Perry and Berkenstock Perform

Photo by Mark Kunstman.

Following their intense Midsummer’s Music Festival schedule that concluded July 15, violinist David Perry and artistic director/bassoonist Jim Berkenstock were looking forward to a bit of free time before the Labor Day Concert Series begins. However, a call from Itzhak Perlman and the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra changed all that.

On August 18, just a week before Midsummer’s Music concerts resume here in Door County, Perry and Berkenstock will join Perlman and the Chicago Philharmonic for a concert at Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illinois. This concert will feature Perlman and Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot in a program entitled “Eternal Echoes.”

Perlman and Helfgot have performed this program to rave reviews and sold-out houses in Boston, Long Island, Toronto, and Los Angeles. Perry and Berkenstock will be part of that nationwide tour when the program is presented in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. David Perry is the concertmaster of the Chicago Philharmonic and Berkenstock is principal bassoon.

Following this concert, Midsummer’s Music will immediately begin rehearsals for seven performances here, beginning on August 26, with the climax being a Labor Day joint benefit for Midsummer’s Music and Write On, Door County at the Alpine Resort in Egg Harbor. Other concerts are in a variety of venues and feature two different programs in multiple performances. Program G, which begins on Aug. 26, features works by French composers for violin, cello, flute, and piano by St. Saens, Lalo, and Gaubert. Program H presents pieces by Brahms, Mozart, and Eberl for strings, oboe, and piano. For more information, visit midsummersmusic.com or call 920.854.7088.