Oyster Bay Music Festival

The Oyster Bay Music Festival, www.oysterbaymusicfestival.org, is a classical music festival featuring 45 highly talented and prize winning musicians, who will be performing in 20 concerts throughout Oyster Bay.
From June 23 through July 3, Oyster Bay Musical Festival will present twenty-one free public concerts throughout the town of Oyster Bay. OBMF concerts draw from a diverse range of musical repertoire, include themed programs, encourage audience interaction whenever possible, and aim to provide a fun and inspiring experience for all. The festival immerses the community in a spirit of music making and optimism.

Oyster Bay Music Festival is your quintessential grass roots music festival. The festival began 8 years ago with an idea to dot the town of Oyster Bay with classical music concerts in unusual venues, often two or three times a day for slightly over a week. With the initial support and encouragement of Oyster Bay Christ Church, an acoustic space much loved by musicians, current festival directors Lauren Ausubel and Pippa Borisy, along with former director Sarah Hoover, were given the freedom to run with their imaginations. Today the festival has grown into a community institution, with new local venues requesting each year to be a stop on the OBMF concert tour.

The concerts feature extremely talented young musicians ranging in age from 9 to 26, with more seasoned professional musicians occasionally joining in for fun. They include students who study at Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, Yale School of Music, and Berklee School of Music among others, as well as local musicians from all over Long Island. Some of these young musicians already perform professionally in ensembles such as Orchestra of St. Lukes and The Orchestra Now. 16 year old pianist Maxim Lando, a fixture of OBMF since he was 9 years old, toured extensively with superstar pianist Lang Lang last year, collaborates with Chick Corea, and recently won the prestigious Young Concert Artist International management auditions. Some of the participating young musicians are just starting to discover themselves, but all are united by a passion for music. 

The genre of OBMF is primarily classical music, but with some twists. This year?s Guest Artist Concert features harpist Bridget Kibbey and her trio CHALACA playing Cuban, Brazilian, and Columbian music at Christ Church on June 25. Expect to hear the Chinese erhu and guzheng, gamelan instruments, drums, gongs, and other folk instruments popping up at various other concerts. On July 3, OBMF singers will present a dedicated Opera Scenes night, but throughout the festival they will also offer selections from well known musicals.Other more unusual performances include the musical saw, and vegetable instruments such as the carrot-clarinet or squash-trumpet, during the popular Vegetable Orchestra afternoon at Raynham Hall on June 29.

Most of OBMF?s concerts however will feature vocalists, pianists, strings, and winds performing in solos and chamber music. Local venues serving as concert halls this year include Christ Church, Building Lot J on the Western Waterfront, Oakcliff Sailing Center, Raynham Hall, Oyster Bay Historical Society, Sagamore Hill, Congregation L?Dvor V?Dor, Bahr Gallery, Life Enrichment Society, Not Just Art, and St. John?s Church in Cold Spring Harbor.

Complete concert listings are available at oysterbaymusicfestival.org. Support is provided in part by Steinway & Sons, The Joel Foundation, and a Community Arts Grant from the New York State Council on the Arts.

The Concerts - free and open to the public are as follows (all locations are in Oyster Bay unless noted):
SUNDAY, JUNE 23
7:30pm - Overture: Opening Festival Concert
Christ Church
61 East Main Street, Oyster Bay

MONDAY, JUNE 24
7:30pm - Some Enchanted Evening By the Pond
St. John?s Episcopal Church
1670 Route 25A, Cold Spring Harbor

TUESDAY, JUNE 25
11am - Morning Music
Life Enrichment Center
45 East Main Street, Oyster Bay
5pm - She Persisted: Great Women Composers!
Raynham Hall Museum
20 West Main Street, Oyster Bay
7:30pm - Bridget Kibbey, Harpist and CHALACA -Bach Meets Bossa Nova
Christ Church
61 East Main Street, Oyster Bay

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26
5pm - How Do I Love Thee, Music, Let Me Count the Ways
Oyster Bay Historical Society 20 Summit Street, Oyster Bay
7:30pm - Musical Treasures and FantaSEAS
Ida May Project
Building J, 1 West End Avenue

THURSDAY, JUNE 27
12:45pm - A Musical Interlude
Life Enrichment Center
45 East Main Street, Oyster Bay
7:30pm - Music On the High C?s
Oakcliff Sailing Center
4 South Street, Oyster Bay

FRIDAY, JUNE 28
2pm - Not Just For Kids!
Not Just Art
183 South Street, Oyster Bay

7:30pm - Movie Music Night 2: The Sequel
Christ Church
61 East Main Street, Oyster Bay

SATURDAY, JUNE 29
1-3pm - Music from the Earth: The Vegetable Orchestra Returns
Indoor/Outdoor Concert for kids of all ages Raynham Hall Museum
20 West Main Street, Oyster Bay
4pm - America the Beautiful
Front Porch of Sagamore Hill
20 Sagamore Hill Road, Cove Neck
7:30pm - From Pork to Lead, Great Composers are Dead!
St. John?s Church
1670 Route 25A, Cold Spring Harbor

SUNDAY, JUNE 30
3pm - 23 and ME: Composers and our Heritage
Christ Church
61 East Main Street, Oyster Bay
7pm - Mozart Comes to Woodstock!
Bahr Gallery
95 Audrey Avenue, Oyster Bay

MONDAY, JULY 1
1pm - Afternoon Musical
Life Enrichment Center
45 East Main Street, Oyster Bay
7:30 - Musical Extravaganza
Christ Church
61 East Main Street, Oyster Bay

TUESDAY, JULY 2
5pm - Classical Crossover
Oyster Bay Historical Society 20 Summit Street, Oyster Bay
7:30pm - To Life, To Music, L?chaim!
Congregation L?Dor V?Dor 11 Temple Lane, Oyster Bay

WEDNESDAY, JULY 3
7:30pm - Opera Night: Outrageous Plots, Poisons, and Potions
Christ Church
61 East Main Street, Oyster Bay