ChamberFest benefit concert set for Saturday

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A group of area musicians will be in concert at 7 p.m. Saturday at Helen Haddad Hall at 315 Franklin St. in downtown Columbus.

The performers will be Futaba Niekawa, piano and lecturer in music at Indiana University; Andreas Ioannides, piano and lecturer in piano in Cork, Ireland; Samantha Johnson-Helms, principal clarinet, Columbus Indiana Philharmonic; and Yang Guo, viola, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

No tickets are required, but donations are welcomed to support the 2023 season of ChamberFest Brown County unfolding Aug. 13 to 19 in Nashville.

The program includes Mozart, Chopin, Schubert and Brahms.

The concert will raise funds for ChamberFest Brown County, a cornucopia of musical offerings in Nashville and the first event to make world-class performances of chamber music accessible in rural Indiana venues. Now in its third year, the event brings musicians to venues across downtown Nashville for a week of concerts, multimedia presentations, workshops and educational experiences.

ChamberFest organizers say classical music is a genre absent from the many musical offerings for which Brown County is known. Until now, rural Brown County communities have not had an opportunity to challenge what they believe is the still too-common misperception of classical music as a remote or alien art form. ChamberFest addresses these gaps with its seven-day festival, presenting most of its programming free of charge, in support of a belief in making classical music accessible to everyone.

This mission is made possible thanks to collaborations with local educational and civic organizations in Brown County and the support from sponsors and donors.

ChamberFest’s educational mission also includes reaching younger audiences with concerts geared to younger age groups.

This year, the group will be presenting a performance of Poulenc’s “The Story of Babar” for kindergartners and first- and second-graders at Brown County Presbyterian Church afternoon of Aug. 18. This is part of growing outreach to local schools through performances, visits to schools and meet-the-artist opportunities.

For information, visit chamberfestbrowncounty.com.

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