Your guide to the heart of Litchfield County:
Discover local stories, hidden gems, and must-know events.

Meet our dear friend and multi-hyphenate Ash Compton as she introduces her alchemical collection of fine fragrances!

Ash infuses her background in architecture, design and depth psychology into these scents that explore our innate dualities- fusing art with science, emotion with rationale.

Join us Saturday May 9th between 3-6 PM for a splash and a sniff!

Email hithere@peggymercury.com or DM us on IG @itspeggymercury for mor information.

Peggy Mercury
9 Maple Street
Unit 2
Kent, CT 06757
https://kentbarnsct.com/directory

From May 9 to June 20, the Cornwall Library is presenting “A Dialogue with Nature,” a memorial exhibit of artwork by Erica Child Prud’homme (1932–2026). The exhibit includes oil paintings and watercolors from her personal archive, and encompasses landscapes, seascapes, still lifes, and mandalas.

“My work has always been driven by a love of the natural world, its forms, colors, and light,” Prud’homme said. “The order and grace of natural forms, both living and dying, are captivating.”

She was fascinated by the symmetry and grace found in landscapes and seascapes, the relationship of human bodies to natural forms, by the repetitive patterns in waves, fish-scales and wood grains, and by the change in seasons.

Prud’homme was raised in the artistic enclave of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and was influenced by her father and uncle, Charles and Paul Child, both working artists, and her mother, Fredericka, a bookbinder and local theater producer.

After graduating from Middlebury College, she did graduate studies in anthropology at the University of New Mexico and studied at the Art Students League in New York City. Over a career spanning nearly 50 years, Prud’homme exhibited widely in New England. A sampling of her work can be found here: https://www.ericaprudhomme.com/cgi-local/content.cgi

The opening reception for this show is May 9, 6–8 PM. Registration on the library website is requested for the reception.

The Cornwall Library
30 Pine Street
Cornwall, CT 06753

Events

Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust invites artists, craftspeople, and photographers to create en plein air on the scenic grounds of the Van Vleck Sanctuary. This complimentary event offers inspiration from woodlands, meadows, historic buildings, and farm animals. Pre-registration requested at
flandersnaturecenter.org/program-events or call 203-263-3711.

Flanders Nature Center & Land Trust
Van Vleck Sanctuary
5 Church Hill Road, Woodbury

2026-05-09

Program & Events

The Festival’s 2026 season finale features a musical tour of choral works spanning the Renaissance to the 21st century performed by the stellar Norfolk Festival Chamber Choir and Orchestra.

The Music Shed – 20 Litchfield Road, Norfolk, CT 06058

2026-08-22

https://norfolkmusic.org/concert-8-22-26/

Johann Sebastian Bach composed his six Brandenburg Concerti around 1721. He dedicated and sent the collection to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt and the younger brother of King Frederick I of Prussia, though the Margrave almost certainly never had them performed. Together, these concertos represent the apex of the Baroque concerto grosso form. This program features four of the six: the festive first concerto, the lean and exhilarating third concerto, the sparkling and virtuosic fourth concerto, and the warm, velvety textured sixth concerto. Across these four works, Bach’s inexhaustible invention is on full display! Each concerto is a testament to his mastery of form, texture, and counterpoint.

20 Litchfield Road, Norfolk, CT 06058

2026-08-15

https://norfolkmusic.org/concert-8-15-26/

The Ying Quartet occupies a position of unique prominence in the classical music world, combining brilliantly communicative performances with a fearlessly imaginative view of chamber music in today’s world. Now in its third decade, the Quartet has established itself as an ensemble of the highest musical qualifications. Their performances regularly take place in many of the world’s most important concert halls; at the same time, the Quartet’s belief that concert music can also be a meaningful part of everyday life has drawn the foursome to perform in settings as diverse as the workplace, schools, juvenile prisons, and the White House.

The Music Shed – 20 Litchfield Road, Norfolk, CT 06058

2026-08-14

https://norfolkmusic.org/concert-8-14-26/

On July 4, 2026, the United States marks its 250th birthday. This program is the Festival’s contribution to the national celebration. Copland’s Hoedown opens with pure kinetic energy, a distillation of the American vernacular with fiddle tunes, open spaces, and the sound of a country in motion. William Grant Still’s Miniatures offer a more expansive geographic and cultural portrait. Five short scenes range from a cowboy song to a Mexican lullaby, a Peruvian traditional love song, and a pair of African American folk settings. The new work from Nahre Sol celebrates an American tradition as it looks toward the next 250 years. Dvořák’s “American” String Quintet was composed in 1893 during the Czech master’s American sojourn. It remains, 133 years later, one of the most affectionate portraits an outsider has ever made of this country.

The Music Shed – 20 Litchfield Road – Norfolk, CT 06058

2026-08-08

https://norfolkmusic.org/concert-8-8-26/

With performances that are “eloquent and enthralling” (The Boston Globe), the Horszowski Trio is a vital force in the international chamber music world. Since their New York City debut in 2011, they have toured extensively throughout North America, Europe, the Far East, and India, traversing the extensive oeuvre of traditional piano trio repertoire and introducing audiences to new music that they have commissioned and premiered.

The Music Shed – 20 Litchfield Road, Norfolk, CT 06058

2026-08-07

https://norfolkmusic.org/concert-8-7-26/

What a year 1826 was. Franz Schubert composed his Rondo in b minor for Violin and Piano, D. 895 that year. It is a virtuosic, singing piece that shows Schubert at his most outwardly brilliant. Beethoven completed his String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135 in the same month as the Schubert Rondo. The Op. 135 quartet, Beethoven’s final major work, is signed with the cryptic inscription “Der schwer gefasste Entschluss” (The difficult decision), and the haunting question-and-answer motto “Muss es sein? Es muss sein!” (Must it be? It must be!). A seventeen-year-old Felix Mendelssohn wrote his String Quintet No. 1 in A Major, Op. 18 in March 1826, a work of astonishing freshness and confidence.

The Music Shed – 20 Litchfield Road – Norfolk, CT 06058

2026-08-01

https://norfolkmusic.org/concert-8-1-26/

Constructed in 1906, we celebrate the 120th birthday of our historic redwood and cedar Music Shed by featuring composers who visited and performed on its stage. Jean Sibelius, in his only trip to the United States, was commissioned by the Norfolk Music Festival to write the orchestral tone poem The Oceanides. Sergei Rachmaninoff performed his own 2nd piano concerto on the Shed stage on June 3, 1920. The Afro-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor had a deep connection with Norfolk and visited several times. The world premiere of his violin concerto was given in the Shed by soloist Maud Powell, who was among the first American violinists to become a soloist of international standing.

The Music Shed – 20 Litchfield Road, Norfolk, CT 06058

2026-07-31

https://norfolkmusic.org/concert-7-31-26/