2026 FESTIVAL
Orchestra
Music In the Mountains
Programming and dates to be announced
In celebration of our nation’s 250th Anniversary, we are highlighting US composers throughout this summer’s Festival. US composers are denoted by an asterisk (*) next to their name.
July 7, 2026
7:00 pm
PSU Silver Center For The Arts – Plymouth, NH
Programming to be announced
American voices and luminous reflections open the season in radiant style. Aaron Copland’s beloved Appalachian Spring evokes wide-open landscapes and quiet hope, while Max Richter’s On the Nature of Daylight offers aching, meditative beauty. The evening culminates in Elaine Hagenberg’s soaring Illuminare, a breathtaking choral journey from darkness into light featuring the NHMF/Pemi Festival Chorus.
ARTISTS
Charles Dimmick, Concertmaster
William Gunn, Guest Choral Conductor
PROGRAM
Diamond, David* – Rounds for String Orchestra
Copland, Aaron* – Appalachian Spring Suite
Intermission
Richter, Max – On the Nature of Daylight
Hagenberg, Elaine* – Illuminare
featuring the NHMF/Pemi Festival Chorus
ORCHESTRA
July 9, 2026
7:00 pm
PSU Silver Center For The Arts – Plymouth, NH
Charles Dimmick
Concertmaster
William Gunn
Guest Choral Conductor
This concert is made possible through a partnership with the Pemigewasset Choral Society and support from Heart & Hands Thrift Shop
July 14, 2026
7:00 pm
PSU Silver Center For The Arts – Plymouth, NH
Programming to be announced
ORCHESTRA
July 16, 2026
7:00 pm
PSU Silver Center For The Arts – Plymouth, NH
Art, memory, and sun-drenched color take center stage. Ottorino Respighi paints Botticelli’s masterpieces in shimmering orchestral hues, and Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 captures the warmth of an American childhood evening. After intermission, Anna Clyne’s Restless Oceans unleashes surging power, before Felix Mendelssohn’s exuberant “Italian” Symphony brings the night to a brilliant close.
ARTISTS
Conner Gray Covington, Guest Conductor
Ashley Marie Robillard, Soprano
PROGRAM
Respighi, Ottorini – Trittico botticelliano, P.152
Barber, Samuel* – Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Op. 24
Intermission
Anna Clyne – Restless Oceans
Mendelssohn, Felix – Symphony No. 4, Op. 90, “Italian”
Conner Gray Covington
Guest Conductor
Ashley Marie Robillard
Soprano
July 21, 2026
7:00 pm
PSU Silver Center For The Arts – Plymouth, NH
Programming to be announced
ORCHESTRA
July 23, 2026
7:00 pm
PSU Silver Center For The Arts – Plymouth, NH
Sweeping melodies and deep emotion define this exuberant celebration of the Romantic spirit. Frédéric Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 dazzles with poetic lyricism and virtuosic brilliance, paired with the warm, pastoral glow of Johannes Brahms’s Symphony No. 2. Opening the evening, William Grant Still’s graceful Serenade sets a tone of elegance and charm.
ARTISTS
Samuel Lee, Guest Conductor
Avery Gagliano, Piano
PROGRAM
Still, William Grant* – Serenade
Chopin, Frédéric – Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11
Intermission
Brahms, Johannes – Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 73
Samuel Lee
Guest Conductor
Avery Gagliano
Piano
Avery Gagliano is represented by Curtis Artist Management at Curtis Institute of Music.
July 28, 2026
7:00 pm
PSU Silver Center For The Arts – Plymouth, NH
Programming to be announced
ORCHESTRA
July 30, 2026
7:00 pm
PSU Silver Center For The Arts – Plymouth, NH
Our traverse concludes with music that tells shimmering stories. Carlos Simon’s City of Lights sparkles with modern energy as it depicts an elevated train weaving in and out of a cityscape. It is followed by the profound lyricism of Antonín Dvořák’s Cello Concerto. Our season concludes with the lush orchestral spectacle of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, a dazzling tapestry of storytelling with adventure, romance, and mystery.
ARTISTS
Maurice Cohn, Guest Conductor
Nicholas Canellakis, Cello
PROGRAM
Simon, Carlos* – City of Lights from Profiles
Dvorak, Antonin – Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104
Intermission
Rimsky-Korsokov, Nikolai – Sheherezade, Op. 35
Maurice Cohn
Guest Conductor
Nicholas Canellakis
Cello