The New Hampshire Music Festival is floating a fun July 13 concert. Festival musicians will take to a pontoon boat to share strains of music with people on and around Squam Lake.
The New Hampshire Music Festival is floating a fun July 13 concert. Festival musicians will take to a pontoon boat to share strains of music with people on and around Squam Lake.
The New Hampshire Music Festival launches its 70th summer of music in July with classical concerts, chamber concerts, special events for children and a popular brass ensemble performance aboard a pontoon boat on Squam Lake.
From its early days on Melody Island in Lake Winnipesaukee, the festival has grown to include a 75-plus member professional orchestra that delivers world-class performances of symphonic, choral and chamber music to New Hampshire.
“After two years of virtual programming and scaled-back, in-person performances, (we) are thrilled to be back in full force this year,” said Executive Director Lucinda Williams.
The season will include works commissioned throughout the festival’s history as well as contemporary works and a new world premiere commission, Williams said.
Most performances and events take place in Plymouth and Holderness, while the children’s series is held at The Curious George Cottage of the Rey Cultural Center in Waterville Valley.
First up is a chamber concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 5, at Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, followed by the launch of its Classics series at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, July 7-8, at the Silver Center for the Arts at Plymouth State University.
The Plymouth State program, “Return to Loon Lake,” features Mozart’s Overture to The Marriage of Figaro, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, and American composer Alan Hovhaness’ “Loon Lake Symphony.”
The annual Squam Lake Water Music Concert on a pontoon boat is set for Wednesday, July 13. It harkens back to the festival’s roots in the 1940s when professional musicians and advanced students performed at the summer retreat of esteemed pianist and teacher Hedy Spielter and her husband, actor Jules Epailly, on Melody Island on Lake Winnipesaukee.
Concertgoers would travel to Melody Island by boat or canoe and enjoy the music emanating from the island’s band shell as they floated on the lake.
The full schedule, along with ticket information, for the New Hampshire Summer Music Festival 70th Anniversary season can be found at nhmf.org.
