Manchester Music Festival Artistic Director Philip Setzer is our guide through a vivid, varied dreamscape in sound, slipping from a musical curio by Benjamin Franklin … yes, that Benjamin Franklin … to Samuel Barber’s elegiac Adagio for Strings.

Benjamin Franklin String Quartet
Paul Epstein Dream Sonata
Amy Beach Serenade
Carlos Simon Sleep Well
Scott Joplin Maple Leaf Rag & The Entertainer Rag
Samuel Barber Adagio for Strings

Philip Setzer, violin • Paul Epstein, piano • Festival Young Artists

Manchester Music Festival, the renowned Vermont chamber music festival under the artistic direction of Philip Setzer of the Emerson String Quartet, returns for its 52nd season with “Sounding America: Music That Shaped US,” a journey across American music, exploring the enduring musical threads that connect America’s past and present. July 7 through September 6, 2026.

Image courtesy: Manchester Music Festival

Enjoy dinner at SVAC’s curATE café. Visit OpenTable for reservations or call 802.362.9100.