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St. Cecilia Music Guild honors women in 2022-23 season

September 8, 2022

Talented women will take center stage in a new series of concerts presented by the St. Cecilia Music Guild, offering an outstanding variety of music, from the sublime sounds of the harpsichord with soprano voice to the dynamic sounds of an ensemble featuring some of America’s top female brass musicians.

The guild will kick off its 2022-23 season at 4 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 18, at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Second and Market streets, Lewes. The opening concert features soprano Elissa Edwards, harpsichordist Joyce Chen and violinist Shelby Yamin.

A native of Taiwan, Chen is a recipient of the 2018 Individual Artist Fellowship from the Delaware Division of the Arts. She is a doctoral candidate in historical musicology at Princeton University.

Edwards is a sacred music specialist who has been a featured soloist in many oratorio and cantata performances in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. 

Yamin is equally adept on modern and baroque violin. She regularly collaborates with a wide range of New York-based ensembles and with Cleveland’s Les Delicés.

The guild will feature organist Caroline Robinson in a solo concert at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 18. In 2016, Robinson was named one of the 20 most promising young organists under the age of 30 in the U.S. She is currently organist and associate choirmaster at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta and performs with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra.

Other concerts in the season will include the Lewes Chamber Players, composed of regional professional artists; the Seraph Brass, a featured ensemble at the International Women’s Brass Conference and the International Trumpet Guild Conference; and the Marian Anderson String Quartet, a critically acclaimed, all-female ensemble that has performed at presidential inaugurations and the Library of Congress, and was the first African American ensemble to win a classical music competition at the International Cleveland Quartet Competition.

“The guild, as it begins its seventh year, extends our appreciation to the donors, friends and visitors who have through their generosity enabled us to present programs that are educational, inclusive and accessible to all members of our community at no cost,” said Lois Powell, guild standing committee member.

For details, go to stpeterslewes.org/music/st-cecilia-music-guild.