Midsummer’s Music Goes Bach to the Future

Midsummer Music’s New York City-based Composer-in-Residence Will Healy returns to Door County in mid-July for three concerts highlighting works by Johann Sebastian Bach, plus additional pieces inspired by Bach and the world premiere of Healy’s 2023/2024 “Root Position” commissioned by Midsummer’s Music.

The free-wheeling program includes selections from The Musical Offering and Will’s arrangement of Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme, leading to Bach-inspired works by Healy himself. He will then be joined by his colleague, violinist George Meyer, for their freshly inspired collaborations that remind us of the music world’s debt to “The Old Wig”—as Bach’s son, Carl Philipp Emanuel affectionately called him.

In addition to pianist Healy and violinist Meyer, musicians on the Bach to the Future program are flutist Heather Zinninger, violinist Sahada Buckley, violist Allyson Fleck, and cellist Mara McClain.

Concerts are at 7:00pm, July 18, at the Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion in Egg Harbor, sponsored by the MMG Foundation; 7:00pm, July 19, at Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church, sponsored by the MMG Foundation and Bob & Alice Chrismer; and 5:00pm, July 21, at Hope United Church of Christ in Sturgeon Bay, sponsored by the MMG Foundation. The 2024 concert series is sponsored by the Jean Berkenstock Family Fund and the Susan DeWitt Davie Legacy Fund, and the season is dedicated to the memory of Jean Berkenstock.

A complete 2024 summer brochure can be downloaded at www.midsummersmusic.com.

Tickets are $39 for adults, $19 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. Order tickets 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.

Will Healy (l) and George Meyer (r) (credit Dave Burgess): https://www.midsummersmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/will-george-upstream-2.jpg

Other high-resolution photos can be downloaded at https://www.midsummersmusic.com/photos/.

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For Calendar Listings:

Beethoven, Haydn, and Schumann: Fairy Tales and Ghosts

Märchenerzählungen (Fairy Tales), Op. 132               Robert Schumann

Trio in C Major, Hob. XV:27                                              Franz Josef Haydn

Trio No. 5 in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1 (“Ghost”)         Ludwig van Beethoven

July 5, 7:00 pm: Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church, Ellison Bay

July 6, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor

July 7, 5:00 pm: Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay

 

Bastille Day Celebration: Join the party at each concert!

Suite en parties, Op. 91 (1927)                                        Vincent d’Indy

Suite Basque, Op. 6 (1901)                                                Charles Bordes

Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10                                               Claude Debussy

July 11, 7:00 pm: Music/Wine-paring concert—Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor

July 12, 7:00 pm: Sister Bay Moravian Church, Sister Bay

July 13, 7:00 pm: Music/Wine-pairing concert—Björklunden, Baileys Harbor

July 14, 5:00 pm: Music/Wine-pairing concert—Woodwalk Gallery, Egg Harbor

 

Bach to the Future

Selections from The Musical Offering, BWV 1079                                        Johann Sebastian Bach

Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140 [Will Healy, arr.]                           Johann Sebastian Bach

Root Position (MM Commission, 2023/2024)                                                Will Healy

Selections Featuring Will Healy and George Meyer

July 18, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor

July 19, 7:00 pm: Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church, Ellison Bay

July 21, 5:00 pm: Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay

 

Grieg Piano Concerto and Jeannie Yu

Crisantemi                                                                                    Giacomo Puccini

Quartet in G Minor, Op. 14 (1860)                                       Emilie Mayer

Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16 [Per Tengstrand, arr.]      Edvard Grieg

July 20, 7:00 pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay

July 25, 7:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor

July 26, 5:00 pm: Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Ephraim

July 27, 7:00 pm: Muse, Sturgeon Bay

 

Bruch and Brahms

Quartet in D Major, Op. 11, No. 1 (1795)                Adalbert Gyrowetz

Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. Posthumous (1918)  Max Bruch

Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 111                             Johannes Brahms

July 28, 5:00 pm: Woodwalk Gallery, Egg Harbor

August 2, 7:00 pm: Courtney/Reschka Salon Concert with Grand Reception, Sister Bay

August 3, 7:00 pm: St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Sister Bay

August 4, 5:00 pm: Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay

 

Romance and Rapture

Obsidian, rippled, moonlight, gleams (2019)         Sakari Dixon Vanderveer

Quintet No. 2 in C Major, Op. 124                              Mélanie Bonis

Sextet in C Major, Op. 37 (1935)                                 Ernst von Dohnányi

August 27, 7:00 pm: Birch Creek Music Performance Center, Egg Harbor

August 28, 7:00 pm: Björklunden, Baileys Harbor

August 31, 3:00 pm: The Clearing Folk School, Ellison Bay

 

Beethoven Septet

Sextet (1898)                                                     John Ireland

Septet in E-flat Major, Op. 20                      Ludwig van Beethoven

August 29, 5:00 pm: Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion, Egg Harbor

August 30, 7:00 pm: Sister Bay Moravian Church, Sister Bay

September 1, 5:00 pm: Woodwalk Gallery, Egg Harbor

 

David Perry, Jeannie Yu: Chausson Concerto!

Quintet in F Major (1905)                                                              Théodore Dubois

Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet, Op. 21      Ernest Chausson

August 25, 5:00 pm: Hope United Church of Christ, Sturgeon Bay

September 2, 3:00 pm: Labor Day Gala, Björklunden, Baileys Harbor

 

Coffee Talks: Free, engaging, informal lectures on music topics by Midsummer’s Music ensemble members, staff, and friends.

July 11, 1:00pm, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Ephraim: Impressionism and Depression: Music and Society in France 1870–1914 with Peter Conroy, PhD

July 19, 1:00pm, Shepherd of the Bay Lutheran Church, Ellison Bay: J.S. Bach Reimagined: Generations of Transcriptions with Will Healy, Composer-in-Residence