Mezzo soprano Kate Aldrich, a Damariscotta native who has become an international opera star, returns to her home turf for “Innerscapes,”a five-concert series with the DaPonte String Quartet. They will perform from August 1-7 in Rockport and Wells, as well as in three new summer venues: Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, the Alna Meetinghouse, and the Unitarian-Universalist Church in Brunswick.

“Innerscapes” consists of Respighi’s string quartet “Quartetto Dorico” plus two pieces for quartet and mezzo soprano: Samuel Barber’s “Dover Beach Op. 3” and Respighi’s “Il Tramonto.”

Ms. Aldrich, who now resides in Alna, and has since made a name for herself around the world as a mezzo soprano performing major roles in the world’s greatest opera houses (the Met, La Scala, San Francisco) with such opera greats as (most recently) Placido Domingo.

“Aldrich is a superb performer who not only has a powerful, flexible voice,” wrote Portland Press Herald critic Allan Kozinn recently, “but is a master of inhabiting a character, whether on the opera stage or in a five-minute art song.”

Performance schedule:

Aug. 1, 7:30 p.m., Rockport: Opera House, 6 Central Street. Tickets $30.

Aug. 2, 7:30 p.m., East Boothbay: Bigelow Labs, 60 Bigelow Drive. Tickets $30.

Aug. 3, 7 p.m., Wells: Wells Reserve at Laudholm, 342 Laudholm Farm Road. Tickets and information: 207-646-4521.

Aug. 4, 7 p.m., Alna: Alna Meetinghouse, 1789 Alna Road. Tickets $30.

Aug. 7, 7:30 p.m., Brunswick: Unitarian Church, 15 Pleasant Street. Tickets $30

Tickets to all concerts (except Wells) are available at www.DaPonte.org, and at Gulf of Maine Books, Brunswick; Longfellow Books, Portland; and Sherman’s Books in Damariscotta, Camden and Boothbay Harbor. For more information, call 207-529-4555.