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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260910T200000
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DTSTAMP:20260907T014424Z
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SUMMARY:The Night Sky at Stonington Lighthouse Museum
DESCRIPTION:The Night Sky at Stonington Lighthouse Museum begins a new evening series on Thursday\, September 10\, with celestial navigation\, maritime history and stargazing on the waterfront grounds of Stonington’s historic 1840 lighthouse. \nBrian Koehler\, Associate Director of the Treworgy Planetarium at Mystic Seaport Museum\, leads the first program\, exploring how mariners once used sky observations to determine their position at sea and how those techniques relate to sailors from Stonington’s maritime past. \nThe evening runs from 8 to 10 p.m.\, with Koehler’s presentation beginning at 8:30 p.m. Guests are encouraged to bring a blanket\, pack snacks\, and settle onto the lighthouse grounds for an evening under the stars. \nFinding Your Way Before GPS\nFor centuries\, going to sea meant learning to read the sky. \nCelestial navigation uses observations of the sun\, moon\, planets and stars to determine a vessel’s position. With instruments such as a sextant\, navigators could measure the angle between a celestial object and the horizon. Those observations\, combined with accurate time and navigational calculations\, could tell sailors where they were even when there was no land in sight. \nIt was practical knowledge\, not simply astronomy. \nThat connection between the sky and the sea is at the heart of the Treworgy Planetarium\, where Koehler works today. \nThe planetarium at Mystic Seaport Museum was established in 1960 specifically to teach celestial navigation. Its role has expanded considerably since then\, but maritime navigation remains central to its identity. \nIn recent years\, the planetarium has even redesigned its exhibits to tell a broader story of how people around the world have used the sky for navigation and wayfinding. \nBrian Koehler Brings the Planetarium to Stonington\nKoehler has led the Treworgy Planetarium since 2013 and now serves as its Associate Director. \nHis work has emphasized the practical side of astronomy\, particularly the relationship between astronomical observations\, seafaring and navigation. \nKoehler has taught celestial navigation in settings ranging from planetarium programs to hands-on maritime experiences. In October\, he’ll take that instruction onto the water aboard Mystic Seaport Museum’s schooner Brilliant for an overnight program in which participants learn navigation techniques ashore before putting them into practice at sea. \nHe has also presented programs explaining historic navigational instruments and how mariners could chart a course using the sky. \nFor The Night Sky\, that knowledge moves about five miles east from Mystic to a place where celestial navigation has deep local relevance. \nHow Nathaniel Palmer Found His Way Across the World\nHistoric Stonington is using one of the Borough’s most famous mariners to connect the science with local history: Captain Nathaniel Brown Palmer. \nBorn in Stonington in 1799\, Palmer went to sea as a young man during an era when Stonington was deeply connected to sealing\, whaling and international maritime trade. \nIn 1820\, while commanding the small sealing vessel Hero\, the 21-year-old Palmer sailed south from the established sealing grounds into Antarctic waters. He is remembered as one of the early explorers associated with the sighting of the Antarctic continent\, and Palmer Land on the Antarctic Peninsula bears his name. \nGetting there required navigating across thousands of miles of ocean in a world without GPS\, satellites\, radar or electronic charts. \nFor mariners of Palmer’s era\, knowledge of the sky was part of the technology that made voyages across open water possible. \nThe September 10 program brings that history back to Stonington and asks visitors to look at the same sky from the grounds of the community’s old lighthouse. \nA Lighthouse Built for Stonington’s Maritime Era\nThe setting adds another layer to the evening. \nThe present Stonington Lighthouse was built in 1840\, during the maritime world that Koehler will discuss. \nIts stone tower and attached keeper’s dwelling stand at the end of Water Street overlooking Little Narragansett Bay and Fishers Island Sound. The light was eventually taken out of service