We are now counting down the days until the annual Midsummer’s Music Gala… the first performance of a collection of chamber music entitled, In an English Country Garden, an opening night concert and festivities held at the Birch Creek Music Performance Center in Egg Harbor on Friday, June 7 at 7 pm.
We’ll dazzle your taste buds with gourmet chocolates, made locally by the confectioners at Door County Candy and raise our glasses together in a champagne toast to performing artists young and old,
…as Door County String Academy musicians, under the direction of Kimberly Souther provide a prelude concert.
Special guest Kathleen Blankenburg, a garden designer also known as The Gardening Angel, will define what truly constitutes an English garden. Then, we plan to whisk you away with the premiere performance of works by Gerald Finzi, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Charles Villiers Sanford as you might imagine strolling through an English garden.
Interlude in A Minor
Oboe and String Quartet
Gerald Finzi (1901-1956)
Quintet in D Major
Clarinet, Horn, Violin, Cello, and Piano
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Quartet in F Major, Opus 15
Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello
Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924)
The evening will close on a sparkling note as audience members meet the performing artists with Midsummer’s Music Festival and chat with friends and fellow concertgoers at a post concert party. Taste treats and fine wine will typically abound, including delicious cupcakes created in Sister Bay at Cupcake Heaven.
Two more performance opportunities of “In an English Country Garden” exist:
- Saturday, June 8, at Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay at 7:30 pm
- Wednesday, June 12, at Bjorklunden, Baileys Harbor, at 7:30 pm
Midsummer’s Music Festival invites you to celebrate our 23rd year, featuring a unique collection of intimate concerts featuring world-class musicians who come together in Door County each season from groups that include the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Pro Arte Quartet, the Aspen Music Festival, the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra and the artist faculty at several major universities. The festival presents a series of 30 exquisite classical music concerts in a host of unique venues ranging from the 120-year Anderson Dock’s Hardy Gallery, to a quaint community church from the 1850s, to the grand hall of a palatial mansion overlooking Green Bay.
Our YouTube channel is becoming an active presence with new videos published regularly, like this interview between Mark Kunstman and Jim Berkenstock:
Be sure to reserve a spot aboard the Island Clipper for a Thursday, July 11 dinner cruise through Death’s Door and a concert on Washington Island at the Historic Island Dairy, now a concert facility, museum, and gallery. Our hallmark home concerts this season will be held at four unusual locations which include a Wednesday, July 17 performance at the Ellison Bay Estate – the first such public event ever held there. Each venue provides a unique staging opportunity to experience chamber music as it was originally intended, up close and very personal.
Tickets for the opening night gala in Egg Harbor are $35 (advance reservations requested), with encore performance tickets at $25 per adult and $10 for students. For more information or to order by phone, please call 920.854.7088.