Music festival kicks off

The recital halls will resonate with the stylings of Handel, Bach, and the great masters of classical music.\nLilting soprano melodies and the harmonies of barbershop quartets will reverberate in the University's great performance venues.\nThere will be "trouble" in mid-July as performers take the stage at the Musical Arts Center to enact Meredith Wilson's 1957 classic "The Music Man."\nThat same stage will come alive later in August with four performances of Puccini's dramatic opera "Madame Butterfly," depicting the struggle wrought between a Japanese geisha and her American suitor.\nIn fact, it seems all of Bloomington will pulse with sound this summer as the School of Music kicks off its annual Summer Music Festival, sponsored by WFIU and the Bloomington Independent.\nA highlight of the festival, said Laura Baich, media liaison for the School, is the chamber music series, "If Music Be the Food of Love." The concerts feature faculty and guest performers in the intimate setting of Auer Hall, a small on-campus performance venue.\nFeatured artists include the Beaux Arts Trio, an internationally-renowned and award-winning group featuring piano, violin and cello, and the Penderecki Quartet, now serving as Quartet-in-Residence at Canada's Wilfrid Laurier University.\nAll chamber concerts are free and open to the public excepting the Penderecki and Beaux Arts performances, which are $10 general admission and $5 for students, said Maria Talbert, director of Marketing and Publicity for the School. Tickets are available through the MAC Box Office and at all Ticket Master locations. Online order forms are also available at the School of Music Web site, www.music.indiana.edu. \nThe IU Opera Theater's summer season premieres July 7 at 8 p.m. with the first performance of "The Music Man," conducted by Dr. Michael Schwartzkopf and directed by Vincent Liotta. The story, said Liotta, illustrates the events surrounding the arrival of con man and salesman Professor Harold Hill in a sleepy Iowa town.\nA Sunday matinee will follow on July 8 at 3 p.m. The show will also run July 13 and 14 at 8 p.m. \n"Madama Butterfly" rounds out the Opera Theater's season with performances on July 28 and 29 and Aug. 3 and 4. Tickets are available through the MAC as well.\nAdditionally, the IU Festival Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra will perform in the MAC, featuring such guest conductors as Luis Biava, Leif Segerstam and Carl St. Clair. Tickets for the Festival Orchestra's three concerts are $12 for general admission and $6 for students. Series tickets might be purchased for $32 general admission and $16 for students. The Symphony Orchestra's concert is free and open to the public.