Chamber, opera music featured during musical walk
Chamber music and opera will be heard on the streets of Peabody Sept. 25 during the "Sound of Music" musical walk. The duo of Mayo and Cranston will bring chamber music while Sheryl Simmonds will perform opera music from "The Bohemian Girl."
Chamber music duo
Once upon a time the Peabody Library held a series of lectures — 12 in all — and the Peabody Orchestra also played, all for only $1. Today, the orchestra no longer exists, so the next best thing would be chamber music, which also is a part of the musical walk.
Susan Mayo has lived in rural Peabody for eight years with her husband, Nasir, and daughter, Chloe. She plays cello in the Wichita Symphony and teaches at Bethel College. Also, she performs with Peabody Community Band. Mayo enjoys gardening and home schools her daughter.
She is a graduate of the University of the Pacific at Stockton, Calif., with a bachelor of arts in music and has advanced degrees in music education from Wichita State University. She also was a scholar at the Peabody Conservatory.
Stephen Cranston has been taking violin lessons for 14 years and he and his wife, Sharon, enjoy musical trips. Unfortunately his wife, a French teacher in the Newton school system, has to be in France Sept. 25 so the chamber music trio became a duo bringing forth their own sound of music.
Cranston enjoys backpacking and Irish step dancing as well as violin studies. A graduate of Winfield High School, he attended college at the University of Kansas where he received his medical degree. He has been a surgeon since 1971. As "Dr. Cranston" he is well-known in the area where he maintains a practice at Newton Medical Center and St. Luke Hospital in Marion. The Cranstons have two daughters.
Opera music
Peabody Opera House burned down years ago, but on Sept. 25 the park stage once again will ring with the sound of opera music thanks to the vocal stylings of Sheryl Simmonds, who will perform music from "The Bohemian Girl" by Balfe. This opera first was performed on Nov. 27, 1843 and came to America in 1944. Set in Germany, the opera tells the story of Arline, a woman who is in love with Thaddeus, a Polish nobleman. Unbeknownst to her, she is the beloved daughter of Count Arnheim who was kidnapped by gypsies and has no knowledge of her former life.
Back in the 1880s, Midwest and prairie opera houses were somewhat different from those found in larger, more affluent cities but traveling companies brought a great deal of pleasure to audiences. Peabody city treasurer, Stephanie Ax, possibly the city's only trained opera singer conducted extensive research on the subject in preparation for "The Sound of Music," and discovered Duke University has a massive collection of 19th and early 20th century American sheet music.
Simmonds is well-known in the area for Christmas Eve productions at the Lutheran Church and says she just "loves to sing." She has a bachelor of arts degree in chemistry from Bethany and recently completed a master's in physical therapy from Wichita State University. Currently, she is employed as a physical therapist at the McPherson hospital. Her husband teaches in Peabody schools and they have two sons.
Simmonds will be accompanied by Dr. Virginia Skinner. She graduated from Wichita State University with a major in English and a minor in music. She has a master's degree in education from Kansas State University. Also, she is a KSU graduate in veterinary medicine and has been a practicing "vet" for the past 17 years. She is the organist at the United Methodist Church and directs the community bell choir.
The musical walk through downtown Peabody is a project of Peabody Historical Society. Tickets will be available at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 25 at Peabody Carnegie Library. Small groups will be guided around town by "interesting" guides.
For more information contact Janet Hamous at (620) 983-2438 or Marilyn Jones at (620) 983-2815. Proceeds go for projects at Peabody Historical Society.
