The Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival is back at The Farmers' Museum for the third year with a diverse lineup, kicking off in the middle of August with Classical Masterworks by the Whitman String Quartet.

"The Whitman Quartet is a young, vibrant group," said festival founder and artistic director Linda Chesis, who will play the flute in all four programs. "They travel around the world performing."

Chesis, who lives in New York City, but spends time at the home of her husband's family on the north end of Otsego Lake, said her busy schedule playing summer festivals didn't permit enough time in Cooperstown, so she founded the festival. Four years ago there were two family oriented events, a tradition that has persevered, and two evening concerts. Since then the festival has expanded to four evening concerts and two Family Fest afternoons.

The repertoire for opening night, August 15, includes Johannes Brahms Sextet in B-flat, op. 18, two-time Academy Award winning composer John Corigliano's Voyage for flute and strings, Hugo Wolf's Italian Serenade and Wolfgang Mozart's Quartet in G. Chesis will play the flute, Phillip Ying, viola and Bion Tsang the cello.

David Ezer wrote in a press release about the festival, "Of particular note are the two family concerts, held at 11 a.m. on August 16 and 23rd. Each offers an interactive and fun way to get kids involved in music. On August 16, the Whitman String Quartet will raise parallels to sports by showing how teamwork is so much a part of ensemble playing. And on August 23rd, the 9-member Festival Baroque Orchestra will show how Vivaldi drew pictures of birds and night and shepherdesses through his music. That will feature the wind players of the orchestra, which includes Linda; Frank Morelli, principal bassoon at New York City Opera and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra; and Randall Wolfgang, noted oboist."

August 18 is a night for lovers of Beethoven and beer. At 8 p.m. "Kakadu" Variations, Op. 121a, Serenade, Op. 25 and Trio in B-flat. Op. 97 "Archduke" will be performed by Chesis, Maria Bachman on violin, Ying on viola, Astrid Schween on cello and Jon Klibonoff on piano. A beer tasting from the award-winning Brewery Ommegang will complement the music.

August 22 at 8 p.m. listeners will be treated to an evening of Vivaldi: Treasures from the Italian Baroque. The repertoire will include Concerto for bassoon in A minor, Il gardellino, La notte, Concerto for solo keyboard No. 5 by Bach (after Vivaldi's op. 3 no. 12), Concerto for oboe in C major and La pastorella. Chesis said that the proximity of water inspired the traces of Venice in this program.

August 23 is the second of two Family Fest events at 11 a.m. The theme of the program is "Blowin' with the Winds."

"This event is geared at teaching children how the musicians work together without a conductor," said Chesis. "And about playing woodwinds, and how pictures are drawn by the music."

The final performance of the series, Music from Eastern Europe, will take place on August 25 at 8 p.m. The evening will include three pieces: Antonin Dvorak's Dumky Trio, Bohuslav Martinu's Trio for flute, cello and piano and Zoltan Kodaly's Duo for violin and cello.

All evening concerts are precluded by pre-concert chats at 7:30 p.m. Chesis said the programs were selected to balance one another. Some will be familiar to listeners and others, like the last, will be more unusual, she said, but all are sure to keep listeners engaged.

"The success of the opera makes this festival a natural summer fit for this area," said Chesis, who likened the pairing to the success of Santa Fe's musical summers.