WINTER HARBOR, Maine — A Harvest Festival celebration of music and food will benefit the Schoodic Summer Chorus. The event will be held 4-7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20, at Hammond Hall. Singers and instrumentalists will perform music ranging from baroque love songs to New Orleans jazz.
A harvest meal will be served.
Performers at the event will be the Schoodic Summer Chorus, Bill Schubeck’s Street Beat New Orleans jazz band, Phoebe Durand playing Celtic and classical harp, soprano Anna Dembska and harpsichordist Edith Dunham performing Renaissance and baroque love songs, Tom Saad on classical guitar, Brian Dyer Stewart and Leonore Hildebrandt performing original music and the mysterious Captain Midnight and friends with musical comedy sketches.
The Street Beat jazz band has performed at Blue Hill’s Last Night Celebration, the Bay School’s Winter Fair and other local venues. Band leader Bill Schubeck is well known for his fiddle and piano playing with the Oakum Bay String Band and Schubeck Family Band. He also plays trumpet with the Brooklin Town Band.
Phoebe Durand, 16, of Bar Harbor has been playing classical concert harp for six years and has performed with the Portland Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Odeon Chamber Orchestra of Rockport.
Brian Dyer Stewart and Leonore Hildebrandt are songwriters, musicians and poets who have performed together for more than 20 years. They will present original work through song, rhythm and improvised performance.
Schoodic Summer Chorus director Anna Dembska, who has performed in venues ranging from Lincoln Center to the Camden Opera House, will join Edith Dunham, harpsichordist from Seal Harbor, to perform songs by Dowland, Purcell and Jacopo Peri.
Tom Saad of Gouldsboro recently rekindled his interest in classical guitar and will play pieces by Bach.
Captain Midnight and his cohorts Baron von Ritzelmuffin and T.R. Etode are graduates of the School of Vibrant Foolery and will offer musical comedy.
The Schoodic Summer Chorus is an a cappella community chorus based in historic Hammond Hall. Sponsored by Schoodic Arts for All, the chorus is open to all.
The fundraiser will enable the chorus to lower its fees in order to allow all interested singers to join.
Event tickets are $15, $5 students, free to children under 12, and will be available at the door. For information or to reserve tickets, call 422-9014.