Musicians from Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Mississippi River, Lake Champlain, and Atlantic Ocean watersheds will come together for this one-of-a-kind collaboration. Concerts are presented this year in collaboration with the Woodland Sky Native American Dance Company and the Aeolus Quartet.

Woodland Sky consists of Native American dancers from the Ojibwe, Sioux, Potawatomi and Apache tribes. This award-winning group portrays all styles of dancing in this region, including traditional, fancy, jingle, grass and hoop.

The Aeolus Quartet was formed in 2008 with a vision to share the permanent power of the string quartet repertoire with wide-ranging audiences. Based in New York City, the quartet brings an equal dedication to all of its artistic endeavors, placing new and lesser-known works side by side with the time-honored masterworks.

The festival also welcomes back soprano Mary Bonhag, multi-instrumentalist Laurel Premo and artistic director and bassist Evan Premo. The music will include compositions and arrangements by Evan and Laurel Premo as well as traditional Native American song with dance interpretations by Woodland Sky.

WOODLAND SKY DANCERS

Programs will be presented in Marquette, Crystal Falls and Houghton. At 7 p.m. Eastern time Thursday, Aug. 26, bring chairs for an outdoor concert at the Elwood Mattson Lower Harbor Park in Marquette.

At 7 p.m. Central time Saturday, Aug. 28, the group will perform at the Crystal Theatre in Crystal Falls, and at 2 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, Aug. 29, the concert will take place at the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts on the Michigan Technological University campus in Houghton. The Rozsa Center performance also will be live streamed and available for viewing on the Rozsa Center and Beethoven and Banjos Facebook pages.

Beethoven and Banjos music festival is sponsored by Northwoods Music Collaborative, with donations from Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, National Endowment for the Arts, Arts Midwest, Marquette West Rotary, Superior Watershed Partnership, Community Foundation of Marquette County, and the Keweenaw Co-op as well as many individuals and businesses.

For more information and details about this festival, go to www.beethovenandbanjos.org or the Beethoven and Banjos Facebook page.