Classical music spotlight: Beethoven by the river

In five short years, the Minnesota Beethoven Festival, held at half a dozen venues in the river town of Winona, has become a summertime standout. Pianist André Watts kicks off this year's lineup with a largely Liszt program (3 p.m. Sun.). Other highlights include the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (7:30 p.m. Tue.); the Cecilia String Quartet (7:30 p.m. Sat.); pianist Leon Fleisher, in a recital (7:30 p.m. July 7) that ends with Schubert's late B-flat Sonata -- worth a journey from anywhere; Dale Warland and the Festival Chorale in Rachmaninoff's Vespers (7:30 p.m. July 9 and 3 p.m. July 10); baritone Thomas Hampson (7:30 p.m. July 14-15), and, for a fitting finale, the Minnesota Orchestra and Minnesota Chorale, led by Osmo Vänskä, in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (4 p.m. July 17).