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APRIL 29 through may 20

In 1990, Ron and Lani Riches, who had moved from California to Natchez, Mississippi, took a vacation to Santa Fe, New Mexico, to attend the city’s opera festival; and an idea was born. If Santa Fe, a small city 70 miles from a large population center, could produce an opera festival, then, surely, the City of Natchez could, too. Luckily, the idea was embraced by the community; funds were raised; an artistic director was hired; and in May of the next year, 1991, under the direction of Dr. David Blackburn, the Natchez Opera Festival presented six events for its first season.

The name of the festival has changed; its mission has broadened; and the Natchez Festival of Music, under the direction of Dr. Jay Dean, has continued to produce an opera as well as rock, blues, jazz, and Broadway concerts each year, all performed by talented professional musicians. Last year, the Festival sponsored 15 concerts—ten during the May season alone. The tradition continues this year as the Natchez Festival of Music presented its first of 10 spectacular concerts on April 29 with productions scheduled every Saturday, Tuesday, and Thursday through May 20.

Dr. Jay Dean will be at the podium, the opera will be sung in English, and side titles will be provided so we won’t miss a word.

The Natchez Festival of Music

On Tuesday nights of this season at Smoot’s Grocery Blues Lounge, the Festival is debuting its “Listening Room Series” of fabulous jazz. May 2, Katrina Cox and the David Pellow Jazz Trio will entertain with “An Evening with Ella Fitzgerald,” the life story and songs that made Fitzgerald one of the most celebrated jazz vocalists. May 9, the Chip Herrington Jazz 5 will have us “Drifting on the River” with authentic acoustic jazz in a traditional club setting. May 16, Barry Leach, a guitarist known for his riveting technique, will entertain with jazz, rock, pop, and classical selections.

The opening performance on April 29 at the Natchez Civic Center will showcase the comic opera Die Fledermaus (The Bat) by Richard Strauss II, a perfect selection because who doesn’t love a masked ball? Throw in a pending jail sentence, a philandering husband, and an unfaithful wife; and think of the fun to be had!

May’s musical Thursdays open May 4 at Trinity Episcopal Church where its excellent acoustics and beautiful Tiffany windows will be the venue for “The Glorious Sounds of Brass” by the Symphony Brass Quintet, an outstanding chamber ensemble known for its lively and engaging adaptations of early Renaissance music, classics, and popular music. “Rossini, Puccini, and Martinis,” a notable staple of the Festival schedule, returns May 11 to the Historic Natchez Foundation for a night of exciting arias, delicious martinis, and other libations.

For more information on performances and tickets visit natchezfestivalofmusic.com.

For fans of the piano, on May 18 First Presbyterian Church will host Konstantin Soukhovetski performing compositions by Handel, Brahms, Puccini, and Strauss, as well as one of Soukhovetski’s own compositions. Soukhovetski performed last October at New York City’s Alice Tullly Hall at Lincoln Center in a neverto-be-forgotten concert in which he cut his finger and, while bleeding profusely, continued to play flawlessly the Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 4. The concert ended with bloodied piano keys and an exultant pianist, proving once again the show must go on when we have such a dedicated and talented pianist!

Festival Saturdays are always great fun. May 6, Broadway is in the lineup with “Spectacular, Spectacular,” a compilation of songs from Les Miserables, Hamilton, Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story, Wicked, My Fair Lady, and other classic shows. Then on May 13 in the music room at Waverly, soprano Maryann Kyle and pianist Michael Bunchman present a show based on the life and music of the legendary Maria Callas.

The Festival turns up the heat at the season finale, Saturday, May 20, when the rhythms of Caribbean jazz, soul and funk, and blues and rock fill the Natchez Civic Center with Bill Summers and the New Orleans All Stars’ show, “The Hot Sizzlin’ Musical World of Bill Summers.” Summers is one of the founders of the multi-award-winning Los Hombres Calientes, one of New Orleans’ favorite ensembles. A world-class musician and percussionist who has been called “the personification of world music,” he has worked and recorded with Herby Hancock, Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, and many other renowned musicians. This is an event not to be missed!

PHOTOS | Courtesy of Natchez Music Festival

Elizabeth Wolf is a Natchez Festival of Music board member and a retired journalist. Six years ago, she and her husband were enticed to move to Natchez by the vibrancy of the town’s civic life, exemplified by organizations such as the Festival of Music.