Comprised of faculty artists from five festivals and conferences celebrating singing, fiddle traditions, jazz, writing and acoustic blues, as well as a special performance from multi-Grammy winner Los Lobos, the summer season features more than 70 events that include a diverse lineup of concerts, club performances, dances and readings.

Tickets are available to Centrum members starting April 15, and to the general public starting May 1 through
centrum.org or by phone at 800-746-1982.

Mainstage performances for all festivals take place at McCurdy Pavilion, a WWI-era dirigible hangar converted into a concert hall, which can be opened for afternoon concerts to allow seating on the wide lawn of Littlefield Green. The grounds open to the public for picnicking one hour prior to show time, and feature artist merchandise and recordings for sale, as well as a beer garden for patrons 21 and older.

Smaller events take place in the 280-seat Joseph F. Wheeler Theater, as well as at intimate club venues in downtown Port Townsend. Dances are located at various venues throughout Fort Worden.

Summer highlights
The 2012 season features a performance by Los Lobos, known for an eclectic and wide range of musical styles, in McCurdy Pavilion at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 12 as a grand finale to the summer season.

Opening the summer season are masters of American vocal styles from Voice Works highlighted by the “Country Roots & Bluegrass” concert, Saturday, June 30, featuring Bluegrass star and virtuoso instrumentalist Tim O’Brien and the husky vocals of Aoife O’Donovan, front woman for the alternative bluegrass band Crooked Still.

The 36th annual Festival of American Fiddle Tunes pairs up-and-coming traditional music stars such as the young Cape Breton left-handed fiddler Kimberley Fraser and Quebec’s youthful trio Genticorum, with such legendary fiddlers as three-time national fiddle champion Byron Berline and the 90-year old West Virginian Lester McCumbers, proclaimed a “master fiddler” by The New York Times.

Expanded to two weeks for the first time in its 39-year history, the Port Townsend Writers’ Conference features readings and craft lectures from 14 of the nation’s top authors, including Cheryl Strayed, whose memoir Wild previewed at last year’s conference. It is currently on the New York Times Best Seller list.

Jazz Port Townsend, the oldest jazz festival in Washington, is highlighted by the Port Townsend debut of Mary Stallings, who has sung with Count Basie and many other jazz greats, and whose comeback career has earned a wide range of accolades. In keeping with the newly established tradition of honoring National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters, Jazz Port Townsend honors Johnny Mandel, the Academy-Award winning composer of “The Shadow of Your Smile,” who will conduct a concert of his music with the Centrum Faculty All-Star Big Band.

Completing Centrum’s 2012 summer season is the Port Townsend Acoustic Blues Festival, this year welcoming its new artistic director, Daryl Davis, who has assembled a concert lineup of noted performers. Included on the “Routes of the Blues” Aug. 4 performance is pianist and singer Ann Rabson, who has received nine Blues Music Award nominations, as well as guitarist and Country blues legend Robert Belfour.

The season again includes the popular Jazz in the Clubs and Blues in the Clubs concerts. These smaller shows bring music to intimate venues, including the Upstage Restaurant, Public House Grill, Rose Theatre, Castle Key Restaurant, Undertown Coffee and Wine Bar, Key City Playhouse, Khu Larb Thai, American Legion and the Northwest Maritime Center.

The performances complement Centrum’s weeklong workshops in each genre, where participants and faculty from across the country and around the world come together to provide mentorship and create artistic community. Applications are still being accepted for weeklong workshops for Voice Works, Fiddle Tunes, Jazz the Writers' Conference and Acoustic Blues. Visit
centrum.org.