Cellist Wilhelmina Smith It's a seemingly well-kept secret that some of New York City's finest classical musicians love to visit and perform in Pensacola. So much, in fact, that they've been coming back each summer for more than twenty years. This brand of "New York's finest" is returning to "ClassicFest" in Pensacola on Labor Day weekend.

"ClassicFest" is Pensacola's summer chamber music festival at Christ Church, September 4 & 6, 2009. This year's slightly-abbreviated edition of ClassicFest is "Great Music in a Bad Economy." According to ClassicFest director Ken Karadin, "A quick, heady taste of world-class performance is better than none!"

The ClassicFest company this year includes cellist (and artistic director) Wilhelmina Smith, violist Hsin-Yun Huang, and pianist Pedja Muzijevic, who among them have a lot of Pensacola sand in their shoes. Joining (and driving) the group are Israeliborn violinist Carmit Zori, and flutist Joshua Smith, principal flute of The Cleveland Orchestra (for the unknowing, that is one of the best gigs a flutist can land — in the whole world!).

Violist Hsin-Yun Huang Read what The New York Sun wrote about Carmit Zori: "It is a truism that you could stop most anyone walking around with an instrument in New York and ask them to play only to hear the harmonious sounds of a highly talented musician. But due to her top-notch training, many competition prizes, and myriad performances (she's played extensively at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center as well as at Bargemusic, where she used to serve as an artistic director), Ms Zori is much more than just one of New York's giggers: she like her colleagues in the city's upper echelon of freelance soloists and chamber musicians, is one of its treasures.…"

Among the musical performance venues in West Florida, none is quite so acoustically gracious or so visually stimulating as Christ Church. The parish opens its doors and extends its welcome for this and other musical events through the year as part of its outreach to the community.

ClassicFest concerts are scheduled for Friday, September 4, 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, September 6, 3 pm. Tickets are $25 for adults, and $10 for students and active duty military.

Pianist Pedja Muzijevic For more information, call festival director Ken Karadin at 850-432-5115.