The mission of Salt Bay Chamberfest is to enrich the cultural life of Midcoast Maine by producing musical concerts of the highest artistic level. Salt Bay Chamberfest advances the vitality of chamber music by featuring standard chamber music literature as well as new and existing works of living composers performed by today’s finest musicians.
Salt Bay Chamberfest
Creates a place for culture and creativity
Develops and fosters the art form by supporting the creation of new music
Supports musicians
Gives community access to high-level arts
From the humble beginnings of a group of friends newly out of school playing in a cow barn, to an internationally recognized festival for the creative and performing arts, Salt Bay Chamberfest will be proudly celebrating its fourth decade in 2024. SBC regularly boasts musicians in the top echelon of performers today, such as Jennifer Koh, Alan Gilbert, and the Brentano Quartet. Under the artistic leadership of Wilhelmina Smith, the festival has grown from a modest place where musicians can come together and rejuvenate themselves and the art form, to a place of daring, bold artistic initiatives, founded on the principle that all music has the potential to elevate and connect us to each other. By presenting thematically inspired programs that often venture far outside the norms of classical music concerts, SBC has created a place that fosters musical creativity through highly distinctive performances, creating an intriguing and welcoming artistic space for musicians and audiences alike. Over the years, SBC has played host to performers of the erhu, accordion, African drums, and Arab drums; Native American singers, a cantor, a poet, an actor, and a dancer. SBC has also consistently supported composers of our time, commissioning works annually and regularly giving world premieres.
The interior of DRA’s Darrows Barn at Round Top Farm, built in 1929. Photo by Peter Felsenthal.