Door County classical music festival announces its 71st season

FISH CREEK – A new, permanent music director for the first time in three years, a new work by a modern composer, twin sister pianists and the return of a Grammy Award-winning guest conductor highlight the 71st annual Symphony Series presented by Peninsula Music Festival, which announced the schedule and guest artists this week. Subscriptions are now available and single-concert tickets went on sale May 22.

For the Symphony Series, PMF presents nine concerts in three weeks each August at Door Community Auditorium in Fish Creek, performed by the professional Festival Orchestra. This year’s concerts run Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from Aug. 1 to 19, starting at 7:30 p.m.

Leading the orchestra for all but one of the concerts is Rune Bergmann, who was named music director in December. The position had been vacant since longtime director Victor Yampolsky retired after the 2019 season, and PMF’s plan to bring in guest conductors (including Bergmann) the following year as kind of a tryout for the permanent gig was scuttled by the COVID-19 pandemic that canceled the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

The idea finally became reality for the 2022 season, and Bergmann took the podium for the final two concerts before being named PMF’s full-time director later in the year.

Rune Bergmann was named music director for Peninsula Music Festival, which will present its 71st season of nine symphony concerts from Aug. 1 to 19.

The native of Norway is currently music director of the Calgary Philharmonic in Canada, artistic director and chief conductor of the Szczecin Philharmonic in Poland, and chief conductor of Switzerland’s Argovia Philharmonic. He also has served as a guest conductor with orchestras across North America and Europe and led performances with the Norwegian National Opera and other opera companies.

Taking the baton for the concert Bergmann isn’t conducting is JoAnn Falletta, who will lead the Aug. 17 “French Feelings” program. Among other positions, the two-time Grammy winner is music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic and has appeared as a guest conductor with orchestras around the world, including several past appearances with PMF. In January, Gramophone Magazine listed her as one of its 50 Great Conductors past and present.

The PMF schedule is:

Aug. 1: “American Dream,” with guest pianist Jeffery Biegel: Peter Boyer’s “Rhapsody in Red, White and Blue” (a new piece Biegel is premiering this year), Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and Copland’s Suite From “Appalachian Spring.”
Aug. 3: “A Gentle Breeze From Fyn”: Carl Nielsen’s “Helios” Overture, Op. 17; “Little Suite,” Op. 1; and Symphony No. 5
Aug. 5: “Norwegian Romance,” with soloists Dennis Kim, violin, and PMF principal violist Joan DerHovsepian: Johan Svendsen’s “Norsk kunstnerkarneval” (Norwegian Artists Carnival), Op. 14, and Romance for Violin and Orchestra; Johan Halvorsen’s Passacaglia for Violin and Viola and “Bojarenes inntogsmarsch” (Entry March of the Boyars); and selections from Grieg’s “Peer Gynt.”
Aug. 8: “Baroque and Bruckner,” with soloists Dennis Kim, violin, and PMF principal oboist Eric Olson: Joseph Bologne’s Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Bach’s Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C minor and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 6 in A Major.
Aug. 10: “Master Mozart,” with guest pianists (and twin sisters) Christina Naughton and Michelle Naughton: Mozart’s Symphony No. 1 in E-flat Major, Concerto for Two Pianos, K. 365, and Symphony No. 41 in C Major (“Jupiter”).
Aug. 12: “Finlandia,” with guest cellist Senja Rummukainen: Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Concerto for Birds and Orchestra (“Cantus Arcticus”) and Cello Concerto No. 2 (“Towards the Horizon”); and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 in D Major.
Aug. 15: “A Night In Stokholm,” with guest pianist Anna Fedorova: Wilhelm Stenhammar’s “Excelsior!” Symphonic Overture, Op. 13, Hugo Alfven’s Swedish Rhapsody No. 1 (“Midsommarvaka”), Wilhelm Peterson-Berger’s “Sommarsang” (Summer Song) and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor.
Aug. 17: “French Feelings,” with guest conductor JoAnn Falletta and guest cellist Senja Rummukainen: Lili Boulanger’s “D’un matin de printemps” (Of a Spring Morning), Saint-Saens’ Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Ravel’s “Pavane pour une infante defunte” (Pavane For a Dead Princess) and Debussy’s “La Mer” (The Sea).
Aug. 19: “Transforming Finale,” with Vivian Fung’s “Prayer” and Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 in C-Sharp minor.

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