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SI Music Festival preview is Saturday

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Catch a glimpse of the excitement planned for this spring for the nationally recognized Southern Illinois Music Festival (SIFest) with a preview concert on Saturday, Jan. 18, at Artspace 304 in Carbondale.

A soirée featuring SIFest musical director and founder Edward Benyas; local pianist Anita Hutton, a retired assistant dean in SIU’s College of Liberal Arts, and violinist Amelia Korbitz is from 4-6 p.m. at Artspace 304, 304 W. Walnut St.

Tickets are $50 cash or check and available at the door. Proceeds will go to support the 2025 festival. The festival’s 21st season will have 13 days of performances from May 23-June 8 at various locations in the region.

Among the works on Saturday, Korbitz will play a Beethoven violin concerto, accompanied by Hutton – at the festival, Korbitz will be featured with a full orchestra. She and Benyas, accompanied by Hutton, will also play a double concerto for oboe and violin by German composer Johann Sebastian Bach.

Benyas will also preview both the 2025 and 2026 Southern Illinois Music Festivals. Wine, cheese, crackers and soda will be available as appetizers.

The upcoming festival will feature tragic and comic operas “Anna Bolena” and “The Elixir of Love” by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti; an “Opera Teasers” concert scheduled for Alto Vinyard; orchestral music by composers Ludwig van Beethoven, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert and more; chamber music selections by Beethoven, Antonín Dvořák, Antonio Vivaldi and more, along with the “Klassics for Kids” and “Jive with Jazz” performances.

Those interested in Saturday’s event may email Benyas at benyas@siu.edu to reserve a spot or receive more information.

Benyas is a professor emeritus of oboe and conducting in the SIU School of Music. He was at SIU for 29 years and is now executive director of the Cascade Symphony Orchestra in Edmonds, Washington.

Pete Rosenbery — arts and design, architecture, automotive and aviation, humanities, journalism and mass communications, law, public policy, social sciences.

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