NEWSLETTER
Wednesday, August 12 at 7:00pm at Fenimore Farm and Country Village
Cooperstown, N.Y. (July 15, 2026) - The Cooperstown Summer Music Festival (CSMF) will present Grammy-winning fiddler Michael Cleveland and his powerhouse band Flamekeeper on Wednesday, August 12 at 7:00 PM at Fenimore Farm and Country Village. The concert is part of CSMF’s 28th season, running July 15 through August 17, 2026.
Widely regarded as the defining bluegrass fiddler of his generation, Cleveland is a Grammy winner, twelve-time IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year, National Fiddler Hall of Fame inductee, and recipient of the NEA’s National Heritage Fellowship, the nation’s highest honor in folk and traditional arts. Flamekeeper has won the IBMA’s Instrumental Group of the Year seven times.
Cleveland was born completely blind in Henryville, Indiana, and a childhood ear infection cost him most of the hearing in one ear. None of that slowed him down. He grew up surrounded by old-time and bluegrass music at local jams and festivals, picked up the fiddle at age four through a Suzuki program, and told his teacher from the very first lesson that he wanted to play bluegrass, specifically “Orange Blossom Special,” and by nine was sitting in with Bill Monroe at the Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival. In his early teens, he appeared on the Grand Ole Opry and A Prairie Home Companion. After graduating from the Kentucky School for the Blind, he formed Flamekeeper in 2006 and built it into one of the most celebrated bands in bluegrass.
Country Music Hall of Famer Vince Gill has described Cleveland as one of the greatest fiddle players he’s ever heard, adding that playing with him makes everyone around him play fearlessly. On the stage, that quality is unmistakable: Cleveland’s performances blend blistering technical command with deep musical soul, rooted in bluegrass tradition but always pushing against its edges.
“This is the kind of concert that surprises people who have never heard bluegrass played with such jaw-dropping intensity,” said CSMF Founder and Artistic Director Linda Chesis. "Michael Cleveland is a once-in-a-generation talent, and seeing him perform with Flamekeeper is something you don't want to miss."
Event Details
Wednesday, August 12, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Fenimore Farm and Country Village
5775 NY-80, Cooperstown, NY 13326
Ticket Information
Tickets: $35 adults, $15 students and children. Tickets must be purchased in advance at cooperstownmusicfest.org/new-events or by calling Purplepass Tickets at 800-316-8559 (Option 1; $2 service fee per phone order).
About the Cooperstown Summer Music Festival
Founded in 1999 by flutist Linda Chesis, the Cooperstown Summer Music Festival has been bringing world-class chamber music performances to the Cooperstown area for over 25 years. The Festival has featured performances by the American, Juilliard, St. Lawrence, Jupiter, and Jasper String Quartets, Stefon Harris, Bill Charlap, Kurt Elling, Simone Dinnerstein, Mark O’Connor, John Pizzarelli, the Sonia Olla Flamenco Dance Company, and many more. Concerts are held in venues across Cooperstown, including the grand Otesaga Hotel, Fenimore Farm and Country Village, and Christ Episcopal Church.
The Cooperstown Summer Music Festival is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
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