Sunflower Music Festival launches tonight

Yash Chitrakar

Washburn University will host this year’s Sunflower Music Festival, the 31st in its history, in White Concert Hall from June 9 to June 17. The starting time for each concert will be 7:30 pm, with the exception of the ninth program which will start at 3 pm.

The festival, a set of ten musical concerts containing ensembles, quartets and orchestras, will be book-ended by chamber orchestras. The performances will feature songs by maestro musicians such as Richard Wagner, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Ludwig Van Beethoven and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart among others.

The fourth night of the festival, however, will see the musicians take a break from orchestral and chamber music to perform jazz music. Some concerts will end with a musician ‘Talk-back’ session in the end, where the audience will ask the performers questions about their music. The performers will be from national and international symphonies and musical institutions.

The concerts, sponsored by leading area businesses, generous private donors and philanthropic foundations, will be free of charge.

For more information regarding the music festival, call (785) 670-1620; e-mail [email protected]; or go to www.sunflowermusicfestival.org.

The 2017 program itinerary is as follows:

Program No. 1 – Chamber Orchestra – Friday, June 9, 7:30 P.M.

Program No. 2 – Chamber Ensembles – Saturday, June 10, 7:30 P.M.

Program No. 3 – Amernet Quartet – Sunday, June 11, 7:30 P.M.

Program No. 4 – Jazz Night – Monday, June 12, 7:30 P.M.

Program No. 5 – Chamber Ensembles – Tuesday, June 13, 7:30 P.M.

Program No. 6 – Chamber Orchestra – Wednesday, June 14, 7:30 P.M.

Program No. 7 – Blanche Bryden Collegiate String Quartets – Thursday, June 15, 7:30 P.M.

Program No. 8 – Chamber Ensembles – Friday, June 16, 7:30 P.M.

Program No. 9 – Blanche Bryden High School Concert – Saturday, June 17, 3:00 P.M.

Program No. 10 – Chamber Orchestra – Saturday, June 17, 7:30 P.M.