Pianist Warren Jones is an inspirational contributor to the Grandin Festival, according to CCM faculty.

Some years ago an acquaintance of mine attended a concert by that most formidable of the 20th century classical composers, John Cage. To say the performance typified the term "avant-garde" would be putting it mildly, and my friend found the evening to be something of a challenge. At a reception afterwards he introduced himself to the composer and admitted he was baffled by what he'd heard and frankly didn't enjoy it much.

Cage's reply was succinct and without consolation. "I'm sorry you wasted your time," he told my friend, then turned away to talk with someone else.

If you choose to attend any of the concerts presented during the 10th annual Grandin Festival at UC's College-Conservatory of Music now through Aug. 25, you won't be wasting your time. And though some performances might well be labeled "challenging" or "avant-garde," including an evening featuring some Cage songs, the experience is bound to be satisfying and surprising.

The Grandin Festival is an annual summer event founded by soprano Barbara Honn and oboist Sara Lambert Bloom. The goal is to create a collaborative opportunity for young artists to study and perform vocal chamber music repertoire chosen by CCM faculty and guest artists who often include a who's who of the Classical world.

"The program began when Sara and I were performing some Bach pieces for chamber ensemble," recalls Honn, a professor of voice at CCM. (Bloom is a professor of oboe.) "We wondered how we could give our students the opportunity to collaborate and experience the creative process involved in performing vocal chamber music. In the early years, students were chosen for the program and music was assigned. We did maybe three concerts at most and participation was perhaps 30 students. But, my, have we grown!"

This year's event features between 90 and 110 participants who perform 37 pieces that span four centuries, with 10 festival performances -- all free of charge. A catered reception follows each event for audience members and participants to discuss the music and performances.

Past participants have included such luminaries as Dead Man Walking composer Jake Heggie and pianist Warren Jones. Both will take part again this year.

"I ask Warren every year because of his brilliance as a musician and teacher," Honn says.

Jones, currently the most sought-after accompanist on the Classical scene today, will coach the closing night Final Honors Concert Aug. 25, a sort of "best of" the Grandin.

"This marks his eighth appearance," Honn says, "and we always stand in awe of his energy and love of music. He inspires us all to work harder, think more, study more, learn more, practice more and perform more."

Honn met the red-hot Heggie when he was doing a master class at CCM last year with his friend and collaborator, renowned singer Frederica von Stade.

"His music is accessible to young artists and audiences of all ages," Honn says. "This year he will do a program of his own music entitled 'Fates of Flesh and Stone.' He'll even serve as accompanist for two works, 'At the Statue of Venus' (words by playwright and Dead Man Walking librettist Terrence McNally) and 'Times of the Day,' which is a setting of Raymond Carver poems. It will be a Midwest premiere. He really likes Cincinnati and CCM."

Honn herself will coach a lunch-time concert Aug. 23 in the CCM atrium featuring a smorgasbord of everything from Baroque to Britten. In fact, she feels the entire Grandin Festival has something for everyone.

"Every program is well-conceived and there is music for the purist as well as the most eclectic taste," she says. "Each program has a theme and, if you're not familiar with the music, just pick a theme that catches your interest or inspires your imagination.

"The learning curve in these performances is challenging and every concert is performed at an extremely high level. For example, Allan Otte always presents a terrific program featuring contemporary works done with dramatic flair."

Which brings us back to Cage. Otte, a faculty member and founder of CCM's ensemble-in-residence Percussion Group Cincinnati, is putting together an evening entitled "In a Cage of Composition." Two works by CCM composers Mark Saya and Moiya Callahan will be surrounded by three short Cage pieces.

"They'll be 'encaged by Cage,' as it were," offers Otte, who came to know and work with the late composer in the 1980s. "Mark and Moiya have been deeply affected by his music and ideas, and yet they have produced music that sounds nothing like his. This isn't going to be an immersion into some sort of 'Cageian aesthetic,' even though they couldn't have done what they've done without his bridge to the past. But this really will be a very fresh evening of what you might call 'sit down' music."

And, of course, "sit down" words, too, as the festival includes lyrics by writers from Shakespeare to James Joyce to e.e. cummings.

"I mentioned to a colleague that we were preparing Vocal Chamber Music and he responded that Chamber Music doesn't have words," Honn says. "Actually, to my mind it is the most complete Chamber Music because of the words. After all, we must remember what the Germans call 'Gestamtmusik.' That is, total music."