Manchester Music Festival engages, inspires, and grows a supportive audience for classical music, performed at the highest level of artistic excellence, and teaches exceptional young performers in the art of chamber music.

This summer, Manchester Music Festival explores "Music and Storytelling," illuminating the profound connections between literature, poetry, song, and music.

Schedule of Events:

Thursday Nights - Mainstage Concerts

7:30 pm - 9:30 pm: Music Inspired by Song and Birdsong

Loaction: Arkell Pavilion, Southern Vermont Arts Center, 860 Southern Vermont Arts Center Drive, Manchester, VT

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Powers' sextet of poems from 2013 forms the basis of composer Perry Goldstein's song cycle, "Birding by Ear." Baritone Randall Scarlata, admired for his "compelling desire to bring texts to life" (The New York Times), will be joined by the musicians with whom he premiered the work in 2022—violinist Philip Setzer, cellist Paul Watkins, and pianist Gilles Vonsattel. Wenzel Müller's amusing aria "Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu," followed by Beethoven's equally buoyant variations on the song, embrace the avian theme; and the sounds of the woodland are further celebrated in Schubert's "Die Forelle," based on the poem by Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart, as well as the composer's subsequent and well-loved "Trout" Quintet. Bassist Nina Bernat joins the ensemble on the final work.

Tuesday, July 29 at 5:00 p.m.  Manchester Community Library
Join Philip Setzer, Perry Goldstein, Paul Watkins, Gilles Vonsattel, and Randall Scarlata for a discussion and demonstration of "Birding by Ear."

Program: 
Wenzel Müller - "Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu" ("I am the tailor Cockatoo") (1794)
Beethoven - "Kakadu" Variations, Op. 121a (1803)
Perry Goldstein - "Birding by Ear", settings of poems by Richard Powers (2022)
Schubert - Song "Die Forelle" ("The Trout") (1817)
Schubert - "Trout" Quintet ("Die Forelle"), D. 667, Op.114 (1819) 

Artists:
Randall Scarlata, baritone
Gilles Vonsattel, piano
Philip Setzer, violin
Paul Watkins, cello
Nina Bernat, bass
MMF Young Artists