Midsummer’s Music, Door County’s premiere chamber music series, presents three extraordinary programs from July 24 through August 4 in unique venues throughout the beautiful Door County Penninsula.
On Thursday, July 25, at 7pm, Midsummer’s Music will perform the final salon concert of the season featuring the Czech and Triple Czech program at a private residence with an expansive concert space, soaring ceilings, gleaming wood floors and a stone fireplace overlooking the waters of Sister Bay. Celebrating the works of three Czech composers, the concert includes Trio in D Minor, Op. 27, “Quasi una balata” by Vítězslav Novák, Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 27, by František Škroup, and Trio in F Minor, Op. 65, by Antonín Dvořák, performed by Midsummer’s musicians JJ Koh, clarinet, David Perry, violin, Walter Preucil, cello, and Alyona A. Waldo, piano. This is an excellent opportunity to enjoy the concert experience in a truly intimate setting the way classical chamber music concerts were intended.
From July 24-28, the musicians will perform four concerts of Baroque chamber music: Woodwalk Gallery, Wednesday, July 24, at 7pm with an optional 5pm pre-concert, BYO picnic; Sister Bay Moravian Church Friday, July 26, at 7pm; Old Gibraltar Town Hall Saturday, July 27, at 5pm with an optional post-concert dinner at Alexander’s; and Kress Pavilion Sunday, July 28, at 3pm. The Baroque Brilliance series of concerts features gorgeous works from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries including Handel’s Concerto Grosso in F Major, Op. 3, No. 4 for two oboes, bassoon, strings, and harpsichord; Concerto Grosso in C Major, Op. 9, No. 9, for two oboes, strings and harpsichord by Tomaso Albinoni; Bach’s Partita for harpsichord; and Jan Dismas Zelenka’s Trio Sonata No. 5 in F Major for two oboes, bassoon, and continuo. Featured Midsummer’s Music musicians include Margaret Butler and Lindsay Flowers Koh, oboes, Nathaniel Hale, bassoon, David Perry and Ann Palen, violins, Stephanie Preucil, violin/viola, Allyson Fleck, viola, Walter Preucil, cello, Drew Banzhaf, bass/continuo, and Mark Shuldiner, harpsichord.
The final program before Midsummer’s takes a brief break is The Piano Virtuoso as Composer, which starts July 31 and ends August 4. This series highlights the works of four talented pianists who became famous composers, including Trio in D Major, Op. 28, No. 2 byEnglish composer Muzio Clementi, Three Characteristic Pieces for clarinet and string quartet by Italian composer Ferruccio Busoni, and two works by Austrian composers: Piano Trio No. 2 in F Major, Op. 22 by Johann Nepomuk Hummel, and Piano Quartet in C Minor, Op. 148, by Carl Czerny. Midsummer’s Music musicians for these concerts are Daniel Won, clarinet, David Perry, violin, Allyson Fleck, viola, Stephanie Preucil, viola, Walter Preucil, cello, and Alyona A. Waldo, piano.
Following is The Piano Virtuoso as Composer concert schedule:
Wednesday, July 31, 7:30pm, Björklunden
Thursday, August 1, 7:00pm, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
Friday, August 2, 7:00pm, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Saturday, August 3, 7:00pm, Hope United Church of Christ
Sunday, August 4, 3:00pm, Kress Pavilion
Tickets are $29 for adults, $10 for students, and children 12 and under are free. Premium prices apply for 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 for this series or the rest of the season which continues through September 2.
Midsummer’s Music draws on the extraordinary talent of musicians from the Chicago Symphony, Chicago’s Lyric Opera, Milwaukee Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, Aspen Music Festival, China National Symphony and the Ravinia Festival, among others.
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.