South Whidbey will be center stage for three music festivals next weekend — Whidbey Island Music Festival, Freeland’s Bluesberry Festival and Whidbey Island Guitar Festival in Langley. From bluegrass to Baroque, sitar to southern rock, jazz to classical, there’s a sound bound to please every musical palate.
Whidbey Island Music Festival: A perennial favorite for fans of classical music, this year’s performances from July 26-Aug. 4 at St. Augustine’s in-the-Woods in Freeland take listeners to the opera and the concert halls of Europe. Among compositions chosen: Josef Haydn’s masterful string quartets, Schubert’s cello quintet in C major and Handel’s beloved “Piangero la sorte mia.” Divas Sherezade Panthaki, Amanda Forythe and Danielle Sampson will sing songs, arias, opera scenes and motets by Mozart, Dowland, Haydn and Handel. Tickets: single advance, $22; at door, $25; student, $10. More information at whidbeyislandmusicfestival.org
The Bluesberry Festival features five bands from 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Saturday, July 27. LeRoy Bell & His Only Friends, the band that wowed the outdoor dancing crowd last year, returns as headliners along with two other Seattle bands, Breaks and Swells, and the Stacy Jones Band.
The show is a fundraiser for South Whidbey Commons Cafe and Books, a popular gathering spot in Langley that teaches culinary and barista skills to youth. Tickets: $40 in advance; $50 at the show; 12 and under are free with an adult.
The show takes place just off Highway 525 on Mutiny Bay Blues blueberry farm. Purchase tickets at https://m.bpt.me/event/4256417
Whidbey Island Guitar Festival brings a world of sound and sounds of the world through a diverse lineup of performers.
Classical guitarist Andre Feriante once again put the word out to his orbit of talented musicians about a chance to play on a rocky speck of the Pacific Northwest that he’s called home the past three years. Musicians play solo acts during the weekend festival, July 27 and 28 from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., in the spacious, flowing Comforts of Whidbey wine-tasting venue.
Located on Langley’s View Road, farm critters, distant mountains and nearby water can be seen from the wraparound deck. Tickets are $25 per day or $40 for both days.
Feriante is currently raising money to help cover costs of staging the annual show through an Indiegogo fundraising page.
Last year’s guitar festival featured sweet jam sessions at day’s end for an impromptu extraordinary encore.
“The beautiful thing is all of these artists have a story of how the guitar chose them and how the guitar has taken them to many places and audiences,” Feriante said.
“The goal is to bring people together that might not normally attend the same show. Lovers of jazz, classical, blues, gypsy jazz, harp guitar, flamenco, acoustic finger style, modern electric will hear what they know and be surprised by what they’ve never heard.”
• Tickets may be purchased online at www.WIGF.bpt.me
Whidbey Island Music Festival
July 26-Aug. 4 at St. Augustine’s In-TheWoods, 5217 Honeymoon Bay Road,
Freeland. For schedule and tickets; http://
whidbeyislandmusicfestival.org
Bluesberry Festival: 11:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m.,
Saturday, July 27 at Mutiny Bay Blues
Farm, 1000 Bush Point Road, Freeland.
Outdoors, five bands. Tickets, $40 in
advance, $50 day of show; 12 and under
free with an adult. Annual fundraiser for
non-profit South Whidbey Commons Cafe.
Food booths, wine and beer garden. NO
pets allowed. Parking onsite. Purchase
tickets:
https://m.bpt.me/event/4256417
Whidbey Island Guitar Festival: 1 p.m. – 6
p.m., Saturday and Sunday, July 27 and 28
at Comforts of Whidbey Winery, 5219 View
Road, Langley. Tickets, $25 per day, $40 for
two days, purchase at www.WIGF.bpt.me
Guitar Festival fundraising:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/2019-
whidbey-island-guitar-festival
More information: www.facebook.com/
WhidbeyIslandGuitarFestival
