An eleventh season convening leading artists and scholars to examine artificial intelligence and the future of music.
-- The Winchendon Music Festival, founded by internationally recognized musician and scholar Andrew Arceci, announces its Spring 2026 season with a timely national conversation at the intersection of music, technology, and ethics. Now entering its eleventh year, the Massachusetts-based festival continues to unite world-class artistic performance with rigorous public discourse, positioning itself as a leading cultural forum where centuries-old musical traditions engage directly with the future of artificial intelligence.
Under the leadership of founder Andrew Arceci, the Winchendon Music Festival has become known for presenting internationally acclaimed performers and scholars in an intimate community setting while remaining entirely free and open to the public. What began as a memorial honoring Arceci’s father, Robert J. Arceci, MD, PhD, has grown into a nationally recognized model for accessible, community-centered cultural programming.
The Spring 2026 season expands the festival’s mission with a featured panel and performance series titled How AI Is Changing Music. Bringing together faculty and thought leaders from Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory, Longy School of Music of Bard College, UMass Amherst, and experts in music law and intellectual property, the program will examine how artificial intelligence is reshaping composition, performance, pedagogy, copyright, and authorship.
The Winchendon Music Festival Spring 2026 season will run from April 16 through April 25, 2026, with events including:
Thursday, April 16, 2026
How AI is Changing Music
6 to 8 pm
Murdock-Whitney House, 151 Front St, Winchendon, MA
Sunday, April 19, 2026
An Tran, classical guitar
7 pm
Murdock-Whitney House
Thursday, April 23, 2026
Asako Takeuchi, Andrew Arceci, & John Lenti
7 pm
Murdock-Whitney House
Saturday, April 25, 2026
WMF Artists: chamber choir & chamber ensemble
7 pm
Unitarian Universalist Church, 126 Central St, Winchendon, MA
Unlike commercially driven technology conferences or promotional AI showcases, the Winchendon Music Festival offers a scholar-led, artist-driven environment grounded in historical awareness and ethical inquiry. The conversation will explore how emerging technologies can coexist with, and even enhance, human creativity without diminishing artistic intent or authorship.
Artificial intelligence is transforming the creative landscape at an unprecedented pace, and according to founder and Artistic Director Andrew Arceci, the responsibility of musicians and scholars is not to respond with fear or uncritical enthusiasm, but to examine these tools with discernment, historical perspective, and a clear commitment to preserving the human voice at the center of music making.
The festival’s programming continues to bridge early music, contemporary composition, jazz, folk traditions, and global repertoire. By placing early music performance practice in dialogue with discussions on artificial intelligence, the Winchendon Music Festival reframes innovation as part of a continuum rather than a rupture. The result is a rare cultural model where tradition and technology are examined together within a cohesive artistic framework.
A defining feature of the Winchendon Music Festival remains its commitment to free public access. In an era when high-level cultural programming is often inaccessible due to cost, WMF’s open model stands as a deliberate ethical statement about the role of the arts in civic life. World-class artists who regularly perform at institutions such as Harvard University, Oxford University, and Cambridge University, as well as major international concert stages, engage directly with audiences in a small-town setting, challenging assumptions about where serious cultural leadership can occur.
This dynamic positions the Winchendon Music Festival as both a national thought leader and a community-rooted institution. By translating conservatory-level scholarship and technological discourse into accessible public programming, the festival demonstrates how advanced cultural dialogue can move beyond academic silos into everyday civic life.
Media coverage for the Spring 2026 season will focus on the intersection of artificial intelligence and the arts, the decentralization of cultural authority beyond major metropolitan centers, and the festival’s commitment to artistic integrity and public good. Through performances, panels, and community engagement, the Winchendon Music Festival continues to serve as a laboratory for examining the evolving relationship between creativity, technology, and human expression.
The Winchendon Music Festival Spring 2026 season will take place in Winchendon, Massachusetts. All events are free and open to the public.
About the Winchendon Music Festival
Founded by internationally recognized musician and scholar Andrew Arceci, the Winchendon Music Festival is a Massachusetts-based cultural institution dedicated to presenting world-class music that bridges classical, folk, jazz, historical performance, and global traditions. Established as a memorial to Arceci’s father, Robert J. Arceci, MD, PhD, the festival has grown into a nationally and internationally recognized model for accessible, community-centered music programming.
Distinguished by its commitment to keeping all programs free to the public, the Winchendon Music Festival features artists who regularly perform at leading institutions, including Harvard University, Oxford University, Cambridge University, Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory, and major international stages. As it enters its eleventh year, the festival continues expanding its cultural mission to include forward-looking conversations on technology, artificial intelligence, and the future of music creation, education, and ethics.
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