Beautiful music by the shore

The Buzzards Bay Musicfest is the best summer music festival you have probably never heard of. Now in its 19th year, the festival brings in musicians of national caliber to the seaside town of Marion, Massachusetts, every July for a week. The musicians must enjoy it, because many return year after year, staying with host families in town. With little rehearsal time, they present 5 days of concerts. This year we had two chamber music concerts and two orchestral concerts. An innovation last year was devoting one evening to jazz. This was a big success in 2014 and so was repeated, bringing back the Sean Jones Quartet. The music selection is heavy on the classics: Mozart, Brahms, Bruch, Rossini, Beethoven and JC Bach. The only 20th Century composer represented was Rachmaninoff, but they clearly know their audience. The playing is uniformly strong. Perhaps because these are all seasoned professionals, you would never guess they may have only had a day or two to rehearse together. While I hate to single out any work over another, the Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals, complete with Ogden Nash’s witty narrative was a favorite, and conductor Andres Cardenes did a tour-de-force on the final day, both conducting and playing the violin solo in Bruch’s Violin Concerto #1. The festival is funded by contributions and entry is free, though donations are accepted. Do plan to put it on your calendar for next July.