Dieter Wulfhorst and his wife, Susan Doering, will perform in the Durango Chamber Music Festival. ¬
Dieter Wulfhorst and his wife, Susan Doering, will perform in the Durango Chamber Music Festival. ¬File art courtesy of 3rd Ave. Arts

For the next two weeks, the Durango Chamber Music Festival is offering the opportunity to catch live music in the time it takes to have lunch – and for about the same price.

Monday, the festival, presented by 3rd Ave. Arts, will kick off its series, which will be held at 12:15 p.m. Monday through Friday, June 6-13 and June 17-20, at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 910 East Third Ave., in Durango.

It’s not just for adults.

Joining the general audiences for the performances will also be students of the Durango Chamber Music Academy.

“This is the first time we’re linking the Durango Chamber Music Festival with the summer programs,” said Artistic Director Mike Inouye. “All these 100-plus kids are going to be able to hear this chamber music. The idea is to make concert music accessible to everyone, including our young people.”

The lunchtime series was set up with accessibility in mind. Each day’s performance lasts 30 minutes, and tickets are $5 each, or $45 for the entire series.

“The half-hour thing makes it really easy,” Inouye said. “Any member of the community can just walk in for a half-hour lunch hour and get 30 minutes of great music, like it’s just a part of a normal day.”

And the number of musicians who have come together to put on this series and play everything from Brahms to Ravel to Stravinsky really shows the link to the community, said Dan Morgenstern, “music advocate” and adviser to the event.

“In one word, it’s ‘collaborative,’” he said. “That’s really the connection. Everybody collaborates: The festival is there, people know about it; they volunteer; they get asked; they have something they want to present … it’s very collaborative.”

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If you go

Durango Chamber Music Festival’s Music Among Friends concert series will be held June 6-10 and June 13-17. All performances are 30 minutes long and will begin at 12:15 p.m. at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 910 East Third Ave.
Admission is $5 per show, or $45 for the entire series ($30 for students and children).
For more information, call 903-7427.

Durango Chamber Music Festival schedule

Durango Chamber Music Festival will be holding a series of 10 half-hour concerts at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church.
Monday:
Molly Jensen, Mike Sylvester, Mika Inouye. Works by Darius Milhaud and Igor Stravinsky.
Tuesday:
Kathryn Shaffer, Kristen Chen, Katherine Jetter. Works by Louise Farrenc and C.M. von Weber.
Wednesday:
Piano Academy faculty: Lisa Campi Walters, Kristen Chen, Gabrielle Dugan, Mika Inouye, Kathy Olinger. Works by Astor Piazzola and Maurice Ravel.
Thursday:
Vivace Mandolin Ensemble, Linda Mack and C. Scott Hagler. Works by Johannes Brahms, Daniel Alomia Robles, George Gershwin and Moritz Moszkowski.
June 10:
Kerry Ginger and Eric Gustafson. Works by Schutz, Purcell, Bach and Schumann.
June 13:
Hayley Bair Cunningham, Sheri McMurtrey and Mika Inouye. Works by Bach, Brahams, Piazzola.
June 14:
Durango Chamber Singers, Elizabeth Crawford, director, Mika Inouye and C. Scott Hagler. Works by Thomas Morley, Georg Phillip Telemann, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Kim Arnesen and Bach.
June 15:
DCMA faculty: Lech Usinowicz, Amy Barrett, Molly Jensen and Sandy Keifer and Lou Steele. Works by Franz Josef Haydn and Antonio Vivaldi.
June 16:
Susan Doering and Dieter Wulfhorst. Works by Vivaldi, George Frideric Handel, Charles de Bériot, Isaac Albeniz, Vittorio Monti, Scott Joplin and Felix Arndt.
June 17:
Kristen Chen, Tennille Taylor and D’Ann Artis. Works by Brahms.