September 28, 2025

Welcoming Pianist Adam Golka and Violinist Itamar Zorman

Program:
Two Movements from Bach’s Violin Sonata No. 3 in C Major, BWV 1005, for Solo Violin
Chopin’s Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23, Transcribed for Violin and Piano by Eugene Ysaye
Chopin’s Ballade No. 2 in F Major, Op. 38
Chopin’s Ballade No. 3 In A Flat Major, Op. 47
Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in G Major
Zarebski’s Ballade in G Minor, Op. 18
Franck’s Violin Sonata in A Major

Thursday, August 7, 2025

Program:
Mozart / Ave Verum Corpus, K 618 (1791)
Songs by Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Weill, Stephen Sondheim, Carrie Jacobs Bond, and others
Stravinsky /  L’Histoire du soldat (“Tale of the Soldier”-performed in English) (1918) 

Artists:
David Strathairn, actor (The Soldier)
Christine Goerke, soprano (The Devil)
Linda Setzer, actor (Narrator)
Philip Setzer, violin
Alan Kay, clarinet
Eduardo Leandro, percussion
Grace O’Connell, trumpet
Bridget Piccirilli, bassoon
Matthew Nienow, trombone
Paul Watkins, conductor and piano
James Glossman, director
Peter Sparling, choreographer
Marie Millard, dancer
MMF Young Artists

Tuesday, July 29 2025

Program:
Wenzel Müller / “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu” (“I am the tailor Cockatoo”) (1794)
Beethoven / “Kakadu” Variations, Op. 121a (1803)
Perry Goldstein / “Birding by Ear”, settings of poems by Richard Powers (2022)
Schubert / Song “Die Forelle” (“The Trout”) (1817)
Schubert / “Trout” Quintet (“Die Forelle”), D. 667, Op.114 (1819) 

Artists:
Randall Scarlata, baritone
Gilles Vonsattel, piano
Philip Setzer, violin
Paul Watkins, cello
Nina Bernat, bass
MMF Young Artists

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

Manchester Music Festival’s Discovery programs bring knowledge and insight to the music on our stages through informal talks, demonstrations, interviews, book signings and other events in the community.

Richard Powers, author of The New York Times bestseller, The Overstory, and recipient of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, will join composer Perry Goldstein to talk about their collaboration, “Birding by Ear.” The work is a setting of six poems by Powers and will be performed July 31 as part of the Manchester Music Festival’s Thursday Nights Mainstage Series. Powers and Goldstein will be joined by violinist Philip Setzer, cellist Paul Watkins, pianist Gilles Vonsattel, and baritone Randall Scarlata to provide musical illustrations of the themes the composer and author explore.

July 26, 2025

Program:
Chopin:  Ballade in F Minor, Op. 52, No. 4
Respighi: Violin Sonata in B minor
Rachmaninoff Suite #1, op. 5, for 2 pianos
Q & A

July 24, 2025

Program:
Prokofiev / Overture on Hebrew Themes for Clarinet, Strings, and Piano, Op. 34 (1919)
Brahms / Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano, Op. 114 (1891)
Mozart / Clarinet Quintet, K. 581 (1789)

Artists:
Anthony McGill, clarinet
Jeewon Park, piano
Philip Setzer, violin
Edward Arron, cello
MMF Young Artists

Thursday, July 17, 2025

Program:
Beethoven / The Kreutzer Sonata No. 9 in A major, Op. 47 (1803), preceded by the Rita Dove poem “The Bridgetower Sonata” (2009)
Janáček / String Quartet No. 1, “The Kreutzer Sonata” (1923), with readings from Leo Tolstoy’s “The Kreutzer Sonata” (1889)
Schumann / Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44 (1842)

Artists:
Michael Stephen Brown, piano
Philip Setzer, violin
Paul Neubauer, viola
Linda Setzer, narrator
MMF Young Artists Strings

July 10, 2025

Program:
Bach / Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 (1721)
Purcell / Aria “Fairest Isle”, from King Arthur (1691)
Purcell / Song “The Plaint” (“O let me weep!”) from The Fairy Queen (1692)
Bach / gigue from Partita No. 2, BWV 1004 (1720)
Handel / Song “Sweet Bird” from L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (1740)
Handel / Aria "Lascia, ch'io pianga" from Rinaldo (1711)
Mendelssohn / Octet for Strings, Op. 20 (1825)

Artists:
Arthur Haas, harpsichord
Emi Ferguson, flute
Sherezade Panthaki, soprano
Philip Setzer, violin
MMF Young Artists Strings

June 8, 2025

Welcoming Vassily Primakov, Piano

Program:
Mendelssohn’s Fantasie in F Sharp Minor, Op. 28
Chopin’s Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23
Chopin’s Nocturne in E Minor, Op. 72
Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz No. 1, S. 514
Brahms’ 2 Rhapsodies, Op. 79
Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy, Op. 15
Q & A