Music by the bay: A midsummer weekend By Erik Eriksson News-Chronicle The summer music festival season opens brightly this weekend as The Midsummer's Music Festival musicians present three performances of "A Little Night Music," a program of chamber music by Franz Doppler, Joseph Rheinberger and Gabriel Fauré. The ensemble's 2003 Door County series opened Thursday night with "In Close Harmony" (of which we'll have a review early next week). Beyond these two delights (the opening program is repeated Tuesday night) are three more programs for June, each repeated twice, and a grand benefit affair in one of Sturgeon Bay's grand residences. On Aug. 30, a summer farewell is planned. In addition to world-class performances, the Midsummer's Music formula takes these programs to a variety of Door County sites, from public venues up and down the peninsula to private homes capacious enough to offer a combination of intimacy and rich acoustics. As many of you may remember, two of MM's players, cellist Walter Preucil and pianist William Koehler, won a standing ovation and cheers when they performed at Carnegie Hall last November. Their companions perform at that same high level, further infusing their work with a sense of discovery, whether exploring an unfamiliar piece or revisiting standard works in the chamber repertory. Fourteen June performances remain, beginning with tonight's concert in Sister Bay. Among the works populating these programs are a Concertina by contemporary American composer Oscar Haugland, "Five Songs" by George Gershwin for clarinet and string quartet, Ernest Dohnányi's Serenade, Op. 12 and Franz Berwald's Septet in B flat major. For a full schedule, visit the Midsummer's Music website at www.midsummersmusic.com. Or, phone them at 920-854-7088 to make reservations. This is one of the country's finest, most stimulating chamber music festivals. Any one of the 2003 concerts is a safe bet. BIRCH CREEK OPENS JUNE 26 Birch Creek Music Performance Center opens its concert season June 26 with symphony performances directed by Brian Groner. With a full orchestra composed of two faculty members for every three talented students, the quality is high. Groner, honored for his excellent work with the Fox Valley Symphony, demands alert playing from every orchestra member and the results reflect it. The atmosphere at Birch Creek is unique. Concerts take place in an acoustically lively 107-year-old barn neatly fitted with a thrust stage (packed, I might add, during the symphony sessions). After Symphony comes Percussion and Steel Band, beginning July 10, an innovative and exceedingly pleasurable series led by program director Robert Chappell and steel drum expert Allan O'Connor. Once again, steel pan virtuoso Liam Teague will be featured. Jazz arrives with two consecutive series beginning July 23. Big bands and jazz ensembles are in session for the ensuing month, all of them rivaling the best one can hear anywhere else in the world. In addition, several Starz Series concerts take place on Sunday nights featuring professional players, including the Birch Creek Brass, mezzo-soprano Cynthia Stiehl and pianist Jodie DeSalvo, Robert Chappell and Liam Teague and others. Birch Creek's schedule is full; contact it at www.birchcreek.org or by phone at 920-868-3763. MUSIC FESTIVALS August brings the Peninsula Music Festival, beginning its second half century Aug. 5 with the superb PMF orchestra and such guest artists as pianists William Wolfram, Anton Nel and Yakov Kasman, soprano Patrice Michaels and violinists Valentin Zhuk and Judith Ingolfsson. Music director Victor Yampolsky has prepared another musically nourishing series of concerts. PMF is a world-class festival and is a must for anyone serious about great music. Call 920-854-4060 or visit the web at www.musicfestival.com. The night before (Aug. 4), the Washington Island Music Festival begins its two-week 2003 season under the oversight of Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra principal oboist Stephen Colburn. Call Laura Waldron, 920-847- 2025, at the island's Art and Nature Center for details. Colburn soloed beautifully last Saturday night when the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra appeared at the Door Community Auditorium in Fish Creek under new assistant conductor Gregory Vajda. Once past a somewhat undercooked "Pulcinella" Suite, Vajda elicited from the MSO an atmospheric "Peer Gynt" Suite (Grieg) some lovely Fauré, and a buoyant Bizet C major Symphony. Symphony cellist Adrien Zitoun was elegant and moving in Fauré's Elégie and in Saint-Saën's "Le cygne." Erik Eriksson writes on classical music and jazz for The News-Chronicle. A member of the Music Critics Association of North America and the Jazz Journalists Association, he may be reached by e-mail at [email protected].