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.
