Virtuoso guitarist and Door County favorite Eric Lewis teams up with Midsummer’s Composer-in-Residence Will Healy to present two incredible concerts with four world premieres.
Midsummer’s Music, Wisconsin’s oldest summer chamber music series, continues its 2023 concert season with an electrifying program starring Door County favorite Eric Lewis, a virtuoso guitarist and banjoist, and Will Healy, its own Composer-in-Residence and a classical/jazz/hip-hop maverick. Working with musicians from Midsummer’s Music’s ensemble and NYC-based composer George Meyer, the magical results include four world premieres.
The two Eric Lewis Meets Will Healy concerts are a delightful and unexpected twist to a season punctuated by such greats as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Brahms, and Beethoven—to name just a few. The concerts begin with Healy and Meyer performing movements from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sonata No. 6 in G Major for violin and piano. Lewis follows up on guitar with Bourée from Bach’s Suite E Minor. He continues his set with at least three additional pieces, one of which, “For Rose Mary,” is the first of the program’s world premieres. Healy and Meyer return before intermission with three more original works, including “Let the Record Show,” the second world premiere.
Following intermission, Healy unveils the world premiere of his “Root Position” for piano, violin, viola, and cello – commissioned by Midsummer’s Music – and Meyer presents his “Trio” for two violins and cello. The program concludes with a selection of pieces chosen by the ensemble, including the unnamed fourth world premiere performed by Lewis, Healy, and Meyer.
In addition to Lewis, strings, Healy, piano, and Meyer, violin, the program musicians are Sahada Buckley, violin, Allyson Fleck, viola, Mara McClain, cello, and Drew Banzhaf, bass.
Performances are 7:00pm, July 13, at Egg Harbor’s Kress Pavilion, in memory of Tommy Burroughs and sponsored by Dick & Annie Egan, with supporting sponsors MMG Foundation and Sandy Zingler; and 7:00pm, July 14, at Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church in Ellison Bay, sponsored by Tim & Sue Stone, with supporting sponsor MMG Foundation.
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.
High-resolution photos can be downloaded at https://www.midsummersmusic.com/photos/.
Eric Lewis: https://www.midsummersmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Eric-Lewis.jpg
Will Healy: https://midsummersmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/will-healy-red-background-cmyk.jpg
George Meyer: https://www.midsummersmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/george-meyer-cropped.jpg
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For Calendar Listings:
Remembering Rachmaninoff, Remembering Tchaikovsky
Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op. 11, “Accordion” Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
Trio élégiaque No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 9, “In Memory of a Great Artist” Sergei Rachmaninoff
June 29, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
June 30, 7:00 pm: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Ephraim
July 1, 7:00 pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
July 2, 5:00 pm: Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay
Brahms in the Spotlight
Movements for String Quartet Nkeiru Okoye
Quintet in G Major Sir Arthur Somervell
String Quintet No. 1 in F Major, Op. 88, “Spring” Johannes Brahms
July 6, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
July 7, 7:00 pm: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Ephraim
July 8, 7:00 pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
July 9, 5:00 pm: Woodwalk Gallery, Egg Harbor
Eric Lewis Meets Will Healy
Door County favorite Eric Lewis joins forces with Midsummer’s own Composer-in-Residence Will Healy to create a truly one-of-a-kind program. Being presented only twice, you do not want to miss a single note of this incredible collaboration, including a world premiere by Will!
July 13, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
July 14, 7:00 pm: Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church, Ellison Bay
Emperor Concerto & Jeannie Yu
Quartet in D Major, Op. 8 Bernhard Henrik Crusell
Symphony No. 95 in C Minor (Salomon arr.) Joseph Haydn
Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73, “Emperor” (Lachner arr.) Ludwig van Beethoven
July 15, 7:00 pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
July 16, 5:00 pm: Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay
July 19, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
July 21, 7:00 pm: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Ephraim
Haydn (Michael) & Mendelssohn
String Quintet in C Major, P. 108 Michael Haydn
Phantasy Quartet Ernest John Moeran
Quintet No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 87 Felix Mendelssohn
July 20, 7:00 pm: Old Gibraltar Town Hall, Fish Creek
July 22, 7:00 pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
July 23, 5:00 pm: Woodwalk Gallery, Egg Harbor
July 26, 7:00 pm: Sister Bay Moravian Church, Sister Bay
Schubert Trio
Piano Trio No. 2 Dmytro Klebanov
Piano Trio No. 1 in B-flat, D. 898 Franz Schubert
July 27, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor
July 28, 7:00 pm: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Ephraim
July 29, 7:00 pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay
July 30, 5:00 pm: Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay
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