The "sounds of music" will fill the air when "Baroque on Beaver" – a Festival of Classical Music – returns to Beaver Island for the seventh year, from July 30 to August 3, 2008, with a full schedule of concerts.

This year’s festival will open with two chamber concerts in the Gillingham Auditorium at Central Michigan University’s Beaver Island Biological Station on Wednesday, July 30 and Thursday, July 31 at 7:30 p.m. Programs will include works by Handel, Bach, Brahms, Gounod and Shostakovich, and will feature the Vivaldi "Concerto for Two Trumpets and Strings" performed by soloists Rich Illman, Principal Trumpet for the Lansing Symphony, and Beaver Island summer resident, Robert Lockhart.

The "Baroque on Beaver" orchestra and chorus of musicians from throughout Michigan and six other states will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, August 1 at the Holy Cross Hall. Works by Carl Maria von Weber, Dvorak, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Handel will be featured.

On Saturday, August 2, an orchestral and soloist concert, "Featuring Our Friends," moves to the newly dedicated Beaver Island Community Center to perform works by Rossetti, Mozart, Max Bruch and Bach.

Finally, the full orchestra and chorus return on Sunday, August 3, for a matinee performance, "America’s Emerald Isle," at 2:00 p.m. in the Holy Cross Hall. Opera singer and Island favorite, Martha Guth, will be featured along with the music of Bernstein, Dvorak, Handel and John Rutter.

All performances are free and open to the public, with goodwill contributions welcomed.

Generously supported by funding from the Charlevoix County Community Foundation and the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs/Cheboygan Area Arts Council, the "Baroque on Beaver" performances are officially sponsored by the non-profit, Beaver Island Cultural Arts Association. Additional information is available on the website, www.baroqueonbeaver.com