Music rings in Penn’s Woods

Centre Daily Times

With apologies to the von Trapp family — and the obligatory copyright nod toward Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein — the hills and ridges of central Pennsylvania are alive with the sound of music, and beautiful melodies, rich harmonies and fascinating rhythms will resonate once again throughout Happy Valley all summer.

The sounds of summer

Centre County is blessed, almost embarrassingly so, with an abundance of outstanding musicians — solo performers and ensembles of seemingly every size and genre — and a variety of venues and opportunities to showcase their talents.

The Village Green in Lemont, the Tussey Mountain Amphitheatre, the Gazebo in Bellefonte’s Talleyrand Park, South Hills School of Business and Technology ... a more complete list and schedule from our Weekender & more section is available online at www.centredaily.com.

Making an exceedingly welcome return Saturday after a five-year hiatus is Music at Penn’s Woods, appropriately themed “We are Bach!” — each performance in the series (held in Esber Recital Hall on the Penn State campus) will feature a work by J.S. Bach.

Music at Penn’s Woods began as an orchestral and chamber music festival in 1986 through the sponsorship of the Penn State School of Music, with support from former university President Bryce Jordan, the provost’s office and various units on the University Park campus, according to a brief history on the event’s Web page, which can be found at the School of Music’s site(www.music.psu.edu).

The festival soon developed into a full orchestral event attracting musicians from around the country.

In 2003, however, budget cuts caused the School of Music reluctantly to discontinue Music at Penn’s Woods.

But momentum to revive the festival began to build last year, when several local professional musicians approached Gerardo Edelstein, Penn State’s director of orchestras. A letter sent to music lovers in the community resulted in $30,000 in donations.

The rest is about to become musical history.

“Music at Penn’s Woods is a veritable musical oasis to enjoy during the hot summer heat,” violinist and Penn State music professor James Lyon writes on the series’ Web page.

“We have such varied and wonderful repertoire planned for this summer’s festival, all performed with joy and commitment by terrific musicians united under the brilliant baton of Maestro Gerardo Edelstein. It is indeed a pleasure to be reunited with family and friends to bring great music to Happy Valley this summer.”

It all resumes with chamber music concerts Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon and continues June 21 and 28. Music at Penn’s Woods is, indeed, Bach — along with Mendelssohn, Prokofiev, Beethoven and others — and the entire community should be, as we are, very, very happy.

It is a welcome return, indeed.