The National Music Festival advances the lives and careers of promising musicians by providing access to world-class education and performance opportunities.

Great Music Performed by Tomorrow’s Experts!

All National Music Festival apprentices attend tuition free. For two weeks each June, these musicians live and work together, presenting over 35 concerts — ranging from solo recitals to large symphony orchestra performances with chorus — and 200 free open rehearsals for music lovers from all over the world.

Concert Schedules

Sunday, June 4, 2023

7:00pm, Camilo Carrara & Friends, $20, Sacred Heart Parish

Tuesday, June 5, 2023

7:00pm, Festival Master Class with Orchestra, $17, Decker Theatre

Collaborative Piano Apprentices with Orchestra with Minji Nam

Mozart, Piano Concerto No.20 in d, Kv.466

Monday, June 6, 2023

12:30pm,  Lunchtime Chamber Bites, free

Wianku, American Haiku

7:00pm,  Chamber Music I, $17, Hotchkiss Recital Hall

Schoenfeld, Four Souvenirs for Violin and Piano

Wiancko, American Haiku

Dvorák, Terzetto

Shostakovich, Piano Trio No. 2 in e, opus 67

Wednesday, June 7, 2023

12:30pm, Lunchtime Chamber Bites, free, Raimond Cultural Center

7:00pm,  Chamber Music II, $17, Christ United Methodist Church

Castello, Sonate Concertante in Still Moderno

Staniland, new work for harp and electronics* (Commissioned by Michelle Gott with funding from the American Harp Society)

Bach, Violin Partita No. 3 in E

Jolivet, Pastorales de Noel.

Thursday, June 8, 2023

12:30pm, Lunchtime Chamber Bites, free 

Barber, Summer Music

7:00pm, Chamber Music III, $17, Hotchkiss Recital Hall

Roger Zare, Bioluminescence

Jessie Montgomery, Rhapsody No. 1

Barber, Summer Music

Prokofiev, Overture on Hebrew Themes

Friday, June 9, 2023

12:30pm, Lunchtime Piano Recital, free, Unitarian Universalists of the Chester River

6:00pm, Pre-Concert Talk, included with concert ticket, Tawes Theatre

Four Refusals and a Phoenix, Asieh Mahyar explicator

7:00pm, Festival Symphony Orchestra, $25, Decker Theatre

Bartók, Dance Suite (Simon Charette conductor)

Suesse, Concerto in e for Two Pianos. Petra Akrap & Katarina Nera Biondi?, pianos

Stravinsky, The Firebird, Suite for Orchestra, 1911

Saturday, June 10, 2023

9:00am, Chestertown Farmers’ Market Music, free, Fountain Park

Music for Brass

2:00pm, Family Concert, free, Tawes Theatre

Music for Percussion

4:00pm, NMF Brass Quintet, free, Venue TBA

6:00pm, Pre-concert Talk, included with concert ticket, Tawes Theatre

Companion Piece. Philip Rosenberg explicator

7:00pm, Festival Symphony Orchestra, Richard Rosenberg, conductor. $25, Decker Theatre

Méhul, Overture to, La Chasse du Jeune Henri (Simon Charette  conductor)

Stravinsky, Apollon Musagète (Asieh Mahyar  conductor)

Beethoven, Symphony No. 7 in A

Monday, June 12, 2023

7:00pm, Pianomania!, $17, Decker Theatre

Apprentices of Collaborative Piano, directed by Minji Nam

Tuesday, June 13, 2023

12:30pm, Lunchtime Chamber Bites, free, Raimond Cultural Center

7:00pm, Chamber Music IV, $17, Hotchkiss Recital Hall

O’Connor, Menuhin Caprice

Morris, Up and Away

Morris, Brushstrokes for flute, oboe & bassoon

Haydn, Symphony No. 101 (The Clock), arranged by Johann Peter Solomon for flute, string quartet & piano

Wednesday, June 14, 2023

12:30pm, Lunchtime Chamber Bites, free, Unitarian Universalists of the Chester River

7:00pm, Potpourri!, $17, Christ United Methodist Church

Thursday, June 15, 2023

12:30pm, Lunchtime Chamber Bites, free, Unitarian Universalists of the Chester River

2:00pm, Forest Music, Adkins Arboretum*

* This event is a collaboration with Adkins Arboretum; information and tickets are available on their website. Tickets are $10 and include refreshments; advance registration is recommended. The ticket fee supports artist stipends and refreshments.

7:00pm, Chamber Music V, $17, Hotchkiss Recital Hall

Fasch, Trumpet Concerto in D, FWV L:D1.  Ansel Norris  trumpet, Jarred Kennedy  conductor

Thuille, Sextet for Piano and Woodwind Quintet in Bb

Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time

Friday, June 16, 2023

4:00pm, NMF Brass Quintet,  

6:00pm Pre-Concert Talk, Included with concert ticket, Tawes Theatre

Equal Pay for Equal Works. Simon Charette  explicator

7:00pm, Festival Symphony Orchestra, Rodolfo Saglimbeni, Guest Conductor. $25, Decker Theatre

Debussy, Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune

Rameau, Suite from Les Indies Galante

Farrenc, Symphony No. 3 in g

Saturday, June 17, 2023

9:00am, Chestertown Farmers’ Market Music, free, Fountain Park

2:00pm, My Harps Will Go On ~ Harp Recital, $10, Hotchkiss Recital Hall

6:00pm, Pre-Concert Talk, Included with concert ticket, Tawes Theatre

Night Watch. Philip Rosenberg explicator

7:00pm Festival Symphony Orchestra, Richard Rosenberg, conductor. $25, Decker Theatre

Nielsen, Helios Overture (Asieh Mahyar  conductor)

Mahler, Symphony No. 7

Festival Dates: June 4-17, 2023

Locations: Various venues in Chestertown

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