One of New England’s Finest Chamber Music Festivals

Chestnut Hill Concerts  brings its 44th season of world-class chamber music to the Connecticut Shoreline for four Friday nights in August.  The 2013 series titled The Romantic Masters and Those They Inspired returns to The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center on August 2, 9, 16 & 23.  The Friday night performances begin at 8pm.  Artistic Director Ronald Thomas has found intriguing connections among the various 19th-century Romantic masters and less well-known contemporaries, including strong artistic influences as well as close friendships.  The opening concert features music by Clara and Robert Schumann – the renowned “power couple” of German Romantic music – and pieces by their good friend, the famous violinist Joseph Joachim.  The August 9 performance centers on Felix Mendelssohn and music by two composers from the British Isles that he influenced - one of which was William S. Bennett, whom Mendelssohn called “the most promising young musician I know.”  The third concert in this summer’s series is focused on Brahms and two composers that he championed – Antonin Dvořák and Hubert Parry.  The finale concert highlights Franz Schubert and two of his close friends, Jan Václav Voříšek and Franz Lachner.  These four programs of the music by Romantic masters will be performed by extraordinary artists in The Kate’s intimate setting.  For tickets click here.

Chestnut Hill Concerts was founded in 1969 by Dr. Elsa Redlich in Killingworth, Connecticut. The concerts evolved from informal performances that were associated with Dr. Redlich's summer program, the Chestnut Hill Creative Arts Center for Children. She was eager to provide a venue for the then sixteen-year-old violinist Yoko Matsuda. Many of the performers were drawn from the Yale School of Music, who also served as faculty at the camp. From the beginning, the concerts sought to involve young people in experiencing fine classical music. That goal has persisted throughout Chestnut Hill's history.

Early on, Ms. Matsuda became the musical director, a post she occupied until 1978, when she and the flutist Ransom Wilson served as Co-Directors. As the series grew, it moved from the barn in Killingworth to the Hammonassett School, later to Andrews Memorial Hall in Clinton, and, in 1985, to the historic First Congregational Church in Madison. Beginning in 2010, Chestnut Hill Concerts moved to its current home, the beautiful Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center in Old Saybrook. Throughout the changes in leadership and venues, Chestnut Hill Concerts has become widely regarded one of the finest chamber music festivals in New England.  The mission of Chestnut Hill Concerts is to foster the appreciation and enjoyment of classical music for audiences on the Connecticut Shoreline by providing world-class chamber music in the summer months when no similar programs are offered in the area.