ABOUT SALT BAY CHAMBERFEST

Salt Bay Chamberfest is a non-profit chamber music festival in mid-coast Maine that was founded in 1995 by cellist and artistic director Wilhelmina Smith. One of Smith’s founding principles was that the festival would embrace the music of living composers. These contemporary works are given committed performances in a context that brings them together with their classic counterparts. World class musicians, dedicated to taking musical risks, have been attracted to this concept and they, in turn, have attracted a loyal audience. All of this is enhanced by a unique setting: the concert hall is a converted cow barn perched on the banks of the Great Salt Bay in Damariscotta, Maine

The format of the festival has remained relatively unchanged since its inaugural season. Due to the success of the first summer in 1995, which took place over one week, the festival quickly expanded to two weeks in 1996. Starting in 2005 the festival initiated a masterclass series which gives young musicians from Maine the opportunity to perform for Salt Bay Chamberfest’s world class artists, and to attend festival concerts free of charge.

Some of today’s leading artists perform regularly at Salt Bay Chamberfest.  The roster includes members of the Brentano, Juilliard, Guarneri, Borromeo and St. Lawrence String Quartets as well as principal players from the Minnesota, Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Metropolitan Opera Symphony Orchestras.  Solo artists have included soprano Lucy Shelton, mezzo-soprano Theodora Hanslowe, Jennifer Koh, Soovin Kim and Pamela Frank to name a few.  In addition to performing chamber works from the Baroque to modern eras, Salt Bay Chamberfest has programmed works by living composers such as Stephen Hartke, Gyorgy Kurtag, John Harbison, Charles Wuorinen, Sofia Gubaidulina, Elliott Carter, Chinary Ung, William Doppmann, Derek Bermel, Lukas Foss, Earl Kim, Jon Deak, George Crumb, Karel Husa, Nicholas Maw, Bruce Adolphe, Eric Zivian and Richard Danielpour.