State of the Art

Sunday, August 10: Wilhelmina Smith and Dawn Avery

By Heather McDougall

Published August 11, 2025 at 12:00 PM EDT

This week’s guests are Wilhelmina Smith, cellist and founding artistic director of Salt Bay Chamberfest, and Grammy-nominated cellist and composer Dawn Avery, who is also a vocalist and educator of Mohawk heritage, whose work is featured in the 31^st edition of the Salt Bay Chamberfest this month. Outside of the festival, Mina and Dawn have also collaborated on a recent release titled Sweetgrass – featuring Dawn’s music, performed by Wilhelmina.

Full details of Salt Bay Chamberfest’s offerings at saltbaychamberfest.org.

State of the Art

Heather McDougall

Heather McDougall has enjoyed a varied international career, with more than two decades working across classical radio and music management. With roots as a performing and teaching cellist, she got her start in public media at Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), Ireland’s national public broadcaster, in classical radio production and later as artistic administrator for their two radio orchestras. Other production, music direction, and project management roles at West Cork Music, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, WFMT Radio Network (Chicago) and WRTI (Philadelphia) have rounded out her versatility across these fields and reflect her lifelong passion for radio and music-making.

See stories by Heather McDougall