Wonderful musical stories by Jan Bach, Jean Sibelius, and Antonín Dvořák that deserve to be heard!
Midsummer’s Music, Wisconsin’s oldest summer chamber music series, continues its 2023 concert season with its colorful Splendid Stories program featuring works for horn, flute, and clarinet in addition to two violins, viola, cello, and double bass by composers from the United States, Finland, and Czechia.
From the short, whimsical, and inventive caricatures of Four Two-Bit Contraptions for flute and horn by the contemporary American composer Jan Bach, to the broad landscape of the late Romantic/early modern Finnish composer Jean Sibelius’ En Saga, and the heartfelt patriotism of the legendary Czech composer Antonín Dvořák’s striking String Quintet in G Major, Op. 77, – the one he dedicated “To my Nation” – these are wonderful stories to hear.
The August 30 Splendid Stories performance marks Midsummer’s return to having a magnificent Door County home as a venue, following two years when intimate home concerts were curtailed by Covid precautions. Keith and Sherry Mutchler’s Sturgeon Bay residence is both intimate and grand, and it is among Door County’s more beautiful and intriguing homes, making it a perfect place for a Midsummer’s Music event. While the concert begins at 7:00pm, the Mutchlers invite concertgoers to arrive as early as 6:00pm for a welcome reception and garden tours. Tickets must be purchased in advance for this concert.
The program’s musicians are Heather Zinninger, flute; JJ Koh, clarinet; Fritz Foss, horn; David Perry and Roy Meyer, violins; Sally Chisholm, viola; Paula Kosower, cello; and Jeremy Attanaseo, Bass.
Performances are 5:00pm, August 27, at Woodwalk Gallery in Egg Harbor, sponsored by Jean Berkenstock; 7:00pm, August 29, at Björklunden in Baileys Harbor; 7:00pm, August 30, at the Mutchler residence salon concert in Sturgeon Bay, sponsored by Keith & Sherry Mutchler and supporting sponsor Nicolet Bank; 7:00pm, August 31, at the Kress Pavilion in Egg Harbor, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Sturgeon Bay; and 3:00pm, September 3, at The Clearing Folk School in Ellison Bay, sponsored by Michael Elkow.
A complete 2023 summer brochure can be downloaded at www.midsummersmusic.com.
Tickets are $38 for adults, $17 for students, and children 12 and under are free with an adult. Premium prices apply for special events. Flex-packs of six tickets for the price of five tickets are also available. Tickets can be ordered at www.midsummersmusic.com or by phone at 920-854-7088.
Midsummer’s Music was co-founded in 1990 by Jim and Jean Berkenstock, long-time Door County summer residents and principal orchestral players with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. What began as two concerts among friends has become one of the Midwest’s most anticipated chamber music series, bringing thousands of chamber music enthusiasts from around the globe to the magical Door County Peninsula.
For more information visit www.midsummersmusic.com.
Heather Zinninger (credit Margaret Butler): https://midsummersmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/h-yarmel-7.jpg
JJ Koh (credit Todd Rosenberg): https://midsummersmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/JJKoh_CMYK.jpg
Jeremy Attanaseo: https://www.midsummersmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/jeremyattanaseo-scaled.jpg
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For Calendar Listings:
19th Century French Rapture
Quintet in C Minor, Op. 42 Louis Vierne
Quintet No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 7 Charles-Marie Widor
August 23, 7:00 pm: Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay
August 24, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
August 25, 7:00 pm: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Ephraim
August 26, 7:00 pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
Splendid Stories
Four Two-Bit Contraptions Jan Bach
En Saga, Op. 9 (Gregory Barrett arr.) Jean Sibelius
Quintet in G Major, Op. 77 Antonín Dvořák
August 27, 5:00 pm: Woodwalk Gallery, Egg Harbor
August 29, 7:00 pm: Björklunden, Baileys Harbor
August 30, 7:00 pm: Mutchler Residence Salon Concert, Sturgeon Bay
August 31, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
September 3, 3:00 pm: The Clearing Folk School, Ellison Bay
Celebratory Fireworks!
Piano Quartet in D Minor, Op. 25 Dora Pejacevic
Café Music Paul Schoenfeld
Piano Quartet in C Minor, Op. 13 Richard Strauss
September 1, 7:00 pm: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Ephraim
September 2, 7:00 pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
September 4, 3:00 pm: Labor Day Gala, Björklunden, Baileys Harbor
Beneath the Waves CD Release Concert and Reception
Eric Lewis and the Griffon String Quartet
September 9, 7:00pm: Gould Theater at Northern Sky Theater, Fish Creek