FARMINGTON — Mastersinger USA, an internationally acclaimed 80-member men’s choir, will give two performances July 1 and 2 in Weld and Farmington.

It’s the second time in five years that the Arts Institute of Western Maine is sponsoring the choir, which is celebrating its 13th anniversary.

An informal free concert will take place at 6 p.m. Friday, July 1, at the Weld town Hall as part of the town’s bicentennial celebration. 

A formal concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 2, in Nordica Auditorium at the University of Maine Farmington. Admission is $15 cash or check at the door. The concert is FREE for 18 and under and students with ID.

Advance tickets are available at Broadway Music on Broadway in Farmington, or at: tickets.artsinstitute.org. The purchase receipt will serve as the ticket.

The choir of amateurs range in age from 18 to 75 and include doctors, lawyers, businessmen, clergymen, professors, editors, artists, school teachers, civil servants and university students.

They come together once a year for United States performances and every three years for international tours. The performers are arriving from as far away as Great Britain and Switzerland.

They have performed in 65 countries and won several first-place awards, including the prestigious International Eisteddfod Choral Competition in Llangollen North Wales in 2003 and the First International Congress of Men’s Choirs in Barcelona in 2005.

Founder and director Bruce McInnes for a number of  years has been adjunct professor of music at UMF, conductor of the UMF Community Chorus and Choirmaster at Old South Church.