World class music by the lake every August.
The award-winning Skaneateles Festival is a nationally renowned chamber music festival held every year during the month of August. A favorite of residents and visitors alike, the widely acclaimed Skaneateles Festival plays host to world-class musicians who perform by the lake throughout the month of August. Saturday night concerts are held outdoors under the stars at our new amphitheater in Anyela's Vineyards.
Keywords: Music, Festival, Lake, Family, Free, Children, Outside, Classical, Jazz, Summer, Picnic
Interview Q&A
How long have you been in business?
1980
The first season features two weeks of concerts. Lindsay Groves is the music director. The first night, Aug. 16 in Skaneateles Library Hall, includes Mozart's Quartet for Flute and Strings, K. 285, with Eleanor Robinson, flute; Ravel's Chansons Madecasses with soprano Donna Miller; and Brahms' Piano Quartet in G Minor with Mary Boyd, piano; Judy Clare, violin; Marilyn Smith, viola; and Lindsay Groves, cello. Brian Israel, pianist, performs Harris Lindenfeld's "From the Grotte des Cambarelles" and Beethoven's Archduke Trio with Steven Stalker, cello, and Janet Brady, violin. The first concert at Brook Farm is Aug. 23. It includes Mozart's Quintet in C Minor, K. 516, and Brahms' String Sextet No. 2 in G Major and Edwin Gindon conducts Bach's Cantata No. 82, "Ich habe genung," with David Robinson, baritone.
Now, 2014
This season was one of celebrations: Skaneateles Festivals 35th birthday, a tearful good bye to Elinor Freer and David Ying for ten successful years as artistic directors and a warm welcome to new artistic directors Julia Bruskin and Aaron Wunsch. Four themes rounded out the season: Many Happy Returns, East Meets West, Gypsy Nights, and Encore! Many happy returns celebrated the Festival's 35th birthday by inviting artists from early festival seasons to perform musical gems. The Fireworks Ensemble, Joseph Genualdi, Bob Weirich and Steve Doane and more performed Strauss, Brahms, Schumann and Grieg. The Brook Farm concert brought the memorable pyrotechnics display to finish off a great week of performances. Asian music from the Shanghai Quartet and Music from China was featured in week two. Chinese folk songs and fables were paired with Rimsky-Korsakov, Debussy and Bernstein. Non-western instruments were featured. Soprano Jennifer Aylmer and Elinor Freer performed Ravel's Sheherazade. Gypsy music took the stage in week three with performances from Bella Hristova, Ran Dank, Erin Keefe and Robert Moody. The Eastman Chamber Players played Dvorak's Czech Suite and violinist Bella Hristova was featured in the Brahms Piano Quartet in G minor and the Kodaly Duo for Violin and Cello, Op.7. The season closed with the ever popular Tf3 and ECCO. Tf3 played to a near record breaking crowd at Brook Farm with repertoire that kept the audience engaged and guessing. ECCO started and ended the week with selections from Prokofiev, Boccherini, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky.
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Mission
To be one of the nation’s outstanding summer music festivals, set in the beauty of the Finger Lakes region, Skaneateles community-inspired, and recognized for its creative and dynamic concert programming, education, and outreach.