ELLSWORTH – Barringer Family Farms, in partnership with the new music group, Zeitgeist, is presenting the third annual Festival at the Farm, held on the farm grounds at N4815 810^th St., Ellsworth with three events taking place Aug. 31 and Sept. 7-8. Festival at the Farm will feature the world premiere of two musical works that celebrate farming, sustainability, and connection to the natural world. All events will be accompanied by a light supper, appetizers, and dessert and the program will also feature a short talk by a local farmer.

The performance at 7 p.m. Aug. 31 (grounds open at 6 p.m.) will feature even if I must go by Virginia-based composer and musician Kyle Jeffery Hutchins. This work is designed to be presented in an open field with the performers surrounding the audience on all sides. The music is ritualistic rather than tuneful, and uses percussion and wind instruments like gongs, bells, frog and bird calls, wind wands, and sirens to create an ambient environment that interacts with the natural soundscape. The piece will be performed by members of 113 (One Thirteen), a collective of composers and performers of new music based in the Twin Cities.

Performances at 7 p.m. Sept 7 and at 4 p.m. Sept. 8 (grounds open an hour earlier) will feature the world premiere of the chamber music piece, CLOSED LOOP, by nationally renowned composer Pamela Z. In 2015, Pamela Z visited Minnesota and western Wisconsin through a McKnight Visiting Composer residency, and she interviewed dozens of farmers and chefs and took field recordings on farms as part of her residency project. These interviews and recordings are combined in a recorded score, and with the addition of live musicians, use music to tell a story about farming, feeding people, and the closed loop of food production that moves from soil to table and back again to soil. Closed Loop is a colorful and rhythmic work that features marimba, vibraphone, piano, and clarinet as well as some surprising instruments like bowls, knives, and an immersible blender.

The Pierce-Pepin chapter of the Wisconsin Farmer’s Union will be lending support to the festival. Each program will feature a short talk by a member farmer about their farming practice and sustainability and several farmers will provide farm produce or products for the meal accompanying the event.

Tickets and more details are available at zeitgeistnewmusic.org and questions about the event, including accessibility requests, can be directed to heather@zeitgeistnewmusic.org.

Zeitgeist, based in Red Wing, Minn., is a new music chamber ensemble comprised of two percussion, piano and woodwinds. One of the longest established new music groups in the country, Zeitgeist commissions and presents a wide variety of new music for audiences in the Midwest. Always eager to explore new artistic frontiers, Zeitgeist collaborates with poets, choreographers, directors, visual artists and sound artists of all types to create imaginative new work that challenges the boundaries of traditional chamber music. The members of Zeitgeist are: Heather Barringer, percussion; Patti Cudd, percussion; Pat O’Keefe, woodwinds; Nicola Melville, piano.

Barringer Family Farms is a fourth-generation family farm located in the verdant Trimbelle River valley in Ellsworth. They grow vegetables, hay, CBD hemp products, present arts and education events, and host community celebrations.

This farm performance of CLOSED LOOP is made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Submitted by Heather Barringer