(MyKeeneNow) Summer is in full swing, and Monadnock Music has a full agenda of live classical music to bring to the Monadnock Region.

Monadnock Music is an organization that provides world-class live classical music performances with the goal of making music accessible and available to as many people as possible. This summer, they’ve got many free – and a few ticketed – events to offer up.

“Since 1966, we’ve been presenting free concerts in the villages and towns of the Monadnock region featuring world-class musicians, and this act of connection and community is tremendously meaningful to me,” says Rafael Popper-Keizer, Artistic Director of Monadnock Music since 2019. “To be able to do that – to have supporters who help make it possible, and audience members who consistently show up with open minds and hearts – is a real gift.”

As series of family concerts are happening this Wednesday, July 17 in Keene (noon at the Keene Public Library), Nelson (4 p.m. at the Nelson Town Hall), and Peterborough (2 p.m. at the Peterborough Town Library). These free concerts feature narrations of classic tales set to a beautiful background of live instruments. On this occasion, the stories included will be Gwyneth Walker’s retelling of “Little Red Riding Hood,” and a setting of the African folk tale Tunji and the Giant by David Mullikin. Opera singer Carley DeFranco will narrate the tales.

In addition, they’ll be performing at the Hancock Congregational Church on Sunday, July 21, at 6 p.m. They’ll be performing music for soprano, cello, and piano, with opera singer Carley DeFranco once again joining them. She’ll be joined by Andrew Welch on piano and Rafael Popper-Keizer on cello in a lush program of songs including 19th century Romantic salon music, a setting of Margaret Atwood poems by Cuban-American composer Tania León, and Hugo Wolf’s powerful Mignon-Lieder. This event is also free to attend and all are welcome.

“It’s an incredible opportunity to connect with the creative voices of people from countless cultures, time periods, and walks of life – and it’s impossible to come away from such an experience without a greater appreciation of our shared humanity,” said Popper-Keizer.

A ticketed concert will be held Aug. 4 at 3 p.m. at the Peterborough Town Hall. The concert will feature Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, a piece Popper-Keizer said “still thrills audiences today with its effortless virtuosity and imaginative soundscape.” The program also will include a chamber version of Piazzolla’s tango-inspired “Four Seasons of Buenos Aires” with Brazilian soloist Omar Chen Guey, said Popper-Keizer, to “bring these pieces to life in an afternoon of kaleidoscopic color and wild abandon.”

In the coming weeks, Monadnock Music will also presen a series of free village concerts in Francestown, Harrisville, and Nelson, as well as a noontime string quartet concert in Depot Square, on the banks of the Contoocook River in Peterborough.

The summer season is capped off with the annual Monadnock Music Summer Gala Sunday, Aug. 18, at 6 p.m. at Stonewall Farm in Keene, where ticket holders may enjoy French nibbles while taking in “sumptuously decadent” vocal and instrumenal music from the 1880s and 1890s with a pop-up burlesque performance and champagne on the veranda.

“The summer season is the heart of Monadnock Music’s mission,” Popper-Keizer says. “it’s an opportunity to bring real beauty into the world, to create a space for self-reflection, and often to process extreme joys and sorrows in a safe environment.”

Visit monadnockmusic.org for a full season schedule and to purchase tickets.