LEWISTON – The Portland Chamber Music Festival will return to Bates College with a program by Mozart, Kodály and Shostakovich at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 5, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

In 1994, Jennifer Elowitch, a violinist from Portland, and pianist Dena Levine founded the festival with the goal of bringing a fresh approach to summer music in Maine.

They emphasized new music and hidden gems of the established repertoire, performed by top young players from around the country.

At Bates, the pair will be joined by cellist Andrew Mark, violinist Lydia Forbes and violist Carol Rodland for performances of Mozart’s Piano Trio in C Major, Kodály’s “Serenade for Two Violins and Viola” and Shostakovich’s Quintet in G Minor for Piano and Strings.

Levine, the festival’s artistic co-director, has appeared at the Marlboro and Tanglewood festivals and in Europe and Asia.

As a founding member of the Laurel Trio, she was a winner of the Concert Artists Guild and ProPiano competitions. She is assistant professor of piano at Seton Hall University where she directs the school’s concert series.

Elowitch, the festival’s executive director and co-artistic director, a Portland native, is the assistant principal second violinist of the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra and performs regularly with the Boston Symphony. A champion of contemporary music, she has appeared with Boston Musica Viva, Collage New Music and other contemporary ensembles in the Boston area. She is on the faculties of Bowdoin College and the New England Conservatory Preparatory School.

Forbes is the newest member of Maine’s DaPonte String Quartet. She previously belonged to the new music ensemble Zephyr Kwartet in the Netherlands and the early music group, L’Archibudelli, and was an artist-in-residence at Canada’s Banff Center for the Arts.

Rodland made her solo debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age 17.

She plays with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and is a member of Vermont’s Craftsbury Chamber Players. Her debut CD of new American viola works will be released this year. She has been a member of the New England Conservatory faculty since 2002.

Mark performs with the Boston Symphony and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra. From 1993 until 2000, he was the cellist for the Core Ensemble, a trio dedicated to contemporary music.

He also belonged to the Boston Composers String Quartet. In 1988, he won first place in the U.S. Artistic Ambassador Competition. He is a faculty member at the New England Conservatory Preparatory Division and at the Boston Conservatory, where he chairs the string department.

The concert is open to the public at no cost.

For more information, call (207) 786-6135; or go to to www.pcmf.org.