Summer symphonies held in barn
Farmer Michael Schmidt talks to reporters on Thursday July 31, 2008 outside court in Newmarket, Ont.
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Raw milk crusader Michael Schmidt can be forgiven for spending his summer at the podium conducting symphony concerts and operas.
The 56-year-old farmer was found not guilty in January of violating Ontario’s Health Protection Act by providing raw milk from his dairy farm in Durham, Ont.
And although the provincial government has launched an appeal of the verdict, Schmidt has opted to offer splendid summer entertainment rather than dwell on his legal woes. He and his wife Dorothea have already staged concerts throughout July in their barn.
Schmidt gained a master’s degree in farming in his native Germany, but he “started life as a passionate musician,” he says.
Music took second string to agriculture when he had to make a decision on his future. “Somehow foreseeing there will be less good farmers in the future than musicians, then I took the route to farming,” he explains.
However, Schmidt loves classical music as much as his cows and since 1996 has endeavoured to share his passion with others who flock to the farm to hear works from the likes of Mozart, Beethoven and Bach performed by international and local artists.
“The barn can seat 600 concert-goers,” he says, “and as a working farm the cows are still underneath the barn and the attendees sit in the hayloft, so they get everything, the sounds and smells.”
Here is a sample of what is coming up in the summer festival.
This long holiday weekend Milk Trial By Jury will feature Canadian soprano Donna Ellen Trifunovich who is with the Vienna State Opera and Toronto tenor Mitch Smolkin (July 30 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., July 31 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Aug. 1 at 2 p.m.). It is based on a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta and chronicles Schmidt’s recent skirmish with the legal system.
On Aug. 7, a gala reception and symphony concert will take place at 6 p.m. and includes Schubert’s Symphony No. 5 and Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto.
On Aug. 8, there will be a “Surprise Serenade” at 2 p.m.
For information on these and other upcoming performances at Glencolton Farms, as well as ticket prices and directions, visit www.symphonyinthebarn.com.
