“After Spring Sunset: A Tribute to Peter Schickele” and “Elizabeth Mitchell Plays Songs of Peter Schickele”

Due largely to the trappings that often surround its presentation, classical music has been unfairly saddled with the stigma of being stuffy and stiff, especially to listeners who came up in the hip-shaking years of Elvis Presley and the Rolling Stones. But luckily there was the great composer, musical educator, and humorist Peter Schickele (1935-2024) to tear those trappings down yet keeping the sense of reverence and wonder that the music deserves fully intact—while making a whole lot of infectious fun along the way. Widely remembered for being the mischievous genius behind P.D.Q. Bach, a fictional composer, longtime Bearsville resident Schickele will be saluted with two memorial concerts, “After Spring Sunset: A Tribute to Peter Schickele” and “Elizabeth Mitchell Plays Songs of Peter Schickele,” at Maverick Concerts on August 10.