CEDAR FALLS -- Summer is Bach -- and so is Hunter Capoccioni and the Cedar Valley Chamber Music Festival.

Last season's successful inaugural concerts have provided the impetus to stage a new series of performances, beginning Monday. The concerts will feature some of the Cedar Valley's finest musicians and vocalists performing Bach, Brahms and a homage to English chamber music.

"Last year was an experiment that exceeded everyone's expectations. I remember the first concert with all the musicians backstage taking bets we'd have 20, maybe 30 people in the audience. Then my mom told us we'd have to wait a few minutes before starting because there was a line of people outside the door," recalled Capoccioni, a graduate student at the University of Indiana. "That first concert had a special dynamic, kind of magical. I felt like I might have a public mutiny on my hands if we didn't do another season."

This season's featured musicians are Frederick Halgedahl, Ellen Chamberlain, Tigran Vardanyan and Emily Schmitz Vardanyan, violins; Julia Trahan, Kathleen Sihler, Ute Brandenburg, viola; Jonathan Chenoweth, Rob Chamberlain, cellos; Sean Botkin, Genadi Zagor, Robin Guy, piano; and Jeffrey Brich, Jean McDonald and John Hines, vocalists, and Capoccioni on bass.

Each concert has its own theme. On Monday, Bach is on the program in a celebration of his sacred and secular works, concluding with the famous Brandenburg Concerto No. 6. Hines, a new voice faculty member at the University of Northern Iowa will open the concert. The concert takes place in Davis Hall at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center in Cedar Falls.

The second concert, "A Chamber Music Potpourri," takes place Wednesday at Westminster Presbyterian Church. Capoccioni describes it as a mixture of sonorities from the past and present. Special guests will be Ellen and Rob Chamberlain, who will join musicians in performing music by Brahms and Joaquin Turina.

On Saturday, the Cedar Valley Chamber Music Festival performs at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Cedar Falls, presenting a program described as "An English Musical Renaissance." It begins with Henry Purcell's Variations on One Note, as well as music by Benjamin Britten and Ralph Vaughan Williams' Phantasy Quintet. A reception follows the performance.

" It's amazing the connections that seemed to form so effortlessly in each program. Exploring the musicology is fun, and the most enjoyable part for me," the director said. "I'm open to whatever the musicians want to play, if there's something specific, I try to make it happen. I arrange the programs so not everyone has to commit to playing a piece at each concert."

He established the Cedar Valley Chamber Music Festival as a way to introduce listeners to the intimate nature of chamber music. Unlike a traditional concert with a full orchestra in a cavernous hall, chamber music is played by a small ensemble and is meant to be heard and appreciated in smaller settings, bringing the audience closer to the performers. The festival also celebrates the superb quality of musicianship in the area.

The CVCMF is a member of the Cedar Falls Civic Foundation and the organizer has begun a fund drive to seek supporters in hopes of expanding the festival and perform in unique settings throughout the Cedar Valley.

"For better or worse, it's the 21st century … the age of iPods, Tivo and other technology. If classical music is to keep pace and grow audience, we have to look beyond the traditional concert stage and find new settings to perform. People have come to expect that, I think," Cappocioni said.

Capoccioni a 1996 graduate of West High School, has spent two seasons in Europe -- Sweden and Norway. While in Norway, he was associate principal bass with the Norrlands Opera and Symphony Orchestra. He earned bachelor of arts and master's degrees at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston, and is working on a second master's degree at the University of Indiana.

He credits his mother, Jo Cappocioni, the long-time director of the Cedar Harmony Chorus of Sweet Adelines International and a teacher at Peet Junior High School, and other supporters, including Barb Opheim, for getting the festival off the ground.

Contact Melody Parker at 291-1429 or melody.parker@wcfcourier.com

What: Cedar Valley Chamber Music Festival

When: "Summer is Bach," 7:30 p.m. Monday, Davis Hall, Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center, Cedar Falls; "A Chamber Music Potpourri," 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Waterloo; and "An English Musical Renaissance," 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Cedar Falls.

Tickets: $9 for adults; free to students 18 and under. Tickets for the Bach concert are available through the GBPAC box office. Tickets for other performances will be sold at the door.

More details: www.cvmusicfestival.org