Midsummer Music’s 34th Season Magic Starts June 13

The Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Magic program features breathtaking masterpieces and a hauntingly beautiful work by an Englishwoman.

Sister Bay, Wis. (June 4, 2024) – Midsummer’s Music, Wisconsin’s oldest summer chamber music series, launches its 2024 concert season with a program celebrating works by composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Felix Mendelssohn, and Alice Verne-Berdt.

The “Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Magic” program features Mendelssohn’s Sextet in D Major for piano, violin, two violas, cello, and bass, alongside Mozart’s Quartet No. 2 in E-flat Major for piano, violin, viola, and cello, with musicians David Perry, violin, Sally Chisholm and Allyson Fleck, violas, Ana Kim, cello, Kris Saebo, bass, and Jeannie Yu, piano. Mendelssohn was 16 years old when he wrote his sextet, and Mozart was a mere 10 years older when he penned this piano quartet. Both composers wrote them to show off their own amazing piano virtuosity, creating breathtaking masterpieces.

The concert begins with a Phantasy for piano trio by Englishwoman Alice Verne-Bredt, who gained recognition as a composer by entering this work in the Cobbett Chamber Music Contest in London. It is hauntingly beautiful.

Opening night – sponsored by Midsummer Music’s board of directors and featuring special guest Norman Gilliland from Wisconsin Public Radio – is at 7:00pm on June 13 at Egg Harbor’s Donald & Carol Kress Pavilion. The program is repeated three more times: at 7:00pm on June 15 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Sister Bay, sponsored by the Jean Berkenstock Family Fund and in memory of Loralee Holton; at 5:00pm on June 16 at Hope United Church of Christ in Sturgeon Bay, sponsored by Sandy Zinger and including poetry from Write On, Door County poet Allison Haus; and at 7:00pm on June 18 at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Ephraim, sponsored by Peggy Lott.

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 opening night and other 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.