Midsummer’s Music is pleased to announce that it was awarded a $5,500 grant from the Door County Community Foundation’s Women’s Fund in support of its dedication to spotlighting women composers and women performers. The grant was made possible from the following Door County Community Foundation funds: the Barbara and James Hansen Fund, the Carrie Peterson Memorial Fund, the Marti (Spittell) and Gary Ziegelbauer Fund, the Bev and Tom Lisle Fund, the Nancy A. Felhofer Memorial Fund, the Starfish Fund, and the Women’s Fund Endowment of Door County.

Midsummer’s Music, Wisconsin’s oldest summer chamber music series, excels in presenting works by diverse, lesser-known composers—often women composers and composers of color who have not been lifted to the pantheon of greatness that few composers attain, but whose works are some of the most inspired pieces of chamber music. For its 2024 summer season, Midsummer Music’s repertoire includes pieces by Alice Verne-Bredt, Emilie Luise Mayer, Sakari Dixon Vanderveer, and Mélanie Bonis. Women performers – which constitute 64 percent of Midsummer’s 2024 ensemble – are violinists Ann Palen, Eleanor Bartsch, Suzanne Beia, Sahada Buckley, and Dawn Dongeun Wohn, violists Sally Chisholm, Allyson Fleck, Catherine Lynn, and Larissa Mapua, cellists Paula Kosower, Mara McClain and Ana Kim, harpist Rebecca Royce, flutist Heather Zinninger, oboist Lindsay Flowers, clarinetist Alicia Lee, bassoonist Judith Farmer, and pianist Jeannie Yu.

Allyson Fleck, Midsummer’s Executive Director and Assistant Artistic Director, expressed her appreciation: “We are grateful to the Women’s Fund for its support. Each year, Midsummer’s Music presents works written by female composers and performed by women musicians. While there are millions of male composers, experts estimate only about 5,000 known women composers since 450 BC. Additionally, the ratio of female/male composers has been stagnant since 2010, with a ratio of 13/87 percent. The ratio of women performers to male performers at MM is almost the reverse of the national standard of 67 percent men and 33 percent women in professional orchestras. Throughout our concert series, audiences experience breathtaking music composed by women and performed by women who are nationally and internationally renowned. Thank you, Women’s Fund, for your support!”

Visit midsummersmusic.com to see the complete 2024 summer season schedule and to view the digital program book to learn more about the composers and musicians. Order tickets online or call 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.