SummerFest schedule sizzles

The Machine will bring its laser show and Pink Floyd music to the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley on June 23 as part of the SummerFest series.

MIM 31st season offers ten concerts that start June 21

Music in the Mountains will celebrate its 31st SummerFest season from June 12 to July 3 with 10 concerts that span the musical globe under the direction of Artistic Director Gregory Vajda.

Three major classical concerts anchor the festival and feature the works of Verdi, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Dvorak. Verdi Requiem, which opens the festival on June 21, will feature four internationally acclaimed guest soloists singing with the 90-voice MIM Chorale, including Barbara Quintiliani, whose heart-wrenching story was chronicled in a two-part series in The Boston Sunday Globe.

Beethoven’s Third Symphony headlines the June 23 concert and on July 1 piano virtuoso Xiayin Wang tackles the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #1. This young pianist has been hailed as “nuanced, dazzling, and spirited” by critics and audiences alike.

MIM embraces new composition in 2012 with three concerts. The Young Composers Project features two concerts on June 12 and June 21 of new student works composed by 23 young people ranging in age from 12 to 21. Supported by grants from the Clarence E. Heller Foundation and the California Arts Council, the program is a cornerstone of MIM’s broad education initiatives.

SummerFest continues its commitment to young musicians and new music with its “Wet Ink” concert on June 28. Colburn School of Music graduate Caitlin Kelley will perform the world premier of Mark Vance’s first violin concerto.

The concert teams MIM with the Nevada County Composers Collaborative and features works by local composers Jerry Grant, Howard Hersh and Randy McKean. Young instrumentalists will also be invited to play “side-by-side” with the MIM Festival Orchestra.

On July 1, the percussion group Amadinda will use a variety of unusual instruments such as Polynesian log drums, Chinese gongs, tin cans, bicycle wheels and frying pans as part of its exploration of music.

MIM’s outdoor pops series on the lawn opens on June 23 when The Machine performs the music of Pink Floyd in a performance that includes a laser light show and features the MIM Festival Orchestra.

Cirque de la Symphonie takes the stage on June 30 when the orchestra teams up with a troupe of acrobats, aerialists and clowns and performs the music of Dvorak, Bizet, Tchaikovsky and others.

As per tradition, the season concludes with MIM’s July 3 Happy Birthday USA concert.

For ticket and other information, call 530-265-6124 or visit musicinthemountains.org. All concerts are held at the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley.