The Salt Bay Chamberfest chamber-music festival comes to Rockland with two concerts at the Strand Theatre, on Thursday, August 7 and Wednesday, August 13, both at 7:30 p.m.

Part of SBC’s 31st annual festival, the concert on August 7 will honor Mother Earth. Featuring Passamaquoddy singer Lauren Stevens, Mohawk composer Dawn Avery, and all-female drumming group Cipelahq Ehpicik (Thunder Women), it will include traditional Wabanaki drumming, work by Dawn Avery, and a new collaboration between Avery and Stevens that was commissioned by Salt Bay Chamberfest. The evening will conclude with Dvořák’s viola quintet, which was inspired by the Kickapoo Indigenous drumming that the famed Czech composer encountered during his sojourn in the US in the late 19th century. Stevens and Avery will be joined onstage by violinists Aaron Boyd and Jesse Mills, violists Natalie Loughran and Misha Amory, and cellist and SBC Artistic Director Wilhelmina Smith.

The August 13 concert’s high-flying program is inspired by Maine’s dramatic coast. First up will be the world premiere of another new SBC-commissioned work, this one by composer inti figgis-vizueta. Featuring the delicate sounds of found natural objects, it is inspired by the history of the ancient Damariscotta River shell middens.

"Then renegade flutist Claire Chase will perform The Holy Liftoff, a new work written expressly for her by minimalist maverick Terry Riley," said Salt Bay Chamberfest. "The evening will conclude with Debussy’s soaring and powerful String Quartet."

In addition to Chase, the musicians featured are violinists Kyu-Young Kim and Boyd, violist Jonathan Vinocour, Smith, and percussionist Ayano Kataoka.

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