Summer Music Festival Starts Sunday With Free Hartford Concerts

HARTFORD, CT — The Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra will launch its 2026 Summer Music Festival this weekend with a series of free classical music performances in Hartford throughout August.

The festival opens Sunday, Aug. 2, at 6 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 136 Capitol Ave., Hartford, with a chamber music program featuring Gabriel Fauré's Violin Sonata in A Major and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Quartet in G Minor.

The opening concert will feature pianist Ina Jun, violinist Brunilda Myftaraj, violist Jonathan Kane, and cellist Zachary Sears.

Additional Hartford performances include:

• Sunday, Aug. 9, 6 p.m. – Works by Johannes Brahms, Maurice Ravel, and composer-in-residence Jonathan Kane, featuring the Charter Oak String Quartet and clarinetist Jonathan Towney.
• Sunday, Aug. 16, 5 p.m. – Choral works including Pergolesi's Stabat Mater and Schubert's Mass in G Major, performed by the Moniuszko Choir, New Britain Chorale students, faculty and guest artists.

Several companion performances will also be held at St. Rose of Lima Church in Brooklyn, New York, during the festival.

In addition to the concert series, Connecticut Virtuosi and First Presbyterian Church continue to offer a free or reduced-cost Music Academy for Greater Hartford students. The program provides private and group instruction in violin, viola, cello, double bass, piano and voice, with scholarships available for eligible students.

The Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra is based in New Britain and presents concerts and educational programs throughout Connecticut.

More information about the Summer Music Festival and Music Academy is available at this link.