Salt Bay Chamberfest’s 31st season, taking place August 5 to 16, will feature performances by Damariscotta’s own world-renowned mezzo-soprano Kate Aldrich, acclaimed flutist Claire Chase, and Passamaquoddy singer Lauren Stevens. The Brentano String Quartet, back by popular demand, is also among the many prominent musicians participating in this year’s Festival.

Concerts will be held at Damariscotta’s Lincoln Theater, at the Strand Theatre in Rockland, and—for the first time—at the Minsky Recital Hall on the University of Maine’s Orono campus. Complementing them is a roster of free community events across Lincoln County, including three special musical installations at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens.

Indigenous music from down east Maine takes center stage this year, along with an SBC-commissioned world premiere, and an arrangement of Mahler’s monumental Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth).

Season 31 opens on Tuesday, August 5 with a paean to Mother Earth at the Lincoln Theater in Damariscotta. Featuring Passamaquoddy singer Lauren Stevens, Mohawk composer Dawn Avery, and all-female drumming group Cipelahq Ehpicik (Thunder Women), selections will include traditional Wabanaki drumming, a new work by Avery, and a collaboration between Avery and Stevens fittingly titled Skitkomiq (Mother Earth). The evening will conclude with Dvořák’s viola quintet, which was inspired by Kickapoo Indigenous drumming that the famed Czech composer encountered during his sojourn in the US in the late 19 th century. This concert will also be presented at the Strand Theatre in Rockland on Thursday, August 7.

The adventurous and erudite Brentano String Quartet takes the reins on Friday, August 8 at the Lincoln Theater with a program that surveys thousands of years of musical history. Musical meditations from the 16th century to the present will be joined seamlessly to create a compelling consideration of the nature of home, place, identity, and heritage. The evening will include works by Monteverdi, Schubert, Bartók, and Tchaikovsky, along with a new commission by Lei Liang.

Maine’s dramatic down east coast inspires the high-flying program on Tuesday, August 12 in Damariscotta. First up is the world premiere of a new SBC-commissioned work by composer inti figgis-vizueta, featuring the delicate sounds of found natural objects. Then renegade flutist Claire Chase will perform a new work by minimalist maverick Terry Riley written expressly for her, titled The Holy Liftoff. The evening will conclude with Debussy’s soaring and powerful String Quartet. This concert will also be presented at the Strand Theatre in Rockland on Wednesday, August 13.

Song cycles by Mahler will anchor the final SBC program on Friday, August 15 at the Lincoln Theater. The natural world inspired the German master’s immense orchestral scores, which often require hundreds of musicians to perform. This special arrangement of Das Lied von der Erde features mezzo-soprano and Damariscotta native Kate Aldrich and a mini-orchestra of Festival performers. Shih-Hui Chen’s Returning Souls, based on legends from Taiwan’s Amis tribe, makes a moving complement. Celebrated performers also include Bridget Kibbey, harp, Ayano Kataoka, percussion, and Kyu-Young Kim, violin.

New this year, SBC will present highlights from the current season at the University of Maine’s Minsky Recital Hall in Orono on August 16. Works on the program will include Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder, Debussy’s String Quartet, and a new collaboration between Passamaquoddy singer Lauren Stevens and Mohawk cellist and composer Dawn Avery.

This season also launches a new partnership with Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens (CMBG). SBC will bring three distinct “musical installations” to the stunning grounds in Boothbay, connecting music to gardens and, along with Wabanaki musicians, celebrating the new Three Sisters Gardens. An RSVP grants concertgoers free access to the CMBG campus one hour prior to the event. Guests may stroll the more than 300 stunning acres before enjoying music beautifully paired with the landscape that it honors. Performances take place Friday, August 8 at 3 pm, Saturday, August 9 at 4 pm, and Thursday, August 14 at 4 pm. All are free with prior RSVP.

All Festival Concerts begin at 7:30 pm. Concerts in Damariscotta will feature a pre-concert talk at 6:30 pm, and take place at Lincoln Theater, 2 Theater Street, Damariscotta. Concerts in Rockland will take place at the Strand Theatre, 345 Main Street, Rockland. The Festival Concert in Orono will take place at the Minsky Recital Hall at the University of Maine Orono’s Collins Center for the Arts, 2 Flagstaff Road.

In addition to the musical installations at CMBG, Salt Bay Chamberfest will also present a number of other free community performances and events in Lincoln County and beyond. On Wednesday, August 6 at 12 noon, cellist and SBC Artistic Director Wilhelmina Smith and singer Lauren Stevens will perform at the Wabanaki Public Health & Wellness Cultural Center in Bangor. On Thursday, August 7 at 1 pm, Wilhelmina Smith will present an informal cello lecture-demonstration at the Rutherford Library in South Bristol. The whole family is invited to SBC’s annual Kids & Family Concert on Thursday, August 7 at 3 pm, at the Central Lincoln County YMCA. On Saturday, August 9 at 1 pm, violinist Aaron Boyd will lead a masterclass at the Skidompha Public Library. On Sunday, August 10 at 5 pm, flutist Claire Chase will lead a Music on the River program at 39 Glidden Street, Newcastle. On Monday, August 11 at 5 pm, SBC will present a Music on the Docks program at Round Pond Harbor in Bristol. Finally, on Tuesday, August 12 at 3 pm, harpist Bridget Kibbey will lead an informal lecture-demonstration at the Skidompha Public Library.

For tickets and more information, visit www.saltbaychamberfest.org, e-mail contact@saltbaychamberfest.org, or call (207) 522-3749.