HARRISON – The Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival will present an all-Schubert program dedicated to the memory of longtime festival pianist Frieda Manes Tuesday, July 24, at the second chamber music concert of its 35th anniversary season.

Each season, the festival offers a variety of chamber music for different, sometimes unusual, instrumental combinations and from different periods ranging from the 17th century to the present. Professional musicians travel from around the country to perform in the five-week series.

Billed as Schubert for Frieda, the concert is dedicated to the memory of Manes who died last summer. She and her husband, Stephen Manes, also a pianist, performed at the inaugural concert of the Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival July 24, 1973, and continued to perform almost every summer.

Manes was admired for her sensitive and perceptive interpretations of piano chamber works, particularly Schubert, and for her piano four-hand partnership with her husband. For this concert, Stephen Manes will be joined by Frieda’s close friends and colleagues: violinists Paul Wolfe, Varty Manouelian and Movses Pogossian; violist Laurie Kennedy; cellists Jonathan Golove and Eliot Bailen; double bassist Anthony D’Amico; and flutist Susan Rotholz.

Franz Schubert is generally regarded as one of the greatest songwriters in history. The song-like qualities of his instrumental music have also assured his place in the handful of great chamber music composers. Despite his death at age 31, he created an impressive output of works, mostly unheard during his lifetime.

Even though the Sebago-Long Lake Festival has performed Schubert works every year for 35 years, there are still many that haven’t been scheduled. The July 24 program includes two of these: the opening number, the early String Quartet in E-Flat Major, and Introduction and Variations for Flute and Piano, which Schubert based on his own song, “Trockne Blumen (Withered Flowers).”

The final work of the concert, the Piano Quintet in A Major, is also based in part on one of Schubert’s own songs, “Die Forelle (The Trout).” The “Trout” quintet has been performed more than any other work in the festival’s history.

The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. at Deertrees Theater. Tickets are $20. Tickets for anyone under 21 are free and available at the door (open seating, first-come, first-served basis). For tickets, call 583-6747; log on to www.sebagomusicfestival.org; or write to Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival, P.O. Box 544, Harrison, ME 04040. Tickets may also be purchased at the Bridgton Public Library, Bridgton Books and The Cool Moose in Bridgton; at Books N Things in Bethel; at Center Lovell Market in Lovell; at The Country Sleigh in Naples; and at Fare Share in Norway.


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