SHARON — Sharon native Allison Holst-Grubbe is a member of the Etherea Vocal Ensemble whose debut CD, “Ceremony of Carols,” was in the top three on the iTunes classical music chart for three weeks last month. It also hit number 14 (out of 200) on the Billboard classical chart.The album was released to Amazon, Barnes and Noble and many other online musical outlets on Nov. 15. Locally it is available at Oblong Books and Music in Millerton.The Etherea Vocal Ensemble is a chamber choir of seven women and one man and was founded in 2008. Based out of New Haven and Fairfield, their performance debut was in December 2009.The group performs the choral repertoire for treble voices. They specialize in music of the Romantic era. Holst-Grubbe now lives in Glastonbury but is a graduate of Housatonic Valley Regional High School. She earned her Bachelor of Music Education and Vocal Performance at Ithaca College School of Music and then did graduate work at the University of Connecticut. She has been teaching music, mainly in Hartford, and is an active recitalist, soloist and vocal ensemble member in the greater Hartford and New Haven area. Here in the Northwest Corner, she is known and loved for her performances at public gatherings — notably the annual Memorial Day service at the war memorial.Holst-Grubbe said she grew up in a musical home and she has been singing all her life.“My first solo performance was in a preschool talent show, and I’ve been singing ever since.” While music is Holst-Grubbe’s lifelong passion, she is also passionate about her work as an educator. She is a program manager at a children’s literacy nonprofit agency in Hartford and coordinates reading enrichment programs for low-income, at-risk children in the greater Hartford area. When asked if she envisions a time when she would sing professionally on a full-time basis, Holst-Grubbe said, “I have no idea. It is not something I have pursued as a full-time job. I enjoy having each foot in a different world.”Concerning her group’s debut album going to the top of the classical music charts, she said, “I’m thrilled. It’s been a privilege to work with these really fine musicians and wonderful people, and I learned a lot in the process.”
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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