as navigational needs changed\, and the building later became a museum devoted to Stonington history. \nHistoric Stonington has operated a museum there since 1927. \nFor The Night Sky\, the grounds become an outdoor classroom. \nInstead of learning about celestial navigation beneath a planetarium dome\, visitors will be able to look directly overhead. \nBring a Blanket and Stay Under the Stars\nThe evening is deliberately informal. \nHistoric Stonington is encouraging visitors to bring a blanket and snacks\, settle onto the lighthouse grounds and enjoy the waterfront setting before and after Koehler’s presentation. \nGuests are also invited to raise a glass under the stars. \nThe event begins at 8 p.m.\, with the main celestial-navigation presentation scheduled for 8:30. \nBecause the program takes place outdoors and space is limited\, registration is strongly encouraged. \nThe suggested donation is $25 per blanket\, reduced to $20 for Historic Stonington members. \nIt is the first installment of The Night Sky\, an evening series built around stargazing\, navigation and history at one of Stonington Borough’s most recognizable landmarks. \nEvent Details\nEvent: The Night Sky: Celestial Navigation with Brian Koehler\nDate: Thursday\, September 10\, 2026\nTime: 8–10 p.m.\nPresentation: 8:30 p.m.\nSpeaker: Brian Koehler\, Associate Director of the Treworgy Planetarium at Mystic Seaport Museum\nVenue: Stonington Lighthouse Museum\nAddress: 7 Water Street\, Stonington\, CT 06378\nProgram: Celestial navigation\, maritime history and stargazing\nSuggested Donation: $25 per blanket; $20 for Historic Stonington members\nBring: Blanket and snacks\nRegistration: Strongly encouraged; space is limited \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo register\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \n\n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/the-night-sky-at-stonington-lighthouse-museum/
LOCATION:Stonington Lighthouse Museum\, 7 Water Street\, Stonington\, CT\, 06378\, United States
CATEGORIES:Stonington Lighthouse Museum
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260906T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260906T190000
DTSTAMP:20260903T183650Z
CREATED:20260903T183513Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260903T183650Z
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SUMMARY:Music at the Lighthouse: A Tosca Portrait in Stonington Borough
DESCRIPTION:Music at the Lighthouse: A Tosca Portrait brings Salt Marsh Opera to the grounds of the historic Stonington Lighthouse Museum on Sunday\, September 6\, for an outdoor performance built around one of opera’s great works. \nSoprano Emily Margevich and tenor John Pickle will perform selections from Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca\, accompanied by Salt Marsh Opera artistic director Simon Holt on piano. The concert begins at 5:30 p.m.\, with the lighthouse and Stonington Harbor providing a setting that feels unusually well matched to Puccini’s sweeping music. \nThis is the second concert date for Salt Marsh Opera’s Music at the Lighthouse program. Guests are encouraged to bring friends and family along with picnic blankets and lawn chairs for the outdoor performance. \nA Portrait of Puccini’s Tosca\nCalling the program A Tosca Portrait is appropriate because this isn’t a complete staged production of the opera. \nInstead\, Margevich\, Pickle and Holt will use selections from Tosca to create a concert portrait of Puccini’s work. \nFirst performed in Rome in 1900\, Tosca unfolds over roughly 24 hours amid political turmoil in Rome in June 1800. At its center are celebrated singer Floria Tosca and painter Mario Cavaradossi\, whose relationship is caught in the machinery of political repression and the schemes of police chief Baron Scarpia. \nPuccini packed the opera with jealousy\, devotion\, torture\, murder\, betrayal and some of the most recognizable music in the operatic repertoire. \nFor a concert built around soprano and tenor voices\, Tosca provides extraordinary material. \nCavaradossi’s music includes “Recondita armonia” and the third-act aria “E lucevan le stelle\,” while Tosca’s “Vissi d’arte” has become one of the defining soprano arias in opera. \nSalt Marsh Opera hasn’t published a complete musical program for the September 6 concert\, so the exact selections are best left to the performance. \nEmily Margevich and John Pickle Take the Lead\nSalt Marsh Opera has chosen Emily Margevich\, soprano\, and