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∙MARLBORO FESTIVAL (July 12-Sept. 2) in Vermont is really a sort of busman's holiday for fine musicians. None of the 85 or so instrumentalists are paid; instead, most contribute $625 apiece to meet expenses. Free from concert pressures, the musicians split up into informal chamber music groups and play precisely what they please. The knowledgeable public that attends the weekend concerts does not always know exactly what work will be played, but does know that it will be performed with love, zest, and craftsmanlike precision. There is no cult of personality at Marlboro despite the musical giants on the premises. Pianist Rudolf Serkin, who has also been playing at Tanglewood this season, is artistic director of the chamber music workshop. Pablo Casals is conducting master classes on the Bach Unaccompanied Cello Suites and Gamba Sonatas and public performances of Mendelssohn's Fourth Symphony (the "Italian" Symphony) and Beethoven's Eighth Symphony.
∙CENTRAL CITY OPERA FESTIVAL (June 29-July 27). Back in its 19th century heyday, when gold and silver were being dug out of its mountains, Central City, Colo., was the roaring capital of "The Little Kingdom of Gilpin." Its lusty miners built a splendid stone opera house and imported their music along with beans, bacon, and mining tools. But in time the gold went out of the Golden West and Central City became a near ghost town. Then 32 years ago, the old opera house was restored.
What Central City has found is that it can combine good opera with tourist-drawing memorabilia of the Old West and graft on a few colorful traditions of its own. Ushers in long coats and high boots ring bells up and down Eureka Street announcing the opera performances like town criers. Opening day saw square dances in front of the opera house, and a surrey with the fringe on top conveyed dignitaries to the ceremonies. The nostalgically inclined can bucket out to deserted mines in Jeeps, watch a pony-express ride, or stare at The Face on the Barroom Floor, a new face commissioned to please the tourists who, in turn, prefer to believe that it is the 19th century original. Despite the diverting hoopla, some 27,000 opera lovers are buying seats this season to hear those authentic old Western masters Mozart (Don Giovanni) and Verdi (Il Trovatore).
∙THE AMERICAN WIND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (June 5-Aug. 11) is the showboat of summer music. Its unlikely home: a 122-ft.-long, 30-ft.-wide converted coal barge. A tug tows this floating concert hall along the Ohio, Mississippi and tributary rivers. In the next fortnight, the A.W.S. will dock at and serenade such symphony-less cities as
Paducah, Ky. (July 30, 31) and Stillwater, Minn. (Aug. 11). The barge has been christened Point Counterpoint, and its showmanly musical skipper is Massachusetts-born, Juilliard-educated Robert Austin Boudreau, 36. Boudreau's orchestra is almost as unorthodox as its setting. It consists entirely of wind instruments (e.g., oboes, trumpets, French horns), percussion, and harp. Since orchestral music of this sort is a rarity, Boudreau has persistently commissioned and played new works. This gives his orchestra an astringently modern tone, but he tempers it with crowd pleasers like the My Fair Lady score.