Door County’s Midsummer’s Music continues radically appealing concerts for the 28th summer season, with exciting opportunities to experience powerful music played by brilliant musicians in intimate settings throughout the county.

The entire summer season includes nine unique programs in 37 concerts spanning a seven-week period. Midsummer’s Music programming incorporates a mix of well-known composers alongside others who are less familiar for an unforgettable, thoroughly enjoyable experience. Receptions, often with wine and hors d’oeuvres, follow most concerts, where attendees can mix and mingle with new and old friends, as well as the musicians.

The Disparate Spirits program is the first of four programs to include music promoting the Door County Celebrate Water initiative. It consists of Escalay (“The Water Wheel”) by Hamza El Din; Quartet, H 315 by Bohuslav Martinů; and Piano Quintet in F Minor by César Franck. Concerts are 7:00 pm June 15 at Birch Creek’s Juniper Hall; 7:00 pm June 16 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church; 7:00 pm June 20 at Hope United Church of Christ; and 7:00 pm June 22 at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship.

The Million Dollar Quartet program is a classical music riff on “The Million Dollar Quartet” of 1956, when Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins gathered for an unforgettable evening at Sun Studios in Memphis. Midsummer’s Million Dollar Quartet features quartets by Franz Joseph Haydn, Mozart, Johann Vanhal, and Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf. This is the second program designed to promote the Celebrate Water initiative. Quartet No. 5 in E-flat Major is by von Dittersdorf; Quartet in D Major, Op. 50, No. 6 (“The Frog”) is by Haydn; Quartet in F Major, Op. 7, No. 1 is by Vanhal; and Quartet No. 17 in B-flat Major (“The Hunt”) is by Mozart. Concerts are 7:00 pm June 23 at Sister Bay Moravian Church; 7:15 pm June 26 at the Meyer Theatre in Green Bay; 7:00 pm June 27 at Woodwalk Gallery; 7:00 pm July 1 and 19 at salon concerts in Egg Harbor and Sister Bay, respectively; and 7:00 pm July 2 at the Old Gibraltar Town Hall.

Three German/Austrian composers make up the From Homespun to Exotic program with the following pieces: Notturno in E-flat Major, D. 897 by Franz Schubert; Trio in G Major (“Gypsy”) by Franz Joseph Haydn; and Trio No. 2 in G Major, Op. 112 by Joachim Raff. Concerts play 7:00 pm June 29 at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship; 7:00 pm June 30 at Hope United Church of Christ; and 7:00 pm July 3 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

Performing a program on Bastille Day cries out for an all-French repertoire, with two well-known Parisian composers and two who are lesser known. Trio No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 11, is by Cecile Chaminade; Trio in D Minor, Op. 120, is by Gabriel Fauré; Jeux d’eau (“Playful Water”) in E Major (1901) is by Maurice Ravel; and Trio in G Minor, Op. 30, is by Charles-Valentin Alkan. Enjoy this program at 7:00 pm July 5 at the Kress Pavilion; 7:00 pm July 13 at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship; 7:30 pm July 14 – Bastille Day – at Björklunden; and 7:00 pm July 15 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. This is the third program promoting the Celebrate Water initiative.

This year marks Johann Sebastian Bach’s 333 birthday. He was fascinated by numbers and was a mathematical and musical genius. This all-Bach program, called Bach at 333, includes Concerto No. 4 in A Major, BWV 1055; Concerto in C Minor, BWV 1060; Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048; and Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D Major, BWV 1050. Celebrate Bach’s birthday at 7:00 pm July 18 at Woodwalk Gallery; 7:00 pm July 20 at Sister Bay Moravian Church; 7:00 pm July 21 at Old Gibraltar Town Hall; and at a special dinner and concert at 5:00 pm July 23 at The Fireside Restaurant.

The Soul (Searching) Music program features three composers who constitute an unlikely trio: a black Englishman, a Swedish woman, and the great German composer Johannes Brahms. What they have in common is soulful music. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor wrote Five Negro Melodies, Op. 59, No. 1; Elfrida Andrée wrote Quintet in E Minor (c. 1865); and Brahms wrote Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 40. These soul-filled concerts play at 3:00 pm July 22 at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship; 7:00 pm July 25 at the Kress Pavilion; 7:00 pm July 27 at the Miller Art Museum; and 7:00 pm July 28 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

Works that are unmistakably infused with spirit, vitality, and raw energy dominate the Renewable Energy program. Come experience the passion of Mozart’s Quintet No. 5 in D Major, K. 593; Joachim Nicolas Eggert’s Sextet in F Minor (1807); and Joachim Raff’s Sextet in G Minor, Op. 178. Concerts are at 7:00 pm July 29 at Woodwalk Gallery; 7:00 pm July 31 at a salon concert in Ephraim; 6:00 pm August 2 at the Old Gibraltar Town Hall, with an optional dinner following at Alexander’s; and 7:00 pm August 4 at the Kress Pavilion.

Midsummer’s Music Composer-in-Residence and audience favorite, Jacob Beranek, returns for A Czech Life. His Quintet (2018) begins the program and is followed by Bedřich Smetana’s Quartet No. 1 in E Minor (1876) (“From My Life”), and Antonín Dvořák’s Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 77. This program plays at 3:00 pm August 26 at the Kress Pavilion; 7:00 pm August 27 at a salon concert in Sturgeon Bay; 7:00 pm August 28 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church; and 7:00 pm August 29 at Woodwalk Gallery.

Midsummer’s 2018 summer season ends with Creative Aquifers, the fourth program promoting the Celebrate Water initiative. Dover Beach, Op. 3, is by Samuel Barber and features a mezzo soprano; Adagio for Strings, Op. 11, is also by Barber; Three Rhapsodies (2011) is by Paul Schoenfield; and Piano Quintet in A Major (“The Trout”), D. 677, is by Franz Schubert. Concerts are at 7:00 pm August 31 at Birch Creek’s Juniper Hall; 3:00 pm September 1 at The Clearing Folk School, with an option dinner following at The Shoreline; 3:00 pm September 2 at Hope United Church of Christ; and 3:00 September 3 at Midsummer’s Labor Day benefit at Björklunden.

Most concerts are $29 for adults, $10 for students, and children 12 and under are free. Premium prices apply toward salon/home concerts, dinner concerts and other special events. Subscriptions consisting of four concert tickets and flex-packs of six or eight tickets are available. Tickets, subscriptions and flex-packs can be ordered online at midsummersmusic.com or by phone at 920-854-7088. View and download the Season 28 brochure here.