John Pickle\, tenor\, as the featured singers for A Tosca Portrait. \nThey’ll be joined at the piano by Simon Holt\, Salt Marsh Opera’s artistic director. \nThe reduced format puts considerable emphasis on the singers themselves. Without a full orchestra\, elaborate scenery or a large supporting cast\, the audience can concentrate on Puccini’s vocal writing and the relationship between the two principal voices. \nIt’s a different way of encountering an opera written for the theater. \nRather than recreating Rome on a stage\, the performance takes Puccini out of the opera house and puts it beside the water in Stonington. \nOpera on the Grounds of an 1840 Lighthouse\nThe location is more than an attractive backdrop. \nThe Stonington Harbor Light was built in 1840\, replacing an earlier lighthouse constructed in 1823. \nThe granite structure stands near the southern end of Stonington Borough\, just a short distance from Stonington Point and the harbor entrance. \nIts active life as a navigational light was relatively brief. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1889 after the construction of the Stonington Outer Breakwater Light. \nBut its second life proved remarkably important. \nThe Stonington Historical Society\, now Historic Stonington\, acquired the building in 1925 and opened it as a museum in 1927. Today\, the Lighthouse Museum preserves both the building and collections connected to the long maritime history of Stonington. \nThe result is one of the Borough’s most recognizable landmarks and an unusually intimate setting for an outdoor concert. \nInstead of looking toward a conventional stage wall\, the audience has a historic granite lighthouse rising behind the performers and the waters around Stonington Borough nearby. \nBring a Picnic\, Blanket and Lawn Chairs\nMusic at the Lighthouse is designed as an outdoor community concert rather than a formal night at the opera. \nSalt Marsh Opera specifically encourages guests to bring picnics\, blankets and lawn chairs. \nThat changes the atmosphere considerably. \nThere’s no need for an opera-house dress code or a theater seat. Guests can settle onto the lighthouse grounds for an early-evening performance overlooking the water. \nThe 5:30 p.m. start also places the concert during one of the better times of day to be at the southern end of Stonington Borough in early September. \nBecause the performance is outdoors\, weather matters. \nSalt Marsh Opera has set Sunday\, September 13 as the rain date. \nSalt Marsh Opera Begins Its 26th Season\nThe lighthouse concert arrives as Salt Marsh Opera celebrates its 26th season. \nThe company grew out of an idea that began after two local opera lovers attended a performance in New London and encountered an impromptu concert in the lobby. From those beginnings\, Salt Marsh Opera developed into a regional company producing opera and musical programming in southeastern Connecticut and Rhode Island. \nIts mission extends beyond full theatrical productions. The nonprofit also works to introduce new audiences to opera\, provide opportunities for emerging artists and offer educational programming for children and adults. \nMusic at the Lighthouse represents the more informal side of that mission. \nIt brings professional voices into a familiar community space and allows people to experience Puccini without first committing to a full-length opera. \nLater this fall\, Salt Marsh Opera returns to fully staged opera with Antonín Dvořák’s Rusalka\, scheduled for performances at the UNITED Theatre in Westerly and the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center in Old Saybrook. \nAn Accessible Introduction to Tosca\nFor someone who doesn’t regularly attend opera\, A Tosca Portrait could be a particularly approachable introduction. \nPuccini wrote music with an extraordinary ability to communicate emotion quickly. You don’t need a detailed understanding of operatic form to recognize fear\, love\, desperation or grief in Tosca. \nAnd a concert of selections removes another barrier. \nRather than asking newcomers to follow an entire three-act story in Italian\, the program can focus attention on some of the music and characters that have kept Tosca in the international repertory for more than a century. \nFor experienced opera audiences\, the appeal is different. \nThey already know what these voices and melodies can do inside an opera house. \nHere\, they’ll hear them outdoors beside an 1840 lighthouse overlooking the Connecticut shoreline. \nEvent Details\nEvent: Music at the Lighthouse: A Tosca Portrait\nDate: Sunday\, September 6\, 2026\nTime: 5:30 p.m.