Music and Silk: An Ancient Animal and a Shorebird’s Survival: On Thursday, June 4 at 7PM Arpeggione Ensemble and silk artist Susan Quateman will present Music and Silk: An Ancient Animal and a Shorebird’s Survival at Castle Hill on the Crane Estate, 290 Argilla Road, Ipswich, MA — an evening blending chamber music, visual art, and environmental conversation inspired by the fragile ecosystem of the Great Marsh.
Presented in partnership with The Trustees, the program explores the intertwined survival of the horseshoe crab — often called a “living fossil” — and the migratory red knot shorebird, whose epic migration depends on horseshoe crab spawning cycles along the Atlantic coast.
Part performance, part exhibit, and part behind-the-scenes look at a developing interdisciplinary project, the evening will include live chamber music performed on historical instruments, a slideshow and discussion of the environmental themes behind the work, and an exhibit of Quateman’s silk paintings inspired by the Great Marsh and its wildlife.
Arpeggione Ensemble co-directors Andrea LeBlanc (flute) and Thomas Carroll (clarinet), joined by pianist April Sun, will perform chamber works reflecting both the ancient stillness of the horseshoe crab and the urgent migratory energy of the red knot. Quateman’s silk paintings trace a visual journey from ecological loss toward restoration and renewal.
The evening will include a reading from ‘The Narrow Edge: A Tiny Bird, An Ancient Crab and an Epic Journey’ by acclaimed Gloucester writer Deborah Cramer. Her seminal book provided inspiration for Great Marsh Artist Fellows Susan Quateman and Andrea LeBlanc.
Rather than presenting environmental science as abstract information, Music and Silk invites audiences into an emotional and sensory experience of coastal ecology by combining sound and image with science.
“This project grew out of a shared desire to create something that helps people feel connected to the Great Marsh and the extraordinary species that depend on it,” said Quateman. “Science gives us knowledge, but the arts can help create emotional connection in ways that inspire advocacy and action.”
The event is part of a larger multimedia project currently in development by Arpeggione Ensemble and Susan Quateman, with additional performances planned across the North Shore in 2026.
Music and Silk: An Ancient Animal and a Shorebird’s Survival
Thursday, June 4, 2026
7:00–8:30 PM
Castle Hill on the Crane Estate
290 Argilla Road, Ipswich, MA
