Melody, Melody, Beautiful Melody! That’s what the 19th annual Southern Illinois Music Festival will provide this Spring. The 2023 Festival, with the theme of “Hidden Gems,” runs May 25 through June 11, under the artistic direction of SIU School of Music Professor Edward Benyas. Professional singers and instrumentalists from across the United States and Europe converge in Southern Illinois to perform orchestral and chamber music, opera, jazz and educational programs, along with select SIU faculty and students. The Festival promotes our region’s reputation for cultural activity on a national scale. Symphony magazine listed it as the only professional music festival in Illinois south of I-80, AAA magazine described it as a Midwest Travel Treasure, and the Chicago Tribune cited it as one of 24 top summer activities (musical and otherwise) in an eight-state region.

Music Festival audiences will enjoy “Hidden Gems” from the past 250 years, with beautiful melodies as a recurring motif. Two highlights of SIFest 2023 are lesser-known operas by well-known Italian composers: Giuseppe Verdi’s early opera, Ernani, based on a play by Victor Hugo, will be performed as a concert version at Carterville High School on Friday, June 2. Sung in Italian with English supertitles, the opera features beautiful arias, duets, trios and dramatic choruses performed by outstanding singers. Giacomo Puccini’s La Rondine is a cross between La Traviata and La Bohème, and features Suzanne Burgess of the Metropolitan Opera as the lead soprano, along with a brilliant cast and local chorus and dancers. Two fully staged performances, with English supertitles, close out the Festival on Friday night and Sunday afternoon, June 9 and 11.

Alongside these beautiful operas, we will present four orchestral programs in Carterville and Marion: Tuesday May 30, Saturday, June 3, and Thursday, June 8 at Carterville High School (Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto on the 30th, Liszt’s Les Preludes on the 3rd, and arias and ensembles from Handel to Wagner with our young opera artists on the 8th), and a free admission all-American patriotic concert at Marion High School (including a John Williams medley) on Saturday afternoon, June 10. Nestled amidst chestnuts like the Tchaikovsky and Liszt will be lesser known Romantic gems such as Kalinnikov’s First Symphony, Goldmark’s “Rustic Wedding” Symphony, Glazunov’s “Autumn” from The Seasons and Saint-Saëns’ Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso. Interspersed amongst these large-scale programs will be a wealth of chamber music from the 18th to the 21st centuries, including under-represented composers and a special concert dedication of the new Lionel Semiatin collection at Morris Library. An admission free recital at Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship featuring mezzo soprano and Carbondale native, Emily Hughes, and SIU Cello Professor, William Cernota, kicks off the Festival on Thursday, May 25, with suggested donations that night to support the Carbondale Warming Center. Other Festival venues include ArtSpace304, First United Methodist Church of Carbondale, Lutes Gallery in the University Museum, Anna Arts Center and the Harold Jones Fine Arts Center in Cairo. We will also present our popular free admission Jive with Jazz and Klassics for Kids events at venues around the region.

Tickets to most Festival events are $20 general and $10 for students of any age ($25 and $10 for the operas and symphonies).

Schedule:

Thursday, May 25, 2023

7pm: Cernota-Hughes Recital at Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship
(Donations accepted to benefit the Carbondale Warming Center)

Saturday, May 27, 2023

4pm: Chamber Music Soirée at Guyon Home ($50)
Farrenc Trio; Fermi Quartet; Tchaikovsky and Verdi Excerpts

Sunday, May 28, 2023

2pm: Antigone and Fermi Quartets at First United Methodist Church of Carbondale ($20/10)
Farrenc Trio; String Quartets by Boccherini, Piazzolla and Debussy

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

7pm: Orchestra Concert at Carterville High School ($25/10)
Glazunov Autumn; Goldmark Rustic Wedding Symphony; Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto

Wednesday, May 31, 2023

3pm: Chamber Music in Lutes Gallery at University Museum (Free)
Music for flute and violin (Kelly Sulick, flute; Kiril Laskarov, violin)

