by Crystal Sands
August 31, 2025
Apples are iconic–symbols of both home and comfort as well as beauty and mystery. They provide sustenance and mythology. Our human history is deeply connected to the apple, and many artists have painted, photographed, and written about the apple’s place in our lives. Ghost apples occur in nature when freezing rain covers rotting apples and the mushy insides of the apple fall out, leaving a shell of ice in the shape of an apple. The ice apple shapes look like the ghosts of the apples. The shape of the apple remains, but the shape is hollow.
Next week, Maine-based Halcyon Quartet will be performing Ghost Apples: An Orchard of Song. With four premier performances from September 5th to the 7th, Ghost Apples is a new lyric piece for two voices and string quartet that uses light and sound to transport audiences.
According to the Halcyon site, “Ghost Apples: composed by Nathan Davis and Maine’s Poet Laureate Julia Bouwsma. Featuring vocalists Sarah Tuttle and Aaren Rivard, Ghost Apples is a powerful and emotional journey through changing landscapes in the face of climate change. Set to music, Bouwsma’s poetry encourages us to reflect on the beauty around us while embracing the uncertainties inherent in our collective future.”
I had a chance to sit down with Sophie Davis, a founding member of the Halcyon String Quartet. She elaborated that the work tells the story of a Maine farmer and a farmer on Mars years into the future, and if like me, you are curious about the Ghost Apples title, you will have to attend a performance to find out more. Sophie emphasizes the event is both entertaining and thought provoking. Using instruments, voice, and lighting, she says, “our hope is that we can create another world during another time.”
Sophie says the quartet is excited to partner with Maine’s Poet Laureate, Julia Bouwsma, who is also an off-grid homesteader here in Maine. Sophie says the partnership with Julia Bouwsma came out of a conversation with Nathan Davis, the composer for the work. Nathan was interested in composing a chamber opera for Halcyon, and the group had the idea of reaching out to Julia to write the libretto for the work. Julia agreed, and Sophie says she thought the poet’s words presented were “stunning.”
Tickets are still available to two performances, and you will want to purchase tickets as soon as possible, as venues are intimate.
September 5th at 7PM | Mechanics’ Hall, Portland (Purchase Tickets)
September 6th at 4PM | Searsmont Town Library, Searsmont (Free!)
September 6th at 7:30PM | Tenderwild Farm, Rockport (Sold Out)
September 7th at 4PM | Portersfield Cider, Pownal (Sold Out)
Halcyon is a non-profit artist collective based in mid-coast Maine. Sophie says the group “creates content to help audiences address some of the crises we face, mainly the climate crisis.” She emphasizes the group wants to address topics the community cares about through art, and many of the performances include a discussion afterwards.
You will not want to miss these powerful performances this week. If you come to the September 6th performance at Tenderwild Farm, look for me. I am always writing about the places where farming and the arts intersect. On September 6, that’s going to be at Tenderwild Farm in Rockport.