A special anniversary for a superb event is being marked this weekend in the village. The Bach & Beyond Baroque Music Festival is celebrating its 25th year when it returns to the 1891 Fredonia Opera House Performing Arts Center from Friday to Sunday.

Under Artistic Director Grant Cooper, this year’s series of three concerts will feature a world premiere, incredible soloists and a few faces that are new to the festival.

While the music of Johann Sebastian Bach is the foundation of the Festival, performances also often feature music by other familiar composers such as Vivaldi and Mozart. The “Beyond” in the Festival’s name refers to the inclusion of works of other lesser-known — and some present-day ‚ composers who are artistically linked to the more familiar superstars.

“This year’s festival opens with the world premiere of a work by contemporary composer Byron Adams,” said Rick Davis, Opera House Executive Director . “That work, Monteverdiana, is in essence an homage to Monteverdi, and as Adams himself says a reinterpretation or ‘a reimagining of the original sources’.”

Concerts are scheduled for Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m. Complete concert programs are listed on the Opera House web site at www.fredopera.org. Tickets are $20 reserved seating for each concert; student tickets are $10. A subscription to all three concerts is available for $51.