After a one-year hiatus, the Dyberry Creek Music Festival returns to Honesdale this week with four days of free performances celebrating chamber music, featuring the flute as this year’s spotlight instrument.
The festival runs July 8 through 11, with concerts at the Wayne County Arts Alliance, the Himalayan Institute and Cooperage Project. This year’s programming blends traditional chamber music with contemporary works and even jazz influences.
Festival organizer and bassist Michael Geib said the 2026 season grew from the success of a previous flute-focused concert and the support of donor Pat Sanders.
“She’s a huge fan of the flute,” Geib said. “We had our artist Mira Magrill here two years ago, featuring mostly new works, and things went so well that we decided to recreate that as much as possible.”
The opening concert Wednesday at the Wayne County Arts Alliance will feature music spanning centuries, including works by Bohuslav Martinů and Carl Maria von Weber alongside newer compositions by living composer Samuel Magrill.
“It’s a little bit of a smattering, but it features some older works … but also some newer works by a living composer who will be playing that evening, Samuel Magrill, who’s also Mira’s dad, so it’s a family affair,” Geib said.
One of the featured contemporary pieces, Lullaby for Leo, was written for Magrill’s first grandchild, who will be attending the festival with his family.
The opening concert also includes Troubled Water by Margaret Bonds, a work based on the spiritual “Wade in the Water.” Geib said the piece has become one of his personal favorites after hearing it performed by his wife, cellist Mirel Geib.
Friday and Saturday’s concerts expand on the opening program with the complete Martinů work for flute, cello and piano before shifting into jazz-inspired chamber music with Claude Bolling’s Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio.
Geib said the Bolling composition is a unique crossover between classical and jazz traditions.
“It features a through-composed work written for flute and piano, but then it’s written in a jazz style, so it incorporates the full jazz rhythm section of piano, bass and drums,” he said. “The bass and drum part are written more like what you’d find maybe in a jazz big band chart, where there will be things that are specifically notated, but there will also be sections where we will be allowed and encouraged to improvise a little bit.”
Geib will perform on double bass alongside drummer Ronen Yitzhak, who joins the festival after the originally scheduled percussionist was unable to attend because of a family emergency.
The Friday evening performance takes place outdoors at Sunset Pond on the grounds of the Himalayan Institute. Geib encouraged visitors to plan ahead because cell phone service in the area can be unreliable.
All festival concerts are free to attend. Donations are encouraged to help support both the festival and its community partners, though Geib emphasized that everyone is welcome regardless of their ability to contribute.
“For those that can give, we please encourage it,” he said. “But those that maybe cannot or don’t want to, please still come and enjoy the music. It’s free, and we know you’ll enjoy it.”
Image: Performers at the 2023 Dyberry Creek Music Festival. (Dyberry Creek Music Festival)