Egg Harbor, Wis. (April 7, 2021) – Birch Creek Music Performance Center is excited to present the 2021 season of summer concerts, with tickets on sale now at birchcreek.org/tickets. All concerts will take place outside at the beautiful Birch Creek campus three miles east of Egg Harbor. The stage will be set in front of the Dutton Concert Barn with audience members seated on sturdy wooden benches socially-distanced around the stage and the Jackie and Steve Kane Gazebo. Ticket buyers may also opt to bring their own lawn chair. In this fresh air gathering of renowned faculty performing artists and advanced music students from around the country, concertgoers will experience an unforgettable – only in Door County – evening of world-class music from several genres: Percussion & Steel Band, Symphony and Big Band Jazz.
Opening night, sponsored by the Town of Egg Harbor, for the 2021 season will take place on Thursday, June 17th with a Percussion & Steel Band concert, “Walking in Rhythm, Moving in Sound.” Six more Percussion & Steel Band concerts will follow on June 18-19 and June 24-26, showcasing performances by faculty percussionists and students led by Program Director Dan Moore, Professor of Music and Director of Percussion at the University of Iowa. Birch Creek’s Percussion performances feature a diverse range of styles, from Caribbean grooves with internationally known Steel Pan virtuoso Liam Teague, Professor of Music and Head of Steelpan Studies at Northern Illinois University, to percussive jazz, authentic world music, original compositions, and more. On Thursday, July 24, the 7:00 PM concert will be a celebration of Liam Teague’s music as he marks 25 years at Birch Creek. Afternoon matinee concerts are held on Saturday, June 19 and Friday, June 25.
Symphony session concerts, under Program Director Ricardo Castañeda, Principal Oboist, Lake Forest Symphony and Chicago Sinfonietta, and Guest Conductor Benjamin Firer, will be presented on July 1-3 and July 8-10. The Birch Creek Symphony Orchestra will perform works by Beethoven, Mozart, Bach and Stravinsky. Concerto Competition winners will be featured in solo performances on the Symphony session’s opening night on July 1. Soloist Katherine Kohler, clarinet, will perform Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in F minor, Op. 73 on July 2 and a memorial concert for Matt Mantell, Birch Creek’s beloved violist and former Symphony Session Program Director who passed away in 2019, will take place on July 8 with his daughter, Sonia Mantell, cello, performing a tango for cello and strings.
Special events include Birch Creek’s annual 4th of July concert with patriotic music and classical favorites. This summer, “America the Beautiful: An Independence Day Celebration” will take place on Saturday afternoon, July 3 at 3:00 PM.
The powerful and mesmerizing sounds of Big Band Jazz classics will be performed in concert during two sessions from July 14-17, July 21-24, July 28-31 and August 4-7. Program Director Jeff Campbell, Professor and Chair of Jazz Studies & Contemporary Media at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, and the Birch Creek Jazz Faculty Orchestra return for sixteen nights of the best, most authentic big band jazz around, with faculty performers from across the country playing favorites by Ellington, Basie, Miller and more. Students will be featured in pre-show combo performances and big band numbers as well.
Concerts begin outside the Dutton Concert Barn at 7:00 PM with pre-show music at 6:30 PM unless otherwise noted. Tickets are sold by the bench: Premium Bench Seating (seats 1-3 people; for Percussion and Big Band Jazz only) is $50 per bench; Bench Seating (for 1-3 people) is $45 per bench; BYOLC (Bring Your Own Lawn Chair) is $15 per person. Student prelude music is held 30 minutes before every performance in the courtyard’s Jackie and Steve Kane Gazebo. For a full concert schedule, online ticket purchases and the weather cancellation policy, visit birchcreek.org/tickets. Tickets can also be ordered by calling the box office at 920-868-3763,
between Monday–Thursday, 9 AM – 4 PM, and Friday, 9 PM – 2 PM.