\nRain Date: Sunday\, September 13\nLocation: Stonington Lighthouse Museum\nAddress: 7 Water Street\, Stonington\, CT 06378\nPresented By: Salt Marsh Opera\nFeatured Soprano: Emily Margevich\nFeatured Tenor: John Pickle\nPiano: Simon Holt\nProgram: Selections from Puccini’s Tosca\nSetting: Outdoor concert on the lighthouse grounds\nWhat to Bring: Picnic\, blankets and lawn chairs \nTICKETS: Tickets are available for $20 in advance\, $25 at the event\, with children under 14 attending for free. To purchase tickets in advance\, call the Box Office at (860) 535-0753. Tickets are also available for purchase at Tom’s Newsstand in Stonington Borough\, located at 133 Water Street\, Stonington\, CT. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/music-at-the-lighthouse-a-tosca-portrait-in-stonington-borough/
LOCATION:Stonington Lighthouse Museum\, 7 Water Street\, Stonington\, CT\, 06378\, United States
CATEGORIES:Stonington Lighthouse Museum
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260809T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260809T190000
DTSTAMP:20260806T030558Z
CREATED:20260806T030558Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260806T030558Z
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SUMMARY:Music at the Lighthouse Presented by Salt Marsh Opera
DESCRIPTION:Music at the Lighthouse Presented by Salt Marsh Opera at the Stonington Lighthouse Museum on Sunday\, August 9\, offering an evening of opera favorites and beloved Broadway songs in one of Connecticut’s most picturesque waterfront settings. As the music fills the air\, audiences can enjoy panoramic views of Little Narragansett Bay and Stonington Harbor from the grounds of the historic lighthouse. \nPresented by Salt Marsh Opera\, the annual concert combines outstanding vocal performances with the charm of one of southeastern Connecticut’s most recognizable landmarks. The intimate outdoor setting creates a memorable experience where world-class music meets the beauty of the Connecticut shoreline. \nWhether you’re a longtime opera enthusiast or simply looking for a relaxing summer evening by the water\, this concert offers an accessible introduction to classical vocal music alongside familiar selections from Broadway’s greatest shows. \nAbout Salt Marsh Opera\nSalt Marsh Opera is a professional regional opera company dedicated to making opera accessible to audiences throughout southeastern Connecticut and Rhode Island. In addition to fully staged productions\, the company presents concerts\, educational programs\, and community performances that showcase both opera classics and popular musical theater favorites. \nTheir performances are known for combining accomplished vocal talent with engaging\, audience-friendly programming. \nWhat to Expect\nThe program features a mix of: \n\nClassic opera arias\nPopular Broadway favorites\nProfessional vocal performances\nAn intimate outdoor concert setting\n\nWith the historic lighthouse and waterfront as the backdrop\, the performance offers a uniquely coastal New England concert experience. \nAbout the Stonington Lighthouse Museum\nBuilt in 1840\, the Stonington Lighthouse Museum stands at the tip of Stonington Borough overlooking the harbor and Fishers Island Sound. The museum and its surrounding grounds provide one of the area’s most scenic locations for outdoor cultural events\, especially during summer evenings. \nGuests are encouraged to arrive early to enjoy the waterfront views before the performance begins. \nEvent Details\nDate\nSunday\, August 9\, 2026 \nTime\n6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. \nLocation\nStonington Lighthouse Museum \nAddress\n7 Water St.\nStonington\, CT 06378 \nAdmission\nSee event website for ticket information. \nParking\nPublic parking is available throughout Stonington Borough. Arriving early is recommended during the busy summer season. \nAge Restrictions\nNone. \nImportant Notes\nThe concert takes place outdoors overlooking the water. Guests should dress appropriately for changing coastal weather conditions. \n\nn
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/music-at-the-lighthouse-presented-by-salt-marsh-opera/
LOCATION:Stonington Lighthouse Museum\, 7 Water Street\, Stonington\, CT\, 06378\, United States
CATEGORIES:Stonington Lighthouse Museum
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