Tickets went on sale March 1 for the season, which features former students who are now professional musicians, newly commissioned works, the gala and a commemorative video and mural.EGG HARBOR – Special guest artists, including four alumni-turned-professional concert musicians, the premiere performances of newly commissioned works and a fall gala celebration highlight the just-announced 50th concert season at Birch Creek Music Performance Center. Tickets are now on sale.Birch Creek is a unique summer academy for advanced music students that offers two-week residential summer sessions in Percussion, Steel Pan and World Music; Symphony; and Big Band Jazz (two separate sessions). The students, who come from across the country, rehearse and perform alongside their teachers, renowned professionals who also come from across the country, during the day, then play alongside them in concerts at night in the 500-seat Dutton Concert Barn on the Birch Creek campus. Small student groups play prelude concerts starting about 30 minutes before each performance under the gazebo outside the barn.As part of the recognition of Birch Creek’s 50th season, the academy is producing a commemorative video that will premiere on opening night and be shown before each concert throughout the season. A special mural will also be unveiled in the campus’ Miller Hall, celebrating the organization’s history, legacy and growth since its founding in 1976.Highlights of the Birch Creek season are:Percussion, Steel Pan & World Music SessionThe season opens with the Percussion, Steel Pan & World Music Session, featuring seven concerts from June 19 to 28 under the direction of Dan Moore, professor of music and director of percussion at the University of Iowa.Returning to Birch Creek as a guest soloist for the percussion session is U.S. Virgin Islands steel pan virtuoso Victor Provost, renowned for blending jazz, Caribbean and modern sounds, who composed a new commemorative work for percussion and steel pan that will have its premiere as part of the percussion concert series.Symphony SessionFour Birch Creek alumni return as guest soloists, concerto champions are featured and a Fourth of July celebration and world premiere are featured in the six-concert Symphony Session from July 3 to 12.Directing the session and its a full symphony orchestra are Ricardo Castañeda, principal oboist of Lake Forest Symphony and Chicago Sinfonietta, and Taka Matsunaga, director of orchestras at Elmhurst University in Illinois.The session opens July 3 with the Rising Stars concert, showcasing the winners of Birch Creek’s 2024 Clampitt Concerto Competition. Violinist William Maeda will perform Saint-Saëns’ “Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso” and bassoonist Owen Driscoll will perform Weber’s “Andante and Hungarian Rondo.”Birch Creek’s annual July 4 concert, “A Birch Creek Symphonic Fourth,” brings a selection of patriotic music with guest conductor Brian Groner returning to lead the orchestra. Concertgoers are invited to arrive early for another July 4 tradition at Birch Creek, the pie and ice cream social at 2 p.m. before the performance.The first Symphony concert featuring a Birch Creek alumnus comes July 5 with internationally acclaimed violist Matthew Lipman performing a viola transcription of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A Major. Lipman studied at Julliard School in New York as well as Birch Creek, has appeared as a soloist with leading orchestras, won first prizes in numerous competitions and performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall.Next is trumpet player Mary Elizabeth Bowden, who is featured on Arutunian’s Trumpet Concerto in the July 10 concert. Bowden is known for her work to establish a new repertoire for the trumpet through innovative, collaborative projects and is renowned not just as a soloist but also as a founding member and leader of Seraph Brass, an ensemble of America’s top female brass players that was awarded the 2019 American Prize in Chamber Music. She also has served as principal trumpet for a number of orchestras across the U.S.Washington Island native Jonathan Bass returns to Birch Creek for the July 11 concert to play Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. A graduate of Lawrence University in Appleton and current student at École normale de musique de Paris-Alfred Cortot in Paris, Bass won awards for outstanding musicianship three of four years as a Birch Creek student and in 2019 performed the first movement of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Birch Creek Symphony Orchestra. He also has appeared in Door County as a guest soloist for Peninsula Music Festival’s February Fest chamber music concerts and as a guest soloist with other orchestras.The world premiere of a work commissioned for Birch Creek’s 50th season is featured in the closing Symphony Session concert July 12 with guest artist and Birch Creek alum Michael Thurber. A bass player and multifaceted musician whose work spans classical, jazz and contemporary music, Thurber was a founding member of the house band for CBS-TV’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and has appeared with artists ranging from James Taylor and Willie Nelson to Yo-Yo Ma. He also has composed for Broadway and the Royal Shakespeare Company.Thurber’s program at Birch Creek will include the world premiere of the commissioned work “Symphonic Dances.”Big Band Jazz SessionsThe two sessions of Big Band Jazz run from July 16 to Aug. 9 with 16 concerts of swing, blues and jazz standards under the leadership of longtime program director Jeff Campbell, professor and chair of Jazz Studies & Contemporary Media at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. The concerts will showcase classic and contemporary big band charts, as well as student combos and faculty ensembles.Joining the session for an Aug. 8 concert is legendary jazz drummer Harold Jones, best known for his work with the hard-swinging Count Basie Orchestra and jazz singer Tony Bennett as well as touring and recording with artists such as Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Oscar Peterson, Herbie Hancock and Ray Charles.50th Season GalaBirch Creek will celebrate its history by hosting a special 50th Season Gala on Sept. 13. Details have not been announced yet but will include exclusive performances, guest appearances and reflections upon the past 50 years.FYIAll concerts start at 7 p.m. except 3 p.m. June 21 and 27, July 4 and Aug. 1 All are in the Dutton Concert Barn at Birch Creek, 3821 County E, 3 miles east of Egg Harbor. General admission ticket prices are $33 for adults, $10 students and $6 children, with premium seating available for $40. A special “3/4 Time” package allows patrons to buy three tickets and receive a fourth ticket free. Group rates are available for parties of 10 or more. Birch Creek also offers retreats for adults in wind ensemble, chamber music and piano studies in mid-August.For tickets or more information, call 920-868-3763 or visit birchcreek.org.Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or [email protected]: Fish Creek is the most charming destination in Wisconsin, HGTV saysMORE: 81-year-old Door County man guilty of defrauding elderly of more than $1.1 millionFOR MORE DOOR COUNTY NEWS: Check out our website