Buzzards Bay Musicfest to feature four ‘outstanding soloists’

Jun 30, 2024

MARION — A free five-day concert in Marion will feature four “outstanding soloists.”

The 2024 Buzzards Bay Musicfest is Wednesday, July 10 to Sunday, July 14.

On Wednesday, July 10 at 7:30 p.m., Cynthia Raim will be performing Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Op. 15.”

Raim was unanimously chosen as the First Prize winner of the Clara Haskil International Piano Competition and has “been acclaimed for her concerto and recital appearances throughout the United States and abroad,” a press release said.

Jennifer Gunn will be a soloist on flute in the “Mozart Concerto for Flute, Harp and Orchestra in C Major K. 299/297c” on Sunday, July 14 at 2 p.m.

Gunn was appointed to the position of piccolo with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra by Maestro Daniel Barenboim in 2005 and has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra among other orchestras.

The other soloist on the piece is harpist Rita Costanzi. 

Costanzi has twice won the American Harp Society’s national competition and is a recipient of the Lily Laskine Award for the most outstanding solo harp recital. 

Her latest CD, with oboist Alex Klein entitled “Amoroso,” has received over two million streams. Costanzi has performed the concerto many times throughout her solo career, according to a press release.

David Allen Wehr will also perform as a soloist Sunday, July 14 at 2 p.m.

Wehr will be playing César Franck’s “Symphonic Variations for Piano and Orchestra, M.46.” Since 2007, he has served as principal pianist at the Buzzards Bay Musicfest and the Sunflower Music Festival.

Wehr has made over 1,300 concert appearances in 30 countries as soloist with orchestra, recitalist and chamber artist, according to a press release. He won the gold medal at the 1987 Santander International Piano Competition in Spain, the 1983 National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist Award, and the 1975 Chopin-Kosciuszko Prize in New York.

All concerts during the Buzzards Bay Musicfest are free admission. Concerts will be in the Fireman Performing Arts Center at Hoyt Hall on the campus of Tabor Academy, 245 Front St. in Marion.

For more information, visit buzzardsbaymusicfest.com.