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Skaneateles Festival to Close with a Classical Encore

skanfest.org

This year's Skaneateles Festival has taken fans of chamber music to the Orient, serenaded them with strings and dazzled them with traditional gypsy tunes. In its final week, titled "Encore!," the festival is looking toward the future.

The East Coast Chamber Orchestra, known as ECCO, and string trio Time for Three will bring their contemporary takes on classical music to Skaneateles Lake beginning Wednesday, Aug. 27.

David Ying, who serves as co-artistic director with his wife, Elinor Freer, said both acts are "exploratory" in that they infuse their classical playing with forward-thinking elements.

"Classical music means so many things now that you almost shouldn’t come to a classical concert with any expectations that it’s going to be a classical concert. These are some of the most exciting and innovative musicians around."

Members of ECCO will play Anyela's Vineyards at 5:30 p.m. during the Musical Happy Hour event, which is free. Thursday night, the 18-member ensemble packs the Presbyterian Church at 8 for an evening of Boccherini, Prokofiev and Mendelssohn.

Credit skanfest.org
Musicians pack the porch at Brook Farm, one of the main venues at the Skaneateles Festival. ECCO and Time for Three will perform there this weekend.

Friday's fare promises to be quirkier, with Time for Three performing classical favorites like Bach and Brahms between the fresher, more pop-inclined offerings of Katy Perry, Mumford & Sons, Dirty Projectors and Kanye West. Expect some Lennon-McCartney, too. The show takes place at the Brook Farm, with a rain location at Skaneateles High School.

Saturday, ECCO returns to draw the four-week festival to a close with pieces from Janacek, Sibelius, Golijov and Tchaikovsky on the program. Ying said the final show, also at Brook Farm, is a fitting sendoff for the 2014 season. It's an appropriate goodbye to him and Freer as well, who are leaving the festival after 10 years for other opportunities.

"It’s 'Encore!' in the sense that these acts have played at the festival before, but it's not 'Encore!' like we're playing what classical music used to be. We're always exploring and finding out what it's becoming."

For ticket information and show times, visit www.skanfest.org.

Patrick Hosken is a graduate student in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications studying in the Goldring Arts Journalism program.