By Joanna McQuillan Weeks, assistant features editor/columnist

Slice of Lifejweeks@s-t.com

Marion will become a magnet for music lovers this weekend when Maestro Russell Patterson inaugurates the Buzzards Bay Musicfest. 

The distinguished conductor, who has led the Kansas City Lyric Opera, the Kansas City Symphony, and the Sunflower Music Festival Orchestra in Topeka, will conduct three concerts at Tabor Academy's Fireman Performing Arts Center, on Front Street. Admission is free.
 Maestro Patterson is restructuring his life for retirement, and owns a summer home in Centerville.

 "I came to Marion when a friend in South Dartmouth suggested I look at Tabor Academy, and I have felt welcomed into this town from the start. The Marion Art Center has introduced me into the community with meetings, dinners, parties .... I've felt a very warm reception," he said in a press release.
 Mary Schmidek and Trudy Kingery, co-presidents of the host organization, the Marion Art Center, are hoping the SouthCoast community extends a warm welcome by turning out in force to support the new festival.
 The Buzzards Bay Musicfest is bringing world-class musicians to the shores of Sippican Harbor.
 "They are from Boston, Pittsburgh, Detroit, San Francisco. The cellist teaches at Yale," Mr. Patterson said.
 But while the music will be suitable for the finest concert halls, the dress code will be more casual.
 "I picture people traveling by boat to hear the music ... (and) our audiences dresssed in comfortable clothes -- nothing stuffy. We play romantic and classical pieces from Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Haydn, Grieg, and Tchaikovsky. There is an emphasis on selections musicians prefer," the maestro explained.
 Organizers encourage concertgoers to bring a picnic to savor by the sea and then take one of the 600 seats in the Fireman hall for a wonderful program led by Maestro Patterson.
 Here's the lineup. 

8 p.m. Friday, orchestra concert: Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik," Bach's "Concerto in C minor," and Grieg's "Holberg Suite." 

8 p.m. Saturday, chamber music: Mozart's "Quartet in F for Oboe and Strings," Beethoven's "Piano Trio No. 5," and Dvorak's "Piano Quartet in A Major." 

2 p.m. Sunday, orchestra concert: Bach's "Concerto in D minor for Two Violins," Handel's "Concerto in G minor for Oboe and Strings," and Tchaikovsky's "Serenade for Strings."
 In order to provide the concerts free to the public, the nearly $100,000 cost is being shouldered by generous donors and the effort of volunteers. "I have made a five-year commitment to this project, and have commitments for financing over the next five years," Maestro Patterson said.
 So we in the SouthCoast can look forward to five seasons of sweet music by the Sippican, beginning this weekend.