Returning for the 43rd season, the Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival will present “Ghost,” the first chamber music concert of the summer, on Tuesday, July 14, at 7:30 p.m. at the Deertrees Theatre in Harrison.

A highlight of the summer, for area concert lovers, the festival series is noted for presenting a wide array of classical works, both traditional and contemporary, performed by some of the country’s finest artists.

The July 14 program includes Haydn’s String Quartet in F Major, Op. 50 No. 5 “Dream”, Reger’s Quintet in A Major, Op. 146 for Clarinet and Strings, and Beethoven’s Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 70, No. 1 “Ghost.”

Performers include Varty Manouelian, violin, L.A. Philharmonic; Movses Poggosian, professor of violin, UCLA; Laurie Kennedy, principal violist, Portland Symphony and festival’s music director; Ka?the Jarka, New York City cello recitalist and chamber artist; Carmelo Galante, principal clarinetist, Omaha Symphony; Stephen Manes, professor emeritus of piano at Buffalo SUNY and the only musician who has been performing with SLLMF since the inaugural season in 1973.

The concert begins with a salute to one of the “founding fathers” of chamber music, Franz Joseph Haydn. In the second half of the late 18th century, Haydn wrote 83 string quartets, which elevated the quartet from a simple and undeveloped form to the lofty position it holds in the world of chamber music today. The beautiful F major quartet, nicknamed the “Dream” for the violin’s ascending lines, is part of a set of six quartets that formed a milestone at the midpoint of Haydn’s evolution.

Also on the program is the masterful quintet for clarinet and strings by Max Reger. An unabashed romantic, rooted in the harmonic worlds of Beethoven and Brahms, Reger incorporated the mind-expanding harmonies of Wagner and Schoenberg and the counterpoint of Bach, creating a unique blend of musical universes. This work was modeled after the great clarinet quintets of Mozart and Brahms. It is his last completed work, composed in 1915, a year before his death. Reger, like Mozart and Brahms, saved this very expressive and intimate instrumental grouping for the very end of his life.

Beethoven’s Piano Trio Op. 70 No.1 was nicknamed the “Ghost” by an early listener who remarked that the mysterious mood of the slow movement reminded him of the ghost of Hamlet. Just as Haydn set the standard for the string quartet, Beethoven put the piano trio off the charts.

This summer, as SLLMF presents the second year of the 3- year Beethoven trio cycle, you can hear for yourself how Beethoven evolved from the lovely “classical” Op. 1 trios (July 21) to the creative and restless “Ghost” trio (July 14), to the majestic “Archduke” (Aug. 4).

Tickets for the concerts at Deertrees are $100 for the series of five concerts, and $25 for individual concerts. Tickets for anyone 21 and under are free. Purchase tickets online at www.sebagomusicfestival.org, at the Deertrees Theatre box office, by mailing SLLMF, P.O. Box 544, Harrison ME 04040, at local outlets: Bridgton Books; Books N Things (Norway) or by phone: 207-583-6747.

All tickets are for open seating and will be held at the front entrance box office. Tickets are available concert nights starting at 6:45. Reserved tickets must be picked up by 7.

The Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival’s 43rd season opens on Tuesday, July 14, at 7:30 p.m. at the Deertrees Theatre in Harrison. Pictured is cellist Käthe Jarka, noted recitalist and chamber artist. The chamber music series will run for five Tuesday evenings through Aug. 11.Courtesy photo

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