learning. They earn hours of volunteer credit with their sponsoring organizations as well as credit toward membership as Friends of the Quarry Gardens.
We look forward to many years of sharing missions with these groups.
Mar 17, 2021
During the peak of spring migration, Ezra Staengl and his brother Theo will lead a bird walk at the Quarry Gardens on Tuesday, April 27, starting at 7:30 a.m. The Yellow-rumped warbler above, photographed by Ezra, is among many species that have been recorded here.
The brothers (Theo left, Ezra right) are active volunteer citizen-scientists, both contributing data to the 2nd Virginia Breeding Bird Atlas (https://dwr.virginia.gov/wildlife/birds/virginia-breeding-bird-atlas/). Ezra contributes to Birding Virginia (https://birdingvirginia.org), which lists QGs as a Nelson County hotspot with 87 species recorded in the past few years. Both Staengls have had leading roles in the Blue Ridge Young Birders Club, Ezra currently serving as president. As younger men in 2017, ages 13 and 10, they provided text and images for the bird show in the Quarry Gardens Visitor Center.
On the April walk, we’ll roam the Quarry Gardens and parts of the adjoining 400-acre QGs Preserve using the trail sound system that gives each participant a receiver. Reservations are $10 per person, payable online. Sign up at quarrygardensatschuyler.org/visit.
Staengl photographs may be seen here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/80681464@N03/
Ezra posts about their travels and adventures at Birds and Buds:
https://birdsandbuds.com
