Midsummer Lakeside Concert Series opens with Blue Sunday

The Bates College Midsummer Lakeside Concert Series, a string of five concerts held in an intimate amphitheater at the edge of the college’s Lake Andrews, opens Thursday, July 18, with the jazz ensemble Blue Sunday. The concerts are open to the public at no charge.

All held on Thursdays at 6 p.m., the concerts cover a variety of family-friendly musical styles, including bluegrass, pop and roots music. Based in Vermont, Blue Sunday is a quintet that combines the songbook classics of Gershwin and Porter with the modern jazz of Monk and Coltrane.

Here’s the remainder of the series schedule:

July 25
– Julie & Brownie are a popular New Hampshire duo who apply banjo, guitar and engaging harmonies to music for families and children.

Aug. 1 – Bait the Hook is a five-piece band, led by longtime Maine favorite Cathie Stebbins, that plays blues, funk and swing in a 1970s vein.

Aug. 8
– Side by Side is a duo blending pop, jazz, country, folk and blues.

Aug. 15 – Banjo Dan & the Mid-nite Plowboys are one of the region’s most enduring and best-known bluegrass bands. With nine albums to their credit, these Vermont-based musicians are visiting Bates as part of a New England tour marking their 30th anniversary in music.

The Midsummer Lakeside Concerts at Bates are held in the Florence Keigwin Amphitheater, overlooking Lake Andrews, a pond near Russell Street encircled by a tree-shaded path. Concertgoers should bring blankets or lawn chairs and are welcome to carry in non-alcoholic beverages and picnic suppers. In case of rain, concerts will be moved into the nearby Olin Arts Center Concert Hall.

For more information, please call 207-786-6400.