The performers at last year’s Appalachian Chamber Music Festival finale at Storer College pose for a photo together. Courtesy photo

HARPERS FERRY — The Appalachian Chamber Music Festival (ACMF) will be returning for its fourth summer season next month, with concerts held every day from Aug. 9-18.

As in years past, each concert within the festival will be held at a different venue throughout the region, from Frederick, Md. to Hillsboro, Va. to Shepherdstown. According to ACMF President and Artistic Director Katie Tertell, this venue diversity has allowed the festival to engage with a broader audience.

“A lot of people think classical music is one thing, but it really isn’t, especially 20th and 21st century classical music,” Tertell said. “There’s so much of what we’ve done that has jazz inspiration. A lot of modern compositions that we have performed have had some popular styles of music that weave through them.”

One of the major jazz-inspired works that ACMF will be performing in this year’s festival will be a commissioned work by celebrated jazz bassist Rufus Reid. According to Tertell, the work will experience its world premiere at the festival’s Aug. 11 concert on the lawn of Storer College.

“Part of our mission, as a festival, is to commission new pieces,” Tertell said. “We’re so excited about it!”

According to Tertell, the festival performed one of Reid’s works for the first time, during its 2023 season. Reid attended that performance and, seizing the opportunity, Tertell brought up the idea to him of creating a piece for the festival inspired by the Niagara Movement, which was started at Storer College in Harpers Ferry and served as the precursor to the NAACP.

“Something I wanted to do within our first five years, was a celebration of the Niagara Movement,” Tertell said. “We drew attention to the Niagara Movement during our season in 2022, but we wanted to do the Niagara Movement justice with a greater focus on it.”

“Voices of the Niagara Movement,” will be performed from 3-5 p.m. on Aug. 11. It will be preceded that day by a couple of other, related events — a free tour of Storer College at 11:30 a.m. by a Harpers Ferry National Park guide and a preconcert lecture by historian Ray Smock on the historical significance of the Niagara Movement at 2:45 p.m.

“It’s going to be an all-day event!” Tertell said. “People can go to the tour and then go get lunch and come back for the lecture and concert.”

Along with Reid’s piece, a variety of other exciting works will be performed throughout the festival around its theme for this season, “Our Different Voices.”

“Every year our festival has a theme through which we try to celebrate the history and culture of the region. I’m really interested in cultural intersections in art, and where we can find common ground,” Tertell said. “Jefferson County is a historically very diverse area. There’s a lot of different histories here, so I’m drawing on that.”

For tickets, programs and event information about the 501©3 nonprofit festival, visit www.appalachianchamber.org.