Arpeggio Music Festival to debut in Greenwich

Classical music is on deck this summer for Greenwich when the first-ever Arpeggio Music Festival tunes up in June.

Started by Bill Bonnell, a town resident who has played in amateur orchestras and traveled the globe to attend music festivals, the Arpeggio Music Festival will feature nine concerts over three weekends starting on June 3.

“I've always enjoyed going to music festivals, which I think is different than just going to a concert," Bonnell said in a press release. "The festival has some sort of a theme to it and a time period.”

The theme of the music festival will be American classical composers from the past century. Over 50 composers' pieces will be featured during the festival including pieces from George Gershwin, Philip Glass, Leonard Bernstein and Charles Ives.

"I've had a feeling for many years that American composers are very underrepresented on concert stages. If you look at the programming of major symphony orchestras, they might have an Aaron Copland piece here or there, or a Bernstein piece, or maybe a George Gershwin. But a vast number of other American composers who were very popular in their day—for example, in the 30s and 40s and 50s—simply vanished off the concert stage," Bonnell said in the release. "I just wanted to give people an idea of a little bit of the depth of American composers and the variety of music that they've composed.”

The first weekend of shows will spotlight "ensembles" with performances by The Deming String Quartet on June 3, The Chamberlain Brass Quintet on June 4 and Continuo Winds Woodwind Quintet on June 5. The second weekend focuses on "piano, film and opera" with American Piano Music on June 10, American Film Music on June 11 and American Opera on June 12. Rounding out the festival is "musical conversations," featuring conversations on "Improvisation in Music" with Doug Davis and Bennie Wallace on June 17, "Conversation with the Composer Will Healy" on June 18 and a performance with the Connecticut Symphonic Winds Conductor Charles de Paul on June 19.

All nine concerts will be held in the auditorium of the First Congregational Church in Old Greenwich. Tickets are $20 for anyone over 17. Anyone under 17 is free.