WINCHENDON — The Winchendon Musical Festival will celebrate its tenth year with a bit of a change in format for 2025. While still offering a broad array of musical offerings, the WMF will take place over the course of several months, rather than being squeezed into the span of two or three weeks.

Festival organizer Andrew Arceci told the Athol Daily News, “I think it’s incredible that the festival has survived ten years. We started with just one weekend; we did three programs over the course of one weekend. And eventually it evolved into the Winchendon Music Festival of today.

Thankfully, we’ve been able to maintain the festival because a large number of individuals, businesses, and foundations have supported it.

“In a way,” he continued, “we have to prove the importance each year because we’re not charging tickets, we’re basically relying on our variety of programs and, because of that, people have supported the festival and continue to come to these programs.”

While Winchendon may not be the center of the music world, Arceci said the popularity and longevity of the festival has made it easier to attract some of the best musicians in the world to perform here.

“What’s interesting,” Arceci said, “is that the festival has developed some buzz over the years. I’ve noticed in the past few years that some individuals have reached out to the festival to inquire about performing throughout New England, or even the United States. The festival doesn’t even have a webpage. Most of it is word-of-mouth. Much of it is Facebook. The board and I have a list of artists that we’d like to have, but there’s certainly no shortage.”

Arceci said musicians from around the globe have emailed him to ask about the festival.

“In the  last several years, people I don’t know, people I’ve never worked with have found the Winchendon Music Festival email and have emailed to inquire,” he siad. “People throughout the United States, people form Canada, from England, Italy, Germany, several European countries have reached out. So, I think there is some buzz about the festival and we’ve been able to maintain that.”

Arceci added that the intimate aspect of the performances also appeals to many musicians. Most of the performances this year will take place at the Murdock-Whitney House, home to the Winchendon Cultural and Historical Society, with another at The Flower Shop on Central Street.

The final performance of the season, however, that of the Worcester Jazz Orchestra, will take place in the amphitheater at Winchendon Community Park.

While the main purpose of the festival is to bring great music to the people of north-central Massachusetts, Arceci said, “We also encourage artists to engage with the audience; to maybe speak about their instruments or travels, as most of us travel quite a lot, or talk about the composers. That has been an interesting element. It’s educational but it’s also just a chance to engage with people in a different way than in a formal concert hall.”

Performances this year will stretch from May to October. “Part of that is because of my schedule,” said Arceci. “But it’s also easier to coordinate with when an artist is touring and we’re in a position to be able to coordinate schedules that way. Over the past several years I’ve been able to bring additional acts to Winchendon because of that.”

This list year’s list of performers include:

■Arpeggione Ensemble (classical), Saturday, May 31, 7 p.m., Murdock-Whitney House, 151 Front Street, Winchendon, featuring Beethoven’s Septet in E-flat Major, Op. 20.

■John Arcaro & Band (jazz), Monday, June 2, 7 p.m., Murdock-Whitney House. Berklee College of Music professor John Arcaro will lead a program of works from the “Great American Songbook”, complemented by contemporary jazz compositions.

■Duo Sorolla: Ismar Gomes, cello & Wan-Chi Su, piano (classical), Tuesday, June 3, 7 p.m., Murdock-Whitney House. Works by Reynaldo Hahn de Echenagucia, Constantino

■Vicente Gaito, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Gaspar Cassadó i Moreu, and Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla.

■DOUBLE BILL: Chris Moyse, singer-songwriter & Floyds Row (folk/newgrass), Friday, Oct. 3 – 7 p.m., The Flower Shop,172 Central St. Winchendon. Folk collective, Floyds Row, explores the connections among early, classical, folk, newgrass, and world genres.

■Worcester Jazz Orchestra (jazz), Saturday, Oct. 4, 2 p.m., Winchendon Amphitheater at Winchendon Community Park, 86 Ingleside Dr., Winchendon. Ever popular, the big band plays works by Glenn Miller, Buddy Rich, and others.

A native of Winchendon, Andrew Arceci is a multi-instrumentalist, scholar, and composer. The Winchendon Music Festival is dedicated to the memory of his late father, Dr. Robert J. Arceci, who was a pediatric oncologist from Winchendon. His father, said Andrew, had a passion for the arts.