Thursday, June 1, 2023

3pm: String Chamber Music at Liberty Estates, Carbondale (Free)
Hummel String Trio, Emilie Mayer String Quartet

4pm: Chamber Music at Harold Jones Fine Arts Center in Cairo (Free)
Debussy and Florence Price String Quartets

Friday, June 2, 2023

7pm: Verdi’s Ernani at Carterville High School ($25/10)

Saturday, June 3, 2023

7pm: Orchestra Concert at Carterville High School ($25/10)
Haydn Sinfonia Concertante; Saint-Saëns Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso
Liszt Les Preludes; Kalinnikov 1st Symphony

Sunday, June 4, 2023

2pm: Chamber Music Concert at First United Methodist Church, Carbondale ($20/10)
Martinu Revue de Cuisine, Brahms String Quintet

6pm: Chamber Music at Chandra Chateau (Invitation only)
Hummel String Trio, Emilie Mayer String Quartet

Monday, June 5, 2023

5pm: Chamber Music at Harold Jones Fine Arts Center in Cairo (Free)
Martinu Revue de Cuisine; Fermi String Quartet

7pm: Chamber Music at Anna Arts Center ($10/5)
Ewazen Wind Quintet; Schumann String Quartet; Verdi String Quartet

Tuesday, June 6, 2023

10am: Jive with Jazz at Anna Arts Center (Free)

7pm: Chamber Music at Artspace 304 ($20/10)
Verdi String Quartet; Ewazen Wind Quintet; Florence Price String Quartet

Wednesday, June 7, 2023

1pm: Jive with Jazz at Boys and Girls Club of Carbondale (Free)

3pm: Semiatin Collection Dedication Chamber Concert (Morris Library) (Free)
Chamber music from the Lionel Semiatin Collection

7pm: Chamber Music at Anna Arts Center ($10/5)
Hummel String Trio, Mayer and Borodin String Quartets

Thursday, June 8, 2023

1pm: Jive with Jazz at Boys and Girls Club Marion (Free)

3pm: Fermi String Quartet at Liberty Estates, Carbondale (Free)
Boccherini and Beethoven String Quartets

7pm: Young Artists with Orchestra Concert at Carterville High School ($25/10)
Operatic arias and ensembles from Handel to Wagner

Friday, June 9, 2023

Noon: Jive with Jazz at Murphysboro Youth and Recreation Center (Free)

7pm: Puccini’s La Rondine at Shryock Auditorium ($25/10)

Saturday, June 10, 2023

Noon: Klassics for Kids at Artspace 304 (Free)

2pm: American Music Orchestra Concert at Marion High School (Free)

7pm: Maestro at 60 Party (ArtSpace304) ($60)

Sunday, June 11, 2023

2pm: Puccini’s La Rondine at Shryock Auditorium ($25/10)

Date:

May 25 - June 11, 2023

Locations:

Carbondale Unitarian Fellowship, 105 North Parrish Lane, Carbondale, IL 62901
Guyon Home, Carbondale, IL
First United Methodist Church of Carbondale, 214 W Main Street, Carbondale, IL 62901
Carterville High School, 1415 West Grand Avenue, Carterville, IL 62918
University Museum, 1000 Faner Drive, Carbondale, IL 62901
Liberty Estates, 501 N Westridge Drive, Carbondale, IL 62901
Harold S Jones Fine Arts Center, 815 Commercial Avenue, Cairo, IL 62914
Chandra Chateau, Carbondale, IL
Anna Arts Center, 125 W Davie Street, Anna, IL 62906
Artspace 304, 304 W. Walnut Street, Carbondale, IL 62901
Boys and Girls Club of Carbondale, 101 S Lewis Lane, Carbondale IL 62902
Morris Library, 605 Agriculture Drive, Carbondale, IL 62901
Boys and Girls Club Marion, Marion, IL
Murphysboro Youth & Recreation Center, 1818 Walnut Street, Murphysboro, IL 62966
Shryock Auditorium, 1050 South Normal Avenue, Carbondale, IL 62901
Marion High School, 1700 Wildcat Drive, Marion, IL 62959

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