Summer Music Festival Will ‘Redefine’ a Night Out

COOPERSTOWN—This isn’t your typical summer concert series,” reads a press release announcing the Cooperstown Summer Music Festival’s 27th season. “When jazz artists perform live soundtracks to animated films, matching every pratfall and punchline in real time, or when musicians uncover lost compositions from library archives, you know you’re in for something completely different.”

The five performances this July and August “will redefine what a night out can be,” organizers contend, “whether you’re a music aficionado or someone who simply stumbled upon an intriguing experience.”

The festival opens on Monday, July 21 with the American String Quartet, featuring flutist Linda Chesis and violist Daniel Avshalomov performing Brahms’ viola quintet, Mozart’s String Quartet No. 22 in B-flat major, K. 589, and “a colorful Mahler-esque suite inspired by Basque folk traditions.”

The Queen’s Cartoonists, a six-piece band that synchronizes their music perfectly with animated films projected on stage—recreating original soundtracks note-for-note while adding their own compositions to modern pieces—takes the stage on Wednesday, July 30.

“Think of it as a live concert, comedy show, and movie night rolled into one experience that celebrates both jazz and animation as uniquely American art forms,” organizers said.

Baroque violinist Rachell Ellen Wong returns on Monday, August 4 with her ensemble, Twelfth Night, for a program that includes Tartini’s technically demanding “Devil’s Trill,” a piece so challenging it was once rumored to be inspired by a dream about the devil himself playing violin.

The Caroga Arts Ensemble returns to Cooperstown on Wednesday, August 13, featuring KASA Quartet, Chesis, and clarinetists Graeme Steele Johnson and Bixby Kennedy as they perform works by Debussy, Ravel, and the recently rediscovered Charles Martin Loeffler Octet, “a kaleidoscopic masterpiece nearly lost to history.”

The season concludes on Thursday, August 21 with Trinidad-born trumpeter Etienne Charles, whose “Creole Soul” performance draws musical connections across the African diaspora with fiery original compositions rooted in Caribbean rhythms.

“This season represents the heart of what the festival always strives to create—extraordinary music in intimate settings that brings our community together in shared moments of musical discovery,” said Chesis, the festival’s founder and artistic director. “We’re proud to offer experiences that might otherwise only be found in major metropolitan centers.”

All performances begin at 7 p.m. and take place in historic venues across Cooperstown, including the Fenimore Farm and Country Village and Christ Episcopal Church.

Tickets are $30.00 for adults and $15.00 for students and children, available at cooperstownmusicfest.org or by calling (800) 316-8559.