By Gail McCarthy
Staff Writer
July 03, 2009 05:50 am ROCKPORT — How bad has the weather been this week? For the first time in 28 years, it forced the Rockport Chamber Music Festival to cancel a concert. Esperanza Spalding, a 24-year-old jazz vocalist and bass player, was scheduled to perform Wednesday, but she was stuck in Ottawa, Canada, where she performed Tuesday night at the Ottawa International Jazz Festival. Her flight was canceled and she was unable to make other travel arrangements that would have landed her here in time for the 8 p.m. show at Rockport High School. This was to be a debut here for Spalding, who performed at the White House this year for President Barack Obama and the first lady. David Deveau, Rockport Music's artistic director, said the group had hoped to rescheduled the concert for tonight, but a band member was not available. "However, we have a verbal commitment that she will appear next summer at the new hall," he said. With that, last night's show with Alison Brown, a Grammy Award-winning banjoist and co-founder of Compass Records, marked the close of the Rockport Chamber Music Festival season, and the last of the Rockport Music concerts held at satellite venues. Its concerts were held at the Rockport Art Association in June, with the couple of early July concerts held at the high school. But, come next June, Rockport Music is expected to open its new permanent home in a $17.5 million concert hall. The Shalin Liu Performance Center, with 325 seats, will have a stage featuring an enormous window facing the Atlantic Ocean. Some music fans were disappointed when they arrived for Spalding's performance Wednesday night, but given the continued wet weather pattern that's gripped Cape Ann, the North Shore and much of New England for the past month, no one seemed surprised that storms had grounded Spalding's flight. Ironically, Ottawa had faced a similar pattern last June, when the Canadian capital had 22 days of rain for its 2008 jazz festival. While the rain here continued to snag outdoor plans for many in Gloucester, Rockport and around Cape Ann, others carried on yesterday despite the wet conditions. That included the Cape Ann Farmers Market, which kicked off its third full season of weekly Thursday events on Gloucester's Harbor Loop yesterday. Gail McCarthy an be reached at gmccarthy@gloucestertimes.com
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