This summer’s annual Salt Bay Chamberfest chamber music festival will feature a unique mix of musical performances and visuals.
Titled “Illuminations,” the series of concerts will take place at Lincoln Theater in Damariscotta from Monday, Aug. 8 to Saturday, Aug. 20. Throughout, the festival will focus on light: literally, through video projections that accompany live music, and symbolically, through radiant musical works by both well-loved and new composers.
Light’s inverse, darkness, will also be explored. Scheduled musicians include Grammy winning violinist Jennifer Koh, pianist Ignat Solzhenitsyn, the Horszowski Trio, and members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Salt Bay Chamberfest’s rich tradition of commissioning and celebrating new music continues this year as well.
Opening night, Tuesday, Aug. 9, will feature marimbist Makoto Nakura presenting “The Story of Aoyagi,” a ghost tale told through Japanese music, poetry, and video projection. He will be joined by the Horszowski Trio in several works, ending with Mendelssohn’s C Minor Piano Trio No. 2, a piece whose mood transforms from brooding to triumphant.
On Friday, Aug. 12, Rachmaninoff’s second Trio élégiaque will be played by pianist Ignat Solzhenitsyn, violinist Sean Lee, and cellist Yeesun Kim (of the Borromeo Quartet). It will be paired with “Home Within,” an audio-visual project exploring the Syrian revolution and its aftermath. It will be presented by its creators, Syrian composer/clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and visual artist Kevork Mourad.
On Tuesday, Aug. 16, musicians from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center will take the stage in a program that includes the world premiere of “Are There Not a Thousand Forms of Sorrow?”
Composed by Bruce Adolphe, who is widely known through his inventive Piano Puzzler program on NPR, it was jointly commissioned for the chamberfest’s 25th anniversary and the chamber music society’s 50th. Violinists Jennifer Frautschi and Sean Lee, violist CarlaMaria Rodrigues, and cellists Sophie Shao and Salt Bay Chamberfest artistic director Wilhelmina Smith will perform the new Adolphe work. They will be joined by pianist Thomas Sauer for Dvorak’s Piano Quintet and music of Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir, featuring video projection by Sigurður Guðjónsson.
The festival concerts conclude on Friday, Aug. 19 with a program that features 2022 Grammy-winning violinist Jennifer Koh alongside Smith, Rodrigues, and Sauer. “Vespers,” by Missy Mazzoli will accompany a short film by James Darrah. Nathalie Joachim’s “Dam Mwen Yo,” which celebrates the lives of Haitian women, will be paired with a world premiere, chamberfest-commissioned montage of photos from Haiti by Nadia Todres. Also including a piano work by Scriabin and ending with Schumann’s grand, light-filled Piano Quartet, this program, like the entire festival season, travels from darkness to light.
All four main festival concerts will begin at 7:30 p.m., with pre-concert talks with conductor and educator Mark Mandarano at 6:30 p.m., at Lincoln Theater, 2 Theater St, Damariscotta.
Benefit events will be held on Sunday, July 10 at 4 p.m. at Wanderwood in Nobleboro, with virtuoso violinist Sean Lee performing Paganini; and on Wednesday, Aug. 17 at 5 p.m. at The 1812 Farm, with Bruce Adolphe recreating his Piano Puzzlers game, plus a silent auction.
For tickets and more information, visit saltbaychamberfest.org, e-mail contact@saltbaychamberfest.org, or call 522-3749.
Salt Bay Chamberfest will also present a number of free events and performances for the community.
On Monday, Aug 8 at 3 p.m., violinist Jesse Mills will present “OffTopic!,” and informal lecture/demonstration outdoors at a private garden overlooking the Damariscotta River in Newcastle. The annual Thursday@Noon recital series will take place on Thursday, Aug. 11 at 12 p.m., with an inside look into “Home Within” with its creators at Lincoln Theater; and Thursday, Aug. 18, at 12 p.m. featuring a solo recital by violinist Jennifer Koh at the Strand Theatre in Rockland.
Featuring young local musicians, Friday, Aug 19’s master class at 1 p.m. at Lincoln Theater will be enlightening for audience members and students alike. The season ends at 10:30 a.m., on Saturday, Aug. 20 at Lincoln Theater with Salt Bay Chamberfest’s annual Family Concert, led by Mandarano.
The Salt Bay Chamberfest is currently requiring masks, plus proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test, at all indoor events.
Salt Bay Chamberfest 2022 season at a glance
July 10, benefit concert with Sean Lee, 4 p.m. at Wanderwood, 79 Sidelinger Road, Nobleboro.
Aug. 8, “OffTopic!’ with Jesse Mills, 3 p.m., Newcastle.
Aug. 9, festival concert, 7:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. pre-concert talk), Lincoln Theater.
Aug. 11, Thursday@Noon with the creators of “Home Within,” 12 p.m., Lincoln Theater.
Aug. 12, festival concert, 7:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. pre-concert talk), Lincoln Theater.
Aug. 16, festival concert, 7:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. pre-concert talk), Lincoln Theater.
Aug. 17, benefit event: Piano Puzzlers (5 p.m. at The 1812 Farm).
Aug. 18, Thursday@Noon with Jennifer Koh, 12 p.m., Strand Theatre, 345 Main St., Rockland.
Aug. 19, master class, 1 p.m., Lincoln Theater.
Aug. 20, Family Concert, 10:30 a.m., Lincoln Theater.
