Blue Hill Bach begins its 13th season of concerts and educational events with a summer festival running from July 17 through July 22. This year’s festival will include a variety of Baroque music for voice and instruments, from madrigal-comedies of the early Baroque, to cantatas by a very young Johann Sebastian Bach, to the colorful oratorio, Israel in Egypt, by George Frideric Handel.

On Monday, July 17 at 7:00 PM at the Blue Hill Town Hall theater, violinist Jude Ziliak—2014 Young Artist Fellow—teaches a free master class in Baroque performance practice for string players. Instruction will be offered both in person and online. Players who are interested in participating should contact Dr. Anatole Wieck, who will coordinate the class, at wieck@maine.edu.

On Wednesday, July 19, at noon, the lecture-demonstration Bach’s Lunch will return to the event barn at Blue Hill’s Barncastle Inn. Admission is free. Lunches will be available by arrangement with Barncastle Inn.

On Wednesday, July 19 at 7:30 PM at St. Francis by the Sea Episcopal Church in Blue Hill, a small ensemble of singers and instruments will perform passionate and groundbreaking music written by Bach during his years in Mühlhausen. Soloists will include soprano Jennifer Bates, alto and 2023 Young Artist Fellow Ashley Mulcahy, tenor James Kennerley, and bass John David Adams. Mr. Kennerley and Abraham Ross, a native of Bangor and the 2016 Young Artist Fellow, will both be featured playing the church’s magnificent Karl Wilhelm tracker organ.

A free educational event will be presented at the Brooksville Free Public Library on Thursday, July 20. Bangor native Abraham Ross, an organist, harpsichordist, and cellist who was Blue Hill Bach’s 2016 Young Artist Fellow, will speak about music during the period of transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque era.

On Thursday, July 20 at 5:30 PM, the Baroque Café will return to David’s Folly Farm in Brooksville for “Una festa italiana” with a program of madrigal-comedies, ballos, and canzonas by composers from the dawn of the Baroque era. An all-Maine cast of soloists includes soprano Nacole Palmer, mezzo-soprano Marcia Gronewold Sly, alto and 2017 Young Artist Fellow Catherine Cloutier, tenor and 2018 Young Artist Fellow Zachary Fisher, and bass John David Adams. Light refreshments and beverages will be available for purchase beginning at 5:00 PM.

For the festival finale on Saturday, July 22 at 7:30 PM at Blue Hill’s First Congregational Church, the Blue Hill Bach chorus, orchestra, and soloists will perform Israel in Egypt, Handel’s colorful 1739 English-language telling of the Exodus story. James Kennerley will conduct and sing tenor recitatives; soloists include sopranos Jennifer Bates and Nacole Palmer, mezzo-soprano Marcia Gronewold Sly, altos Catherine Cloutier and Ashley Mulcahy, tenor Zachary Fisher, and basses John David Adams and Ian Pomerantz.

In consideration of the safety and health of performers and audience members, Blue Hill Bach will require audience members to wear masks at festival events.

Concert tickets are available on the Blue Hill Bach website, bluehillbach.org. General admission $35/students $10/under 18 free of charge. For more information, go to bluehillbach.org or phone (207) 613-5454.