JAMAICA — This summer marks the fifth season of Pikes Falls Chamber Music Festival in Jamaica, with events between July 28 and Aug. 6.
This year, the festival will again hold a series of evening concerts and a family and community day. In addition, festival musicians will tour Southern Vermont to play in nearby towns, according to a news release.
The 2016 festival will include nine performing musicians, two composers, a conductor, and three visual artists.
For this year's World Premieres, Philadelphia's Joe Hallman will return, while New York-based composer Nathan DeCusatis will appear for his first time at the festival with music that synthesizes a wide array of influences from popular, minimalist, and jazz idioms with a deep grounding in classical forms and traditions.
Other music performed will include Bach, Rachmaninoff, Schumann, and Telemann. Complete concert repertoire is listed on the Dates and Events page of the festival's website: www.pikesfallschambermusicfestival.com.
Artists-in-residence Andrew Brehm and Natasha Loewy will have artwork displayed in the Town Hall and will also lead the Art/Music collaboration for children and young adults. In addition, a Milton Avery exhibit will be shown in the Town Hall during the second week of the festival.
Concerts will be held at Jamaica State Park on July 28 and Aug. 4 at 6 p.m., at the Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro on July 29 and Aug. 5 at 4 p.m., and at the Jamaica Town Hall on July 30 and August 6 at 7 p.m.. Pre-concert discussions will be led by the conductor and composer-in-residence 30 minutes before each Town Hall concert, and receptions will follow.
Sunday, July 31 will feature a full day of community and family events.
The day will start with a noon musical performance at the Jamaica Farmers' Market. Following that performance, festival artists will lead an art/music collaboration involving instrument creation from found materials for children and young adults from 12:30-2 p.m.
After the art/music collaboration, there will be an open rehearsal from 2:30-4:30 p.m.; and, from 6-9 p.m., there will be a community potluck/open-mic night backed by the Jesse Loewy Band from Philadelphia.