Friends of Music at Guilford invites music lovers in Guilford, the Tri-State region, and further afield to their 49th annual Labor Day Weekend Festival at the Organ Barn. Tree Frog Farm, on Kopkind Dr. (off Packer Corners Rd.), is the idyllic setting for this concert season launch. The festivities begin on Saturday night at 7:30 in the Barn, with William McKim at the organ. His program includes works by Baroque-era composers Bach (with soprano soloist Lesley Cotter), Bruhns, and Buxtehude, as well as 19th-century master Johannes Brahms and others. Rain or shine, admission by donation (please be generous!). A cake and coffee reception follows.
On Sunday at 2:00, Ken Olsson conducts the Festival Orchestra -- including players from the area and some from an hour or more away -- in a concert on the lawn outside the Barn. A lesser-known Mozart Symphony (#33) begins the program. Works by Leos Janacek and Charles Gounod follow. Intermission ends with a little bit of auction entertainment. The second half of the program begins with Three Ballads by Guilford composer Zeke Hecker, featuring mezzo-soprano Jessica Gelter, and closes with a gentle Rachmaninoff Vocalise in the composer's own orchestration. The festival's traditional finale is a sing-in of Randall Thompson's Alleluia -- attendees are encouraged to bring their own music or borrow/share a copy from the Friends of Music supply. On Sunday the grounds open at 12 noon for picnicking and lunch sales -- FOMAG offers a generous Vegetarian Lunch with a variety of special salads, hard-boiled eggs, Grafton cheese, Walker Farm tomatoes, Red Hen bread, a cold drink, and Scott Farm fruit, all for only $10 per person. Also available are warm Chocolate Chip Cookies and refreshing Lemonade. Musicians' reception follows. Children are welcome, with parental supervision, but dogs are asked to stay and guard the homefront. Admission is free, with generous contributions encouraged to help to cover the considerable cost of this weekend in the country. For further information, contact the Friends of Music office at 254-3600 or office@fomag.org. Visit online at: http://www.fomag.org
In case of serious threat of rain, the Sunday lunch and concert will be moved to Guilford's Broad Brook Grange, 4 miles up the Guilford Center Rd. from Rt. 5 at the Country Store.

Feb 2, 2025, 3 to 5 PM

Feb 3, 2025, 7 to 9 PM

Feb 7, 2025, 6 to 8 PM