Chimney Sweep in Summers Corner, SC

The Summerville Orchestra is striking a powerful chord to begin its 22nd season, pairing community spirit with international artistry.

On Sept. 26-27, the orchestra will present Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto at the Summers Corner Performing Arts Center, 318 Gnarly Oak Lane in Summerville. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Saturday, with a livestream available during the Saturday matinee at summervilleorchestra.org.

The program, sponsored by Anne and Alex Scott, begins with Mason Bates’ Soundcheck in C, written as the opening piece for San Diego’s new concert hall. James MacMillan’s lyrical Larghetto, adapted from his choral work, follows, while Veljo Tormis’ energetic Overture No. 2 closes the first half.

The second half features pianist Jonathan Mamora performing Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor. Mamora is a rising figure in classical music circles.

“Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 is one of the most famous, if not the most famous, piano concertos of all time,” said Wojciech Milewski, music director of the Summerville Orchestra. “It has Melodies that everybody knows. You don’t know you know them, but you know them.”

Acclaimed for his “most assured pianism” and “natural, songful lyricism,” according to The Dallas Morning News, Mamora has performed across North and South America, Europe and Asia. He has won first prize at several major international piano competitions, including the Hilton Head, Scottish, Barcelona’s Maria Canals, Olga Kern, AntwerPiano, Dallas and Palm Springs competitions. In 2023, his Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Recital Hall drew praise from the New York Concert Review, which described his playing as “larger than life” and his technique as “so solid that it seemed at times that he couldn’t play a wrong note if he tried.”

Milewski said Mamora is a rare talent to experience in an intimate setting.

“Jonathan sounds like a monster player,” Milewski said. “I cannot stress enough that this is not a concert you want to miss. It’s a pianist you want to be able to tell people later on that you saw.”

Mamora made his concerto debut at age 13 with the La Sierra University Orchestra and has since performed with ensembles such as the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid and the Dallas Chamber Symphony.

In addition to his performing career, Mamora has served as a church musician and educator. He is currently the La Sierra University Director of Keyboard Studies and a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music.

Beyond the opening concert, Milewski said the orchestra continues its focus on building community ties through local partnerships and youth engagement.

“The Summerville Orchestra is your friends, it’s your neighbors, it’s community members,” he said. “Community works just like it is—people you know are playing with the group.”

The orchestra’s season runs September through May and is supported by ticket sales, grants, and private and corporate sponsorships. Edgeworth Capital Group sponsors the Subscription Series.

For more information, email office@summervilleorchestra.org. Tickets can be purchased at https://summervilleorchestra.ludus.com/index.php?show_id=200482937.

DORCHESTER COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) - As flooding is a major problem across the Lowcountry, one county may be getting a new ordinance to help with this ongoing issue.

Dorchester County is considering a new ordinance called the Compensatory Flood Storage Plan, and Dorchester County Council officials say it’s modeled after neighboring municipalities.

“My home probably got hit the worst. It was like a river running right into the back of my home,” Dan Samp, a community member of the Horizons at Summers Corner neighborhood, said.

After a heavy rainfall, some community members in the neighborhood say they see more flooding than expected.

“I think that anytime they’re bringing in additional materials into a flood zone, especially when it’s in a hilly scenario like it is with ours, that’s going to cause a problem because you’re only adding to the issue. I don’t think there was flooding issues here prior to the construction,” Samp said.

One reason for what they say are new issues may be the county’s current ordinance, is if someone fills in a floodplain without taking anything out, it can create a domino effect, pushing floodwater to neighboring areas that may not necessarily expect it.

“Engineers as good as they are, only know what the numbers tell them, and sometimes Mother Nature’s numbers may actually turn out a bit different than what we start with,” Dorchester County Council Chairman and District Two Councilman David Chinnis said.

The potential ordinance is a Compensatory Flood Storage Plan, so if a construction or development company fills in part of a floodplain, they must remove an equal amount of material from the same area to minimize overflow or flooding.

“If it says you bring in 1,000 cubic feet of fill into a flood area, a flood risk area, then you’re going to have to remove 1,000 cubic feet of material so that you’re compensating what you bring in also has to go out,” Chinnis said.

Chinnis says this would not stop development, just minimize flooding, and although it may be more expensive, to him, the cost is worth the long-term impact.

The potential ordinance is set to have its third and final reading at the next county council meeting on Sept. 2, but Chinnis said there may be tweaks along the way as they work with engineers.

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - Residents at the Horizons at Summers Corner faced dirty floodwater after heavy rainfall and dirt from on-site construction mixed.

Following road closures and flash flood warnings, the 55-plus housing development experienced its own kind of flooding that left residents uneasy.

Jerry Martin has been living at Horizons for a little over two months and says this is the first time it’s happened, and says the construction is to blame.

“Water was coming across not only the road, but the sidewalks into my yard all the way up to almost my front porch,” Martin says.

After Martin and his wife saw the dirty floodwater in the streets, on the grass and on their porches, they are urging housing leaders to put in solutions like sandbags and proper drainage.

“I don’t know if they’ve got the drains in yet or whatever they’re doing, but they’re back here moving dirt and just piles of dirt and all the water is just washing down this way,” Martin says.

Joseph Carini, another resident at Horizons, moved to the community in December 2024 and also says the flooding had never been an issue until the construction began.

He says he’s surprised it flooded since they aren’t in a flood zone.

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The housing development has a 1% annual chance of being a flood hazard, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Flood Zone map.

He’s worried about the weekend ahead and what it could mean for their property.

“I think they should do something to prevent this from happening just so everybody feels safe over here,” Carini said. “I mean, everybody invests in homes over here. If it rains tomorrow just like today, everybody’s definitely going to have water in the back.”