Celtic to Classical concert performances set Aug. 12-14
The popular Celtic to Classical ensemble will return to Southern Delaware for a 10th season in mid-August with three performances by internationally celebrated artists.
Cello sensation Jonah Kim and acclaimed pianist Sean Kennard will join Celtic to Classical founders Sheridan Seyfried and Ya-Jhu Yang for programs featuring favorites from past seasons as well as the ensemble’s characteristic mix of musical genres.
“We are delighted that Jonah Kim and Sean Kennard are reuniting with Celtic to Classical for our 10th year of celebrating great music of many varieties,” Seyfried said. “We look forward to welcoming audience members from previous seasons, along with newcomers to southern Delaware and summer visitors, for an evening of entertaining and inspiring music.”
Performances are set for Tuesday, Aug. 12, at Avenue United Methodist Church, 20 Church St., Milford; Wednesday, Aug. 13, at Epworth United Methodist Church, 19285 Holland Glade Road, Rehoboth Beach; and Thursday, Aug. 14, at St. Martha’s Episcopal Church, 117 Maplewood St., Bethany Beach.
All performances begin at 7 p.m. In lieu of ticketed admission, Celtic to Classical accepts a freewill offering. Seating is on a first-come basis.
This year’s program includes Gary Moore’s “Still Got the Blues,” first performed by Kim at Celtic to Classical in 2019; Bela Bartok’s “Romanian Folk Dances,” the opening work from the festival’s inaugural performance in 2016; and Don Stover’s “Rockwood Deer Chase,” a bluegrass classic and audience favorite from 2018.
Performances also will include music by Johannes Brahms and George Gershwin, as well as “Dancing in the Eye of the Storm,” composed by Seyfried for Kim. Rounding out the 2025 festival are a selection of hymns and a lively medley of Celtic tunes arranged by Seyfried.
Flutist Pam Pecko Smith, who was Celtic to Classical’s featured performer in 2024, will make a special guest appearance for this year’s festival. A native of the Philadelphia area, she earned a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of the Arts, followed by graduate studies at the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest. She has served on music faculties in schools on three continents and works in multiple genres, including chamber, orchestral, folk, film and television music.
Kim made his solo debuts at age 12 with Wolfgang Sawallisch and the Philadelphia Orchestra and with Marvin Hamlisch and the National Symphony Orchestra, with The Washington Post lauding him as “the next Yo-Yo Ma.”
Born in Seoul, South Korea, Kim trained at The Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music, and has performed as a soloist with many orchestras. His ensemble Trio Barclay, with pianist Sean Kennard and Pacific Symphony concertmaster Dennis Kim, is in residence at the Barclay Theatre in Orange County, Calif.
Kennard has performed as a soloist and with chamber ensembles on five continents at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Tokyo Opera, and the Seoul Arts Center. Kennard trained at the Curtis Institute of Music, The Juilliard School, and Yale University, and also studied with acclaimed pianist Richard Goode. He joined the faculty at Stetson University’s School of Music in 2017.
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 and the Pacific Symphony. 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 40 years ago, 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 more information, go to celtictoclassical.com.
