Summer Music Festival Coming to Madison

An annual Summer Music Festival is making several stops in Madison next month.

The festival is sponsored by the Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey, guided by founder, artistic director and conductor Dr. Robert W. Butts. This year’s festival, which will run from Sunday, Aug. 4, to Sunday, Aug. 11, has stops at the College of St. Elizabeth and Grace Church in Madison.

“I look forward to this, the eighth BONJ Summer Music Festival," Butts said in a news release. "Collaborating is always exciting  and this summer we return to working with Grace Community Music to present lunchtime keyboard recitals and we begin our collaboration with Eastern Opera Company of New Jersey in celebrating the 200th birthday of Giuseppe Verdi with the Festival’s most ambitious opera undertaking—Otello." 

A look at the festival dates, times and details is below. For more information visit www.baroqueorchestra.org.

• Fresh Breezes Orchestra Concert: Aug. 4 at 7:30 p.m. at Dolan Hall, College of St. Elizabeth, 2 Convent Road, Morristown
• A Night in the Wilde, Wild West: Aug. 8 at 7:30 p.m. at Grace Church in Madison 
• Chamber Music Celebration: Aug. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at Grace Church in Madison
• Oscar Wilde in Madison - Musical Theater in Cabaret Fashion: Aug, 10 at 7:30 p.m. at at Grace Church in Madison
• Otello: Aug. 11 at 3 p.m. at Dolan Hall, College of St. Elizabeth, 2 Convent Road, Morristown
• Keyboard Recitals at 12:15 p.m. from Aug. 5 - 9 at Grace Church in Madison. Although there is not a fixed price for these recitals, donations will be accepted.  Boxed lunches will be available for $6. Several of New Jersey’s leading keyboard artists will be on hand for these recitals.  They will be playing music of all periods.
  

Program selections for the 'Fresh Breezes Orchestra Concert' include: Ballet Music from Otello, by Verdi; Chaconne, by Vitali; Maestro Butts’ original composition, Bassoon Concerto, featuring Andrew Pecota, the Orchestra’s principal bassoonist, as soloist; and Haydn’s Symphony #101, The Clock.

'A Night in the Wilde, Wild West' features a cabaret-style performance of a new musical, with book by Jewel Seehaus-Fisher and music and songs by Dr. Butts. Patrons are encouraged to bring their own snacks and beverages to this concert. 

"The play is a mad, dark comedy in which Oscar Wilde arrives in the mining town of Leadville, CO, in 1882 on his lecture tour of America.  Madam August and her henchman, Willie, have a stranglehold on Leadville. Together they lie, cheat and even hang in order to maintain their control.  August’s daughter, Frenchie, is pursued by Willie, but she loves her mother’s enemy, the miner Charlie.  Oscar outwits the bad guys, frees Leadville, rescues young love, and enjoys a three-course dinner of whiskey, whiskey, and whiskey, with the miners, the Prince of Wales, and Lillie Langtry," according to a press release. 

Otello will feature singers from the Eastern Opera Company of New Jersey, under the direction of Karole Lewis. 

"We begin our collaboration with Eastern Opera Company of New Jersey in celebrating the 200th birthday of Giuseppe Verdi with the Festival’s most  ambitious opera undertaking—Otello," said Butts. "I am happy to tie the entire Festival together by opening the week with a rare performance of the Ballet Music from Otello Verdi composed for the 1894 production of his Shakespearean masterpiece in Paris.  The music is delightful, but rarely heard and is little known.”

Compositions featured in the 'Chamber Music Celebration' include works by Susato (Renaissance Dances); Mozart (Trio in C, DV548); and Schubert (Death and the Maiden Quartet).  In addition, there will be brief selections from the Arioso Consorte, an ensemble dedicated to bringing the music of the Baroque and Classical eras to life, featuring Orchestra members Margaret Walker, traverso, and Andrew Pecota, bassoon; as well as Laura Ferraro, traverso, and Ilizabeth Cabrera, viola da gamba.

For further information about tickets and pricing, visit the Orchestra’s web site, www.baroqueorchestra.org, or by calling the office, 973-366-8922; or at the performance the day or evening of the concert.  

Tickets for the events at Dolan Hall are priced at $35/$25/$5/Adults/Seniors/Students under 22 with ID.  For the chamber music concert and the Wilde, Wild West performance, both at Grace Church, tickets are priced at $20/$15/$/5/Adults/Seniors/Students under 22 with ID. Festival passes for the entire series of events are available for $70.