With Southern Delaware Concerts August 17, 18, 19
The popular Celtic to Classical festival continues its 11th season of presenting culturally diverse music to Southern Delaware audiences with the return of dynamic, critically acclaimed artists for three performances in mid-August.
Soprano Kristin Renee Young and flutist Pam Pecko Smith will join Celtic to Classical founders Sheridan Seyfried and Ya-Jhu Yang for programs featuring the ensemble’s characteristic mix of genres, appealing to music lovers of all backgrounds.
“We are thrilled that Kristin and Pam are returning to Celtic to Classical for our eleventh year of presenting a wide variety of great music,” Seyfried said. “We look forward to sharing an evening of entertaining and inspiring music with audience members from previous seasons, as well as with newcomers to southern Delaware and music lovers visiting for the summer.”
Performances are scheduled on Monday, August 17 at Avenue United Methodist Church, 20 Church Street, Milford; on Tuesday, August 18 at Epworth United Methodist Church, 19285 Holland Glade Road, Rehoboth Beach; and on Wednesday, August 19 at St. Martha’s Episcopal Church, 117 Maplewood Street, Bethany Beach.
All performances begin at 7 PM. In lieu of ticketed admission, Celtic to Classical accepts a free-will offering, with a suggested contribution of $15. Seating is on a first-come basis.
The eclectic program will feature everything from Broadway and jazz to Baroque and Celtic music.
Songs from 1970s musicals “On the Twentieth Century” and “Purlie” will be heard along with the famous “Silver Aria” from the popular mid-century opera “The Ballad of Baby Doe”. On the jazzier side, Young will sing pieces from Duke Ellington and Argentinian tango master Astor Piazzolla.
The program also includes a lively instrumental piece by Seyfried, featuring flutist Smith, and a song cycle based on poetry by Pablo Neruda, composed by Yang and sung by Young. Smith, Yang and Seyfried will join together for a lively suite of Celtic fiddle music, completing a program that offers something for every listener.
Lauded as “fantastic” by The Toronto Star, Kristin Renee Young last performed with Celtic to Classical in 2023. She began her musical studies at age five and is equally at home in the worlds of opera, oratorio, recital, musical theater and voiceover. She has sung with the New York City Opera and Metropolitan Opera chorus, and has appeared at venues including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater.
A native of Philadelphia, Young graduated magna cum laude from Barnard College and received a master’s degree from Boston University. She currently resides in Brooklyn, where she also is a certified yoga instructor.
Flutist Pam Pecko Smith was Celtic to Classical’s featured performer in 2024 and made a special guest appearance last year. She has performed and served on music faculties in schools on three continents and works in multiple genres, including chamber, orchestral, folk, film and television music. In 2017, she formed the vintage jazz group Honeysuckle Jazz, specializing in songs from the 1920s to the 1940s.
A native of the Philadelphia area, she earned a bachelor’s degree in music, with honors, from the University of the Arts, followed by graduate studies at the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest.
Seyfried and Yang have degrees in composition from Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute and the Manhattan School of Music in New York, where their teachers included Richard Danielpour, Jennifer Higdon and Nils Vigeland.
Their works have been performed around the world by musicians and ensembles including David Shifrin, Ida Kavafian, the Santa Fe Symphony, the Augusta Symphony, and Trio Barclay. Ya-Jhu Yang’s piano trio, Letters to Formosa, was performed at the Kennedy Center as a prize winner of the 2009 Washington International Competition.
Seyfried, whose parents Elise and Steve Seyfried founded the venerable Rehoboth Summer Children’s Theatre, spent many summers at the beach while growing up. Celtic to Classical is inspired by the musical eclecticism of Andrea Clearfield’s Philadelphia “Salon” concerts and motivated by a desire to find joy in different modes of musical expression.
For additional information about Celtic to Classical, visit www.celtictoclassical.com
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