Featured Artists

Timothy Jones, bass-baritone
Jeffrey Sykes, piano
Katrin Talbot, narrator and photographic projections

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About This Event

Brahms’s Magelone songs unfold as a sweeping tale of love, adventure, and destiny, brought vividly to life with narration and projected imagery. Romantic, immersive, and deeply human, this is storytelling on a grand—and intimate—scale. Join Jeffrey Sykes, photographer Katrin Talbot, and bass-baritone Timothy Jones for a multi-media musical experience, exploring a medieval romance through love, separation, and reunion. Reception for all follows.

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Program

• Liebesgeschichte der schönen Magelone und des Grafen Peter von Provence (1797)
  (The Love Story of the Beautiful Magelone and Count Peter of Provence)
  Music by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
• 15 Romanzen aus Ludwig Tiecks “Magelone,” Op. 33 (1869)
  Poems and prose by Ludwig Tieck (1773–1853)

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35 Summers of Serious Fun

They said no one would ever understand a name like Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society. They told us that chamber music was Serious Business—and that door prizes, mystery guests, playful titles, and a little audience mischief had no place in it. They said a festival like this wouldn’t last.

Thirty-five summers later, here we are. We are still surprising ourselves, still chasing curiosity, and still proving that chamber music can be both passionately committed and Serious Fun. What began as a leap of faith has become a tradition built on trust: trust in great music, fearless artists, and an audience that is always up for an adventure. So much for “never.”

That said, there are a few things we will happily say never to:

• We will never program music that doesn’t make our own hearts race.
• We will never give a performance anything less than our all.
• We will never lose our sense of humor, our love of mischief, or our gratitude for the generosity that keeps this festival humming.
• We will never take our audience for granted.

After all, you show up year after year, waiting for that familiar thrill to cross your mind: “They’ll never do that.”

Never Say Never.